Payal Kothari embarked on her health and wellness journey at a very

young age, as she struggled with gut imbalances. Her interest in self-healing
attracted her to health and preventive care and inspired her to acquire
national and international certifications as an integrative nutritionist and gut
health coach. She has over 250 published articles under her belt from
prestigious publications such as The Times of India, Vogue, Indian Express,
Hindustan Times, GQ and ET Panache. She is the founder of an all-natural
gut wellness range of products called Gutavatar and the creator and founder
of India’s only holistic health and wellness nutrition school, INUEN, which
certifies students to be integrative nutrition health coaches.
Payal is one of the most sought-after speakers on gut wellness and
integrative nutrition at schools, colleges, universities, corporate offices and
several prestigious forums. She is a master coach who ensures faster and
sustainable results from her workshops. Her workshops help people reboot
their gut, lose excess body weight and lead unconditional happy lives. Her
12-week gut reboot programme has helped hundreds of clients globally.

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 Praise for the book
In The Gut, Payal has beautifully captured the importance of how our gut
plays an important role in the well-being of our entire body and lives. This
book will help you realize that good health begins from the inside. The Gut
is greatly informative and Payal has given simple and easy-to-follow
solutions to our everyday concerns. My family and I love the range of
Gutavatar products, which have helped us build our immunity and health.
—Dolly Ritesh Sidhwani, Entrepreneur

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 Published by
Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd 2021
7/16, Ansari Road, Daryaganj
New Delhi 110002

Copyright © Payal Kothari 2021

The views and opinions expressed in this book are the authors’ own and the facts are as reported by
her which have been verified to the extent possible, and the publishers are not in any way liable for
the same.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-93-90547-01-2

First impression 2021

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent,
resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated, without the publisher’s prior consent, in any form of
binding or cover other than that in which it is published.

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 CONTENTS
1. Title Page
2. Copyright Page
3. Contents
4. Introduction
5. Part I
Gut and Your Weight Loss Connections
1. 1. Getting Started on Your Gut Journey
2. 2. Everything You (Did Not) Know About Your Gut
3. 3. Meet the 100 Trillion Game Changers in Your Gut
4. 4. You’ve Got the Magic in You!
5. 5. You’ve ‘Gut’ a Second Brain
6. 6. Gut Health and Fad Diets: At Loggerheads
7. 7. Your Diet Failed, Not You
8. 8. Bacterial Takeover
9. 9. Leaky Gut and Brain: The Signs
10.
10. Gut and Your Immunity
11.
11.You’ve ‘Gut’ Connections!
12.
12. Your Weight Loss Goals: The Secret Solution
6. Part II
Access Your Gut Feelings, Intuitions and the Subconscious Mind
13.
1. Your Gut Feeling: Are You Listening?
14.
2. The Gut and Your Subconscious Mind
15.
3. Your Gut, Love and Karma: The Three Propellers of Health,
Passion and Courage
16.
4. Causes of Chronic Health Problems
17.
5. Decide: The Magic Word
18.
6. Modern Science Meets Tradition
19.
7. Prebiotics and Probiotics: The Game Changers
 20.
8. The Seven-Day Gut Reboot Diet
21.
9. 50 Cheat Codes
22.
10. Healthy Recipes to Love
7. Acknowledgements

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 INTRODUCTION
This book is a reflection of my own health and soul-searching journey. I
sincerely wish that it helps you resolve confusion with regards to mental
and physical illnesses, holistically, from its root cause—your gut. The book
will also help you dive deeper and unfold the mysterious galaxy of the 100
trillion microbes inside your gut and their connections with the rest of your
body.
Through this book, I intend to show you how an integrative, preventive
and bioindividual nutrition plan can help address your daily nagging
problems of acidity, bloating, obesity, depression, thyroid, heart diseases
and even cancer.
From debunking expensive and dangerous fad diets to suggesting ways to
boost immunity during a pandemic, this book covers a wide range of
subjects. Packed with new, bold and refreshing possibilities, every chapter
contains nuggets of authentic information that I have learnt/acquired over
35 years and which I have applied on myself and my clients. I have tried to
relearn and rediscover the secret scrolls of nutrition and wellness, and clear
out the fog of marketing and dependency on medication toxicity, to the best
of my ability.
This book offers to-do lists for almost everything you need to transform
your life. It empowers you to rightfully take back the power to heal your
body, naturally. Using simple yet efficient resources and tools such as
replacing medicine with food, mastering the art of listening to your gut
feelings, breaking up with sugar and gluten, choosing meals of your own
liking and so on, you can become the master (read CEO) of your health.

MY PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY

My mentor once told me that being an empath is a gift—an aching yet
beautiful gift that I use as a medium to transform thousands of lives. I am
not sure if I chose the profession or if the profession chose me. My gut
feeling goes with the latter.
The most motivating factor whilst writing this book has been the ease of
the process and how connecting with it on a subconscious and gut level
broadened my horizons as an integrative nutritionist and a gut health coach.
 Given half a chance, your body can heal itself—this belief has
transformed my life. My journey as a research nerd has helped me on
different levels and a few lines of introduction may not do justice to my
personal transformation as a coach. However, I am willing to take that
chance. This entrepreneurial journey as a coach has let me employ empathy
and overcome many hurdles, helping me become the person I am today.
I wrote this book during the lockdown, when we were faced with the
biggest challenge of our times, COVID-19—the pandemic that shook the
world. Being at home brought back old, unpleasant memories—from being
a sick two-year-old with tuberculosis (TB) to a teen who was body shamed,
from having to undergo multiple in vitro fertilizations (IVFs) in my 30s to
facing huge financial struggles. I suppressed these emotions, which affected
my gut and emotional wellness, in the long run.
It dawned upon me that it was the antibiotics I was prescribed for TB that
destroyed the ecosystem of my digestive tract. The imbalance made me a
malnourished child, with food intolerances. The very sight of food would
make me cringe. Even if I did manage to eat one-fourth of the meal, I would
throw up. All of this made me the poster child for low immunity, infections,
viruses and gut-related problems. It was a bittersweet journey of recovery.
Puberty brought along with it a surge of hormones and sugar cravings to
an otherwise malnourished body. All the white sugar, sodas, cakes and junk
food and without any effort, I moved towards obesity. I gained 25 kg in
three years (between the age of 13 and 16). I was out of shape. From being
a student with a double promotion, I deteriorated to failing miserably in
school. I was living a vicious cycle, suffering an emotional rollercoaster,
thanks to all the sugar and junk food. I was battling mental issues such as
anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, fear and brain fog, and I was
perpetually hungry. I felt helpless, but I was also done being a victim of
sugar. Finally, I said no to syrups, syringes and supplements. I was done
crying and decided to take my health into my own hands. Yoga and
meditation helped me release stress and integrative nutrition helped me heal
my gut.
I eliminated processed foods, such as breads, cakes, pizzas and deep fried
spicy snacks from my diet. I began to eat only home-cooked alkaline,
natural foods such as fruit bowls, vegetable broth, mashed vegetable
khichdi, fermented rice, coconut water, herbal concoctions (ayurvedic jadi
butis), and carrot and apple shots to reboot my digestive system by keeping
it light, yet nourished.
The best resources at my disposal during the healing, gut-rebooting
period were health magazines such as Health, Shape and Prevention,
Readers Digest, and biology books from a private library. These formed my
support system and helped me find weight-loss solutions. And within a
period of five months, I became a much better version of myself. I was
chosen to be on the cover of Health magazine in December 2005. I am also
a certified national and international clinical nutritionist and gut health
coach. With my own experience behind me, I was resolved to help people
facing similar issues. In the 12-week transformation programme at my
nutrition institute, my clients eat wholesome meals, heal their gut and
reverse the occurrence of diseases.
This book is for people who struggle to get through their work day,
people who want their life back, people who are suffering gut health issues
and are unaware of it.

HOW TO OPTIMALLY UTILIZE THIS BOOK

This book is a manual, providing solutions for gut healing, immunity,
weight loss, mental wellness, thyroid, acidity, pregnancy, brain health, and
curbing sugar and gluten addiction. Make notes and write down your gut
feelings whilst reading. Those are the changes and triggers that you need to
heal. These will benefit you and help shift your perception from finding
solutions only through synthetic medications to looking at natural ways of
healing.

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 PART I
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GUT AND YOUR WEIGHT LOSS
CONNECTIONS
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 1
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 GETTING STARTED ON YOUR GUT
JOURNEY
Your gut is your inner compass.
—Oprah Winfrey

Getting obese, depressed and quarantined are probably the most common
problems of the twenty-first century, especially in the wake of the
coronavirus pandemic. Not only in India, but globally as well, there is a
double burden of malnutrition and obesity. More than half the world is poor,
starving and malnourished, whereas, the other half is overindulging, obese,
sick and emotionally disturbed because of chronic stress, take-outs,
excessive intake of sugary beverages and a sedentary lifestyle.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states, ‘Overweight and obesity
are major risk factors for a number of chronic metabolic diseases, like
diabetes, thyroid, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Once considered a
problem only in high-income countries, overweight and obesity are now
dramatically on the rise in low- and-middle income countries’ and India is
one of them.
Modern science and medicines may have given us plenty of technical
advancements, promising health and longevity, but, sadly, with it came a
sudden surge of illnesses, both physical and emotional. It has managed to
treat symptoms only, and that’s as much as chemicals can do.

MODERN HEALTHCARE: A ‘ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL’ THEORY

Modern healthcare is based on the concept that the same line of treatment
fits all instances. Pharma companies are making millions of dollars by
simply pretending to cure us. Medicines only take care of the superficial
pain, they are not the final solution to your problem.
Today, many people are opting for holistic and natural line of treatments.
If you have been repeatedly treated by conventional medicine and yet not
found a cure, it’s time to explore integrative medicine. In ancient times,
people suffered lesser aches and pains because they used natural remedies
to treat their illnesses. Modernization and scientific development has led to
a pharmaceutical tsunami, with chemical preparations in the form of syrups,
pills, injections and capsules taking over the market. The reach and
overflow of these medicines started a trend of prescribing generic
‘conventional medicines’ for any illness, disregarding the food habits, stress
levels and the lifestyle of the patient.

WHAT IS INTEGRATIVE NUTRITION?

Individuals have unique bioindividual needs that medicines cannot address,
holistically. Integrative nutrition is the practice of applying core techniques
and principles for one’s health by providing tailor-made mind-body
solutions from ancient wisdoms and world cultures. It covers a huge
spectrum of integration and balances the missing links of wellness that
encompass nutrients, mental health, hormones, sleep and hydration. There
are also other underlying, deep-rooted mental blocks and belief systems that
need to be focused upon.
In order to begin your journey of discovering gut wellness, there are a
few important questions that you need to consider.
i. What if integrating nutrition and wellness helps you rediscover a brand
new you?
ii. What if you found a better way to cure/treat your nagging problems
such as headaches and acidity without popping pills?
iii. What if the solution to all your problems was right within you?

INTEGRATIVE NUTRITION AND CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE

Integrative nutrition (IN) is now mainstream, clear and out there. The
transformations are outstanding and the only way to experience it is to
make that switch.
i. IN is healthcare for the twenty-first century. It heals from the root cause
instead of treating individual symptoms. Conventional medicine (CM),
on the other hand, superficially treats only the symptoms, which is
actually like looking at the tip of the iceberg.
ii. In IN, an individual’s state of mind is given equal importance in
diagnosing the problem. However, in CM, an individual’s opinion is
discounted and the medicines are expected to resolve their issues
without considering the option of counselling.
 Integrative Nutrition

Conventional Medicine

iii. In IN, the gut is considered the gateway to mental and physical
wellness. In CM, the gut is not even mentioned, forget being
considered!
iv. In IN, we look at our body as one system while establishing the source
of the problem. In CM, the body is looked as a collection of
independent organs divided to perform different functions individually.
Listed below are a few questions that probably bother us all the time:
i. Why are people from all age groups falling sick all the time, and why
are there longer queues in clinics?
ii. Why is mental and emotional health not considered before prescribing
medicines?
iii. Why isn't nutrition, gut, exercise, sleep, sex life, stress and hydration
not being emphasized enough?
iv. Why are girls getting their periods much earlier than before, at the age
of eight and nine? Why are more girls diagnosed with polycystic ovary
 syndrome (PCOS) at the tender age of 14? Why are women suffering
more from infertility, low sex drive, and breast and cervical cancers?
v. Why are jobs more stressful, demanding and soulless?
vi. Why are children being prescribed antidepressants?
Imagine an integrative nutrition clinic where there is:
i. An integrative nutritionist to guide patients about real natural foods.
ii. An emotional wellness life coach who has natural, fun tools to help you
manage stress and your raging hormones.
iii. An authentic yoga and meditation guru who has the common sense to
align your chakras to genuinely unite your mind and body.
iv. A cafe serving wholesome, delicious and nutritious food bowls and
smoothies made from organic produce.
As an IN catalyst, I have been able to transform over 2,000 individuals who
had come to me for weight loss. They were treated with IN solutions
focused on their gut health. It is unfortunate that 70 per cent of my patients
are young adults, between the age of 14 and 40. They should be at the peak
of their health, but are obese, have low self-esteem and feel anxious,
depressed and helpless after having tried multiple fad diets.
Looking at the current health pattern and lifestyle, I have curated a
unique health solution that shifts the focus from counting calories to
naturally healing the gut and body from within.

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 2
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 EVERYTHING YOU (DID NOT) KNOW
ABOUT YOUR GUT

The journey of understanding gut wisdom has been intriguing for me. In
this book, I have tried to explain the same to you.

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GUT?

Your ‘gut’ is your safety vault for optimal health. If guarded well, it can
make you healthy, and even wealthy and wise. If not taken care of or
abused, it can become a host for all your immunity, hormonal, emotional
and obesity-related problems. The gut is the most incredibly complex,
sophisticated and brilliant organ of your body. The most important role in
your body has been given to the gut. It’s the one that orchestrates the entire
body’s functioning with clever planning and performance.
Your small and large intestines, which are part of the gastrointestinal
canal (GI tract), are together called your gut. The GI tract is a long twisting
tube starting at your mouth and ending at your anus, and includes the
mouth, pharynx (throat), oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large
intestine, rectum and the anus.
THE ANATOMY OF THE GUT
Your gut is made up of three layers of soft muscle tissues, which facilitate
the execution of a very complex digestion process. In this soft tissue is your
gut’s very own nervous system called the enteric nervous system (ENS),
which along with the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems,
constitute the autonomic nervous system. This is where your so-called ‘gut
feelings’ take birth.
The ENS is lined with a single layer of epithelial cells. This cellular
mucosal layer represents a critical interface between your inside world and
the outside world—your immunity. Often, when people complain of
stomach issues, the real problem is in your gut.
Your gut, an asymmetrical tube, folds in your abdomen to give you
maximum surface area while also allowing itself to do its task in a
synchronized manner at any given point of time.
Here are the four key roles of your gut:
i. Assimilation and absorption of the food that we eat
ii. Digestion
iii. Nutrient absorption and transportation
iv. Detoxification and elimination of wastes

THE JOURNEY OF YOUR FOOD:

FROM FIRST ACCESS TO TOILET TEXTING

The Five Senses: The First Access

The sight and aroma of a freshly baked thin-crust pizza served on your table
in a pizzeria travels all the way from your five senses to your gut and brain.
The image activates the brain cells and causes a series of chemical reactions
in your body, with many systems working in synchronicity and
orchestrating salivation and eventually making you joyfully reach out to
grab a slice. At this moment, your entire body is acknowledging the
production of digestive juices in anticipation of the pizza getting into your
mouth. A matrix of systems are involved as soon as you see and take in the
aroma of the pizza.

The Mouth
The most powerful muscles in your body are in your jaws. No wonder the
shark movie was named Jaws! However, without the tongue, your jaw
would be chewing the same foods again and again, uselessly. The tongue is
truly a super-smart organ which along with saliva plays an important role in
mastication, which is moving food particles and larger chunks of food stuck
in corners of the mouth, for chewing. This helps the mouth to chew the
softest as well as the hardest food bitten by our teeth.

The Pharynx
The pharynx, or throat, is like a passageway or aerobridge leading the food
from the mouth to the oesophagus. This movement is robust and can
sometimes even help pop the ear open.

The Oesophagus
The oesophagus is an important muscular tube through which the chunks of
swallowed pizza is now going to move into the stomach. Both ends of the
oesophagus are closed off by muscular constrictions known as sphincters.
At the anterior, or upper end, is the upper oesophageal sphincter, and at the
distal, or lower end, is the lower oesophageal sphincter. The upper end
closes as soon as the food is passed down to prevent any of it from going
back (thus to avoid reflux). Contractions from the muscles in the
oesophageal wall help move the food down the oesophageal tube. The food
is further pushed down by the wall muscles creating a wave-like motion
until it reaches the lower end of the oesophageal sphincter. At this end, the
oesophageal sphincter opens up, allowing food to pass into the stomach and
then closes to prevent the stomach’s gastric juices and content from re-
entering the oesophagus.

The Stomach
The stomach, a lopsided pouch towards the left side of the upper abdomen,
sits right below the heart and lungs. The mixer of food here is a sac-like
expansion of the digestive system. It is like a storage bag for food and is
elastic, like freshly made dough. The stomach accommodates the food that
comes down the oesophagus, and relaxes and stretches for as long as the
food keeps coming; it will literally make room for as much as we eat. The
stomach expands to accommodate the comfort foods that we reach out to on
bad days, or contracts when it’s been a busy day and you forget to eat your
meals. Now, the pizza can be churned and tossed around to be broken down
in the stomach, taking anywhere between an hour to six for digestion.

The Small Intestine, aka the Gut

The small intestine, which is a pinkish, long and meandering tube, measures
about three to six meters. When the mini-morsels reach the small intestine,
each square millimetre of its surface protrude 30 or more finger-like
projections called the villi, which help in digestion.
The real digestion begins here and as food passes down this twisting and
turning tube, it is completely absorbed and it disappears into the walls of
the small intestine, from between all the villi. The villi greatly increases the
surface area for food absorption and adds digestive secretions to aid
digestion. Villi are close-knit and partially semi-permeable structures that
allow only valuable nutrients to pass through the immunity wall and be
transported to the other side of the blood stream and organs.
After digestion, which takes two hours on an average, the small intestine
leaves no residue of the food ingested—almost like a homemaker who
cleans up the kitchen after a meal is prepared. After the few hours of intense
work (read digestion), we have happy and clean intestines. Habitual
snacking can disrupt this cleaning process, as it will not let the GI tract
relax. That is why intermittent fasting can help detox.

The Large Intestine, aka the Gut

The last leg of your pizza’s journey in your body is in your large intestine
and part of your gut. The large intestine, or colon, is a tranquil home for
your gut flora and is also comparatively relaxed than the small intestine,
although a lot of work gets done here too, but at the pace of the large
intestine workers, i.e., your bacteria. These workers are the gut
bacteria/microbiome, which work collectively at their pace. They also have
to deal with anything that sneakily gets swept into the large intestine in
whole chunks, undigested. Several players work here to make sure
everything gets digested well and finally gives a shove to the concentrated
food mush and bulk into the rectum, pushing it forward through your anus.
It is estimated that almost 90 per cent of serotonin and 70 per cent
dopamine is produced in the gut. You’ve ‘gut’ an ‘Oscar-winning’ gut,
folks! It does more than what it is given credit for.

Why Is Gut Health Important?

A large number of microorganisms reside on the surface of the body, but,
many are also found in the gut! These bacteria work day and night and
communicate with all the systems of your body via their very own nervous
system, the ENS, in conjunction with 10 other systems of your body—the
central nervous system, circulatory system, vascular system, endocrine
system, reproductive system, immune system, lymphatic system, muscular
system, renal system and urinary system. These microbiomes, when in a
good habitat, start to colonize your gut, hair and skin from the moment you
are conceived.

