CERTIFIED child nutritionist Tanya Mehra’s mission to empower parents led her to become a popular mom influencer.
The online star has used her own life experiences and divorce to inspire parents, especially single mothers, to break free from toxic relationships, stand up for themselves, and achieve financial independence. She also offers top childcare tips, tackles taboos, and discusses the challenges of motherhood.
Mehra’s platform, centered around her personal experiences raising her daughter Noor, advocates for the importance of healthy child nutrition, while also speaking openly about the struggles of being a single mother.
Eastern Eye caught up with the inspiring content creator to discuss her journey, parenting, top childcare tips, and how she got through her divorce. She also shared advice for single mothers.
What made you want to become a content creator, and did you expect to become popular?
Content creation wasn’t even considered a career when I started. It began when a close friend suggested I document my parenting journey after my daughter, Noor, was born. I never aimed for fame – just to be a resource for new moms. I was an accidental content creator who found her passion in sharing my journey. As a former economic researcher, I applied my skills to provide validated information to new moms.
What inspired you to focus on parenting in particular?
My daughter, Noor, was my inspiration. As a single mother, I relied on selfresearch for every parenting decision. My friends encouraged me to share my hands-on parenting style, and it naturally evolved into my content’s central theme. It resonates with my audience because it’s authentic, relatable, and vulnerable.
How would you describe your journey as a ‘mom influencer’?
My journey feels like a Bollywood film. I was the heroine, and my daughter, Noor, was the lifechanging hero. The journey wasn’t easy – sleepless nights, my divorce, and content creation. But the love and support from my community kept me going. Today, when moms tell me my content helped them, it’s the most rewarding feeling. My journey is based on one rule: sharing my truth, with no filters – just real moments.
As a child nutritionist, how crucial is it to focus on what children are eating?
It’s essential. Kids today consume too many processed foods, which harm their physical health and energy levels. Nutrition is about a balanced diet with wholesome grains, fruits, vegetables, and proteins. Parents must be vigilant, as obesity and juvenile diabetes are on the rise.
Do you think enough attention is paid to a child’s diet, and what common mistakes do parents make?
Parents are more informed than ever, but lifestyle pressures often lead to unhealthy food choices. A common mistake is not reading food labels. Many ‘healthy’ products are loaded with sugar and preservatives. Parents should educate themselves and their kids on making better food choices. Small changes, like opting for Makhana over chips, can make a big difference.
Where do you get all parenting tips from?
Parenting is about instinct. I observe and respond to Noor’s cues, but I also rely on research, books, and credible online sources. I experiment with new ideas first with Noor before sharing them with my audience.
Can you share a top parenting tip?
Always trust your instinct as a mom. You know your child better than anyone else. Don’t compare or get confused – just trust your gut.
How important is self-care for parents, who devote their time to work and raising children?
Self-care is essential. Parenting is demanding, and the only way to keep going is by prioritising your own health. Whether it’s a quick workout, coffee break, or just some quiet time, carving out personal time makes you a better parent. I ensure to get at least an hour to myself each day, even if it means waking up early or delegating tasks.
How significant is it for you to empower single mothers, and how do you approach this?
Empowering single mothers is close to my heart. I often share my struggles and strategies on Instagram to inspire single moms to take small steps and not feel alone. I encourage financial independence, building a supportive network, and focusing on self-care. Being a single mom is tough, but it’s worth it for your child.
How did you get through the pain of your own separation?
Separation was incredibly painful. I struggled with depression, anxiety, and even alopecia. Therapy, gratitude, and focusing on Noor were my anchors. Slowly, I’m rebuilding my life. I never imagined doing it all alone, but I’ve become stronger through it.
What are your top tips for single mothers navigating life’s challenges?
Build a support system of people who love and care for you. Invest in financial independence, even with small steps. Healing takes time, so be patient with yourself. Ask for help, whether from a therapist or your support system. Remember, your child looks up to you, so prioritise your own healing.
Tanya with Noor
What is the biggest thing you’ve learned about yourself through this s journey?
