How Modern Health Trends Are Making You SICK – The Truth EXPOSED | The Masoom Minawala Show
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She had acne, hair fall, and she was just low on confidence and she was like, you know, I'm supposed to be getting married and I'm not going to do that because I just don't have any. What's one healthy thing that people are doing every day, but it's actually ruining their health and gota people think that as long as they're having millets, everything is hunky dory. It's not. If you actually started having baja every day, you would definitely have issues. You know there's an interesting thing that is said in Ayurveda that after giving birth if a woman takes care of herself she can recover from all the illnesses she ever had until that day. There's a power ingredient in Ayurveda which is but isn't it like literally drinking fat? It is literally drinking fat. And who said it's a bad thing? That's an outdated narrative to say that fat makes you fat. Fat makes you fit. If you're not able to sleep at night, half a teaspoon white makan. It'll really make you sleep like a baby. What's something that's amazing for our brain? Jumpy. It's got nothing to do with your hair and everything to do with your scalp and your brain health and hormonal balance. Is there a practice rooted in Ayurveda that could help with fertility? The most important hack that I will tell everybody and I don't know why it's not spoken about. In this episode, I sit down with holistic health coach Akang Sha Pande to unpack the strange but bizarre health hacks rooted in Ayurveda that can have the most incredible impact on our life. Let's dive into it. So, I've been watching your content and what I absolutely love is how you kind of blend traditional Indian things along with modern insights and kind of, you know, come together with these bizarre health hacks and that's kind of what I want to talk about because I found so many of them so interesting and a lot of them felt like stuff that my grandmoms have told me about, my granddad has told me about, my mom continues to tell me about my uh mother-in-law is a naturopath so she's you know very very focused on well she believes in naturopathy and you know but she but she knows so much so I've come from that world and I know that today when there's a health problem that's kind of what I turn to first and I thought it would be very interesting to kind of dive into that and I think the things you talk about are so unique so I'm actually going to dive right in um right that there's a lot spoken about what is that first drink that you have in the morning and something that you talk about is drinking ghee in warm water. Yeah. Where is that coming from? So it has its roots in Ayurveda. Okay. And um there's so many practitioners you know healthcare practitioners even in the west who are actually uh embibing it. Now we have to understand our gut has produces something known as SCFAs, short- chain fatty acids and these are what actually help bring your immunity up. Okay, this is what actually makes your gut lining smooth. This is what allows food to pass through easily and the best part is that ghee has short- chain fatty acids. So when you have it first thing in the morning, it's almost like you are putting a lining on your gut. You're priming the gut to behave in a certain way. I always say the first thing that you have in the morning really sets the tone for the rest of the day. Cuz a lot of people they wake up feeling hollow or acidic or gassy in the morning and if you can nip it in the bud then and there you will be surprised how smooth the rest of your day will be. And you know there's that old saying in charak Samita that says beg, borrow or buy but have ghee every day. Oh really? Yeah. That's how important ghee is in our culture. Um and I'm just so glad that the world is waking up to it. But that is how important it is. That's why we have ghee in our ladus, ghee on our parathas, ghee over dal chaval, ghee in our kiti. If someone's sick also, we make sure they we give them. But isn't it like literally drinking fat? It is literally drinking fat. And who said it's a bad thing, right? Uh I think that's an old narrative. That's an outdated narrative to say that fat makes you fat, fat makes you fit. Do you know that your neurons which are your brain cells have a lining of fat? That is what allows you to be receptive. So the stronger it is, the more fat it has, the faster your brain functions. So your brain directly needs high quality fat. Your sex hormones require fat, right? If you want to absorb vitamin A and D, they're fat soluble. So if you're not having fat, you'll have weaker bones. you'll have, you know, poor quality skin because vitamin A is great for skin, vitamin D is great for strong bones. So, ghee kind of gives you all of those benefits. And what are some other fats that we know of and kind of are a part of our regular lives as coconut? Coconut is amazing. Tender coconut, your, you know, mature coconut, uh, coconut milk, great in the south, right? Yeah. The coconut chutney. Coconut chutney. Yes, coconut chutney. Of course, there's avocados. Then there are your nuts, right? All about butter and cheese are favorite things. Of course, makan. White makan. That is amazing. It It's very good. In fact, if you're not able to sleep at night, half a teaspoon white makan. Really? It's very good. It'll really