KNOW THE REAL TRUTH

According to the WHO, ‘It is expected that by 2020 in developing
countries, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) will account for 69% of all
deaths, with cardiovascular in the lead. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus
will almost double in the next 25 years and at least 75% of those affected
will be in developing countries.’1
These statistics consistently point to a staggering rise in diseases, early
deaths and mental illnesses. Poor nutrition, lack of sleep and pretentious
exercise can lead to reduced immunity, increased susceptibility to disease,
impaired physical and emotional development and an overall diminished
productivity.
Remember sticking labels on notebooks in school? It’s human nature to
label everything. But do they describe the truth or do they create it? Labels
like ‘you are diabetic and you have PCOD, high choletrol or ADHD’ are
something we need to be wary of. Today, a normal person has so many
medical labels stuck on them, one wonders if they describe or create
diseases. India, the world’s largest democracy with the double burden of
malnutrition and obesity, has witnessed children as young as two years old
being affected by psychological, physiological and biochemical problems.
It is heart-breaking and gut-wrenching to see children suffer from
illnesses that parents can’t even pronounce the names of—attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), attention deficit disorder (ADD), dyslexia,
anorexia, autism, hyper tension, depression, polycystic ovary syndrome
(PCOS), juevinile diabetes and obesity, among others.
Adults are also in the same rocky boat. Our country is the largest
consumer of allopathic medicines and is the largest market for giant
pharmaceutical companies’ lab-tested chemicals. Patients consume these
medicines, no questions asked. They want relief from pain and uneasiness,
increasing their dependency on meds.
Today, very young children, even before they start school, are on
medication—steroids for eczema, heavy doses of antibiotics, and sugary
syrups for colds, coughs and flus. Children as young as 12 are diagnosed
with obesity. Girls are diagnosed with PCOS at 14. Kids suffer anxiety by
16 and are labelled ‘depressed’ even before they turn 18.
Then follows the phase of adulthood and the problems that accompany it.
Young adults sometimes lean towards alcohol and drugs to combat office
pressure. People suffer irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) at 28, low libido at
35, blood pressure by 40, and high cholesterol and heart problems by 42.
Eventually, they are put on medication that is prescribed for a lifetime—
blood pressure and cholesterol meds, insulin injections, antacids, digestive
enzymes, vitamins for hair, nails and skin, collagen supplements and
laxatives.
I always believed that people usually fall sick with age, but that is no
longer the case. Young people are equally susceptible to illnesses due to a
bad lifestyle and unhealthy diet. COVID-19 has been a huge eye opener.
Many people around the world have succumbed to COVID, while a few
have recovered. Many have still not contracted the virus. I would like to
believe that more than luck, our diet, immunity, mental health, lifestyle and
precautions have a much larger role to play in that.
Given below are a few factors that can help you identify what is affecting
your health, more specifically gut health.
i. Junk food and ‘invisible’ sugar consumption: Those dieting at home
to later binge on roadside foods such as vada pav, burgers or Maggi
noodles, your gut health can get sabotaged. These meals multiply all the
bad bacteria, bugs, pathogens and yeast in the body to outnumber the
good bacteria, and thus disrupt the ecosystem and balance of the gut.
Swapping sugary sodas for water and consuming plenty of hidden
refined white sugar in cookies, brownies and waffles are the biggest
enemy of the gut bacteria and its digestion.
ii. Fad diets: Hopping from one diet to another, eliminating one or more
essential macronutrients makes the body confused and, in turn, leaves
you frustrated. Fad diets are dangerous and may cause depression and
claustrophobia by hampering and unbalancing the gut. Fad diets do not
work and only leave you craving for food.
iii. Frequent use of antibiotics and pill-popping: Suppressing
symptoms of ailments with antibiotics and steroids can also affect
your gut as these are artificially made, harmful chemicals. These are
the acid bombs that kill the good bacteria in the body and your
digestion gets affected leading to various gastric problems such as
acidity, gas, bloating and weight gain.
iv. Stress: Chronic stress alters your gut nervous system, imbalances the
bacteria and is the main cause of a leaky gut.
v. Exposure to a toxic environment: Working and spending time in toxic
environments and inhaling toxic fumes can damage the synergy of the
microbiome.
vi. Excessive alcohol consumption: Consuming an excessive amount of
alcohol can also cause an imbalance of gut bacteria, with an
overgrowth of potentially harmful bacteria and a reduction in beneficial
bacteria. This may eventually cause inflammation in your gut lining.
vii. Emotional trauma/tragedy: A natural calamity or any other traumatic
situation faced in childhood or even as an adult can also be the reason
 of a weak gut. Children who have faced abuse (physical/mental) is
one such example.
viii. Random or inconsistent exercise routines: Lack of exercise is bad for
your gut health and mental health. But an irregular and abrupt
exercise regime can also be harmful to your body.
ix. Disturbed sleep: Late nights, sleeping with negative thoughts and
excessive amount of screen time can damage gut health and imbalance
your bacteria, making you feel tired and lethargic all day. People who
do not get adequate sleep depend on coffee to stay awake and alert and
that is the root cause of mental illnesses like schizophrenia.
x. Lifestyle: Sitting is the new smoking! A sedentary lifestyle and very
less movement make the gut and brain sluggish and impaired. Obesity,
one of the major results of an inactive lifestyle, is the second-largest
disease plaguing humans after diabetes.
xi. Surgeries: Post-surgery stress is real, but often not taken as seriously
as the surgery itself. Why doesn't anyone look into gut health post
surgeries?
Here are a few tell-tale signs that your gut health is not in great shape:
i. Bloating: If your feet or other parts of the body feel bloated on a daily
or weekly basis.
ii. Gas: If you are able to suffocate people around you with your smelly
farts, then it’s a sign that you are suffering from gas for sure!
iii. Diarrhoea or constipation: Regular hard stools and going to the
washroom too often to defecate are signs of toxins stuck in the colon.
iv. Autoimmune conditions: Thyroid, lupus, arthritis and many such
illnesses are autoimmune conditions that require a thorough check of
your gut health.
v. Food intolerances: If you have a feeling that eating certain foods such
dairy, wheat or soy gives you allergic reactions or chronic migraine,
your gut feeling may be right.
vi. Skin irritation: Skin conditions such as eczema, acne and even
psoriasis are indicative of a damaged gut resulting from an unhealthy
diet and bad lifestyle.
Here are a few other hard-to-believe gut-affecting realities of this century:
i. Cooking is a chore; nobody finds value in it anymore. No more love-
soaked home-cooked meals.
ii. Sleep is a luxury, since FOMO, ‘fear of missing out’, is a bigger
emotion to tackle than getting sleep.
iii. Fad diets are so alluring and the ‘before-and-after’ images seem so
real that it’s very tempting to take the short cut. There are plenty of
labels available in the market to lure us into a fad diet—from low-
carb, low-fat, high-protein food, to baked chips.
iv. Ordering food online or through apps has become the order of the day.
Such a habit can wreak havoc on our gut health and mental wellness
and lead to obesity.
v. Household chores such as making the bed, folding dry clothes or
organizing the cupboard are now handled by professionals.
vi. Exercise is less of a fitness initiative and more of an excuse to sign-up
for a fancy gym membership or buy branded fitness gear. The purpose
is completely lost.
vii. Gadgets have become kids’ new best friends.
viii. Easy remedies and caffeinated energy drinks have gained importance.
ix. Health check-ups have become exorbitant.
x. More stress, no exit plan. An unhappy, dissatisfied life.
1
Bulletin of the World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/88/4/09-
065847/en/, last accessed 6 January 2021.

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 MEET THE 100 TRILLION GAME
CHANGERS IN YOUR GUT
WHAT IS BACTERIA?
Bacteria are microscopic, single-celled organisms of different shapes that
thrive in diverse environments, such as the soil, oceans and most
importantly, inside and outside the human body. Our relationship with
bacteria has been a love-hate one. Love because it is capable of being
intelligently helpful and certain good ones such as Lactobacillus
acidophilus play a huge role in the complex functions of the body. Hate
because there are also a few life-threatening bacteria that cause infections
from regular cold, cough and SARS, to the ones causing the deadly
pneumonia methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and, of
course, coronavirus. These bacteria can reproduce and replicate themselves
depending on their environment and ecosystem. Certain bacterial viruses
can be killed with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, but if contracted in a
body with low immunity, it can prove fatal. Building and boosting
immunity for survival is the most important and valued proposition today.

Gut microbes

Bacteria has proven to be a game changer and it depends whether you are
using them to your advantage or disadvantage.

THE DAWN OF THE MICROBIOME

Originally, we belonged to the great apes family, but we have evolved. Yet,
have similar diversity of the bacteria. Let’s ‘unfold’ the genius of the
microbiome and outstanding role it plays in your body.
The great apes were diverse such as orangutans, gorillas and
chimpanzees, but they had one thing in common—they all had a simple,
colourful and natural diet essentially comprising fruits, leaves, roots, shoots
and flowers. We still resemble our ancestors, for instance, our ways of
learning are just like theirs. As soon as we are born, we learn by mirroring
and modelling or ‘aping’ each other and we hang out in groups, just like
them. The only thing that has changed is the diet and movement. What has
caused this change and how can we bring back our simple eating habits?
Did you know that there are zillions of bacteria or microbiome inside
your body? These microscopic bacteria or microbes were the first life form
on our planet and will probably be the last ones to become extinct. They are
the most resilient, intelligently outnumbering all the species alive on our
planet today.

THE INVISIBLE FORCE OF THE 100 TRILLION BACTERIA IN THE

GUT
From boosting immunity to cognitive fitness, you will need plenty of
microbiomes, in the millions in fact. They are scattered in different parts of
the body, such as in the surface or deep layers of the skin (skin microbiota),
the mouth (oral microbiota), the vagina (vaginal microbiota) and most
importantly, in the gut (gut microbiome, gut microbiota or gut flora).
The human digestive tract is home to multiple strains of bacteria. Nearly
two million genes and other tiny organisms such as viruses and fungi form
the most complex and intelligent microbiota community in the digestive
tract. It is a lesser-known fact, but they cause a ‘360-degree turn’ in body–
mind transformations.
Just like your unique fingerprints, each person’s microbiota is different.
Your mix is different from your siblings’ mix of microbiota. The types are
mainly determined by the mother’s microbiota and later by many external
factors.

The Magnanimity of Your Gut Microbes

Clusters and colonies of microbes made up of nearly one quadrillion cells
are to be found inside your gut and GI tract, i.e., 10 times the number of
cells in the human body. The control of these microbes over us is
unimaginable. And you thought you were just made up of cells! Of course
you are, but the number of bacteria (more than a 100 trillion) on and in your
body exceeds that of human cells (40 trillion).
Out of a 100 trillion gut microbes, two-thirds are found in the small and
large intestines, the large part of your gut weighing as much as your brain—
two pounds.
As you now know that there are more than a 100 trillion microbes living
within us, we are never alone. Don’t worry, it's a good thing (even if the
idea is unnerving). They are helping us thrive. These tiny microbes in your
body can make a huge and positive difference to your immune system,
waistline and brain health.
Here are seven super microbial facts:
i. Waistline: The number of healthy bacteria in your gut determines how
tiny your waistline can get.
ii. Discharge: Your regularity of your bowel movements and moods
basically depend on these bugs.
iii. Depression: Good bacteria help in treating anxiety and depression.
iv. Diversity: The more diverse the microbes, the better your gut health.
v. Biological: Gut bacteria pass from mother to child in the womb, in the
vaginal canal during child birth and also via breast milk.
vi. Scientific facts: The gut is also called the second brain by scientists.
vii. Neurological facts: The majority of the neurotransmitter production
also happens in the gut.

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 YOU’VE GOT THE MAGIC IN YOU!

From a flat tummy one day to a bloated one the very next day. Really
happy one day to feeling extremely low and depressed the very next day.
From sudden hunger pangs and cravings to internal dialogues. Where do
you think all these messages and feelings are coming from? Your body is
constantly communicating with you, from the depths of your GI tract and
that’s why it’s important to listen to our gut feelings.

LOOK INSIDE NOW

Unfortunately, today even for the smallest problem, we rely on outside help
instead of looking inwards.
The therapists, magicians and the magic are inside you. All you have to
do is trust yourself and look inwards. It is important to know that all your
happiness can be produced in the gut itself.
Listed below are four complex functions of the microbes in your gut:
i. Metabolites: Magical bacteria produce metabolites, which are
necessary for metabolism and which have healthy effects on all your
organs.
ii. Weight loss: These bugs are not the cough or cold-causing ones and
won’t make you sick. Instead, they help fight harmful germs, keep you
healthy and help manage the optimum weight.
iii. Self-sustaining: Microbiomes are self-sustaining. Natural foods help
them thrive in the gut.
iv. Communication: The gut communicates bi-directionally through your
brain and all other systems of the body, which no other system can.
The body’s defence and immune function, metabolism, digestion and
absorption, satiety, mood, and pain and pleasure are all gut functions.

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 YOU’VE ‘GUT’ A SECOND BRAIN

Hidden in the walls of your gut is your second brain. The bacteria found in
the small and large intestines alone together weigh as much as your brain—
two pounds. That’s not the only reason why the gut (small and large
intestine) is called the second brain. Its tremendous capabilities and
intelligence are also reasons for the moniker. I would like to say that in
many ways, your gut is as vast and mysterious as the Milky Way.
In school, biology only taught us the importance of the brain and the
central nervous system (CNS). It missed mentioning that the gut also has its
own nervous system called the enteric nervous system (ENS).
The small intestine alone, excluding the rest of the GI tract, is home to as
many neurons as the spinal cord. Your gut nerve cells produce 90 per cent
of serotonin, and every class of neurotransmitters in your brain also resides
in your gut. It actually outnumbers the brain neurotransmitters. It is these
cells and the miraculous microscopic microbes in the gut that communicate
with your brain, the heart and other parts of the body in the form of
feelings, signs and symptoms.
Your ENS might not be able to help you with making timetables, writing
a love note, detangling those knots of your hair or removing your eyelashes.
However, what it does is even more crucial: it heals you.

HOW YOUR TWO BRAINS ‘TALK’ TO EACH OTHER

Think of your best friend who knows every single detail about your life—
your best profile angle, your first crush and everything else. Imagine a
scenario: she couldn’t make it to prom night as she had the flu and now
texts you every second asking for detailed info on the night.
Similarly, the endless wireless messaging between your second brain
(gut) and your brain is like being on WhatsApp between your best friend
and you. Your gut and brain communicate at all times. They are inseparable
and they’ve got each other's back all the time, like best friends do!
Technically, your gut and brain communicate through a neural network
called the gut-brain axis or the GBA.

THE GUT-BRAIN AXIS

The GBA is a bidirectional link between the brain’s central nervous system
(CNS) and the gut’s enteric nervous system (ENS). This axis involves a
complex channel of communication between many systems of the body. As
it involves direct and indirect pathways between cognitive processes such
as reading and emotional centres in the brain and the gut, the axis plays a
mammoth role in states of gut feelings and decision-making.
Your gut plays a vital role in communication via its own neural network
through a complex system of about 100 million nerves that are found in the
lining of the gut, making it competently your second brain. Exactly how
your first brain has its neural pathways of communicating with the spine
and other parts of your body.

Like your first brain, the second can’t balance a checkbook or make a
presentation for you. But, along with digestion and secretion of hormones,
your gut’s biggest role is to make you all ‘gutsy’, allowing you to make
quick and smart moves. This activation is the ‘fight or flight’ response
mode.
Thus, the role and importance of the gut can’t be emphasized enough.

THE VAGUS NERVE: CONNECTIONS

The CNS of your brain communicates with the ENS of your gut via the
parasympathetic vagus (Latin for ‘wandering’) nerve. This is a very
important nerve of the human body and connects the brain and colon. True
to its name, the vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve. This nerve is so
alert that it can pick up the tiniest signals from any part of the body and
nothing goes unreported.
 The vagus nerve is like the chief minister of the body’s systems. It runs
all the way from the brain stem to the colon, noticing everything that is
taking place in the body—diet, sleep, thoughts—and simultaneously reports
it to both your brains. Food, exercise and sleep play a huge role in
balancing this communication between the ENS and the CNS. Both external
and internal factors affect the gut-brain axis.

THE GUT-BRAIN CONNECTION: ARE YOU FEELING IT YET?

Don’t you agree that the gut–brain connection is incredibly important? They
work together or send out red flags (symptoms) to each other when they
sense danger and all we need to do is listen to that communication from the
gut.
Whether to take that job or not, eat that cookie or not, be friends with that
weird neighbour or not, or to fight or flight from a situation, this connection
is constantly sending you signals.

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 GUT HEALTH AND FAD DIETS: AT
LOGGERHEADS

Your gut health and modern-day fad diets are incompatible and
contradictory to each other. Gut health requires stability and a balance of all
essential food groups, eliminating only those which you are intolerant to.
Whereas fad diets and superficial dietary recommendations are imbalanced,
unsustainable and eliminate one or more essential macronutrients, such as
fats or carbs, from your daily meals.
If you follow fad diets simply because your neighbour or a friend started
one and you too want a quick fix to lose weight, your body misses out on
essential macronutrient/s. Most fail to consult their inner doctor, their gut
instinct, and do not think critically. Maybe your friend or neighbour has lost
some weight, but at what cost? I am not talking about the cost of the diet or
the consultation fees of seeing a dietician, I am talking instead about the
compromise made in terms of gut and mental health, hair and skin, and your
overall health.

FAD DIET: WHAT IS IT?