I’ve learned that I’m not emotionally dependent, as I once thought. Through consistency and discipline, I built a career while raising a child and going through a divorce. I have learned to focus on my own path and not care about people who don’t matter.
What are your plans going forward?
I plan to grow my platform to inspire more parents, especially single moms. I also want to maintain a balanced home life while running a thriving business that allows me to be present for Noor.
What inspires you to keep moving forward?
Noor is my driving force. I want to ensure she feels complete and cherished, despite the absence of her father. Her happiness is my ultimate inspiration.
Eli Lilly had announced a steep price rise of up to 170% for Mounjaro.
A new discount deal with UK suppliers will limit the increase for patients.
Pharmacies will still apply a mark-up, but consumer costs are expected to rise less than initially feared.
NHS pricing remains unaffected due to separate arrangements.
Eli Lilly has agreed a discounted supply deal for its weight-loss drug Mounjaro, easing fears of a sharp rise in costs for UK patients. The new arrangement means that, from September, pharmacies and private services will face smaller wholesale increases than first expected, limiting the impact on consumers.
Why the price rise was announced
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly said it would raise Mounjaro’s list price by as much as 170%, which could have pushed the highest monthly dose from £122 to £330. The company argued that UK pricing needed to align more closely with higher costs in Europe and the United States.
Discount deal for UK suppliers
The revised agreement will see the top-dose price set at £247.50 for suppliers. While pharmacies and private providers will still add their own margins, the increase for patients is now likely to remain under 50% for higher doses, and even lower for smaller doses.
Eli Lilly confirmed:
“We are working with private providers on commercial arrangements to maintain affordability and expect these to be passed onto patients when the change is effective on 1 September.”
Impact on consumers
Around 1.5 million people in the UK are currently on weight-loss drugs, with more than half using Mounjaro. Most of these patients—around 90%—pay privately through online services or high street pharmacies.
Prices vary between providers, depending on the level of lifestyle and dietary support offered alongside the injections.
Olivier Picard of the National Pharmacy Association said:
“This rebate will mitigate some of the impact of the increase, but patients should still anticipate seeing a rise in prices from 1 September.”
NHS pricing unchanged
The deal does not affect the NHS, which has secured its own heavily-discounted price for patients prescribed the weekly injection.
Mounjaro works by helping patients feel fuller for longer, reducing food intake and supporting weight loss of up to 20% of body weight.
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The Department of Health said the rollout would reduce missed days at nursery and school, cut time parents take off work, and save the NHS about £15 million a year. (Representational image: iStock)
CHILDREN in England will be offered a free chickenpox vaccine for the first time from January 2026, the government has announced.
GP practices will give eligible children a combined vaccine for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV) as part of the routine childhood vaccination schedule. Around half a million children each year are expected to be protected.
The Department of Health said the rollout would reduce missed days at nursery and school, cut time parents take off work, and save the NHS about £15 million a year. Research estimates chickenpox in childhood leads to £24 million in lost income and productivity annually.
Minister of State for Care, Stephen Kinnock, said: “We’re giving parents the power to protect their children from chickenpox and its serious complications, while keeping them in nursery or the classroom where they belong and preventing parents from scrambling for childcare or having to miss work. This vaccine puts children’s health first and gives working families the support they deserve. As part of our Plan for Change, we want to give every child the best possible start in life, and this rollout will help to do exactly that.”
Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, Deputy Director of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency, said: “Most parents probably consider chickenpox to be a common and mild illness, but for some babies, young children and even adults, chickenpox can be very serious, leading to hospital admission and tragically, while rare, it can be fatal. It is excellent news that from next January we will be introducing a vaccine to protect against chickenpox into the NHS routine childhood vaccination programme – helping prevent what is for most a nasty illness and for those who develop severe symptoms, it could be a life saver.”
Amanda Doyle, National Director for Primary Care and Community Services at NHS England, said: “This is a hugely positive moment for families as the NHS gets ready to roll out a vaccine to protect children against chickenpox for the first time, adding to the arsenal of other routine jabs that safeguard against serious illness.”
The eligibility criteria will be set out in clinical guidance, and parents will be contacted by their GP surgery if their child is eligible.