make you sleep like a baby. In fact, you know how And you just have it raw. Yeah, you can just have it raw. Um, and what does that do? So that basically so basically what happens is um if you're if you're somebody whose sleep breaks a lot at night then having this actually smoons your digestion. Most people don't realize that if they're having broken sleep it's because their digestion is not okay. So this really soothes out the digestion and it makes you sleep like a baby and next day morning you know you have great like digestion and then you kind of like feel fresher your energy level. It's so crazy you say this because that's also why you don't sleep in pregnancy. Yeah. And I had such a hard time sleeping in my pregnancy. But you know what would put me to sleep is having an ant acid. Yeah. So having that ant acid or in my case even a hanging works very well as an antacid. That would just 10 minutes and I would sleep because it was actually easing my digestion. Yeah. That is the number one reason people do not have good sleep and they don't realize it. And you know depending on what time of the night your sleep breaks it tells you what's wrong with your body. Oh really? Yeah. So if you if your sleep breaks between 2 and 4:00 a.m. then chances are that your liver is under stress. If you are unable to sleep between 10 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. then that basically means that you're having some kind of like excess heat. you'll probably have some sort of acidity in the body and if you're not able to sleep past 4:00 a.m. which by the way 4:00 a.m. is brahurat you should ideally try and get up then uh but if you're really having trouble sleeping then you know large intestine could be an issue. So all of this like small nuances, right? Nobody talks about this. We're not taught about it in school. We should be. But how did you learn about all this? And how did you educate yourself and how do you know so much? Because your your knowledge is like incredible. I've So I'm currently obsessed with the gut by the way. I'll tell you a bit about my journey later, which is why I've been having a lot of these conversations and I can see that your your knowledge is very deep. So yeah, I think my journey started with modern clinical nutrition. So I'm a trained clinical nutritionist and but I started to realize very quickly that in actual practice um a lot of the things that we've been taught doesn't actually apply. For example, somebody has IBS, one of the best fruits recommended for them is berries, but they're not able to digest that. We always say that if you want to be healthy and strong, you have to eat protein. Most people with gut issues and hormonal issues cannot digest the amount of protein that is required. So everything that modern nutrition tells you fails in the face of gut and hormonal issues. And that's when my journey started, right? And and I always went back to what was taught at home. And I realized that my mom just intuitively will never ask me to have raw fruits if I'm having gas, right? And I started to question why is this the case? And why are these so many like common beliefs? Everybody knows it. Everybody you know follows it in some form. But then like where is it coming? Where is it coming from right? And I think that's where my formal education in sort of Ayurveda and all that started. So because we all follow Ayurveda but if you ask somebody what is the classical text book for Ayurveda? They probably don't know right. So there's a lot of stuff said about Ayurveda but there are very few who are actually following it from the classical textbooks. So did you go to them? Yeah. Soakamita these are the you know OG's. This is where you get to see the maximum information. Um and then you once you've read them you realize that so much on the internet that is sold as Ayurveda is actually not Ayurveda. And I I'll give you an example oil pooling. They say oil pooling should be done with coconut oil. That's actually the biggest myth because the charak samita clearly says that oil pulling should only be can be done with a lot of substances but for a normal adult it should be done with sesame oil. Sesame oil is the best oil for oral health and in fact coconut oil can be detrimental for your digestion. Oh my god. Yeah. So sesame oil, black coldress sesame oil specifically. So the this is from the source itself, right? Right. And it's just so important for us to have access to all that authentic information. And uh very soon you start to kind of see patterns also. And that's how my interest started because I think I feel in that sense people relate because they are also like that right they have their moms and grandmoms telling them something but they've been taught this scientific way of looking at things. So when those two come together it's just like an aha moment you know and you're like oh yeah you know that so true so I was telling you about my experience but I wanted to ask you what is this obsession with hing especially in the Indian household does it really solve as much as they say it does as a potato yeah it's uh such a powerful um drug in terms of improving the peristalsis it's antis-pasmotic basically so peristtoalsis is the natural movement of the muscles that allows food to go down, right? And Hing actually allows for that to happen smoothly and it is a powerhouse. In fact, so many classical ayurvedic medications