A fad diet is nothing but a gastronomic hotchpotch. These diets usually cut
out major macronutrient/s, mostly carbs and/or fats. Hundreds of such diets
are promoted to make a quick buck. They promise ‘100 per cent results’
and are usually marketed as the best way for quick weight loss. People
anyway fall easily for labels such as gluten-free, fat-free, sugar-free and so
on, so it comes as no surprise that these fad diets are immensely popular not
just with celebrities but with the masses as well.
An extreme diet is not easy to sustain, as they are not balanced. They
either advice you to eat freakish amounts of only one particular food or
eliminate an entire food group. Fad diets never come with disclaimers or
warnings. Imagine someone selling a fad diet mentioning the side effects—
nausea and headaches, dementia, hair loss, muscle loss, constipation,
weakness and fatigue, dehydration, withdrawal symptoms and crazy mood
swings, to name a few. Would you fall for it? No, you would not, for
obvious reasons. That fine print is smartly left out for us to discover,
experience and later regret.
They are called ‘fad diets’ for a reason—they are incomplete in their
nourishment and are quick fixes with short-term results but long-term
damage/side effects. A client of mine, unfortunately, lost her father to a fad
diet. He was only 50.
A few examples of fad diets that eliminate essential food groups are fat-
free diet, sugar-free diet, no/low-carb diet, high-protein diet and high-fat
diet. A few examples of diets that focus only on one particular food item are
smoothie diet, juice diet, popcorn diet, cabbage soup diet and watermelon
diet.
Missing out on any food group is unhealthy and can be hazardous to your
body in the long run. The number of permitted food groups in fad diets are
either too high or too low. These diets are not recommended by major
health organizations such as the Indian Public Health Association, WHO
and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, among others.
Most fad dieters are happy with temporary solutions and quick fixes.
They are short-sighted. Their weight is always yo-yoing depending on their
next goal, which could be a destination wedding or a milestone birthday.
Their weight loss and weight gain are drastic and they start to look much
older than their age. While following fad diets, gut health gets highly
compromised in the bargain and such drastic dietary changes send confused
signals to the body. It often leads to indecisive behaviour, food cravings and
lack of focus. Hair loss, due to vitamin and mineral deficiency, and sagging
skin in low/no fat diets are common. Fad dieters are always hungry. They
also feel emotionally unstable. High-fat diets usually give rise to a host of
health problems such as acid reflux, gas, migraine, diarrhoea, indigestion
and constipation. Even immunity gets affected. People on a fad diet have
hormonal imbalances and diminished cognitive function. They lose more
muscles as compared to fat per cent. Being on a fad diet can also lead to
dehydration, depression and weakness. Such diets make one feel trapped,
unhappy and socially awkward. In short, a fad diet is a diet without
common sense.
Let us now discuss one of the most popular fad diets today—the keto
diet. The ketogenic diet, or in short keto diet, has captured the entire
world’s attention with its ability to help chronic dieters lose weight and
cheese lovers to eat all the cheese they want or can. What the endorser
conveniently forgot to mention was ‘fresh’ cheese only!
The keto diet may be a new diet to most people, but it was developed in
the 1920s to treat epilepsy! Surprised? Yes, the so-called classic keto diet is
a special high-fat, low-carb diet that helps to control seizures in some
people suffering from epilepsy. When doctors at the Mayo Clinic in
Minnesota noticed that some patients with low blood sugar had fewer
seizures and were more stable because of low carbohydrate intake, this diet
was suggested to patients. The diet was closely monitored by doctors and
the side effects were reviewed by professionals.
HOW DOES KETO WORK?
Our body and brain use glucose as the primary source of energy. When on a
keto diet, the dieter stays off the sugar from the carbohydrates. The brain
then panics and thinks it’ll crash from the sugar cravings. The body instead
starts using another macronutrient—fats—to generate sugar in order to cope
with the cravings. It starts to metabolize the ingested fats into fatty acids
and glycerol and then into simpler compounds that can be used by the body.
Fats, when broken down, turn into ketones in the liver, which supply energy
to the brain so that the body can get into a ketosis mode. A urine strip check
is important to check ketone levels in the body.
So, eating only fats in your meals will break down the fat for fuel and the
weight loss begins. Phew, so much trouble to lose weight! This kind of a
diet is an extreme method and an excuse to eat the wrong fats. If you ate
any carbs even in one meal during this diet, your body is no more in ketosis
and you have to start all over again.
Keto drinks, keto flour, keto cookies, keto granola bars and keto almond
flour are in huge demand. It is a trend to follow a fad and then shop for
expensive foods, turning a blind eye to the damage done to your gut, liver,
kidneys and brain health.
Massive reduction in blood sugar and insulin levels help with weight loss
and diabetes to a certain extent, but at the cost of eliminating all complex
and healthy slow carbs such as grains, natural sugars and fruits. This is the
biggest challenge of this diet. How does a keto dieter plan to get natural
prebiotics from starchy and fibrous fruits and vegetables? For how long can
you not eat the most essential macronutrients that provide energy and the
satisfaction of a holistic meal? Eliminating any macronutrient completely is
quite drastic and can have potentially serious side effects in the long run.
Let us discuss here four major reasons why the keto diet is dangerous.
i. Doubling up on fats: When on the keto diet, almost 90–95 per cent of
calories come from fats—not just good fats; it can be trans fats,
saturated fats, injected fats and toxic fats. Most people are not well-
versed with their fat intake. Our most favoured dishes are butter
chicken, processed cheese and red meat, which increase the risk of
cardiovascular diseases such as high low-density lipoprotein (LDL)
levels, blocked arteries and heart attacks. Breaking down the fats in the
body is a lot of work, as our body is not used to metabolizing excess
amounts of fats. Most of it goes undigested, as it is out of the ordinary
for the body to take such a heavy load. Overloading of fats leads to the
digestive system malfunctioning. Unabsorbed fats get into the small
intestine and colon, either causing constipation (clogging) or extracting
more water from the body, thus resulting in diarrhoea. Some suffer the
‘keto flu’ for weeks and some, diarrhoea, thus the healthy bacteria,
which are needed for immunity and the smooth functioning of the body,
are flushed out of the body.
ii. Low essential nutrients: Imagine a scenario where there are no
mangoes or potatoes on your plate, only broccoli—broccoli ki sabji,
broccoli soup and steamed broccoli with cheese. Cutting down on
short-chain fatty acids, which are fibres found in fruits, grains and
vegetable starches, puts the gut out of whack, as the gut flora feeds on
these.
According to research, your gut can take quite a hit when you take
drastic measures to lose weight. Too much of the same nutrient and
none of the others can make your gut confused and irritated. This can
upset your digestion and brain health and further deteriorate several
other organs and their functioning.
It may seem to help diabetics temporarily but does not cure it, as the
diet claims. In fact, a problem called ketoacidosis may occur in which
high ketone levels in the urine may damage the kidneys, brain and the
liver or even cause diabetic coma, or death. You may lose way more
than just weight here!
iii. Dependence on artificial sweeteners: Limiting carbs means limiting
sugars. Sugar-free keto cookies, sugar-free keto brownies and sugar-
 free aerated drinks, again the damages are never mentioned. In a keto
diet, artificial sweeteners are used to replace sugar. Sugar alcohols
such as sorbitol, maltitol and xylitol don’t get digested in the gut and
pass down undigested to the large intestine, thus wiping out a lot of
the beneficial bacteria. This, in turn, repeatedly disrupts digestion in
addition to damaging other organ cells, specially your brain cells. Just
like cigarette packets come with a disclaimer—smoking kills, these
products, too, should come with a disclaimer—brain damage. Our
children are consuming these gut- and brain-damaging foods and
drinks. Selling these should be made illegal.
iv. Diarrhoea: Consuming way too much fat than you can digest can give
you diarrhoea, thus flushing out a lot of the gut flora vitamins, ions,
electrolytes and minerals from your large intestine. This will leave you
feeling weak and prone to infections and depression.
v. Weight gain: You are likely to gain more weight post a fad diet than
lose it or get slimmer. Are you shocked? This is quite the paradox, isn’t
it? This is because fad diets are imbalanced, suffocating and once you
give up the diet, which you are likely to, sooner or later, you will
quickly gain back all the weight you have struggled to lose, and in fact,
gain even more. Don't allow wrong dietary systems to damage your
ENS and CNS. You may never recover from the damages, and
everything can collapse like a house of cards.
Once you quit a fad diet and have starved your body of essential
macronutrients, your brain immediately starts damage control by releasing
more hormones and storing up all the food as fat. Your body adopts a
camel-like attitude, which stores excess water to survive in a desert.
Similarly, your body overcompensates for the loss and primes itself for
more future stupidity. It is quite paradoxical that the side effect of diets is
weight gain!
All said and done, your body is your temple and you must keep it clean
and healthy and treat it with respect.
Natural foods give us confidence, determination and spirit. People who
always eat a balanced diet and have wholesome meals are able to sail
through rough waters. Balanced eaters make 80 per cent healthy choices
and only 20 per cent of guilt-free indulgences. Their weight loss is steady
and sustainable, and is the result of a healthy and balanced diet. Their gut
health is strong, and they have a smart exercise routine to balance out when
indulging in cheat meals. They have naturally glowing hair and skin, thus
looking youthful and energetic. People who have a balanced approach
towards food rarely have digestive problems, and even if they do, they are
able to make quick recovery. Such eaters almost never require antibiotics or
pain killers. They have rock-solid immunity, balanced moods and
hormones, and a sharp focus. Balanced eaters build lean muscle that boosts
metabolism and controls body fat percentage. They are motivated, active,
happy and are able to give and receive abundant love.

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 YOUR DIET FAILED, NOT YOU

People trying one diet after the other probably have had some really bad
experiences. Chances are that some of the diets have worked out in the
short run and some have been utter failures. It is but natural to feel dejected
and like a failure when a particular diet fails, but guess what, it was the diet
that failed, not you!
The logic behind losing weight by dieting is that you lower the amount of
calorie intake. You eat less and burn more. Sounds like the perfect fix for
weight loss, doesn’t it? Technically and logically this should work, but
more often than not, it does not!
PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND DIETS AND WHY YOUR DIET FAILED
Evidence suggests that each person’s dietary habits are acquired over
several years. What you eat and how much you eat depends on multiple
factors, such as your nature, preferences, lifestyle, culture, schooling,
income and habits, which are developed over years. Then how can a
common diet plan work for people living in different continents?
The cookie-cutter approach or ‘one-size-fits-all’ theory is being used by
everyone to help weight loss. That’s what fails, the approach, and not you.
Read this paragraph twice to relieve yourself of the guilt.
Not being able to follow a strict diet and arrive at the desired weight can
make anyone feel like a failure. If you are unable to follow the diet or speak
about your emotions, it will affect you emotionally and physically. You will
gain more weight out of emotional stress and guilt. It can feel like a stab in
your gut and if this wound is not taken care of, the pain can persist for the
rest of your life. Dysbiosis in the gut, thanks to a diet, can really hamper all
bodily functions.

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 BACTERIAL TAKEOVER

Just like in any story where there are good guys and bad guys, it’s the
same with your gut too.

DYSBIOSIS OVER SYMBIOSIS

Dysbiosis refers to quantitative or integrative changes of the intestinal
microbiota or gut flora. Bad bacteria in your gut can multiply because of
excessive intake of antibiotics, sugar, fast food, dairy and gluten, as well as
due to chronic stress. They wreak havoc in your gut and the domino effect
is felt in all the areas the gut is connected to, which is practically each and
every part of your body. Salmonella, Helicobacter pylori, E. coli and
Staphylococcus Aureus are harmful bacteria.

Symbiosis refers to the healthy and balanced gut flora that maintain a
state of harmony within your body’s multiple microbiomes. The useful
bacteria such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus reuteri,
Bifidobacterium and Bacillus coagulans are bacteria that promote good
health.
A few common causes of dysbiosis or imbalance in your microbiome are
overuse of antibiotics and medicines, chronic stress, poor diet with low
fibre intake, chronic constipation, diarrhoea, surgeries, dehydration,
smoking, and excessive intake of artificial sweeteners, sugar, aerated drinks,
junk food, alcohol and gluten.
A few everyday signs and symptoms of dysbiosis include:
i. Digestive problems such as gas, acidity, acid reflux, heartburn, ulcers,
bloating, flatulence, burping, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS),
constipation, gastric and food intolerances.
ii. Autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hashimoto’s
thyroiditis, Lupus, Psoriasis, Hives, Celiac disease and Colitis.
iii. Hormonal imbalances such as premenstrual syndrome (PMS),
PCOD, Candida overgrowth, infertility and low libido.
iv. Mental ill-health such as erratic mood swings, neurological disorders,
depression, brain fog, anxiety, ADD and ADHD.
v. Poor immune system leading to seasonal allergies, Asthma, Sinus flare
ups, cold, cough, flu and skin rashes.
vi. Physical problems/diseases such as migraine, thyroid (Hypo and
Hyper), Crohn’s disease, diabetes, colon cancer, chronic fatigue, yeast
overgrowth, high blood pressure, heart diseases, high cholesterol, brain
malfunction and fibromyalgia.
Your complex gut is now in the spotlight and has more superpowers than
you assumed. When your gut is working in optimal condition, this gut-
based immune system will identify and destroy the minutest bacterial
invader to protect you from infections and diseases. But at the same time,
when it is out of order, it becomes weak and susceptible to low immunity
and illnesses.

FACT VS MYTH
Myth: Gut bacteria and its diversity can never be changed or multiplied.
Once damaged, your gut lining can never be restored.
Fact: Your gut lining can heal in less than two weeks with Omega-3 fatty
acids and with an elimination diet of allergens.
Myth: Drinking energy drinks is good for your gut microbes.
Fact: Energy drinks are disguised sugar, which destroys gut bacteria.
Myth: You can never eat sugar and gluten.
Fact: After the culprits are exposed, your nutritionist can reintroduce
foodstuff.
Myth: What works for you, works for all.
Fact: Uniqueness should be emphasized and addressing individual food
intolerances is key.

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 LEAKY GUT AND BRAIN: THE SIGNS

Just like the captain of the ship, who holds control over the ship and
senses the slightest danger to the passengers and the vessel, your gut also
sends out signals through aches and pains if it is leaky. Treating only the
symptoms is just the tip of the iceberg.

THE GUT AND WOMB

A womb is nature at its purest—a human safely and warmly cocooned
inside a human. Your gut journey begins from conception. Sucking your
thumb peacefully, protected and secure in your mommy’s pear-shaped
womb, the amniotic sac allowed you buoyancy and sheathed you from the
outside world. Along with the outer layer of your skin, your internal organs
were protected as well. Everything from genetics to microbiota is inherited
from your parents.
Nature was preparing you for nine months before you were exposed to
the outside world. Your skin was covered with protein and bacteria-rich
amniotic fluid.
Did you know that you miss out on that bacterial diversity if you are a C-
section baby or if you were not breastfed?
Your nutrients reached you through the supply line, i.e., the umbilical
cord. But immediately at birth, the skin flora and you got exposed to the
outside world, and your gut took over the job of absorbing and transporting
nutrients and immunity through a semi-permeable gut lining, taking care of
your immunity. First, your genetic predisposition decides your ability to
make antibodies and your immunity, but as you grow older, your gut, diet
and lifestyle are the deciding factors.
Dangerous chemicals such as organophosphates, flame retardants and
phthalates are pretty much everywhere around us, even in our homes, in the
form of cleaners, detergents, cookware, carpets, soaps, shampoos, artificial
aroma oils, deodorants, agarbattis and plastic containers. The chemicals
used in these products can damage the gut and disrupt the brain and
hormones.

WHAT IS A LEAKY GUT?

Leaky wall villi

A leaky gut, which is the main reason for several illnesses, is very
underrated. Not many of us pay enough attention to it. Also known as
increased intestinal permeability of the gut barrier, it is a condition in which
the lining of the small intestine becomes damaged and gaps in the intestinal
walls start to loosen, thus making it easier for foreign and larger substances
such as toxins and undigested food particles to cross over and leak into your
bloodstream. These foreign substances and pathogens entering the blood
stream can cause an autoimmune response in the body including
inflammatory and allergic reactions such as migraine, eczema, thyroid and
IBS.
When the gates of the gut wall and villi open up and hyper-permeability
occurs, everything is left unguarded. The villi allow only micronutrients to
pass through to nourish your cells and organs. In order to regulate this tight
junction structure and function, your gut cells release Zonulin, which holds
the wall strong and guarded. Research has shown that higher levels of
Zonulin induces the breakdown of tight junctions between intestinal
epithelial cells and increases permeability. Elevated levels of Zonulin have
been associated with several autoimmune, inflammatory and neoplastic
diseases, celiac disease, type 1 diabetes, juvenile non-alcoholic fatty liver,
multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and inflammatory bowel
disease.
When foreign substances slip through the wall gaps of your intestines
into your bloodstream, they attach themselves to healthy working cells or
organs, basically anything they can attach themselves to, causing a flare up,
i.e. an inflammation in your immune system and the entire body. It
compromises your immune system and the white blood cells, which are in
charge of protecting your body against infections, diseases and foreign
entities. These pathogens and toxins attached to your cells remain floating
around in your blood and damage other organs of your body, one after the
other. A leaky gut may be the cause of an entire system damage.
You can think of your gut lining of the intestines permeability as a filter,
a muslin cheesecloth holding back all the food within it and allowing only
the right nutrients to pass through it.
Did you know that autoimmune diseases are a cause of a leaky gut? In
such diseases, our own warrior cells start fighting against each other,
mistaking them for the enemy.
The condition of your gut impacts you far more than you think. Listed
below are daily life scenarios suggesting that you may have a leaky gut:
Scenario 1: If four days a week, you are in discomfort or pain, unhappy
with your health and feeling low about life, feeling exhausted and tired even
after taking your regular multivitamins.
Scenario 2: If you are constantly whining and messaging your doctor,
asking him/her to prescribe some new pills for you to feel better.
Scenario 3: After trying out various fad diets and drinking exotic green
smoothies, you still feel bloated or constipated.
If you have a condition similar to any of these scenarios, you may want to
check with your doctor or nutritionist about a leaky gut. You need to take
your gut health seriously; you may be missing some friendly flora.
THE LEAKY-GUT SYNDROME
A syndrome is a combination of problems, signs and symptoms of medical
and mental conditions. A leaky gut syndrome may be making you irritable,
moody and even depressed.
Inside you, there is an extensive intestinal lining covering a huge surface
area, which has over a hundred trillion gut bacteria (also called gut flora or
microbiomes). When these are imbalanced, all hell breaks loose and you
may have what is called a leaky gut.
Mentioned below are 12 factors that could contribute to a leaky gut:
i. Stress: Whether resulting from exams, failed relationships or financial
setbacks, chronic stress is a huge contributing factor to multiple
gastrointestinal disorders, including a leaky gut.
ii. Eating packaged and fast foods: Eating packaged and fast foods too
often can lead to a leaky gut.
iii. Acidity: If you are suffering from acidity, acid reflux, heart burn or
stomach burn, then chances are that there is an excess secretion of
acids in the gastric glands of the stomach. This results in gas, bad
breath and stomach ache—very common signs of a leaky gut.
iv. Inflammation: Chronic inflammation due to stress and a bad lifestyle
is at times passed from mother to child. Stress and acidity are the
primary reasons for a leaky gut.
v. Consuming antibiotics, antacids and other medicines: When you
take acid blockers, you only supress the acid coming up the food pipe,
but it will remain in your body, inhibiting absorption of essential
nutrients such as vitamin B12, calcium and zinc. This eventually leads
to a leaky gut.
vi. Consuming excessive gluten: Hate to say this but the biggest concern I
have is millennials consuming excessive gluten in wheat, breads and
processed fast foods. Its negative effect on gut health cannot be
overlooked.
vii. Consuming too much sugar: Consuming excessive white sugar in
desserts, bagels, waffles and kulfis lead to an increase in the number
of harmful bacteria in our body, thus harming our gut.
viii. Dehydration: Not drinking enough water can dehydrate the cells and
organs and the bile gets more concentrated than needed, causing
acidity, inflammation, constipation and microbial imbalances.
ix. Exposure to excessive screen time: Your cell phone emits radio
frequency which may eventually lead to microbiome imbalance and
even cancer. Too much screen time can lead to irregular sleep patterns
and disturb the circadian rhythm of the body.
x. Consuming aerated beverages: Aerated beverages are like acid
bombs for your gut lining as they are loaded with artificial sweeteners,
especially aspartame, which leads to acidity, gut and brain dysfunction.
xi. Yeast overgrowth: Yeast is naturally present in the body, but an
imbalanced diet feeds the wrong microbes and leads to an overgrowth
of yeast. Candidiasis, thrush and diaper rash are common examples of
fungal infections. When an infection goes unnoticed, it makes you
weak and susceptible to a leaky gut.
xii. Consuming alcohol and drugs and smoking: Excessively engaging in
any of these activities ruins the good bacteria; even second-hand
smoking or vaping is dangerous and results in a leaky gut in teenagers.
Given below are the red flags of a leaky gut. Tick the box if you have
any of these symptoms.
Digestive issues such as gas or IBS
Diarrhoea and stomach cramps
Overnight bloating
Constipation
Diabetes
Obesity
Common cold, cough and/or flu
Autism
Autoimmune diseases
Widespread inflammation
Cancer
Dementia
Alzheimer’s disease
Parkinson’s disease
Low immunity
 Migraine
Throbbing headaches
PCOS
Thyroid
Unbearable PMS
Lupus
Asthma attacks
Food allergies and intolerances
Skin allergies such as acne and pimples
Eczema
Crohn's disease
Celiac disease
Rheumatoid arthritis
Hashimoto’s disease
Erratic mood swings
Depression
Difficulty in concentration
Suicidal thoughts
Anxiety
Sugar/salty food cravings
Frequent pill popping to feel better
ADD
ADHD
Addictions
Now that you are aware of these red flags, the next step forward is to break
up with a few habits or urges. The first is to break up with gluten and,
most importantly, sugar. In order to transform the mechanism of your gut,
break up with excessive sugar and gluten before it’s too late. The two most
dominant factors affecting the gut are sugar and gluten. A majority of the
foods being consumed are unnaturally and extremely high in sugar and
gluten. Diets high in sugar are linked to obesity and overweight, both
increase the likelihood and prospect of diabetes. There is a strong link
between obesity and mortality.
Robert Lustig is a paediatric endocrinologist at the University of
California, who specializes in the treatment of childhood obesity. In a 90-
minute talk titled, Sugar: The Bitter Truth2, Lustig argues forcefully that
fructose, a form of sugar ubiquitous in modern diets, is a ‘poison’ culpable
for America’s obesity epidemic. However, I would like to add, ‘globally’.
Be it any continent, for any person, sugar is sugar! It is addictive and
your bad bacteria loves an addiction; it’s a party for them, but a nightmare
for your gut. The imbalance in the microbiome makes you an addict. It’s a
chain reaction. How can we blame kids for pestering us for ice cream every
night or a waffle for their school snack? They crave sugar to feel satisfied.
If denied, it may lead to anxiety or even depression. Added sugars are on
your table every day—in ketchups, salad dressings, breads, cakes, chips and
coffees, to name a few. I can’t think of any food items that don’t have sugar
as the main ingredient, except natural foods of course. Till the government
imposes restrictions on the sale of such products, it is impossible to wage a
war on sugar.
Five ways in which excessive sugar intake can cause harm are:
i. Sugar causes glucose levels to spike and plummet.
ii. Sugar increases the risk of obesity, diabetes, gut leakiness and heart
conditions.
iii. Sugar accelerates ageing and the appearance of wrinkles.
iv. Sugar affects cognitive fitness in children as well as adults.
v. Sugar multiplies and imbalances microbes.
Now, let us understand what gluten is. Most of us riding the gluten-free diet
bandwagon don’t even know what gluten is. Interestingly, the term ‘gluten’
is derived from the glue-like property of wet dough which makes the dough
elastic and soft and gives bread the ability to rise during baking. It also
provides a chewy, satisfying texture.
Gluten is a family of proteins found in grains including wheat, rye, spelt
and barley. Of the gluten-containing grains, wheat is by far the most
common. The two main proteins in the gluten of wheat are glutenin and
gliadin. Gliadin is responsible for most of the adverse health effects of
gluten. The elastic texture of bread or naan would not be possible without
gluten. A chef can toss pizza dough in the air thanks to its stretchiness,
which allows it to land back on his hand without breaking.
Studies show that gliadin increases the levels of Zonulin produced by
your cells, thus resulting in increased gut sensitivity, permeability and
microbial imbalance.
What is gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance? If a gluten-sensitive
person eats too much of gluten-rich processed wheat products, their gut
allows this protein to pass through and create inflammation in the entire
body. Your body turns into a battlefield and becomes susceptible to celiac,
gluten sensitivity, wheat allergies, dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), migraine,
eczema and various other illnesses. The wheat that we consume today can
thus make people sick.
Wheat was earlier stored in its kernel form. Thus, its nutritional bounty
was released only when the seed was pound and prepared fresh, and was
hence full of vital nutrients. Wheat is otherwise a useful grain, but thanks to
revolutionization in the way it is being grown, processed and consumed (in
the form of croissants, bagels and breads), it has become more damaging
than nourishing.
A few problems that can occur due to gluten are gluten sensitivity,
stomach pain, bloating, feeling low and tired, a leaky gut, celiac disease
(autoimmune), diarrhoea, gas, constipation, headache, sudden weight loss,
foul-smelling excreta, mood swings, IBS (digestive disorder), acidity, and
abdominal pain and cramps. For those with one or more of the mentioned
symptoms, consider eliminating gluten from your diet for two weeks.
The good news, however, is that removing gluten from the diet of a
gluten-sensitive person can reverse the damage. For celiac patients, eating a
gluten-free diet can be life changing, as even the slightest morsel of wheat
can make them sick or prove fatal.
Spelt, barley, rye and cereals are usually high in gluten and so are food
items such as thepla (a soft Indian flatbread typical of Gujarati cuisine),
paratha, roti, pasta, beer, pizza, burger, bread, cookies and pastries.
At this point, let us discuss what a gluten-free diet is. It is a diet that
eliminates all foods containing gluten. However, one mistake that I have
noticed most people making is relying on ready-made and processed gluten-
free pastas and cookies, which may be high in calories, additives, sugar,
saturated fats and sodium, and low in nutritional values.
 Let us look at some inexpensive and easily available options of gluten-
free grains:
i. Millet: Yesterday’s coarse grains are today’s nutri-cereals. In India,
millet is grown on about 15 million hectares of land, with an annual
production of 17 million tonnes and contributes nearly 10 per cent to
the country’s food grain basket. It is rich in proteins, fibres, minerals
and vitamins. Jowar (sorghum), ragi (finger millet) and bajra (pearl
millet) are available in abundance and can easily replace wheat rotis,
parathas, kulchas, puris, wraps and rolls. Millets are high in
antioxidants and reduce oxidative stress. They are a solution to various
lifestyle disorders.
ii. Rajgira/Amaranth seeds: From pancakes to dhoklas, dishes made out
of this grain are rich in unsaturated fatty acids and soluble fibre, which
help in reducing blood cholesterol levels, making amaranth a heart-
healthy grain. Its bio-active compounds make it gut healthy and anti-
allergic.
iii. Buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta): It is high in antioxidants and
minerals and also improves blood sugar levels. It has a decent amount
of fibre and starch which is great for gut health. Resistant starch is
fermented by gut bacteria in the colon and produces short-chain fatty
acids such as butyrate in the colon, improving gut health and
decreasing the risk of colon cancer.
iv. Quinoa: It is a whole grain that is rich in fibre (food for microbes)
compared to all other grains and comes in a variety of colours such as
black, red, white and yellow. Quinoa is rich in proteins, fibres,
manganese, and B vitamins such as folate and thiamine. Try a quinoa
pilaf or risotto.
v. Rice roti: Rotis made out of rice flour is not new. Chawal ki roti, akki
roti and bhaat ni rotli are very popular in Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Gujarat and Rajasthan. These rotis are naturally gluten-free. A rice roti
from the previous night is naturally fermented and loaded with
probiotic bacteria and vitamin B12. An absolute treat for the gut!
vi. Green split peas (moong dal): Shelled moong dal atta (flour) is rich in
proteins, fibres and B vitamins, especially folate and thiamine, and
manganese. This flour can be used to make wraps, chapatis, pizzas,
tacos and waffles, among others.
WHAT IS A LEAKY BRAIN?
A brain is considered leaky when the blood–brain barrier (BBB) has been
compromised. Your brain also has a semi-permeable diffusion barrier, BBB,
which impedes or blocks most compounds from blood to brain. If the tight
junctions become loose or broken, the BBB becomes permeable and
harmful substances can leak in and damage the brain, leading to
inflammation. An inflamed brain or a leaky brain is a major cause of
anything from a simple migraine to Alzheimer’s disease.