WHEN broadcaster and journalist Naga Munchetty began speaking openly about her experiences with adenomyosis and debilitating menstrual pain, the response was overwhelming.
Emails and messages poured in from women who had endured years of dismissal, silence and shame when it came to their health. That outpouring became the driving force behind her new book, It’s Probably Nothing, which calls for women to be heard and to advocate for themselves in a medical system that has too often ignored them.
“For so long, so many women haven’t been listened to by the world of medicine,” Munchetty said. “I knew this from my own experience of not being given adequate pain relief, or waiting years for a diagnosis. My motivation was to help women and people who love women to advocate better for women’s health.”
The book blends Munchetty’s personal journey with the voices of other women who have faced similar struggles, alongside expert insights from medical professionals. Its purpose, she said, is clear: to empower people to fight for their health.
“We need to be unafraid of saying how we have been weakened by our symptoms,” the BBC presenter said.
“Too often, we try to keep afloat, keep our head above water, but we don’t want to seem weak. That needs to change.”
Munchetty’s candour is striking. She describes the shame of being told her excruciating periods were “just normal,” leaving her to feel weak and whiny for struggling.
“You might as well have told me people have heart attacks while I’m having a heart attack,” she said. “Debilitating pain is serious — it may not be lifelimiting, but it is life-impacting.”
Her determination to challenge that culture led to her giving evidence in parliament, contributing to what became a Women and Equalities Committee report, published in December 2024.
The report made headlines for its stark conclusion: medical misogyny exists.
For Munchetty, seeing that phrase in black and white was transformative. “It was almost self-affirming,” she said. “We now know it’s there, so we can challenge it. Women can say: I know my body, I know there’s not enough research, and I am entitled to push for answers.”
The parliamentary report went further than acknowledgement. It called for ring-fenced funding for women’s health hubs, better training for GPs, and greater investment in research into reproductive conditions like adenomyosis and endometriosis.
It highlighted how symptoms are routinely dismissed as “normal,” delaying diagnosis and disrupting women’s careers, education and daily lives. Munchetty wrote in her book — referencing the report — that medical misogyny is not about blaming individual doctors, but about challenging a system built on insufficient research into women’s bodies.
“It gives women the language and the confidence to not just be heard, but to insist on being taken seriously,” she wrote.
Her book also tackles the additional barriers faced by women from minority communities, who may be discouraged by stigma or embarrassment from speaking about menstruation or menopause. To them, Munchetty has a clear message: “You are so much more valuable than you realise. If you don’t prioritise your health, you are lessening your ability to hold up everyone around you.”
Those featured in the book are friends, colleagues, charities and everyday women who contributed their stories, many for the first time. “I was surprised at how many friends are in that book with such powerful experiences,” Munchetty said.
“It told me all the more that we’re not speaking about it, and that it is sadly so very common.”
At a launch event for the book, contributors, family and experts filled the room with what Munchetty describes as an “electric and inspiring atmosphere.”
She said, “It was full of joy, of women who felt safe to speak up and be heard. This is not a whiny book — it’s a positive book. People felt they were part of making things better, part of this women’s health revolution.”
For Munchetty, writing the book was exhausting, but transformative, she said.
“I never thought I’d be an author. I’m a journalist. But this is journalism — facilitating people’s stories to be told powerfully and truthfully. People trusted me, and I’m proud of that.”
And Munchetty’s aim is for the book to be a tool for change: arming women with the language, confidence and strategies to advocate for their health.
“It’s not easy to admit you need help, and it’s not instinctive for women to prioritise themselves,” she said. “But this book will help you do that. It’s the silent friend who has your back and gives you strength.”
It’s Probably Nothing - Critical Conversations on the Women’s Health Crisis is now available in all good bookshops
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Williams explained that her weight challenges began after the birth of her first daughter
Serena Williams reveals she has lost more than 31lbs using a GLP-1 medication
The tennis legend says the treatment enhanced her existing healthy lifestyle
She stresses that weight loss should not change self-image or self-confidence
Serena Williams has revealed she has lost more than 31lbs after turning to a weight-loss medication, saying the treatment has transformed both her body and her mindset.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion, 43, told PEOPLE that using a GLP-1 medication — a type of injection that works by regulating appetite — has helped enhance the healthy lifestyle she already maintained through diet and exercise.