and formulations have hing as their main star character. Like one of the biggest things like you say hingoli, right? Hingoli is such a common thing in most Indian households. The uh classical formulation. So the star ingredient is hing and then there are other spices that actually help with movement of food. So if someone is suffering from acidity would they would they rather have a pharmacy bought ant acid or would they rather have a hanging? Actually if you're suffering from bloating heing is the best if you're suffering from acidity fennel is the best which coming to fennel. So I've heard that chewing fennel after meals really helps with digestion. I think we've all been to a restaurant and kind of been served fennel. It's it's just a part of our culture. Is that true or false? It is 100% true. Fennel, especially with rock sugar, which is mishi. So, you usually see this in combination, right? It's very good for your digestion. It brings down the acidity and it actually brings down inflammation. So, it's very good for the gastrointestinal tract in general and uh there is the right way to have fennel also because a lot of people have uh fennel water and they try to they love sipping it through the day. I always recommend against that because too much can also cause like excess prolactin. But um the best way to have it is in chewing it after meals along with a little bit of misery. Both have a beautiful cooling regulating effect on your digestion. You can also turn uh fennel into soft sharbat. Great way to end acidity. It's especially great for the summers. What is the recipe for that? So you can take a little bit of soft, cuss, black pepper, uh, elichi and mishi. Blend it together and just take half a teaspoon, put it in water and drink. It tastes yum and it's very good for acidity. Interesting. I've actually never heard of that one by the way. What's your take on trfala which is an ancient ayurvedic medicine. Yeah. So trfila is great uh for people who are having gut health problems but the problem is that people have forgotten how to have it. Okay. And instead of having trla like the medication that is supposed to be in the right dosage with the right carrier. Okay. Carrier means it can be mixed with raisins. It can be mixed with uh ghee, it can be mixed with castor oil, warm water. There are many ways to have thrift fla and each of them has a very specific impact on your gut. So instead of focusing on how it should be had, people have just decided that thrift fla is great. So they're going to keep on having it. But I mean it's usually found in a medicine form right now. It's actually supposed to be a powdered form and then now it has been turned into a capsule. Yes. By a lot of people. And the thing is if you have thrift fla for too long it actually causes excess dryness in your gut and it will it's a dependency causing drug you know. So yes is great but how are you having it? Is it right for your gut type? That is so important because if you are somebody who has excessive gassiness, constipation, the way you take thrift fla is very different from somebody who is having digestive issues, acidity versus somebody who has very sluggish digestion. So three, you know, completely different ways of tackling and for the same thing. It's a it's like ghee also, right? Putting it on top of your food has a different impact. Having it first thing in the morning has a different impact. Having it last thing in the night has a different effect. And tell us about the different impacts. So when you're having it with your food, it improves the absorption of vitamin A and D. When you have it first thing in the morning, it actually primes your gut because it's fat first. It keeps your blood sugar levels stable and keeps your digestion in check. If you have it at night, it helps with making you sleep better. There are so many people that are struggling with sleep right now. Yeah. What are three hacks that you would give them to sleep better? Okay. The most important hack that I will tell everybody okay and it it has multiple benefits and I don't know why it's not spoken about abhanga have you heard of it no okay everybody does it in some form or the other they've done it at some point in their life but they have just not you know we not talked about it like we talk about chumpy okay okay abhanga is full body massage so you do a full body massage at home it's a self massage that you do before you take a bath I'm telling you m personal guarantee you will not need a moisturizer. And I'm saying this because my clients have come back telling me akasha, I don't need a moisturizer anymore because I do abha every single day. And you know how they say don't quote me on it. I'm saying quote me on it because literally it is so good for your skin and for your sleep. Okay? And especially before you sleep if you can do paanga and karnabyanga. Okay? Pad is your feet. Karn is your ears. Both of them are you know directly connected to your vagus nerve. Vagus nerve is goes from your stomach up to your brain and it relaxes your body puts you in rest and digest mode and it helps you sleep better. It is killer like just I would say try it for 5 days and if you don't see the difference change my name like I that's the kind of you know like uh confidence I have on all of this. So that is one thing that I highly recommend. Um the second thing you can actually do is have chamomile tea. Chamomile tea has been scientifically proven and also like it's something that uh we use in ayurvea as well. So chamomile tea is something that's uh very good. So the last thing can actually be ghee or white makan and how is that to be consumed? So uh you so ideally you have half teaspoon or 1/4 teaspoon in warm milk. If you cannot digest warm milk then you have it in warm water. And that's how you should like kind of end your day. makan in warm water. Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah. Because uh whenever you're having fat, it's important for it to have a carrier. That's how it'll be, you know, metabolized properly. So, if I'm eating nuts in general, not in the night, but in the daytime. So, nuts are slightly different because they have fiber also and you have soaked it ideally, right? So, they they are they work differently. This is pure fat. What's one healthy thing healthy thing that people are doing every day but it's actually ruining their health and gut health? Many things I two on the top of my head um excessive intake of protein. People are obsessed with protein and I cannot tell you the number of women who come to me saying heyra I'm having 30 g of protein as suggested and I'm struggling with bloating with constipation. That's one. And the second thing that people don't realize is if you have gut health issues, which means if you have a sensitive gut, if you're already struggling, bloating, acidity is a, you know, constant problem. And you go and you train and do HIIT and, you know, very heavy lifting in the gym, it actually worsens. You have to get to a stage where you don't have gut health problems to actually start seeing benefits. So these are two um I would say golden rules of modern fitness which completely backfire when it comes to dealing with gut and hormones right and I have so many case studies of that. Um now I want to ask you about some items that are ubiquitous in Indian households right like jaggery how does that play a role good bad ugly I have kids and everyone says I mean some say well jaggery is really good for the bones some say that jaggery is just it's it's it's a form of sugar it might be unrefined sugar but it's still sugar which is not good what's the stand okay so let me talk about jaggery So in Indian villages uh a lot of Indian villages the thing that they do in summers is they'll keep a mutka of water which is your clay pot and next to that small cubes of jaggery so that if anybody is passing through the village on a hot summer day you can take a bite of jaggery and drink some water from the matka and instantly feel energized okay and refreshed. So jaggery actually has thermmorreulative properties okay and it has of course minerals. The problem is that now we're all so scared of sugar that we think that jaggery is going to cause some like serious BP diabetes something like that. Nothing like that is going to happen. Moderation is good. You should consume it in fact and um like I'll tell you we do this gut reset program right and we give you everything that modern nutrition tells you that you shouldn't have. We give you sugar. It is a It is a must that you're supposed to have. Okay. Uh we give you rice. It is a must that you're supposed to have. So carbs, sugar, um you know, uh all the things that you're basically told that is, you know, scary or bad for your health. Those are things that we actively give because depending on the sweetener, the effect it has on your body is very different. So misher rock sugar is cooling in nature. Jaggery depending on how it's combined can be cooling or warming in nature. Okay. Honey acts like a catalyst. So honey has a very specific property that when you combine it with a certain herb, it increases the potency of that herb. That's how aya looks at it. So when you you know mix mullet with honey or you mix pepper with honey, you're actually trying to make it a lot more bioactive. So what is the best way to have honey? Honey should not be heated. The best way to have honey is a spoonful in um I would say like room temperature water. You put it to like mix it and then you can sip on it. Especially in monsoons, it's very good. It boosts your immunity. And also the quality of honey is very important. Try and find local you know honey. So nothing everything with a tag that says organic does that cut it? No, it doesn't actually. you should look for. How do you ever know if a product that you're having like this is it's a real struggle. This is a real struggle today because I mean green washing, organic washing, like all of it. It's it's a real thing. Like as someone someone like me, right, who's not deeply informed, but I'd say mildly informed. Yeah. I read the organic tag and I'm like, "Oh, yeah, that's good for me." Yeah. It I think you have to really understand where it's coming from. And if you can if you know where you can trace it back to that's best. That's how I like to look for honey also. Um and also like if the if your honey is local then it gives you more properties because when it's local it has the right kind of bioenzymes to help you adapt to the environment. Yeah. When you have it. So yeah. What about achar? Achar is uh a great source of fermented food that you know we eat regularly. I don't think we think too much about it, but it's such a great source of B12, which people are deficit in a lot these days. Um, and because it's fermented, it's