The profound connection between the brain and the gut cannot be
underestimated as microbes living in the gut affect the brain both positively
and negatively. Along the same mechanisms that give rise to a leaky gut,
the BBB also keeps harmful substances from entering the brain.
Three cellular elements of the brain microvasculature compose the BBB:
endothelial cells, astrocyte end-feet and pericytes. Tight junctions present
between the cerebral endothelial cells form a diffusion barrier, which
selectively excludes most blood-borne substances from entering the brain.
Dysfunction of the BBB, for example, impairment of the tight junction seal,
causes a number of neurologic diseases including stroke and
neuroinflammatory disorders. We review here the recent developments in
our understanding of the BBB and the role of the BBB dysfunction in CNS
disease. The pathogenesis of the increased BBB permeability impacts
almost all functions of the body and may be the real cause of Alzheimer's
disease, dementia, multiple sclerosis and depression.
 The main causes of a leaky brain are Gut Dysbiosis (infections),
inflammation, leaky gut, toxins, autoimmune, chronic stress, Vagus Nerve
dysfunction, dehydration, diabetes, obesity, poor choices of fat and high-
calorie diets, liver damage, erratic sleep patterns and excessive intake of
sugar, and processed and packaged foods.
Let us look at the symptoms signifying that your brain is ‘on fire’.
i. Feeling low and depressed: If you are pushing yourself to be social
and constantly have negative thoughts, your brain is probably affected.
ii. Brain fog: Brain fog isn't a medical condition, but a symptom of a
cognitive dysfunction. It could result in poor concentration, mental
fatigue or simply zoning out. Look out for signs such as memory loss
and the urge to procrastinate on a daily basis.
iii. Headaches and migraine: If you get positional headaches and they
persist for longer periods of time, it’s a good idea to consult a doctor
to rule out any inflammation in the brain.
iv. Dependence on coffee and wine: If you are living on coffee
throughout the day to function and then shutting down your caffeine
rush with wine, it is definitely a sign that you need to see a doctor.
v. Nausea and vomiting: The presence of an excessive number of viruses
and parasites in the body may be the reason why you are feeling
nauseous and sick constantly.
vi. Memory loss: If you start losing your chain of thoughts more often than
you used to, misplace objects or seem to forget the names of your close
associates and extended family, it is time to act on your cognitive
fitness.
vii. Your brain feels tired instead of wired: Do you feel your energy
levels diminishing even after a good eight to nine hours of sleep? Do
you feel fatigued and always low on energy? These are red flags of a
tired and inflamed brain.
viii. Emotionally absent: If you are finding it difficult to hold onto
relationships and be emotionally connected with your partner/family,
or if you feel exhausted all the time and prefer being alone, it can be a
sign of mental exhaustion or fatigue.
Unfortunately, these signs are often dismissed as regular ups and downs of
life until they get worse and have to be treated medically.
Here is a breakdown of a few things to avoid a leaky gut-brain:
i. Sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup: Sucrose is found in large
quantities in cakes, cookies, coffee, cereals and breads sweetened by
white or brown sugar. Food manufacturers also add chemically
produced sugar, typically high-fructose corn syrup, to foods, beverages,
tomato sauce and salad dressings. Low-fat foods are the worst offenders
as manufacturers use sugar and other artificial sweetening derivatives to
add flavour to these. Excess sugar may lead to fatty liver, insulin
resistance, inflammation, increase in cancer cells and high cholesterol,
besides many other illnesses.
ii. Packaged foods: Read the labels on packaged food well, because if
you do not know what’s going in your body, you will never know how
much damage it’s causing. Stop purchasing foods that are high in plain
flours, sugar, preservatives and sodium. They are addictive and
engineered for overconsumption. There are zero-fibre foods with
artificially created liquid oils and semi-solid hydrogenated oils that
damage the brain. They are also coated with artificial ingredients,
chemicals, preservatives, colorants, flavours, stabilizers and textures.
iii. Dairy: Lactose intolerance occurs due to the deficiency of the lactase
enzyme, which is essential for the proper digestion of whole milk; this
enzyme breaks down lactose, a sugar which gives milk its sweetness.
The most common symptoms of lactose intolerance are migraine, gas,
bloating, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting.
iv. Gluten: Digesting wheat is not easy, so eliminate it for three weeks
before resuming again. Try the seven-day Gut reboot diet discussed
later in this book.
v. Soy: Soy interferes with the absorption of essential minerals such as
selenium, which helps convert primary thyroid hormone T4 to its
active form, T3. It is also a genetically modified organism, which is too
harsh on our system. Many women have signs of a thickened
endometrium due to high levels of estrogen from soya and soya
products.
vi. Red meat and bacon: Red meat and bacon are carcinogenic or cancer-
causing foods. The meat today is processed, industrially raised, and
sprayed and injected with antibiotics in factories, where unethical
practices towards animals are not addressed.
vii. Yellow/Sweet corn: The sweet corn that we eat in theatres is very
different from the corn that the indigenous people of North America
 once grew. It got so popular and in demand that it is now a genetically
modified organism, whose genetic material has been altered using
genetic engineering techniques.
viii. Eggs: Most eggs come from chickens fed on a diet of genetically
modified wheat, soy and corn, and injected with antibiotics. They may
be rich in protein, but do more damage to the brain than building
muscles.
ix. Smoking and consuming alcohol: Smoking has potential health risks
such as complications of lung functions, bronchitis, heart attacks, and
the risk of lung, throat and mouth cancer. Tobacco, nicotine and
charcoal fumes (in the case of shisha) have an adverse effect on
sensitive microbes, damaging the entire body’s ecosystem. Drinking
too much alcohol can cause abnormal activation of digestive enzymes
produced by the pancreas, leading to pancreatitis. It affects every
organ of your body as the pancreas is in charge of managing the blood
sugar levels of your body.
While we are at it, let us also learn a few gut-brain healing tips.
i. Be like Buddha: Don’t renounce the world, just give up the brain-
damaging foods and habits! Eat 80 per cent plant-based foods, fruits
such as blueberries and mangoes, turmeric, celery and leafy greens. The
more colourful your Buddha bowl looks, the more value it adds to your
brain and gut. A fruit bowl can satisfy your sugar cravings too. It’s a
win-win, guys!
ii. Eat nuts: Good fat heals your gut and is great for your brain too. Sixty
per cent of your brain is made up of DHA, an Omega-3 fatty acid.
Walnuts, flaxseeds, olives, coconut oil, avocado, cacao powder and
fish oil help the brain to function optimally. Your brain requires that
cholesterol to help neurons to form connections with other neurons.
Embracing the right fats can guide you towards mental clarity. Fat
soluble vitamins A,D,E and K get absorbed in fats really well. So,
don’t go nuts, just eat them.
iii. Eat rooted: Edible underground root vegetables and tubers such as
yam, taro, sweet potatoes, carrots and onions are good for your health.
The starches, and diverse strains of bacteria in them are good for your
gut and brain health as they are rich in prebiotics.
iv. Have fermented foods: Definitely not canned ones please!
Traditionally and naturally fermented foods minus preservatives add
 beneficial bacteria and enzymes to the intestinal flora. Freshly
preserved pickles boost your immunity. Eat fresh fermented foods such
as yogurt, olives, kefir, congee, idli, kanji, vada and ginger pickles.
v. Avoid brain zappers: Steer clear of sugary beverages, caffeine, alcohol
and energy drinks. These seriously damage gut flora.
vi. Optimize your protein intake: Less protein leads to losing muscle
which, in turn, leads to faster ageing. Eat grass-fed meat, lentils,
legumes and fresh cheese regularly.
vii. Go gluten-free: Go cold turkey on gluten, and eliminate it from your
diet completely for two whole weeks.
viii. Think bioindividual : You are unique! Your needs are unique! Write a
blog on your favourite foods, sports and exercise. No ‘one-size-diet-
fits all’, you must get a customized nutrition and smart exercise plan.
Try a digital detox and focus your energy on something without a
plug or wire. Reading a book, meditating or paying a board game
should help.
2
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/24/robert-lustig-sugar-poison, last accessed 8
January 2021.

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 GUT AND YOUR IMMUNITY

On the whole, your immune system is geared to do a remarkable job, but

sometimes it fails due to various factors such as the presence of parasites
and germs. The question is, how is it possible to intervene in this process
and boost your immune system by focusing your attention on your gut
health? So, here you go…
Your gut is your first line of defence. The maximum overprotective
diverse strains and bacterial warriors building your immunity are in your
gut. ‘A huge proportion of your immune system is actually in your GI
tract,’ says Dan Peterson, assistant professor of pathology at the John
Hopkins School of Medicine.
The colon is covered by a protective mucus layer, which gut flora use as
food to multiply and grow. Our entire digestive system, from the mouth to
anus, is the first line of defence for the other important organs such as the
brain, heart, kidneys and lungs.
Your microbes are fighting the bad bacteria from outside and inside your
body. Certain cells in the lining of the gut spend their lives excreting
massive quantities of antibodies into the gut. The friendly bacteria are
constantly working on creating an environment to fight against viruses,
pathogens and all other damaging bugs that we consume and inhale.
According to data from across the world, the most vulnerable cases who
contracted the COVID-19 virus were those with weaker immune systems,
high-risk individuals, the malnourished population and people living under
poor hygiene conditions. Those with pre-existing non-communicable
diseases such as diabetes, thyroid and cancer also appear to be clinically
extremely vulnerable.
Over 90 per cent of the healthy gut microbiome lead the microbial
ecosystem from the GI tract. The gut microbiome has emerged as a
dynamic central regulator of mitochondrial function in intestinal cells,
including the immune and epithelial cells. Gut microbiota signal to your
body’s main power house—the mitochondria of mucosal cells—when your
immunity is under a virus attack.
The gut microbiome actively interacts and shapes the host mucosal
immune system and regulates intestinal homeostasis, which means
maintaining a stable equilibrium between interdependent elements.
Macrobiotic signalling produced in immune cells plays an important role in
the eradication of invading viruses and pathogens and in the production of
millions of cytokines. Cytokines is a large group of proteins, peptides or
glycoproteins that are secreted by specific cells of the immune system.
(Imagine a cell being like a loaded machine gun, with the cytokines
shooting the enemy virus down.) Microbes are the ones that signal your
cells and molecules which mediate and regulate immunity and
inflammation to protect your body when it’s under a viral attack. The
mitochondria then waits for it to get signalled by the microbiota in your gut,
to prepare for combat!

MIND OVER MATTER: ARE YOU A HYPOCHONDRIAC?

Falling sick can sometimes be more mental than physical. Do you need
reassurance by doing multiple tests? Do you continually feel worried about
your health, google diseases and symptoms that you ‘think’ you may have?
Fear of falling sick is also an illness. It could also be psychosomatic at
times. It is called hypochondriasis, nosophobia or illness anxiety disorder.
Some people create symptoms of the illness in their mind and actually start
believing that they have a particular illness.
Who doesn't have that one family member who is always negative and
keeps thinking he/she has a sickness? We all know one person who is
always imagining the worst-case scenario. Such is the power of the mind.
Sometimes being in constant fear of contracting a disease or living
perpetually in fear can actually make you unwell.
What I know for sure is that the answer to having a good immunity does
not lie in superfoods and herbal teas alone, but in being emotionally stable
and happy as well. The answer is much deeper than just physical. Be
positive. ‘Elementary, my dear Watson!’
A positive state of mind builds and boosts your immune system like no
medicine or supplement can. Mental wellness wins hands-down when it
comes to healing, making decisions and boosting immunity. A healthy gut
and a positive mindset are synonymous with each other. Your immunity
depends on this physical, emotional and mental balance.
Here are a few tips to activate your body’s defence system emotionally:
i. Don’t engage in negative talk. Change the subject or stay quiet, but do
not indulge in negative conversations. Pro tip: Practise and entertain
 only uplifting conversations.
ii. If you have an aimless day, you have no measurement of your
productivity. Pro tip: Set goals or targets for the day; it can be for
work, wellness, kindness or intelligence. You will release happy
hormones if you achieve them.
iii. Believing that only medicines can heal you is a rigid mindset. Pro tip:
Listen to your gut feelings. Meditation can calm your mind and allow
your body to heal naturally. This is a growth mindset.
iv. Negative news are addictive and regressive, so stay away from them.
Pro tip: Recharge your mind, body and spirit positively by being one
with nature. Try digital detox too.
v. Labels and statements such as ‘I am not enough’, ‘I am worthless’ only
limit you. Pro tip: Harbour positive self-image, love abundantly and
laugh heartily. Be a communicator with a positive attitude. Don’t be a
naysayer or be around one. Read an innovative book on personal
growth.
vi. Like we have mentioned earlier, sitting is the new smoking! Pro tip:
Kick the butt. Good habits and healthy rituals can change your life and
bad habits can do just the opposite.
vii. Do you try too hard to fit in? Are you a people pleaser? Pro tip:
Remove the need to fit in, and accept your bioindividuality. Your
triggers are your teachers.
viii. Watch your breathing. Deep breathing reduces stress, strengthens
immunity and increases dopamine.
Let us now look at 10 superfoods in our kitchen for a dependable immunity.
i. Vitamin C: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. That’s what
everyone did during the lockdown. It is easy to add citrus fruits and
lemons to your meals. Citrus fruits such as grapefruits, oranges,
pomeloes, lemons, limes and tangerines produce white blood cells in
the body because they are rich sources of vitamin C.
ii. Turmeric (haldi): The benefits of cooking with turmeric are many.
Haldi is used extensively in Indian cuisine, which is good as it relieves
the body of pains and aches. During Indian weddings, the bride and
groom are smeared with haldi paste. Haldi also builds immunity by
reducing intestinal permeability and it has antimicrobial and
antibacterial properties, which are effective in healing digestive issues
by killing parasites, germs and viruses.
iii. Ginger: Ginger is a prebiotic and also has antimicrobial properties
inhibiting the pathogenic bacteria which actually damage the gut.
Warm ginger tea also breaks down mucus in the body. Double the
reason to consume ginger daily. It has natural glucosamine needed to
hold the cells together in the gut lining and it also decreases
inflammation. Ginger also has cholesterol-lowering properties.
iv. Cruciferous vegetables: Leafy greens have phytochemicals, which
fight cancer. Spinach, broccoli, bok choy, garden cress, cabbage
broccoli, Brussels sprouts and similar green leafy vegetables are great
for your immunity.
v. Coconut oil: Coconut oil is a wonder oil that contains medium chain
triglycerides, which help reduce cholesterol and other fats in the blood.
Consuming one tablespoon of cold-pressed coconut oil on an empty
stomach does wonders to the GI tract. It also helps seal the gut and
brain leakiness.
vi. Fresh red chilli peppers: Fresh red chilli activates the immune
command centre in your gut. The bright red colour has a bioactive
chemical compound called capsaicin, which produces the agni (fire) or
heat to activate and recharge your immune system.
vii. Flaxseeds (alsi): Flaxseeds help clear your bowels. Both brown and
golden flaxseeds are packed with nutrients, especially Omega-3 fats
and dietary fibre, which have heart and gut health benefits. Alsi has
plant compounds called lignans, which have antioxidant properties. It
improves cholesterol and lowers blood pressure.
viii. Caraway seeds (jeera):It is a great herb for the digestive system. It
relieves cramps, bloating and nausea and helps to release gas from
your body. It is advisable to introduce a few of these in your diet
regularly for better digestion.
ix. Mint (pudina): Mint is refreshing, cooling and antispasmodic. It
supports liver function and cools a heated body. If you are feeling
acidic or low, drink a fresh mint lemonade.
x. Ashwagandha: Withania somnifera (commonly known as
ashwagandha, Indian ginseng, poison gooseberry or winter cherry), is
an ancient Ayurvedic medicinal herb that sages swear by, and rightly
so. Ashwagandha is an adaptogen, which regulates stress hormones
and restores its equilibrium. It protects the immunological barrier of
the gut and brain, which gets depleted, thanks to excessive cortisol
levels in the body. For restful sleep, eat half a tablespoon of
Ashwagandha powder in ghee, coconut oil or plain water before hitting
the sack.