“I feel great,” Williams said. “I feel really good and healthy. I feel light physically and light mentally.”
Postpartum struggles
Williams explained that her weight challenges began after the birth of her first daughter, Alexis Olympia, in 2017. Despite training intensively and eating healthily, she found it difficult to return to her preferred weight.
“I never was able to get to the weight I needed to be, no matter what I did, no matter how much I trained,” she admitted. “It was frustrating to work so hard and not see results.”
She experienced the same plateau after giving birth to her second daughter, Adira River, in 2023. Although she initially shed weight quickly, progress soon stalled. “I never lost another pound,” she recalled.
Turning to treatment
Determined to try a new approach, Williams consulted doctors through Ro, a direct-to-patient healthcare company, and began a GLP-1 course once she had finished breastfeeding. The medication, also known as a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, is commonly marketed under brand names such as Ozempic and Mounjaro.
“I did a lot of research before I started,” she explained. “I wanted to know if it was a shortcut or if it could really help me. In the end, it felt like the right decision.”
Williams, who is now a patient ambassador for Ro, said the injections made a noticeable difference. “I lost over 31 pounds and was really excited about that weight loss.”
Feeling better than ever
The Olympic gold medallist says she now feels stronger and more energetic.
“I can do more. I’m more active. My joints don’t hurt as much. Even simple things like moving around are easier. I feel like I have a lot more energy.”
She emphasised that GLP-1 was not a substitute for discipline but a way to support her existing healthy habits. “GLP-1 helped me enhance everything I was already doing — eating healthy and working out, whether as a professional athlete or just at the gym every day.”
Confidence and body positivity
Despite her transformation, Williams stressed that her self-confidence has never depended on her size.
“Weight loss should never really change your self-image,” she said. “Women are judged about their bodies at any size, and I’m no stranger to that. I’ve always loved myself at every stage. The difference was that my body didn’t feel good carrying that extra weight after having children.”
She added that she encourages her daughters to embrace body confidence too. “It’s important to teach them to be confident at any size, just as I try to be. Looking back, whether I was smaller or heavier, I always felt confident — and I looked great too.”
Looking ahead
Williams says she plans to continue with the weekly GLP-1 injections as needed, alongside training for a half marathon. The gym remains her “favourite place to be” — and she intends to keep sharing her workouts with fans online.
“I just feel pretty good about it all,” she said.
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Seles first began noticing symptoms around five years ago
Nine-time Grand Slam winner Monica Seles diagnosed with myasthenia gravis three years ago
The 51-year-old revealed her condition ahead of this month’s US Open to raise awareness
Disease causes muscle weakness and has no known cure
Former world number one Monica Seles has revealed she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a rare neuromuscular autoimmune disease, three years ago. The 51-year-old, who won nine Grand Slam singles titles, went public ahead of the US Open to raise awareness of the condition, which causes muscle weakness and can affect multiple parts of the body.
Symptoms and diagnosis
Seles first began noticing symptoms around five years ago when she experienced double vision and struggled with coordination. “I would be playing [tennis] with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball. I was like, ‘Yeah, I see two balls,’” she told the Associated Press. These symptoms eventually led to her diagnosis, which took time for her to come to terms with.
Living with the condition
The former tennis star described the impact of the disease on her daily life as “significant” and said it was initially difficult to discuss openly. Myasthenia gravis currently has no cure, but treatments can help manage its effects. By sharing her experience, Seles hopes to use her platform to educate others.
Career highlights
Seles rose to prominence as a teenager, winning her first Grand Slam at the 1990 French Open aged 16 and claiming eight majors by 19. Her career was interrupted in 1993 when she was stabbed by a spectator during a match in Hamburg. She returned to the sport and won one more Grand Slam before retiring in 2003, having spent 178 weeks as world number one and capturing 53 career titles.