Food is fuel for the body. The simplest analogy I can think of is filling up your car with gasoline. Your car can only go so far with one tank of gas. You need to replenish the reserves if you want to go further. Similarly, you need to replenish your body’s reserves with food periodically.

The type and quality of gasoline you use decides how much mileage you get out of the car. The same thing applies to the human body. Feed it junk, and it will be slow and lethargic. Feed it a quality diet containing fresh fruits and vegetables, it will be energetic and fast.

What is nutrition after all? Feeding our body a balanced diet and a wide variety of food so that it gets all the vitamins and minerals it needs to perform optimally. The quality of food we eat matters, and unfortunately, it is becoming difficult to get good nutrients from the produce on offer. Pollution, GMO vegetables, use of chemicals etc. diminish the quality of food we consume so that very little of it is actually broken down into what the body needs.

Nutrition is more important in kids. Why? Childhood is the time when the body is actually building a foundation. Growing children need the right kind of food at the right time. They need calcium to build good bones, they need vitamin D for calcium absorption, proteins to build muscle, and numerous other vitamins and minerals that are going to build their immunity, contribute to their physical and mental growth and build a solid foundation so that they grow up to be smart, healthy youngsters.

I’m sure you’re saying ‘duh’ on reading what I have written so far. So a child needs to eat a balanced diet, and needs to be fed the best available things. Of course you know that. You are a parent after all. Haven’t you provided the best for your child since he/she was a baby? So what is the need for ‘special’ nutrition?

There may be several reasons why a child may fall behind the set growth parameters. Look at any group of children, and you’ll be able to spot someone who is shorter than the rest, or is physically weak or not that sharp. A prolonged illness might be the reason, or it could be something else. The question is, what is the solution? How do you help your child catch up on their lost growth?

Horlicks Growth + is specially created for this purpose. So OK, you say. The day is saved. Well, maybe not! Not every child likes Horlicks, however tasty it may be. I sure didn’t. When I was 6, all I wanted to drink was tea or coffee, probably because it was taboo. Anything I drank had to smell like coffee and taste like coffee. So my mom mixed a chocolate flavored health drink with a pinch of coffee just so I could drink it. Yes, that was the first mocha I tasted, back when the word ‘mocha’ was not in my vocabulary.

Habits die hard. To this day, I add coffee to my Chocolate Horlicks so that it has a mocha flavor. Since this is a food blog, I will give you a quick recipe, or non-recipe.

Horlicks Growth+ Mocha

Ingredients

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup milk

1 scoop or Tbsp Chocolate Horlicks

1/4 tsp instant coffee

sugar to taste (optional)

Method

Add the dry powders and sugar to your cup.

Pour boiling water.

Pour hot milk.

Stir and enjoy!

Now you can stop worrying about your child’s growth. Just pour the Horlicks, sit back and enjoy.