great for the gut. Of course, if you have acidity or if you have like serious flare-ups, then pickle may not be a great option immediately. But they are a, you know, damn good answer to what we are obsessing over, which is kimchi. Yes. Or sauerkraut. Right. Yeah. So achar and we have so many different kinds of achar. We have achar that we put in brine. We have achar on which we put tarkka. We have achar that we actually keep as preserve you know. So we have different varieties and they're all combined with different things and all of them are like very good for the gut. Is there like any one achar that you've seen like have amazing results for some people like I know with kimchi people swear by it because it really helps them with Yeah. Is there a specific achar? I think uh whenever you make an achar with sarumo right that is actually very good for digestion it's just such a great way to ferment also like if you know of kanji which is like that fermented drink it's a probiotic of course my mom has it every day yeah so it's a probiotic that uses mustard as a way to you know grow good bacteria so mustard is a really great agent so cersum cersum kale or you know the rye those seeds they're very good what about millets Right. There's javar, there's ragi, there's bajra. How do you know which one to have and how do you plan that? Yeah. Millets have an order of digestibility. Okay. Okay. So, I did not know that. Millets have it. Dals have it. So, uh that means they're easy to digest and tough to digest. So, the easy to digest would be ragi and chir. They are the ones that are most staple. Then depending on season, you can have bajra, which is like in winter you have bajra. And then on special occasions you can have Rajkira which is amaranth right. Um and if if you actually started having bajra every day you would definitely have issues. And even with millets right people think that as long as they're having millets everything is hunky dory. It's not. Your millets need to be combined with good amount of makan. Okay? Because without that it doesn't get digested. And if you're having millets more than two to three times a week, and I'm not even saying two to I literally mean two to three meals in a week, chances are that you'll start getting some kind of bloating, constipation, and it just silently lurks. Millets are good source. But in Ayurveda, they are known as kudh dhana. That means um poor quality grain. And poor quality because it is very hard to digest. So what is a good quality grain? Rice. Because it's easy to digest. H. So, so if someone is having your typical Indian meal, it would be your recommendation for them to have rice sabzi dal or a millet sabzi dal. I think you have to rotate because only then you'll get the biodiversity. But um what I'm trying to say is that don't overindex on either. Some people have completely overindexing is a problem of our generation. They are like now I'm not having rice. But that's cuz we're so busy, right? We want an easy solution. What is hacks? Yeah. What is the, you know, where is the birth of this word hacks coming from? That's true. It's just that we want we want a quick solution to every single thing. We don't want to ride it out. We don't want biodiversity in our decisions, in our food. Yeah. And the that's not coming to bite us back also. Yeah. Absolutely. No, for sure. Very interesting conversation by the way. Really really enjoying it. What is one food that is present in Indian households but is actually really probably harming us? I think uh there's no food that is harming us as much as it is our mentality of how we use it. Okay? Because I feel like everybody is just um obsessed with fighting over what is the best ingredient. Okay? So it's a bit like imagine you want to buy a car and for one hour there's a debate you're watching a debate of Ferrari versus Lamborghini and then a G after watching you realize okay Ferrari is the best yeah that's what I'm going to buy and then you take a moment and you realize but my budget is only 10 lakh rupees you know but my use case is only dropping my kids to school but my biggest concern is mileage so it's like the decision to eat precedes what we are eating precedes whether we need it or not we have forgotten how to listen to our bodies. In fact, when I say listen to your body, what does that mean? I have no idea. I'm going to ask you, how do I listen to my body? Yeah. So, when you're listening to your body, your body's constantly talking to you. Your burps, if you're having more than couple of burps in a day, it means that you have a very dry gut. You need to take care of it. If you're pooping more than twice a day, then it means that you have gut issues. If you're having cravings, that means you have some sort of like a gut issue. white lines on your nails, zinc deficiency, um you know, dandruff in your hair, that also means that improper sebum production. So, there's some kind of imbalance. Um you know, cracking joints, uh if you have constant cracking knees, for example, it basically means that there's too much pressure. They're weightbearing joints, so your knees are having too much pressure. So, your body is constantly talking to you through these little signs, and we have forgotten how to listen. What is a food you recommend for low energy and energy crashes? Cuz this is a this is quite a problem of our generation, right? That we eat a meal and then we kind of