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 YOU’VE ‘GUT’ CONNECTIONS!
All diseases begin in the gut.
—Hippocrates

How often do you look at your stool? I know it may sound really
disgusting, but the truth is that your faecal matter is a window to your gut
health. One of the first questions that I ask my client is how often they
defecate. Are their intestines clogged? Does the stool look like watery
diarrhoea, or too hard to pass and painful? Are there chunks of undigested
food particles coming through, or even blood? All of this has a lot to do
with the gut flora in the body.

Your stool passes out of your body through the rectum and anus. Your
stool or faeces is made up of leftover, undigested food and bad bacteria that
your digestive system rejects. Microbiome mix has a major impact on your
discharge.
In ancient times, as hunter-gatherers, we ate plenty of fibres and natural
foods, resulting in a healthy and robust digestive system. Whereas, today
most people are likely to be constipated, with dry stool. Some have
conditions such as diarrhoea, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and
irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Here is how you can improve your digestive system:
i. Drink plenty of water, at least eight tall glasses a day.
ii. Have a fibre-rich diet.
iii. Triphala, amalaki, bibhitaki and haritaki fruits are available easily and
are harmless bowel activators. Have them regularly.
iv. Working out regularly, especially cardiovascular exercise, increases
intestinal mobility and is good for digestion. Drink plenty of water
before, during and after your workout.
v. Have flaxseed powder.
vi. Take psyllium husk powder as it is rich in fibres.
vii. Have herbal teas, hot coffees and senna tea as these are natural
laxatives, but have them in moderation.
viii. Visit your gastrointestinal specialist once in a while.
DAMAGE CONTROL THROUGH FAECAL TRANSPLANT
As bizarre as it sounds, the human gut is a microbial zoo of sorts. Faecal
Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) or stool transplant is another emerging,
life-saving solution of transplanting faecal matter from the donor into the
intestinal tract of a recipient. This directly changes the recipient’s gut
microbial composition and confers health benefits to him/her. Simply put,
the process transfers healthy stool from a donor into the compromised GI
tract of another.
Fundamentally, the overall care of the gut and the ENS is necessary.

GUT AND HUNGER

Let us talk about the gut and its connection to hunger. First, it is important
to identify if yours is a case of emotional eating or physical hunger. Are you
that sneaky nocturnal animal who gives in to midnight snacking? Is your
hunger genuine? Or is it simply out of boredom, dissatisfaction and
unrealized supressed emotions?
To find out the answer to the above questions, you need to listen to your
inner voice. You have to realize that this voice is not your enemy; it is your
gut-brain axis communication trying to guide you.
Certain hormone-producing microbes have a way of letting you know
whether you have reached satiety or not and communicates the same to the
brain. Leptin and ghrelin are the yin and yang of hunger hormones. They
work together to stimulate or suppress your hunger and satiety so as to
maintain optimal weight and energy.
 Reasons why you are always hungry can include a lack of knowledge
regarding nutrition or your food choices, dehydration, emotional trauma, a
hectic lifestyle, diabetes, thyroid, acidity, depression, and a diet that lacks
protein, fat and fibres, among others.
Now, let us look at the six doable pro-tips to always help you feel full:
i. Our kids often reach into the refrigerator to grab desserts or leftover
pizza. However, I try to make sure that all that they find in there are
fruits, water, yogurt, vegetables, sprouts mix, dips and hummus. Most
often, they pick a fruit, get annoyed, drink some water and go back to
bed. So, revamp your fridge.
ii. Eating too often can make you produce more of the hormone insulin,
so eat whole foods to increase your hours between meals. This could
include an apple, nut butter, legumes salad or yogurt rice. Avoid
simple carbs such as biscuits and wafers.
iii. Have more low-cal, high-fibre foods such as whole grains, green
vegetables, monosaturated fats and proteins. A burrito bowl is a great
example.
iv. Keep yourself hydrated with water, not sodas. Most adults and
especially children often mistake thirst for hunger. Keep a bottle of
water in every room to avoid choosing apple juice or sodas instead of
water, which is the real hydrator.
v. Get adequate and timely sleep.
vi. There are many ways to deal with stress eating/emotional eating.
Meditation, exercise and laughter are the three main stress busters I use
for my family, clients and myself. A trek, beach vacation, comedy
show or a game of bluff with the kids is always a stress buster. You
don’t have to check yourself into a far off retreat or take anxiety pills
or rely on sugar anymore.

GUT AND OBESITY

There are links between gut bacteria and being overweight and obese that
not many experts know of or even talk about. The gut microbiota of
individuals who are overweight, obese or morbidly obese show patterns of
dysbiosis compared to healthy individuals who maintain their weight well.
This dysbiosis can result from irregular eating habits, consuming
antibiotics, fatty and sugary foods, alcohol and chronic stress.
What Are Overweight and Obesity?
Overweight and obesity are conditions of excessive body fat. In the earlier
days, with chronic malnutrition being the norm, genetics favoured fat
storage. The negative impact of being overweight was not even noted in
medical literature till the eighteenth century.
So when did body fat become problematic? Technological advancements,
sustainability and economic boom increased output, more leisure time and
wider waistlines. By the nineteenth century, being excessively overweight
and obese was recognized as a cause of ill health and a century later, it was
declared deadly. The distinction between being overweight and obese is a
calculation called the body mass index (BMI), which is an estimate for
healthy body weight and actual body fat percentage, which can be
determined by waist circumference and muscle mass. Athletes have a
higher BMI as they have more muscle mass than regular people. Excessive
fat percentage in the body leads to many issues from lethargy, back and
knee pain, and high cholesterol, to heart-related problems, type 2 diabetes,
body image issues, PCOS and depression.

Bacteria and Lean Body Weight

Your large intestine is a haven for trillions of mutually beneficial microbes
that make up your gut microbiota. These gut bacteria form an ecosystem in
vital functions such as metabolism, hunger and digestion. Your microbiome
is important for many aspects of your body, including your weight. A
balanced diet, emotional well-being and exercise are important for the
diversity of your gut bacteria.
Bacteria such as Lactobacillus gasseri, Akkermansia muciniphila and
Christensenella minuta are good for weight loss and their number can be
increased in our body by consuming prebiotics.
A few natural prebiotic foods to fuel your skinny bacteria are cranberries,
black tea, flaxseeds, bamboo shoot, potato starch, garlic and rhubarb
extract. There are no ‘weight loss’ bacteria, but we can prevent weight gain
by eating these superfoods. These foods also help multiply your
microbiomes, which help with higher metabolism.

GUT AND HYPER ACIDITY

Gastric acidity is a key factor shaping the diversity and composition of
microbial communities found in the gut. A cycle of excessive bile acid
production from your liver to break down fats can be the number one reason
of our body being in an acidic state.
Hyperacidity, also known as gastritis or acid reflux, is a common
problem wherein inflammation of the stomach lining is caused by bacterial
infection or other lifestyle habits such as alcohol consumption. Other
problems faced are colon ulcers, weight gain, frustration and even
depression.
Are you habitually taking antacids to supress acidity? Heartburn, acid
reflux, bloating, migraine, abdominal cramps, stomach ulcers, build-up of
stress and emotional discomfort are symptoms of an acidic body. Expecting
weight loss in an acidic body is a hopeless decision and a far-fetched dream.
Try this quick health history check-up right away! Use the box to
guide you to evaluate if your body is acidic. Tick the box if any of
these symptoms occur frequently.
Muscle aches and body stiffness
Frequent headaches, acid burn
Migraine
Sour burps
Sudden weight gain/loss
Restlessness
Interrupted sleep
Frequent crying
Angry outbursts
Irritability
Preference to be left alone
Tension
Emotional
Brain fog
Anxiety
 Short temperedness
Depression
Memory loss
Nervousness
Procrastination
Excessive sleeping
Craving junk food and sugar
Soda cravings
Addictive behaviour
Brooding
Depending on the foods you eat, the calories and nutrients are extracted and
metabolized, leaving behind an ash residue. So, if you have eaten acidic
foods, the ash will show high acidic levels. The amount of this ash residue
left behind by a particular food specifically determines the pH of the food,
categorizing it either into acid-forming or alkalizing food.
Let us look at five highly acidic foods to avoid.
i. Processed and stale food: Frozen ready-made foods such as pizzas and
meat, packaged foods, fried snacks and breakfast cereals.
ii. Milk: When it comes to tolerance towards milk, bioindividuality plays
a huge role. It greatly depends on the dairy farm you get your milk
from. Are the cows grass-fed and given access to pasture? Or fed soya,
corn silage or grain along with growth hormone injections?
iii. Caffeinated sodas: Whether sugar free or regular, caffeinated sodas
are acidic, period! Although coffee, tea and other caffeinated
beverages are known to boost energy levels, they can have just the
opposite effect. These lead to rebound fatigue after their effect wears
off, leaving you craving for more.
iv. Gluten and GMOs: Wheat, soya and corn should be avoided to
minimize the acidic level, which can also put your liver and kidney at
high risk.
v. Hydrogenated fats: Liquid vegetable oils are made creamier (for
longer shelf life) by manufacturers converting unsaturated fats into
saturated ones through a process called hydrogenation, which is very
 dangerous to the heart and may pose a risk of developing cancer.
Margarine, and fried snacks such as chips, fast food, cookies, doughnut
and crackers should be avoided or eaten rarely to avoid consuming this
‘bad’ fat.
Acidity may even be caused by a very hectic work life, regular late nights,
poor or less exercise, excess protein supplements for body building such as
whey or steroids, and even supressing your emotions. Weight loss in an
acidic body is very difficult.

What is Alkalinity and pH Balance?

The measurement of acidity and alkalinity in the fluids and tissues of the
body ranges from 0 to 14. Our body maintains a regulated pH level—a
normal pH of 7 is neutral, less than 7 is acidic and more is alkaline. Your
kidneys control your body’s pH by excreting and reabsorbing acid and
alkaline ions from your body and urine. Eating an alkaline diet helps reduce
inflammation in the stomach, allowing food to digest well and thereby,
decreasing acid reflux. Alkalinity improves bone density, lowers chronic
pain, balances hormones and helps keep your gut microbes in symbiosis.
Here are seven tips to keep your alkaline levels in check:
i. Switch from a late dinner to an early dinner. Consider the protocols of
intermittent fasting while having early dinner and allow your system to
reboot until next noon. The 16:8 window or 16 hours of fasting and
eight hours of eating is advisable or try to eat at least three hours before
sleeping.
ii. Try to go for a slow walk or be upright after meals, to help your
stomach break down food and minimize the risk from indigestion and
acid reflux. The point is, do not lie down or sit on a couch immediately
post dinner.
iii. Go vegan, avoid gluten, GMOs and fast food and swap regular milk
with almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, nut milk, hemp or seed
milk. Also, avoid gluten-rich breads, pastas and wraps, MSG, soya,
corn and fried fast food.
iv. Restrict caffeine intake and indulge instead in herbal potions and berry
smoothies. Start your day with a berry smoothie and banana. Fruits are
antioxidants and alkaline in nature. Have a cup of herbal tea or opt for
 coconut water. Coconut water is alkaline and helps in longevity and
vitality compared to a short-term spike of caffeine shots.
v. Avoid wearing tight garments. Tight clothes can cause stomach
distention and a backward flow of food content. Squeezing into tight
clothes is an undiagnosed cause of acidity.
vi. Unsaturated fats such as Omega-3 fatty acids are brain food. They also
help reduce inflammation and multiply good microbes. Smaller
quantities mean lesser strain on your liver. Olives, avocadoes and
walnuts are great fats to consume.
vii. Balance pH levels by drinking enough water to flush out excess acidic
ions from your kidney and keep your cells hydrated and less acidic.
YOUR GUT AND HORMONE
Gut microbes and your gut play a mammoth role here, absorbing and
releasing all nutrients into the bloodstream for all your nine glands to be
nourished well. This, in turn, helps the glands to function in synergy with
each other—from growth, sleep, sexual drive to metabolism. Important
hormones such as serotonin and dopamine are produced in your gut, and the
activity of your glands depends on your gut health.
The balance of your hormones affects and is affected by all systems in
your body. Integrative nutrition is an emerging field that focuses on
addressing the underlying working of the gut and the causes of illnesses,
both physical and mental, rather than just treating the symptoms. Being
‘hormonal’ is used for different behaviours, more often as a joke.
So let’s start with hormones 101 and learn what these amazing chemicals
are capable of doing.
A hormone is a chemical that is made by specialist cells, usually within
endocrine glands and is released into your bloodstream to communicate or
send a message to another part of the body. These ‘chemical messengers’
are found in all multicellular organisms and their role is to provide an
internal communication system between cells located in distant parts of the
body. They have two types of communication. Communication 1: Between
two endocrine glands. Communication 2: Between an endocrine gland and a
target organ. For e.g. when the pancreas releases insulin, which causes
muscle and fat cells to take up glucose from the bloodstream for energy.
The nine vital glands of your endocrine system and their responsibilities
are as follows:
i. Pituitary gland: It may be the size of a pea, but it is your master gland.
It produces hormones that control the other glands and other parts of
the endocrine system. This gland secretes eight hormones all by itself
for growth and reproductive systems.
ii. Hypothalamus: It liaises between the nervous system information and
delivers it to the endocrine system. Pituitary gland and hypothalamus
are responsible for maintaining homeostasis, the body’s internal
balance, as well as circadian rhythm, body temperature, appetite, heart
rate, blood pressure, fluid and electrolyte balance.
iii. Thyroid gland: The essential function of the thyroid gland is to
regulate your body’s metabolism—the process of using food for
energy. That explains sudden and drastic weight loss and weight gain
in a thyroid dysfunction.
iv. Parathyroid hormone (PTH): This gland balances blood calcium
levels, and bone health and density. Calcium levels when too high or
too low can have detrimental effects on your sleep, energy and
cognitive function.
v. Thymus gland: This is your immunity gland, located behind the
sternum. It stimulates the production of disease-fighting white blood
cells, ‘T-cells’, which protect the body from diseases and infections.
vi. Adrenal gland: Located above your kidneys, this gland regulates your
response to stress by releasing cortisol, basically your fight or flight
connection.
vii. Pancreas: The pancreas helps in digestion and excretes enzymes to
help break down the nutrients in your food. Insulin and glycogen
control blood sugar levels throughout the day.
viii. Gonads: The gonads, the primary reproductive organs, are the testes in
the male and the ovaries in the female.
ix. Pineal gland: This is a pine-shaped gland in the brain. It helps convert
signals from the nervous system into hormones. It influences sexual
development and mainly produces melatonin, the sleep hormone.
Hormones affect every tissue, cell and organ in the body—from gut
function, muscle growth and recovery to bone health, brain health and much
more. Let’s look at eight major hormones in females and their functions; i–
iv are the main female hormones and the other four are the main male
hormones.
i. Estrogen
ii. Progesterone
iii. Cortisol
iv. Thyroid
v. Pregnenolone
vi. Testosterone
vii. DHEA
viii. Androstenedione
There is a collection of endocrine glands that produce hormones which are
used as chemical messengers throughout the body to help regulate vital
processes including metabolism, growth, sleep and reproduction. Gamma
aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an important chemical messenger that
contributes to motor control, vision and other cortical functions. It also
serves to control our fear or anxiety. Hormones produced by glands are
diffused through the bloodstream and they bind to a specific receptor cell to
do its assigned job.
Your gut and microbes help in absorbing and releasing all nutrients into
the bloodstream for your nine glands to be nourished. The most common
hormonal imbalances faced are HPA axis dysfunction (Hypothalamic
pituitary adrenal axis), thyroid, cortisol imbalances, endometriosis,
menstrual disorders, oestrogen dominance, low testosterone, PCOS and
infertility.

THE GUT AND THYROID

When you hear the phrase ‘low or high thyroid function’, it’s in relation to
your metabolism, microbiome, emotional stress, diet, inflammation, sleep,
exercise and your lifestyle; it is not just genetics.
The hormone your thyroid releases, along with insulin and cortisol, is one
of the ‘big 3’ that controls your metabolism and weight. This stimulating
hormone is produced and released by your pituitary gland. It controls the
production of the thyroid hormones, thyroxine and triiodothyronine, which
are essential to maintain the body’s metabolic rate, heart and digestive
functions, brain development and muscle control.
 A hyperpermeable gut can allow pathogens to attack your tiny butterfly-
shaped thyroid gland, leading to an autoimmune state like low or high
thyroid functioning.
The common thyroid disorders are hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s disease,
Graves’ disease, hyperthyroidism, Goitre, thyroid nodules and thyroid
cancer.
Symptoms of a thyroid malfunction are fatigue, constipation, change in
body temperature, tingling and numbness in the hands, excessive weight
loss (hyperthyroidism), water retention, hair fall, muscle and joint aches,
depression, irregular or longer menstrual cycles, excessive weight gain
(hypothyroidism) and brain fog.
Here are 15 superfoods that naturally purge your body of its toxins:
i. Turmeric, for the thyroid gland to start healing the gut and brain.
ii. Consuming one tablespoon of virgin cold-pressed coconut oil can help
reduce inflammation of the gland by healing the gut lining (you can
combine #1 and #2).
iii. Eating two walnuts regularly helps tighten your gut lining cells.
iv. Drinking water from copper jars and glasses improves thyroid gland
activity.
v. Herbs such as triphala and trikatu help boost metabolism and guggulu
(a resin) helps in detoxification.
vi. Remove potential food triggers of hypothyroidism, such as excess
consumption of cruciferous greens, tofu, coffee, alcohol, sugar, fatty
foods like butter, meat and fried foods and unnecessary medicines.
vii. Spinach, berries, Brazil nuts, seaweed, maca and moringa, all are
superfoods for your gut.
viii. Relaxing your mind and consuming apoptogenic herbs such as ginger,
mint and ginseng tea supports the fatigued adrenal gland.
ix. Zucchini, celery juice and dandelion greens are great to reboot the
thyroid gland.
x. All fruits are beneficial especially papaya, mangoes, peaches and
pineapple as these cleanse liver toxins.
xii. Pickled beets, sauerkraut, pickled cabbage, and lemon, ginger and
carrot pickles are good.
xiii. Dark chocolate is a great hormone booster and brain food. Mango salsa
and watermelon are great as snacks for your gland.
xiv. Herbal teas such as chamomile are the best option for improving
thyroid. Have them with organic honey, not white sugar.
xv. Essential supplements such as iodine, vitamin B, selenium, zinc and
vitamin D can help.

