Garden based nutrition education: An experimental approach for learning nutrition education.... Meet Nada India Youth Catalyst

Subhiksha, Nada India Youth Catalyst 

I am a diligent development economics graduate passionate about building an egalitarian society which has provision to quality education and healthcare facilities for all those in need. My past work experience has exposed me to understand the intersectional nature of societies formed because of their unique socio-political-economic backgrounds. Thus while trying to understand the complex nature of societies, my interest area has ranged from ethnography, socio-political ideologies, women and child healthcare, gender roles to government policies and health insurance. 

I came across the opportunity to connect with Nada India Foundation (NIF) while recently working on my research paper titled: 

“Garden based nutrition education: An experimental approach for learning nutrition education to change adolescent’s eating preferences in India”. 

The motivation of the paper was to raise awareness on the rising incidence of non-communicable-diseases (NCDs) and develop an early intervention model that will motivate adolescents to make healthier food choices and engage in more physical exercise. Garden based nutrition education was a 6 week long teaching program I designed and taught to students of age 11-14 years coming from lower-middle income and higher income category, which showed positive effects on adolescent’s preference for healthy food. 

As NIF strives to build an empowering community that protects child & adolescent rights and promotes drug-free healthy lifestyle which otherwise is impaired by substance abuse, alcohol and NCDs, I felt connected with their work and was driven to do my research with them. Mr. Suneel Vatsyayan provided relative insights on my field work and data collection methods. As my guide he strongly motivates me to make use of the opportunities and keep working towards achieving my goals. Now I have got an amazing opportunity to be a part of the Young India Network for Good Health project and keenly looking forward to learn and grow under his mentorship. 

Subhiksha Shankarraman

Nada India Youth Catalyst