have are dealing with a crash that comes right after. Um feeling tired all the time. It's also to do a lot to do with our lifestyle. I was traveling yesterday. I had to fly out to Bombay very urgently. So I flew in uh day before at night. I spent the whole day shooting. I'm going back to meet my family and my parents and I haven't spent a minute with them. I finished with my shoot at 11:00 p.m. Got home at 11:30 and then I spend 11:30 to 1:00 a.m. with my parents and my brother and my bahavi because there's no other time. And I had to wake up for my flight at 5:00 a.m. So I did that slept from 1:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. Obviously I mean you know what that's going to do to my body. And again slept on the flight for about an hour and a half. came here, my kids are here, so of course I can't be resting and then kind of went home, changed, got ready and came here because of course I had committed to this shoot and yesterday was something that came up very last minute. So when I was getting ready to come here, I obviously had no energy in me. What do you do at that point? Also, what do you eat at that point? Right? I think two parts to the question. Yeah. So I think there are two things. A lot of times when um you face a sudden crash during the day and you suddenly feel like oh I just have to sleep right now right I know this feeling that's your digestion calling that means the detoxification process that was supposed to happen in your sleep the day before hasn't happened properly so your body is literally asking you to sleep so that your muscles can relax and the detoxification can happen okay it's also why a lot of people keep yawning through the day and they're like you know why am I yawning same thing. And during such a time, the first most important thing that you need to do is hydrate because water is the best way to get things moving and to give you back that. And then after that, of course, you can have a little bit of snacks. Um, I personally actually recommend Naria laddoo. Okay? It's got fats, it's got like all the goodness. You can combine it with some nuts, dry fruits. Great pickme up. Very good for digestion. Um, and it kind of balances all of the issues that you can potentially have. So, because of my work and my lifestyle, I travel a lot and I obviously I feel bloated, feel like an energy crash, catching up with sleep, different time zones. Is there something I could be having while I'm traveling that could help? Yeah, there's a power ingredient in Ayurveda which is salt or dried ginger powder. You take 1/4 teaspoon, put it in warm water and you sip it through the flight and you will see that you will actually come out with no bloating. It'll keep things moving inside, you know, because you're sitting in one place and it's congested. It'll keep everything moving inside. No gas, no bloating. Something that I travel with. It's a huge hack that I follow. Um, especially a lot of times people land and they're feeling groggy, irritable, sometimes a headache, feeling gassy, all of that kind of gets rid of. And actually going back to the low energy conversation, right? A lot of the times I can I'm I have become more in touch with my body and I think we all are kind of getting there, right, with more conversations like these. I feel like my energy is low. It could also be mental health, right, at times. Yeah. Where you kind of feel this crash and it could be physical or mental. Yeah. And you're looking for I'm mindful about what I'm going to consume at that point. What is a good meal to be having? Right? Because what you're what you're tempted to have for that comfort is a pizza, right? You're you're craving like that carb heavy. But what is a good meal? Because there there have been times where I'm even eating our roti dal sabzi and even that kind of doesn't work well. So is there something that could offset that offset that crash in energy? You know what? Actually, I would ask you to take a step back and really understand what are your cravings telling you about yourself. Okay? Because in this moment of crash, some people crave sweet, some people crave spicy, some people crave crunchy. And each of them has a psychological meaning. Whenever you want something sweet and warm or fudgy, right? You're actually looking for love. And I don't mean this in a, you know, like a cheesy way. It really means that you probably have not been in touch with somebody for a long time. You've been working alone. Uh and then you really feel like you know a warm conversation with a friend or something can actually take your mind off right your body is actually giving you a sign like that. Um if you're craving something crunchy it means that you are doing some kind of drudgerous work and then you just want like a break you know you want something uh that really exciting or interesting. If you want something salty, then it basically means that your energy levels are going down, right? And you want that pickme up. So each of these cravings actually means something. And I would encourage people to figure out that and eat accordingly because when you are craving, um, don't deny yourself, but also don't, you know, like completely let go, you know, having a little bit of what you really feel like having, that's also what makes life interesting, right? Of course. Absolutely. Things don't have to be 100%. Of course. Absolutely. Yeah, I agree with