YOUR GUT AND TYPE 2 DIABETES

The gut microbiota has the ability to improve the health of people living
with type 2 diabetes. When our body gets a good diet that is rich in
polyphenols, which is found in complex grains and fibre-rich vegetables
and fruits, the gut breaks them down to metabolites. People with type 2
diabetes can’t make enough insulin because their beta cells stop working
properly. Feeding the gut microbiota well could help make more insulin and
improve blood glucose control.
Diabetes is a chronic medical condition in which sugar or glucose levels
build up in your bloodstream. Insulin helps push the glucose from your
blood into your cells, where you could use it for energy to do your daily
chores. In type 2 diabetes, your body’s cells are not able to respond to
insulin as well as they are supposed to and your body may not produce
adequate insulin eventually.
Some early symptoms of type 2 diabetes are constant hunger, lack of
energy, weight gain, frequent urination, itchy skin, dry mouth, fatigue and
irritability. Severe symptoms include dark patchy skin, slow-healing of cuts
or sores, foot pain, yeast infections and depression.
Let’s now focus on the main causes of type 2 diabetes. Excessive refined
carbohydrates such as those found in breads, bagels, theplas, parathas and
cakes imbalance the digestive microbes, encouraging the cravings. This is
the beginning of the end. This triggers a domino effect; blood sugar levels
rise in the bloodstream and the pancreas is forced to work harder to release
more insulin to cope and control the sugar spike.
 Your body underutilizes insulin that floats around in your body along
with the glucose build-up in the bloodstream. These are the simple
carbohydrates found in sugary beverages, desserts, fried snacks and the so-
called baked snacks.
Your glucose is unable to break down, leaving your body starved for
energy. You may be gaining weight by the hour and have a lot of fat
reserves, yet you feel lethargic. It will leave you frustrated and confused.
That’s not it, your pancreas will be overworked and eventually stop
working.
There are certain measures you can take to avoid or effectively manage
type 2 diabetes. Here are seven incredible ways to keep your blood sugar
levels in check:
i. Keep junk food out of your house, car and office. When junk food is out
of sight, it is out of mind and mouth.
ii. Stick to fixed eating routines and portions. Eat more or less at fixed and
regular intervals. Use the same bowls and spoon sizes daily to measure
the food intake.
iii. Keep a fixed cheat day. Allow yourself one cheat meal a week and
plan it well.
iv. Eat more fibre and less refined carbs. Eat more complex grains,
cruciferous greens, fibrous fruits, seeds and nuts.
v. Exercise. Get about 30–45 minutes of aerobics or cardio exercise daily
to control your blood glucose levels.
vi. Get a good mix of microbes by eating a variety of root vegetables and
tubers (underground part of a stem or rhizome, bearing buds) such as
sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, turnips and artichokes. Their fibres
regulate intestinal hormone secretion.
vii. Have pre-probiotic supplements. An additional boost of microbes will
help the digestive system work better.
These are lifestyle changes and not treatments for type 2 diabetes. The main
goal is to stay within a specific range of glucose levels by macro
combinations with more fibres, proteins, slow carbs and minimal fats. More
effort to digest means you burn more calories, thus keeping you fuller for
longer and with lesser production of insulin.
GUT–BRAIN AND DEPRESSION
Brain
The brain is a strange and a mysterious place; it is where everything we
know and feel is stored. Your thinking, reasoning, reading, writing and
learning are managed by the brain. Your cognitive fitness depends on your
brain health. The brain is also one of the largest and most complex organs
in the human body. It is made up of more than 100 billion nerves that
communicate in trillions of connections called synapses. The gut–brain axis
plays a huge role in your brain health.

Your brain is like a car. A car needs fuel, brake fluid and other materials
to run favourably. Your brain too needs special materials to give a stellar
performance. These include glucose, vitamins, minerals, good fats, water
and other essential chemicals. The fuel or energy for your brain is glucose.
When you eat the right foods, your gut supplies the nutrients and glucose to
your brain. It helps manufacture the right proteins and fats to grow new
connections or add myelin, the fatty sheath to axons, which are the primary
transmission lines of the nervous system. Too little (deficiency) or too much
(overabundance) of the necessary nutrient can adversely affect the nervous
system.
Your gut and brain are also connected through chemicals called
neurotransmitters, which control feelings and emotions. Too little of these
could cause depression. The neurotransmitter serotonin contributes to happy
feelings and also helps control your body clock. Interestingly, many of these
neurotransmitters are also produced in your gut cells, and the trillions of
microbes living there. A large proportion of serotonin is produced in the
gut.
 Recent neuroscientific research shows that the ability, capability and
health of your brain isn't just the product of your childhood experiences and
genetics. In fact, the daily choices you make and experiences you have help
your brain function better and builds cognitive fitness which can be
described as neuroplasticity. Celeste Campbell, a neuropsychologist in the
Polytrauma Program at the Washington, DC, says that, ‘It [neuroplasticity]
refers to the physiological changes in the brain that happen as the result of
our interactions with our environment. From the time the brain begins to
develop in utero until the day we die, the connections among the cells in our
brains reorganize in response to our changing needs. This dynamic process
allows us to learn from and adapt to different experiences.’
Let’s look at 10 ways to increase your cognitive fitness:
i. Eat more plant-based meals. ‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine
be thy food,’ said Hippocrates. Fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole
grains slow down the decline of cognitive fitness. Good fats from olive
oil, B vitamins, flaxseed, avocado, walnut and fish are also great fats
for your brain. Leafy greens such as kale and spinach are high in
vitamin K, folate and beta-carotene. Berries have flavonoids, which
give them their brilliant hues. Flavonoids delay memory loss.
ii. Have natural supplements. The best source of vitamins and minerals
is food. After digestion, the healthy components are bioavailable. Your
gut’s role is to supply it all to your brain. Folic acid from asparagus,
beans, rice, sesame seeds and citrus fruits work wonders.
Moringa, one of the world’s most nutritious plant species, is high in
protein and has cancer-fighting bio-compounds. DHA, an Omega-3
fatty acid, is an essential component of brain cells which helps fight
Alzheimer’s. This is found in fatty fish and flaxseeds. Vitamins B6 and
B12 are very essential for the smooth functioning of the brain as you
age. Deficiencies in these B vitamins have been linked to dementia.
Chickpeas and chicken breast are high in vitamin B. Vitamin E has
antioxidant effects, which can combat the oxidative stress linked to
cognitive decline and dementia. This vitamin is found in sunflower
seeds, almonds, spinach and broccoli. Vitamin D is important to run
most functions of your body. Soak in some natural sunlight and
increase your metabolism and cognitive fitness.
iii. Play games. Mind games are beneficial. I am talking about puzzles,
crosswords, Sudoku, board games and bedroom games too. Challenge
 your brain, increase its speed and make it sharp.
iv. Meditate. Daily meditation is the best gift for your brain, as it
increases the frequency of your positive thoughts and mental state. It
also strengthens gut instincts and feelings.
v. Be a storyteller. Read to yourself and your children. It can help make
you an interesting person while increasing your self-worth.
vi. Take a break from your gadgets. Need I say anything more? Turn it
off.
vii. Learn a new skill. Learning a new skill, racket game or a new
language keeps your brain cells active.
viii. Train your brain, like you would train your muscles. For many, brainy
is the new sexy. You can train your brain to be more productive and
receptive with basic principles of visualization and mind mapping.
ix. Exercise regularly. No gym or trainer required, simple basic exercises
can build your cognitive fitness.
x. Get physical. Increase your affection levels—kiss more, hug more and
have healthy and safe sex more often. The kind of rewiring an orgasm
can do, nothing else can. Chemistry in your bedroom can go a long
way to increase your cognitive fitness.

Gut
Destigmatizing mental illness and improving one’s overall mental health
can save a lot of pain and many lives. Look out for signs of depression so
that you can address it at the right time, before it is too late. Depression has
a number of symptoms. Most of your mental wellness and depression
depends on how good your gut feels.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in young people. A major
cause of suicide is chronic depression. Depressed people can get
overwhelmed by painful emotions and trauma and see suicide as the only
way out. If a person expresses suicidal thoughts, it is important to take it
seriously and act responsibly. If ‘you’ are going through any such thoughts,
it is okay to reach out to someone for help and guidance.
Here are the signs of depression to look out for:

Loss of engagement and pleasure in all activities

Feeling of fatigue and low energy levels
Frequent crying
 Talking about killing oneself
Memory loss or being constantly zoned out
Low libido
Self-isolation
Irregular sleeping habits, either too much or too less
Significant change in behaviour
Signs of giving away valuables or preparing a will
Hopelessness for the future
Suicidal thoughts
Feeling of worthlessness
Low self-esteem
Exaggerated guilt

When happy hormones are low, anyone, yes anyone, can slip into feeling
low, anxious or depressed. The good news is, you can feel better by
enhancing your gut health and releasing the feel-good hormones yourself
without having to take any selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Introduce happiness with the four chemicals I call the DOSE (Dopamine,
Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphins). (If you are on any medication, please
consult your doctor before changing any dose or getting off it completely.)
These are 10 natural gut ways to slay your anxiety and depression:
i. Have dark chocolate. Yes! Dark chocolate is loaded with nutrients that
can positively affect your health. The fatty acid profile of cocoa is
excellent for your moods. It is also an antioxidant as it has polyphenols,
flavanols and catechins.
ii. Have superfoods rich in Omega-3 fatty acid. For non-vegetarians, oily
fish such as sardines and salmon, and for vegetarians, walnuts in your
salads, flaxseed oil, chia and hemp seed fruit bowl. You can have
healthy bowls of Brussel sprouts, edamame, seaweed, kidney beans,
spinach, kiwi, papaya and mangoes in tahini dressing.
iii. Have herbs, potions and concoctions. These are great for hormones
and to feel relaxed and happy. Avoid ready-made dip tea. Try to source
fresh flowers such as hibiscus, jasmine and camomile, and herbs such
as ginger, basil, mint, peppermint, sage and thyme instead for your tea.
Prepare a healing tea and drink often to feel calm and hydrated.
Chamomile, green tea, vanilla tea, matcha and freshly brewed coffee
are good options.
iv. Set all negative labels aside and seek answers to your worries. Avoid
retail therapy.
v. Indulge in passion and cuddles. Get intimate with your partner and
make the first move if needed, taking control of your body. That can
help reboot reproductive glandular functions and release dormant stress
and hormones. Cuddling your children and playing with your pet can
be therapeutic too. So, go ahead and indulge in some TLC.
vi. Exercise and stay active.
vii. Stay hydrated.
viii. Get adequate sleep.
ix. Meditate and focus on your breathing.
x. Be kind and generous.

GUT AND PREGNANCY

The community of bacteria in the baby’s gut depends on the mommy’s gut.
The food she eats, her mental health, delivery mode, sleep and hydration,
everything is reflected in the baby’s health. Bacterial strains absorbed by
the infant during vaginal birth or normal delivery and those who are
breastfed are very different from those delivered through C-section and
those who are bottle-fed. The more diverse the strains, the better the
chances of good immunity, longevity and health. Maintaining a healthy diet
during pregnancy is very important for the mother, the baby and the
microbes. Make sure the additional 350–500 extra calories are benefiting all
three.
Some good foods to be had during pregnancy include:
i. Leafy greens: Spinach, kale and broccoli include fibre, phytonutrients,
vitamins (C, K and A), iron, folate and potassium. A fibre-rich diet also
helps in pooping.
ii. Lean meat: This food category provides a wide variety of nutrients
including protein, iodine, iron, zinc, vitamins (especially B12) and
essential fatty acids. Lean red meats are rich in iron, zinc and B12. If
the meat is from grass-fed animals, it is healthy and less risky for the
mother and baby.
iii. Green peas: These are rich in essential vitamins and antioxidants such
as vitamin K, C and folate. A rich source of manganese and fibre, peas
are good for digestion and eye health, among others. Green pea soup
 with a few crushed almonds is a great way to get in your weekly dose
of proteins.
iv. Avocados: The monounsaturated fatty acid in avocado makes it
special. Rich in fibre and vitamins, with a subtle nutty flavour,
avocado is an all-time favourite with my clients.
v. Legumes: This food group includes lentils, beans and chickpeas. These
are fuel for the microbes too. Sprouts keep you fuller, and get in that
vegan protein. Legumes are excellent plant-based sources of fibre,
protein, iron, folate and calcium, which the body needs during
pregnancy. Folate and vitamin B9 are essential for the foetus during the
first trimester.
vi. Whole grains: Different varieties of complex whole grains as compared
to refined grain help the mommy feel fuller and meet her caloric
requirements. They are rich in vitamins and plant compounds.
vii. Sweet potato, carrots and beet root: Rich in beta-carotenes, these
vegetables are plant compounds that are converted into vitamin A in
your body. Vitamin A is essential for growth and foetal development.
They are rich in prebiotics and therefore, great for beneficial bacteria
to thrive in.
viii. Berries: They are packed with water, healthy carbs, vitamin C and
antioxidants. High amounts of vitamin C in them help the body to
absorb iron and build immunity and is also good for the skin and hair.
Without spiking your blood sugar levels, berries make for a delicious
treat.
ix. Fermented foods: Foods such as yogurt, kombucha, home-made
pickles with preservatives and rice soaked overnight are great foods
for your microbes.
If you are currently trying to conceive and are wondering why it is so hard,
gut health could be an area of concern that has not crossed your mind or
your spouse’s or your doctor’s. Addressing digestive health issues should be
the primary focus of anyone trying to conceive.
Manisha and Siddharth, a couple who were not able to conceive for
decades, came to me for integrative nutrition and conceived in the next
month itself. Your microbiome may be invisible but impact your conception
on an ovarian level.
Microbes are inherited at birth and also through breastfeeding. So, if you
have a diverse variety of good bacteria, you have your mother to thank.
Better bacteria in the body means better immunity.
GUT AND INTERMITTENT FASTING
It’s not about eating less, it’s about eating less more often.
As cavemen, we were hunters and walked for hours to hunt and went to
bed hungry if we were out of luck. Eating natural foods that kept us fuller
for longer and being active were our basic ways of living. What’s new,
however, is our sedentary lifestyle and fussing over fad diets.
Enter intermittent fasting…Eating and fasting at specific intervals is
called intermittent fasting. It is gaining popularity with celebrities and
weight watchers because it allows you to increase or decrease the window
of weight loss gradually, according to your comfort level till you reach your
16 to 20 hours of fasting at a stretch. Inflammation in the gut lining and the
microbes that help heal depend completely on the type of food we eat. It
also depends on the amount of food we eat and at what intervals. When at
rest, the body heals the fastest. Similarly, when we rest the digestive
system, the ENS also rests and heals the GBA. The most popular and easy
way to incorporate intermittent fasting in your lifestyle is to do the 16:8,
eating for eight hours of the day and fasting for the remaining 16 hours.
Don’t worry, most hours you would be either sleeping or not thinking about
food.
Alternatively, you can do a 24-hour fast with/without water once or twice
a week.
Intermittent fasting gives the digestive system much-needed rest from
working hard all day and night. It reduces inflammation in the gut and other
parts of the body and multiplies the good microbes needed for digestion,
satiety and weight loss. Such fasting controls your insulin levels, helping
you avoid obesity-related problems. During long-distance travel, it is easy
to stick to such a fasting plan. For that matter, you can follow it just about
anywhere!
While there is no need to count each and every calorie while doing
intermittent fasting, it doesn’t mean you can eat cakes and cookies and
guzzle down sodas during the eating window. That is not how you’ll see
results.

YOUR GUT AND WEIGHT LOSS

Google ‘how to lose weight’ and about 850,000,000 results will show up on
your browser. Half of these would be ads for some product or supplement to
lose weight, the other half would be showing quick and easy ways to shed
calories. A few will even claim, ‘no more exercise, just sleep and lose
weight.’
Let’s establish the power of three here:
i) There is no magic pill, ii) it will not be easy, and iii) you will have to
follow a holistic diet and lifestyle.
Here are eight hacks to help with your weight-loss regime:
Weight loss hack#1: Use the 80/20 formula. Your problem with trusting
fad diets results from failed diets. Fad diets promise quick weight loss, but
they forget to mention even quicker weight gain if not continued.
My hack: You should do an 80/20: 80 per cent of healthy home-cooked
meals and 20 per cent of unhealthy indulgences.
Weight loss hack#2: Have home-made cereal trail mix. You think cereals
in boxes are healthy just because they claim to be so. They are anything but
healthy! They are fully processed and all the essential fibre is removed.
They are expensive, high in sugar, and have low nutrient value and a killer
calorie count. Be a label detective!
My hack: Make your own trail mix. The gut bacteria/microbiome multiply
and facilitate weight loss with complex and fibre-rich carbohydrates. Eat
home-made cereals of rolled oats, rajgira or amaranth with nuts, seeds,
fresh fruits, almond milk and cocoa powder. Eat it three to four times a
week instead of that cereal box with a million ingredients on it.
Weight loss hack#3: Ditch the hydrogenated oils, get more of the omegas
in. Fast foods hinder your ability to lose excess body fat. They clog the
arteries and make your metabolism sluggish. They sit in your stomach for
days and make the bacteria work harder till they are destroyed.
My hack: Add monounsaturated fats such as Omega-3s, olives, walnuts and
sunflower seeds to your salads and cereal. Essential fats which are anti-
inflammatory and heart-healthy help the flora to flourish.
Weight loss hack#4: Floss and brush after dinner. Taking care of oral
hygiene is important. We all know that, but did you know that taking care of
your teeth and gums also helps lose weight? Yes, you heard me right.
Brushing and flossing post dinner stops you from binge-eating and late-
night take-outs.
My hack: Floss and brush and tell yourself, ‘I will eat at breakfast
tomorrow.’ Start with a commitment to yourself. Resting your digestive
system and getting adequate sleep are very important for gut bacteria.
Weight loss hack#5: Exercise with bigger muscle groups. Using smaller
muscle groups like biceps and triceps and expecting to burn calories is
meaningless. Most cling on to a stationary bike, treadmill or elliptical as
though their life depends on it. Focus on bigger muscle groups such as
hamstrings, glutes, quadriceps, back and chest.
My hack: We were apes, we swung from branch to branch and we could
really benefit from some movement and integrative training that does not
need a machine. Do exercises with bigger muscle groups such as chest,
back and glutes.
Weight loss hack#6: Stick to home remedies. Popping a pill for every little
pain, ache or discomfort is not at all advisable.
My hack: Use home remedies, natural herbal mixes, ice packs and
acupressure instead to deal with illness, unless it is chronic or severe.
Cuddle your children or your pet. Drink warm water and also
ginger/mint/herbal teas and detox your gut before popping a pill.
Weight loss hack#7: Have coconut water. Swap a diet soda with coconut
water. Soda can flush out the good bacteria, confuse the pancreas and leave
you dehydrated. Anti-aspartame activists claim there’s a link between
aspartame, artificial non-saccharide sweetener, and a multitude of ailments,
such as cancer, seizures, headaches, depression, weight gain and so on.
My hack: Drink coconut water as soon as you feel the urge to drink a soda.
Other great sugar-curbing drinks are fresh mint lime soda with salt and ice,
herbal teas, latte or a smoothie. Save your gut and your brain by striking a
balance. Natural alternatives to aspartame are honey, raw jaggery, coconut
sugar, brown sugar, agave nectar and stevia leaf powder. All of them have
anti-inflammatory properties and are a good substitute for sugar.
Weight loss hack#8: Hire a health coach. Some even consider bariatric or
gastric bypass surgery out of sheer frustration after trying fad diets and
having failed. Beware, there is a large bacterial population shift seen in the
post-gastric-bypass surgery, a double impact of gut alteration caused by the
procedure, making the patient lose muscle mass and become nutrient
deficient.
My hack: Find a good nutritionist who is also a coach. Customize a 12- or
24-week plan, and stick to it. You will benefit much more than just losing
weight. Weight loss is not rocket science, it’s an art of balancing life and gut
bacteria.