you on that. You spoke about hydration which is very interesting, right? what role does water play and um how does it help like for me I've you know I've been having this awarenum thing cuz I recently had a baby she's 7 months old now and it really really helped me in that time like I would genuinely feel like you know items that were difficult to digest I was able to digest it if I like had two cups of water And now I just feel like my digestive system is addicted to this water. I I almost feel dependent on it. So I would say that uh until one year postpartum it's okay to kind of feel addicted to this water. It's also required for your because is that because our digestive system is slow. It's very weak and most people don't realize that especially after giving birth women's digestive system takes a huge hit which is why a lot of times women when they eat anything and everything just as normal they start to face issues very soon after. Uh so it's very important to be mindful of your digestion and only then include foods. This is so crazy that you say this because my journey with my gut health started after my first 6 months after my first baby cuz that's when I felt immense bloating symptoms of IBS u you know I'm just not feeling good physically mentally energy crashes and I didn't I didn't realize it had anything to do with postpartum yeah it has a huge role in fact the first 10 days the first 40 days and the first six uh 90 days 10 days 40 days 90 days these are critical and how you introduce foods at these specific times can really make or break your digestion. And you know there's an interesting thing that is said in Ayurveda that after giving birth if a woman takes care of herself she can recover from all the illnesses she ever had until that day. Wow. That's how powerful that period is. That's how receptive your body is at that time you know. So it is such an important part um of recovery and your gut is at the center of everything at that time. We talk about muscle recovery, you know, we talk about a lot of other things like mental health. I'm not saying all of that is not important, but the most important thing is your gut because that is the foundation. That is what will allow you to digest the protein and sleep better and all of those things. Very eye opening. What's something that's amazing for our brain health? Jumpy. And a lot of people think that you should do chumpy because it's great for your hair. Yes. It's got nothing to do with your hair and everything to do with your scalp and your brain health and hormonal balance. In fact, if you're in a bad mood, just do a great chumpy and you will instantly feel better. And there are five important marma points or nerve endings on your head that you should stimulate to get the maximum benefits. So, the first one is actually right here at the start of your hairline. The next one is two fingertips behind that. And then the next one is two fingertips behind that. Okay? and another two fingertips behind that. Right? And the last one is four fingers from below the nape of your neck. And you can literally like, you know, while you're here, you can actually go in circular motion and you'll almost immediately feel the difference. And is this something that could work for kids as well? This is absolutely something that you should do for your kids. In fact, mothers who have kids, they should be more active and vigilant in terms of making sure that they are pressing these points. not too harsh especially if it's like less than two year old but yeah definitely something that they should be aware of is there something else in the space for kids health or kids nutrition that you think is really important or something that I know you have a baby as well is there something that you are doing yeah I think um the most important thing for kids is to introduce foods like I'm basically talking about babies and toddlers right now right to to introduce foods gradually because I think there's so much talk about giving them the best all kinds of food and giving them lots of nuts and you know yogurt and everything and but we're jumping to a lot of these foods too soon and then it becomes very difficult to understand what went wrong because then kids come with like skin issues and they come with digestive issues and kids having constipation. So gradual introduction of foods and there's a way to do that also right. So there's a right time to introduce like fruits for example there's the right time to introduce melons there's a right time to uh introduce yogurt and all of these if we are mindful of it it's um it can really strengthen their gut. What is a daily practice that you think everyone should be doing every single day? Naval oiling. It costs you nothing and it has compounding benefits for your digestion, for your sleep and for your overall health. When in the day do you have to do this? Um, you should actually have a small bottle of ghee next to your bed. That's how I do it so that you don't forget. So, you habit stack it and you take a few drops, you put it on your navl and you massage in clockwise direction and just see the effect it has on your sleep and just see the effect it has on your digestion. It's excellent. Ghee is what I recommend. Um and you can just keep it and do it every day before you sleep. Have you heard of um a castor oil pack? Yes. What does that do? Very important for women who are facing