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 YOUR WEIGHT LOSS GOALS: THE
SECRET SOLUTION

We all have bioindividual requirements. We all are unique, as we can see

from our fingerprints. Our bodies are unique, as are our nutritional needs,
which are based purely on diet, preferences, microbiome, surroundings and
lifestyle. Since we are all different and unique, a bioindividual diet can be
the ideal solution to our weight loss woes.
A bioindividual diet is a strategy focusing on your bioindividual needs,
from the ‘dos’ that your body benefits from to the ‘don'ts’ which are
generic. This diet plan equips you with the tools to deal with IBS,
depression, heart disease, diabetes, stress and depression, among others.
We are all familiar with the saying that, ‘One man’s food is another
man’s poison.’ For a vegan, even milk is poison; for a celiac, wheat is
poison and a hardcore non-vegetarian, when restricted to a plant-based diet,
could become depressed and sick. Respect your choices and others’ too.
The future of natural healthcare is focusing on bioindividuality and this
concept will create a massive health transformation for anyone who adapts
it.
PRIORITIZING FOODS: PRIMARY AND SECONDARY FOODS
Just as food is needed for the body,
love is needed for the soul.
—Osho

Food is secondary, love is primary. Self-love is an essential element in self-

healing. Its benefits are understood and appreciated only when experienced.
If you haven't experienced it yet, begin with gestures such as smiling to
yourself each time you look into the mirror, caressing your hair or simply
hugging yourself. Make loving yourself a top priority.

Primary Foods
Primary foods are more than just food on your plate. It is what your soul
and heart need first and are primary for your health such as healthy
relationships, a fulfilling career, exercise and spiritual well-being.
Healthy Relationships
Loving and being loved are essential for humans and all other living beings
too. We thrive when we are happy and in healthy relationships: be it with
family, friends or work colleagues.
Remember the time when you were madly, deeply in love? You were
passionate about everything and anything about that person. Everything was
exciting and life was good. An unhealthy and toxic relationship on the other
hand can be emotionally wrecking. Some walk out of such a relationship
but most in conservative cultures are left with no choice. Emotional toxicity
takes way too long to heal.
Go back to a time when you were deeply involved in a dream project,
when you felt confident from your core and were inspired. Nothing else
mattered, not even how hard your stomach growled for food.
When we are creating, bonding and sharing in healthy relationships,
giving and receiving unconditional love, our mind, body and soul are fed by
that transcendental loving energy.
We all crave love, joy, intimacy, success, achievement, self-expression,
adventure, leadership, spirituality and other such inedible nourishing
primary foods.
The extent to which you are able to thrive on primary foods in your lives
is determined by your capacity to nourish, appreciate and be grateful for
them. Emotional, spiritual and physical communication are the superfoods
in a relationship.

A Fulfilling Career
Successful CEOs, serial entrepreneurs, movie stars and industrialists
prioritize their lives according to their bioindividual needs. Sir Ratan Tata,
Indra Nooyi, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Akshay Kumar, Jeff Bezos and
Anand Mahindra are a few examples. They do what they love and love
what they do. Each has their own unique struggles and journey and have
always emphasized mind over matter. They are doing something different,
which the entire world appreciates and looks up to. Their primary foods are
kindness, innovation, focus and love.
In today’s hustle bustle, most people spend eight to 10 hours a day at
work and hardly spend any time with their loved ones. Think about how
choosy you have become about who you want as your partner, as friends or
even someone you want to dine with. But you spend the maximum time of
your waking hours with someone you don’t know at all and later can’t even
stand the sight of. If you are surrounded by negativity, insecurity and
jealousy most of the time, then that environment is not conducive to
personal and professional growth. Nor is it the ideal environment for your
health and can be the beginning of emotional stress, sugar cravings, leaky
gut and hormonal imbalances. It must be terrible for those individuals who
continue doing something they hate. This helpless emotion is stressful and
is definitely not nurturing.
Instead of living in a nightmare, start to visualize a place where you and
your colleagues are kind to each other, where you are respected and valued.
Choose respect and love over stress and negativity. Or you may be left with
nothing to give.
Post COVID-19 many people have had to rethink their businesses and
careers. Many new areas/fields will see rapid expansion. Markets will be
flexible and new, innovative concepts will be welcomed. We have more
opportunities now. Entrepreneurial pursuits are on the rise. From being a
global yoga guru to a life coach, from a scuba diving instructor to a virtual
financial advisor, so many options are available for us today.

Exercise
‘Motion creates emotion,’ states Tony Robbins and it is so profound! What
it means is that a better solution can, arrived at if you change your
physiology. Standing up or doing a few jumps or using a trampoline as your
thinking pad can do wonders to change the perception or view of the
problem that you need a breakthrough in. If such simple movements can
bring about a positive change, imagine what miracles regular exercise, say
for half an hour every day, can do for you.
Exercising has the following benefits: i) it boosts happiness levels, ii) it
helps you set and achieve goals, iii) it helps with weight loss, iv) it
improves gut health, v) you sleep better, vi) it improves brain function, vii)
it builds high immunity for life, viii) it helps fight depression, ix) it
increases self-confidence and motivation and x) leads to better romance and
performance in the bedroom.

Spiritual Well-being
Spiritual nourishment feeds not just our minds but also our souls on a very
deep, subconscious level and helps release clutter and chaos from our lives.
Marie Kondo once famously said, ‘If it does not spark joy, let it go.’ The
difference is she refers to decluttering wardrobes, piled up paper and
household things, whereas I am referring to a philosophy of everything
toxic in your life: gossiping, bitter relationships, lies, spreading rumours,
entertaining wrong emotions and overindulgence. Let go of what does not
spark joy or kindness. A spiritual approach can help in a quick
‘metamorphosis’ or transformation, allowing a sudden and good change,
leaving behind toxicity and negativity of all kinds.
Finding one’s spiritual space can be a constant search in itself. But it is a
beautiful one. I used to look externally for meanings, but it is all within me.
There is one universe outside me, there is one universe inside of me. I am
within the universe and the universe is within me. There are a billion stars
out in the universe, there are a billion microbes inside me. Sitting right in
your core, all it takes is a peek inwards.
Our children and many others are exploring a new-age religion called
‘spirituality’. They are kind, generous, inclusive, honest and give back to
society. The millennials are practising what they preach, and walking the
talk. I learn a lot from their attitude. In fact, it’s my very own ‘quick
metamorphosis’.

SECONDARY FOOD
The ‘real food’ on your plate are natural, and grow above and under the
ground. These are categorized as secondary foods. Teenagers and adults
often ask me, and rightfully so, ‘What do you mean by “real food”?’ They
have not had the privilege of eating real food often and have grown up
eating popcorn, sodas, pizzas, cereals and burgers more than fruits and
vegetables.
A real food is a whole, single ingredient food. It is mostly unprocessed,
free of chemical additives and rich in nutrients. Long story short, fruits,
vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, pulses and lentils are secondary foods and
these are essential for your body to function efficiently, maintain a good
gut, promote mental wellness and of course, everything else in between.
Healthy food protects us from many chronic non-communicable diseases,
such as acidity, high triglycerides, addiction, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes,
cancer and cardio-vascular illnesses, and of course, COVID-19.
EAT A RAINBOW OF NUTRIENTS
Eating a variety of naturally grown foods in different colours enhances
immunity and is visually appealing too, so have a rainbow of colours on the
plate. Fresh, filling and heart-healthy fruits and vegetables are essential for
your daily dose of macros and micros. It is a great way to get in all your
vitamins, minerals and fibres naturally and is economical too. I don't want
to sound clichéd, but it does save you all the future medicine and hospital
bills as well. If you have a mom chasing you to eat your peas and carrots,
she is a futuristic health coach.
Here are the colours (fruits and vegetables) you can eat every day.
Red/Pink: A few great reds for haemoglobin are beet, cherries, cranberries,
pink grapefruit, pomegranate, raspberries, tomato, watermelon, radish, red
apple, red peppers and rhubarb.
Orange/Yellow: A few beta-carotene immune builders are carrot, mango,
lemons, pumpkin, oranges, sweet potato, yam and summer squash.
Green: A few phytonutrients are celery, Brussels sprouts, spinach, green
beans, okra, peas, pear, cucumber, green lime, green grapes and kiwi.
White: Vegetables such as cauliflower, garlic, mushrooms, onion, sweet
potato, parsnip and shallots.
Blue/Purple: Fruits and veggies such as blueberries, dates, eggplant, grapes,
raisins, plums, prunes and figs.
Take up a ‘daily 7’ rainbow challenge. Challenge yourself to try fruits and
vegetables of different colours. Consume a rainbow of fruits and vegetables
in different ways.

1. Add it your salads: Add fruits such as cherries and berries to salad
plates along with your greens.
2. Mix them up in variations: Mix vegetables with pasta sauces, lasagnes,
soups and omelettes. Mix fresh or frozen berries into pancakes, waffles
or smoothies.
3. Sip on smoothies: Smoothies are a great way to increase the intake of
fruits and vegetables and they’re really easy to make. A basic smoothie
is just any fresh or frozen fruit, non-fat milk or yogurt, all processed
together in a blender until smooth.
4. Buddha bowl: Three or four vegetables boiled or steamed in a tahini
dip and some avocado wedges on top, and your Buddha bowl is ready.
 5. Roast them: Try roasting vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli,
Brussels sprouts, potatoes, onions, carrots and eggplant. Long
exposure to high heat will cause these foods to caramelize, which
enhances their natural sweetness and reduces bitterness.
6. Enjoy vegetable sticks and dips: Chop raw vegetables into bite-sized
pieces. Try bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers and celery sticks and dip
them into your favourite hummus or yogurt.
7. Fruit salad bowl: Mix any three fruits and eat them with some seeds on
top.

Let us discuss here the 10 incredible reasons to eat real food.

i. Great for your gut and brain: Eating real food excites the gut
microbiome and creates an ecosystem where they multiply. The
nutrients get absorbed well and then this reflects on your skin, hair and
nails. The healing properties of real foods take care of inflammation in
the body and clean up a clogged colon, leading to clear bowels and the
organs functioning in symphony. Good bacteria thrive on plant fibre
and nutrients from such a balanced diet help brain activity.
ii. Provide essential nutrients, i.e. the fuel to run the body: Nutrients
from unprocessed animal and plant foods provide the vitamins and
minerals you need for optimal health. For instance, 1 cup (220 grams)
of orange, spinach and bell peppers contains more than 100 per cent of
the recommended dietary intake for vitamin C. Coconut water is
alkaline and contains so many minerals, vitamins, electrolytes,
potassium and ions that it can make you feel better instantly. Keep it
tropical and real!
iii. You will never have to diet: Real foods have balanced nutrients, so
they help with your satiety and make you feel full, taking care of all
your cravings. Try eating a mango when you are craving a cupcake. It
is very satiating and has a low glycaemic index, so it will not raise
your blood sugar levels. Plus, it has one-fourth the calories and no
other side effects. In fact, it will cleanse your entire G.I. track. I am
ready to scream from any rooftop, weight loss will be a side effect if
you eat all real foods.
iv. Rich in natural sugars: It prevents type 2 diabetes, cholesterol,
weight gain and obesity and helps fight sugar cravings. Whole fruits
are a better alternative to refined flours and sugary foods.
v. High in fibres: Real foods contain the superhero macronutrient for
your gut—fibres. The impact of dietary fibres, both soluble and
insoluble, is outstanding. From roots to shoots, you must eat
everything. Many studies have shown that it helps prevent colon
cancer. It boosts digestive function, metabolic health and makes you
feel full for longer periods. Nuts, seeds, apples, beans and complex
grains are high in fibre and balance the gut microbiome very well.
vi. Bursting with satiating flavours: On top of everything else, real food
tastes delicious. Nothing can beat a mother’s traditional recipe and the
amazing aroma of fresh, piping hot food; it is addictive. It has such a
positive effect on your senses. My fond memories of home-cooked
food are those of hot khichdi and kadhi (a thin yogurt curry).
vii. Keeps you looking young and sexy: The real nutrients are in real
foods, not in capsules. Sugary and salty foods make the body bloat
and damage the cells. Oranges, beetroots and all other vegetables help
release oxidative stress caused by many factors and heal your cells.
Eat home-cooked meals.
viii. Heart-healthy: Real foods are packed with antioxidants and nutrients
that support the heart by reducing inflammation, which is one of the
major drivers of heart disease. Avoid heavy, oily and fried packaged
foods such as chips or cookies that damage the arteries and clog them.
ix. Lowers triglycerides: Refined carbs, fried foods and sugars influence
blood triglyceride levels. Eating whole foods such as vegetables, clean
proteins and fruits significantly reduce these levels.
x. Helps support our farmers and economy: Purchasing local produce
from our farmers help them run their homes and educate their children.
It’s an ecosystem that needs our attention and support. Be real and buy
local.
The four real macronutrients your body needs are discussed below as
follows:
Carbohydrates: Natural slow carbohydrates, as compared to refined
carbohydrates, are more complex, higher in fibre and lower in starch and
sugars, and take longer to digest and release glucose slowly.
To eat carbs or not to eat, that is the biggest fear today! For those always
on a diet and trying to lose weight, ‘carbohydrates’ is a very debatable and
controversial topic. I once overheard a gym trainer say, ‘Carbs are bad, eat
only proteins’. I somehow controlled myself from getting into a heated
argument and just walked away.
Carbohydrates are mainly starches, sugars and fibre that provide the body
with its readily digestible fuel. There are two types of carbs: simple and
complex. The best benefits come from the complex carbs, unless you are
trekking in the Himalayas and need an instant burst of energy from a quick
meal. Complex carbs help you to stave off insulin resistance (when your
cells cannot absorb glucose, levels of this sugar build up in the blood),
metabolic syndrome, weight gain and gut damage.
The main role of carbs in the body is to provide energy and growth. Not
all carbs are created equal. Some provide you with ‘instant’ energy (simple)
and some ‘time release’ (complex carbs, which have more fibres). Different
activities and sports require different types of energies—aerobic and
anaerobic. It’s important to take into account what type of work you are
fuelling up for. For active people, this may vary depending on their activity
level. For example, Usain Bolt needs instant carbs before a short burst of
time during a 100-metre race while Roger Federer needs energy for an
extended period in a longer tennis tournament.
Similarly, a sales executive on the go may need more carbs than a CEO
with a desk job. Understand how much energy you need throughout the day
and stop depriving yourself of the good carbs, as they are loaded with
prebiotics, which your bugs need to heal and multiply.
When gut bacteria metabolizes the good, healthy slow carbs, the short-
chain fatty acids from it reduces inflammation and the risk of colon cancer.
Quit falling prey to brainless marketing and ‘no-carb diet’ traps as you may
be putting your gut and brain at risk.
Slow-release carbs have a low-glycaemic index. They help manage your
blood glucose levels naturally. You can incorporate these carbs in your diet
in the following ways. Eat whole grains in the form of wraps and rotis
instead of refined wheat or plain flour breads, chapatis and parathas. Also
eat grains such as millet, jowar (sorghum), bajra, ragi, nachni, amaranth,
kuttu (buckwheat), rajgriha (Indian quinoa) and brown, red and black rice.
Eat potatoes or sweet potato with fibre-rich green vegetables like spinach,
okra or broccoli in a ratio of 50/50, so you get fewer calories from potatoes
and the digestion time is longer. If you are a rice lover, like me, don’t
hesitate to have white rice, but the proportion of dal and vegetables should
be more than that of rice. Cooked rice soaked overnight is a great probiotic
and tastes delicious too. Eat more fibre. Have more fibre-rich fruits like
banana, mango and apple. A mixed fruit bowl allows you to get in a variety
of nutrients, colours, fibres and favourites in your belly. Eat dark leafy
greens, which are excellent for the gut and rich in nutrients like folate, zinc,
calcium, vitamin C and lots of fibre, creating a conducive ambience for
your gut and its bacteria.
Proteins: Protein is an essential macronutrient and is found throughout the
body. Virtually everything has protein—your muscle, bone, hair, skin,
organs and every other tissue. From athletes and body-builders to weight
watchers, the focus of every meal is proteins, as it should be. It is low in
calories and helps slow down the release of sugars after digestion.
Protein is made up of over 20 building blocks called amino acids, out of
which nine are essential amino acids that must come from food. And the
non-essential ones are produced by your body. Amino acids are organic
compounds composed of nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
The nine essential amino acids and their roles are given below.
i. Phenylalanine is a precursor of the neurotransmitters dopamine and
tyrosine.
ii. Valine is a three branched-chain amino acid that stimulates muscle
growth and regeneration.
iii. Threonine are structural proteins such as collagen and elastin for skin
and connective tissues.
iv. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that maintians nitrogen balance
in adults. It is a precursor to serotonin, which handles your mood,
appetite and sleep.
v. Methionine helps in metabolism and detoxification as well as
absorption of zinc and minerals vital for your health.
vi. Leucine is critical for protein synthesis, helps regulate blood sugar
levels and in healing wounds and growth hormones.
vii. Isoleucine helps muscle metabolism, immune function and
haemoglobin production.
viii. Lysine is used in the biosynthesis of proteins in the body. These
proteins help produce hormones, immune cells and enzymes.
ix. Histidine produces histamine, a neurotransmitter that is vital for
immune response, sexual function and most importantly to maintain
myelin, the barrier/sheath that protects your nerve cells from damage.
All nine essential amino acids are involved in processes like tissue growth,
energy production, immune function and nutrient absorption. Food sources
that have all the essential amino acids should be consumed on a daily basis.
A well-functioning gut can break down protein, absorb the essential amino
acids and allow your skin, nails and hair to look natural and beautiful. You
don’t need to supplement ever.
Let us now discuss a few simple hacks to make healthy, clean protein
choices daily. Here are seven essential vegan and vegetarian proteins.

Quinoa: They are one of the healthiest grains and are rich in proteins.
Loaded with fibre, magnesium and slow-releasing carbs, they are great
for gut wellness, weight watchers and intermittent fasters.
Lentils: Urad dal/kaali dal (split black gram), moong dal (split green
gram), tuvar dal/arhar dal (split red gram), masoor dal (split red lentil),
etc. are great sources of proteins. These are among the best plant-based
proteins and extremely easy to add to any preparation. Along with
proteins, it is high in fibre, potassium, iron and many other nutrients.
Beans and legumes: These are rich sources of fibre, B vitamins and
proteins. Have you tried a bean burger? It’s yummy! For those who
feel bloated or gassy after eating a few plant-based proteins such as red
kidney beans, soya beans, peanuts and wheat, it is because of the gut
wall-damaging protein called lectin, which is found in these foods. But
soaking them overnight, or sprouting and fermenting them will make
them digestible.
Milk and milk products for vegetarians: Organic milk from grass-
fed cows is a good source of protein. Greek yogurt is packed with
more proteins than regular yogurt. It keeps you fuller and can be eaten
with fruits or oats for breakfast or as an evening snack.
Nuts and seeds: Flax, chia, sunflower, hemp and pumpkin are high-
protein seeds. They are great for gut health as they have Omega-3 fatty
acids, which are anti-inflammatory and help heal the lining of the gut.
These seeds are rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals like iron,
magnesium and zinc. When it comes to nuts, almonds have the
maximum amount of proteins. It is rich in vitamin E, manganese and
magnesium. Other nuts such as walnuts, pine, pistachios and cashews
are also good sources of fibre, fats and some amount of proteins as
well. Eating nuts in smaller quantities is a good idea.
 All vegetables and fruits: The misconception that a vegan and
vegetarian diet will be protein deficient can be proved wrong just by
eating broccoli, peas and avocadoes. These are rich sources of plant
protein along with all other fruits and vegetables and are easier to
digest than meat. An easy and happy way to lose weight and build
your immunity is by getting in maximum amount of fruits and
vegetables into your body.
Spirulina: This microalgae thrives in fresh and salt water throughout
the world. It is a complete protein containing all essential amino acids.