cramps. So castor oil or erandikail as we know it is actually a gamechanging oil. So you can see that it consistency is really viscous, really thick. All right. And um when you actually apply it around your tummy, it's actually very good for women pre- period to get rid of PMS, to get rid of cramps. There's a scientific reason to it. In one word, if I had to just, you know, tell you the technical term, it basically controls vata in your body. Okay, it brings down the vata. So the vata which is supposed to flow downwards, okay, which uh allows, you know, for periods to happen easily. It controls that, right? But it has many other benefits which is just generally castor oil is just full of antioxidants and it's so great for your skin and you know for your body in general. Is there a practice rooted in Ayurveda that could help with fertility? So fertility is not just for women, it's also for men, right? So inclusion of sesame in the women's diet and urad dal in the man's diet. Okay. It's very very good for the general health of the uterus and the sperm and it really you know uh strengthens the body and makes it ready you know for conception. So um I feel like people don't take sesame so seriously. Um they probably have it during uh makers and then they forget about it. So in winters you're definitely supposed to have it but there are so many other interesting ways you can have it through the year in small quantities and it's a game changer for hormones where the stress generation is there something that we can do to help with that I'll give you a hack that you can do in 30 seconds that'll really help so wherever you're sitting right now right um if you have a little bit of sesame oil or ghee in your hands great if you don't no problem try it right now so there are three points in your ear that you can massage right now do it four to five times and you will instantly feel relaxed Next. Okay. So, you take the first two fingers below your ear and you go in circular motion. And then you take uh your first two fingers go to the top of your ear and then massage here. And the last you hold your ear and you pull it outwards up from top to bottom. And even as you're doing it, you should be able to feel the relaxation. You'll actually you can actually feel the tingle. And this is something you do four to five times and it immediately relaxes you. Maybe you're having a stressful day. You're sitting in your computer and you're just like, you know, I need a break. There's obviously you can do breathing exercise, but this directly impacts your parasympathetic nervous system. So it's an immediate impact. Very interesting. Do you have any like success stories that you'd like to share? I think um one of the you know there was this girl who had come to me. She had been struggling for almost 2 and a half years and she had tried everything. All pathies, all uh kinds of diets, keto, paleo, vegan, vegan especially, it's a crowd favorite when it comes to gut health. She tried everything and she just kept on losing weight. She had acne, hair fall, and she was just low on confidence and she was like, you know, I'm supposed to be getting married. I'm supposed to be meeting guys and I'm not going to do that because I just don't have any confidence. I can't hold a conversation. I'm just falling like I have fatigue. I'm not able to sleep properly. You know, period issues. And the thing is all of these seem like they are completely in unrelated. For one, you go to a gastro, for one, you go to a, you know, endocrinologist. For one, you go to but then they are all actually part of one whole system. And the moment you understand how your system functions, it really changes. And we were able to kind of help her gain back weight, reverse all of this in 9 to 12 months. And I remember she called me and she told me, "Hey, Akanga, I met somebody two weeks ago and I'm getting married next month and I just wanted to kind of thank you because I'm able to live a normal life." I really thought that, you know, when I was in the trenches that it's never going to get better because no matter what I tried, it didn't happen. And I see so many people stuck in the cycle trying and trying and trying and trying so many things and it, you know, finding the one thing that really works for you, that moment, you know, that's really a game changer. It's liberating for sure and it's a relief. Yeah. On so many for sure. It's been amazing kind of sitting down with you and getting so many insights and knowing that all of these are based in ancient Ayurveda and our culture which is absolutely incredible. You've really enlightened me with so many topics today. Thank you so so much for being here on the show. Thank you so much for having me. It was so great talking about it. Thank you so much for watching or listening all the way through. I'd love for you to hit that subscribe button. It helps this show reach more incredible people like you and most importantly get closer to our goal to build an incredible community with the Masumi Navala Show. My goals with this show are audacious and you all are the most important part of this journey. I want to create for you. So tell me what you want to hear. What stories could change your life? I read every single comment and your reflections honestly help us shape where this show goes next. I'll see you in the next one.
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