Now, here are some non-vegetarian protein sources.

i. Chicken breast: Chicken breast is one of the most popular lean protein-
rich foods. The majority of its calories come from protein. Make sure
you choose grass-fed, pasture-raised organic meats.
ii. Eggs: Various types of eggs are loaded with proteins, vitamins,
minerals, healthy fats and antioxidants. Eat along with a few
vegetables for fibre.
iii. Fish: These are low in fat, and high in protein and Omega-3 fatty
acids. Some fish contain high levels of heavy metal mercury due to
water pollution, which is toxic. Overall larger and longer lived fish
contain the most mercury.
Fibres: Eat more fibre, period! It is mainly found in fruits, vegetables,
whole grains and legumes. Foods containing fibre provide more than a few
life-changing benefits by maintaining healthy weight, and lowering the risk
of diabetes, heart disease and obesity. Dietary fibre is incredibly important.
The part of any plant-based food that mostly passes through your digestive
system without breaking down or being digested are fibres. It ends up in
your colon, your large intestine and feeds the beneficial and friendly
bacteria. Dietary fibre3 has been associated with a reduced risk of colorectal
cancer, however it remains unclear at which stage of the cancer they can be
beneficial.
Fibre is a complex carbohydrate that lowers blood sugar levels and helps
prevent constipation. Foods rich in fibre have fewer calories and allow you
extended hours of fasting as they keep you fuller as compared to simple
carb foods, which don’t have that much fibre, are higher in calories and
leave you hungry in no time. So, eating fibre-rich foods can help you lose
weight superfast. For a disease-free and happier gut, eat more fibre.
 Reduced fibre intake on a daily basis alters your gut health and leads to
bloating, inflammation, flatulence and acidity, which are all symptoms of an
imbalanced gut.
A study found that closing the ‘fibre gap’ through adjustment of diets
will impact microbial ecology, host physiology and health. Increasing fibre-
rich foods is intimately tied with the importance of our gut microbes as
foods rich in fibre literally feeds and makes these bacteria multiply in their
ecosystems. Plant-based fibres are loaded with prebiotics absorbed from the
soil. Increasing your intake of dietary fibre with two servings of fruits or
vegetables each day can solve many problems.
Fibre can be classified into two types—soluble and insoluble—and the
amount of soluble and insoluble fibre varies in different plant foods.
Soluble fibres dissolve in water and aid in reducing blood cholesterol and
sugar. They also satiate you and keep you full for longer durations between
meals. Soluble fibres also have lower fat absorption and help to manage
weight besides feeding healthy gut bacteria. Simple superfoods to get
enough soluble fibre daily include oats, beans, apples, chia seeds, carrots,
psyllium and barley.
Insoluble fibre, on the other hand, doesn’t dissolve in water. They prevent
constipation by increasing stool excretion, lower risks of diverticular
diseases (intestinal diseases) and help in the feeling of satiety, keeping you
full longer between meals. Simple superfoods to absorb enough insoluble
fibre daily are whole-wheat flour, nuts, cauliflower, potatoes and beans.
Six life-changing benefits of a high-fibre diet have been discussed below
as follows:
i. Helps in your bowel movement: Dietary fibre softens the waste in the
body by absorbing water. That eases constipation, which has become a
common problem with most people.
ii. Lowers your risk of haemorrhoids and cancer: Few fibres ferment
in the colon and are a breeding ground for beneficial bacteria. A
healthy balance of fibres lowers the risk of haemorrhoids and
colorectal cancer.
iii. Helps in weight loss: A secret that nobody tells you is—eat more fibre
to lose weight. It’s an inexpensive way of becoming slimmer and
healthier. A fibre-rich meal is filling, with more volume and fewer
calories, and so you will eat lesser.
iv. Longevity: Eating more fibre is a wise way to live longer, and without
the daily illnesses and heart problems. It helps reduce cardiovascular
disease and helps the gut heal.
v. Gut healthy: Fibre in foods are prebiotics for gut microbes and help
build immunity. Many nutritionists ask clients to eliminate starches like
potatoes. But they are food for bacteria as they ferment and add value.
Research in mice suggest that fermentation of flaxseed fibres in the gut
changes the microbiota to improve metabolic health and protect against
diet-induced obesity.
vi. Helps lower type 2 diabetes and cholesterol levels: Soluble fibres can
slow the absorption of sugar and help improve blood sugar levels.
Fibre in oats, wholewheat and beans help lower total blood cholesterol
by reducing the bad low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and
reducing blood pressure and inflammation.
Although fibres are essential for the body, an excessive intake of fibres can
do more harm than good. Have you noticed dry skin and brittle hair in
dieters who overindulge in fibre, as it is very low in calories? Such an
imbalance and damage done by consuming more of fibre than your daily
requirements is going to be irreparable. The fibre required for adults is
approx. 25 grams per day and going overboard has side effects such as gas,
constipation, dry colon, piles and bloating.
Good fats: Are you shunning the good fats and eating more of the bad?
Blaming this delicious, brain-enhancing macronutrient for weight gain,
obesity and heart diseases alone is like repeatedly blaming only one child
for everything gone wrong, every time.
When it comes to weight management/diet, fats get a bad reputation.
Some of it is justified, because certain types of fats are high in cholesterol
and they play a huge role in cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, IBS,
dementia, cancer and obesity. Along with these rising problems, it’s also
being used to sell some fad diets.
Weight gain and diseases involve multiple factors and to blame just an
essential macronutrient, in my opinion, is ignorance. Fat is always under
fire from people living in a misconception that all fats are bad because it
has 9 calories per gram. However, what they fail to mention is that good
fats are essential for the production of hormones. In fact, globally, there are
more obesity and depression cases than ever before. Therefore, we may as
well try eating, understanding and enjoying the good fats and focus on
minimizing the damaging ‘bad’ ones. The fear of consuming fats is deep-
rooted and stores filled with ‘fat-free’ products on their shelves only add
fuel to the fire. Trust me, once you start to understand why good fats are
essential and how these act as a catalyst in weight loss, it will be a game
changer for your gut and brain. Not all fats are bad, after all.
Good fats are the heart-healthy fats present in a variety of foods.
Consumption of unsaturated fats helps lower your risk of cardiovascular
disease and overall mortality. You can find unsaturated fats in fruits,
vegetables, nuts and seeds, dairy and fish. Oils in natural and delicious
foods such as olive and avocado, in vegetable and seed oils such as canola
and safflower, nut oils and butters such as those of almond, sesame and
flaxseed, ghee from milk, and a few fatty fish are your go-to good fats.
These are the unsaturated fats which are best for weight management, gut
wellness, diabetes and heart health.
Unsaturated fats are liquid at room temperature. There are two main
types of unsaturated fats: monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The
monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) and polyunsaturated fatty acids
(PUFAs) are actually the kind of fat your body needs to function in optimal
health, especially for hormone regulations and cognitive function. For that,
you needn’t be on a very high-fat diet or purchase expensive products to
achieve your daily dose of good fats. In fact, a simple plant-based meal for
vegans and vegetarians can give you these sources of Omega-3 fatty acids,
which is great for the gut. If you have a leaky gut, the fats from these oils
are miraculous.
A good source of unsaturated fats for non-vegetarians are a few fatty fish
such as salmon, sardines and trout for Omega-3 fatty acids. Other sources
of good fats include tofu, walnuts, and sunflower and pumpkin seeds. All
natural fruits, nuts, seeds, vegetables and grains have small amounts of
good fats when consumed in traditional combinations. The good news is
that they not only enhance the flavour of your food but also decrease your
risk of heart diseases by lowering blood cholesterol levels and keep your
gut happy by releasing happy hormones.
There is another kind of fat—saturated fats, which have benefits when
consumed in moderation. These include ghee and coconut oil. These oils
help reduce inflammation in the body, improve your blood cholesterol and
decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease. They help build cell
membranes, and aid blood clotting and the greasing of joints and muscles.
These fats contain PUFA’s polyunsaturated fats, which are essential fats.
The body cannot make them and needs them from foods. These should be
eaten in smaller quantities.
Let us get to know what bad fats are. Bad fats are simply the ones that are
potentially bad for your health and are the main causes of obesity, mental
illness, high triglycerides, IBS, diabetes, cancers and all heart diseases.
These fats are butter, margarine, vegetable shortening, beef or pork and
hydrogenated fats found in most packaged foods. The reheated oil used for
frying roadside food is the worst kind of fat. Along with the bad fats in junk
food and meat, there are additional toxins, hormones and antibiotics added
in dairy and livestock, which is another reason that can make you shudder.
All these toxic ingredients find their way into your gut, brain, bloodstream
and other organs of your body causing a plethora of illnesses, from
migraine to cancer.
The worst type of fat is trans fat, short for trans-fatty acids, which are
found in packaged foods. Trans fat is a by-product of a process called
hydrogenation, which makes the oil solid, to give it a longer shelf life. So,
it’s cheap and very harmful. These bad fats are present in margarine, most
packaged foods under the label of vegetable shortenings and from partially
hydrogenated vegetable oils, cookies to chips. Overconsumption of this fat
can lead to an inflamed gut and brain, clog your arteries, and put you on
lifelong medication for heart disease to diabetes, and a leaky gut to a leaky
brain.
An easy way to recognize bad fats is that these are solid at room
temperature. Trans fats should be completely avoided and saturated fats
such as lard, soybean oil and high-fat dairy products consumed sparingly.
Trans fat in foods with hydrogenated vegetable oils is the biggest cause of
inflammation. These damaging fats are found in fried fast foods like
chicken wings, French fries, doughnuts, crackers, popcorn, cookies, cakes,
snacks and desserts.
Trans fat increases low-density lipoprotein, LDL, which is the bad
cholesterol that clogs arteries and increases risk of heart diseases and type 2
diabetes. Because of its structure, trans fat suppresses the high-density
lipoprotein, HDL, or the good cholesterol.
Replace the bad oils/fats in your kitchen with healthy fats and oils and
you will find a huge shift in your gut wellness. It will help heal the worn-
out gut lining tissues and motivate you to develop a new approach to
cooking and eating as you can use these oils/fats in recipes. They are chock-
full of nutrients and good-for-you fats, and will make your meal delicious,
and your skin, nails and hair shine.
Here are the top eight healthy fats for gut health, hormone regulation and
brain function.
i. Extra virgin olive oil: It is the only oil that every diet allows you to eat.
It has a blend of MUFAs and PUFAs and lowers the risk of heart
diseases. Its polyphenol content provides food for good bacteria in your
gut and is very light to digest as well. It applies lesser strain on your
gut, helps reduce inflammation and is a very light oil. It can be used for
most cooking purposes and won’t change the flavour of the dish, which
is the biggest concern whilst making a switchover. Use it to sauté and
roast and also as a salad dressing.
ii. Ghee: Dadi’s favourite fat to use in everything, from rotis to halwas, is
clarified butter, or what we know more commonly as ghee. Ghee,
though high in saturated fats, if used in smaller quantities, makes the
food delicious and increases HDL levels. It is also alkaline, reduces
inflammation and helps heal your gut by allowing fat-soluble vitamins
to dissolve in it and be used with efficacy.
iii. Virgin coconut oil: It helps control inflammation in the gut, and the
medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) in it enhance metabolism and
helps boost brain function. Sixty per cent of this oil is made up of
MCTs. Most popular in bulletproof coffee, aka butter coffee or keto
coffee, virgin coconut oil has antibacterial and antimicrobial
properties, thus it is beneficial for the good bacteria to thrive in your
gut. For those who have trouble digesting fats and have issues such as
irritable bowel disorder (IBD), this oil is beneficial. Light in
consumption, it can be used in salads, coffees and cooking. For best
results, make sure it’s ethically sourced, organic and fresh.
iv. Grapeseed oil: Made from the seeds of grapes, it has a smoke point of
420 degrees Fahrenheit. Grapeseed oil is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids,
which is a heart-friendly option, replacing margarines.
v. Sesame oil:Extracted from sesame seeds, this oil adds flavour to the
dish and helps relieve constipation.
vi. Rice bran oil:This oil lowers cholesterol and its vitamin E antioxidant
content helps fight gut and heart diseases.
vii. Avocado oil:Although expensive, it has many healing benefits for
brain and gut health, helps with osteoarthritis and is also an
antioxidant. It has a subtle flavour and therefore, can be used in
roasting, sautéing and dressing.
viii. Grass-fed butter: Good news for butter lovers! If you are tolerant
towards diary, the best butter would be the one made at home, from
grass-fed cows. It makes any food taste good. Using it sparingly is
key! It is a great source fat-soluble vitamin K2, and a powerful short-
chain fatty acid butyrate, which is critical for a healthy gut. Melted
butter over your bajra rotis takes you straight to heaven.
Diversity is an important part of your diet and your microbiome. So, don't
rely only on one oil. Experiment with different varieties of oil in salads and
stir fry dishes.

THE MICRONUTRIENTS
Good things come in small packages and although required in miniscule
amounts, they keep your immune system humming! Without these
individual vitamins and minerals—the micronutrients, we could be sick or
possibly die. They enable the body to produce enzymes, hormones and your
body needs a major group of nutrients for growth, development and
sustenance. It is mainly found in fruits and vegetables, so to all the junk
food and fussy eaters, it is time you eat real foods. Sadly, low-income
families with poor nutrition suffer the most in their absence, as fruits and
vegetables are too expensive for them.
The importance of micronutrients and their bioavailability from a
balanced diet of all sources of macronutrients is sadly understood only after
an illness or hospitalization. One major reason for your excess weight gain,
lethargy, anxiety or hair loss may be not consuming natural ingredients as
fuel. The three most popular micronutrient deficiencies I have seen post
investigations in people are iodine, vitamins A and D3, and iron. These
deficiencies at times can have side-effects such as low energy, brain fog and
even depression, and at times, prove fatal. It’s a sign to start building on
recipes within a wider ingredient list. Fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds
have antioxidants, which protect from cell damage.
Micronutrients are divided into water-soluble vitamins, fat-soluble
vitamins, microminerals and trace minerals.
Water-soluble vitamins: These dissolve in water. Required to be
replenished daily as your body does not store them, they mostly get flushed
out if not used by your body except for B12. Vitamins are needed for
energy production and immune function by preventing cell damage from
metabolic stress. They are needed to create red blood cells. B1, B2, B3, B5,
B6, B7, B9, B12 and vitamin C are all water soluble and important nutrients
our bodies need. Leafy greens, root vegetables, different whole grains and
all colourful vegetables and fruits are sources of water-soluble vitamins.
Fat-soluble vitamins: Fat-soluble vitamins dissolve in good fat, not in
water. They are absorbed the best when eaten alongside a fat source. These
vitamins get stored in your liver and fatty tissue for future use. Vitamins A,
D, E and K are the most important fat-soluble micronutrients, which protect
your vision and immune system and support blood clotting. Their main role
is to fight inflammation with their antioxidant properties.
Microminerals: Microminerals are the ones needed in larger amounts such
as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, chloride, potassium and
sulphur. They are required for bodily functions such as muscle and bone
strength, controlling blood pressure, etc. Good sources of these
microminerals are spinach, nuts and fruits.
Trace minerals: Trace minerals are needed in smaller amounts than
microminerals and these are iron, manganese, copper, zinc, iodine fluoride
and selenium. They are equally important, as they help in feeding oxygen to
the muscles, support nervous system functions, heal wounds and protect
cells from stress damage.
3
Dietary fibre is the roughage or bulk, includes the plant foods your body can’t digest. These are
found in grains, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.

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 PART II
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ACCESS YOUR GUT FEELINGS, INTUITIONS
AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
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 13
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 YOUR GUT FEELING: ARE YOU
LISTENING?

The gut instinct is your fight or flight mode and primal wisdom. Gut
feelings are the real emotions you feel. An intuition is your spiritual
wisdom guiding you. These are interrelated, and are released disparately
when required and are dependent on your gut health. Instincts, kinaesthetic
feelings, a thought, message or a flash, these are our gut feelings.

I ‘GUT’ A FEELING…
Have you ever ‘gone with your gut feeling’ and signed a profitable contract
that turned out to be the best decision of your life? Or has it happened that
you didn’t listen to your gut feeling and lost out on a huge opportunity? You
were offered a promotion but that would mean working under an unpopular
boss. Your gut instinct was that the remuneration wasn’t worth the trauma,
and you declined the offer, only to soon get a dream promotion and a dream
boss! Weren’t you glad you listened to your gut instincts? Have you ever
felt negative vibes instantly when introduced to a new person at a party and
all you wanted was to get away? Have you on another day felt an instant
connect, a chemistry with your best friend’s cute cousin and felt butterflies
in your stomach? Did it ever happen that you got lost on a hike and allowed
your inner guide to show you the way? Well, gut feelings is what we
otherwise know as sixth sense.

Common gut instincts and feelings include:

i. Some feel a sudden chill down their spine, mostly when vibes are
negative.
ii. Goosebumps are one of the most common signs when something is
about to happen or when listening to a story of divine intervention or a
transformation.
iii. An inner voice that literally talks to you about something relevant at
that moment.
iv. Tingling sensations in your face or back.
v. Eyebrows or lips twitching or eyelids flickering.
Your gut is always encouraging you or warning you. The ultimate purpose
of your gut instinct is to protect you. The nauseating feeling before a
presentation or experiencing anxiousness before your final exams are
signals from your inner mechanism. It also signals you to focus and prepare
better for the presentation and the more difficult subjects. Your awareness
of an uncle whose presence feels predatory and makes you queasy in the
stomach, as compared to the calm you feel in your entire body as soon as he
leaves are messages from your gut!
The gut, your second brain, helps elicit emotions in a heartbeat. Your gut
guides you like a North Star, acting as your inner compass so that you can
avoid making mistakes. Hence, it is extremely important to keep your gut
well nourished.

YOUR GUT: YOUR WI-FI AND GPS

The gut acts as the Wi-Fi and GPS system of the body and keeps you
connected all the time with your primal wisdom, intuitions and feelings. It
is your sixth sense that surfaces at different occasions when needed the
most.
If you have consciously or unconsciously allowed yourself to be guided
by your very own Wi-Fi and GPS system and have taken multiple decisions
based on these instincts, then you most definitely have saved a lot of time
and energy and gained a lot of wisdom in the process. Listening to your gut
makes your spiritual path courageous.
 It is all actually your beneficial bacteria, gut flora, microbes or
microbiome—whatever term you use—within your gut, guiding you. Every
time you are faced with a challenging situation, your gut communicates
with you. There are a million stars in the Milky Way and a million microbes
in your gut!

GUT CONNECTIONS AND POOR DECISIONS

Are you on a repeat mode of taking the wrong decisions daily? Have you
ever felt that you have nailed it, but land up on the losing side again? Have
you ever felt like you know your stuff, but when you answer, you become
the laughing stock of your class or office? Have you ever felt guilty after
screaming at your kids because you were upset about something else or
with someone else?
Taking poor decisions has multiple reasons, the top one being the lack of
synergy between your gut and brain. Some children lose their GPS because
of their high-carb and sugary diets at impressionable ages, which leads to
the dysbiosis of the microbiome. The environment they are being raised in,
access to various social media platforms, playing violent games and a sense
of entitlement are stopping them from making the right decisions. They
would be more prone to mental illnesses such as anxiety and feeling lonely
and a need for instant gratification.
Here are the seven habits that lead to terrible decisions.
i. Laziness: Get into a regular workout, get off that couch or desk and
move. Physiology changes psychology, it changes your mental state and
makes you take wiser decisions.
ii. Indecisiveness: Be courageous and look at the facts and figures. Stop
being paralysed by the fear of making a mistake. Indecision is worse
than making a wrong decision.
iii. Junk and toxicity: Cells get inflamed when you consume a lot of
unhealthy food and energy drinks. Stop eating bad fats in chips and
burgers. It’s damaging your balance of microbes that help you take
good decisions.
iv. Nurturing negativity: Be positive, having positive thoughts even in
the most negative situations can help release stress, which is bad for
microbes.
v. Dependency: Depending too much on parents, friends or colleagues is
stopping you from taking charge. If they are making decisions for you,
it may or may not be right. Alcohol, drugs or medicines make you even
more helpless and they are really bad for your microbes.
vi. Being stuck in the past: Using the same references of the past, same
approaches and conventional methods can make you repeat the same
mistake again and again.
vii. Procrastination: If you keep delaying doing something, it is most
likely that you will never end up doing whatever it is you are trying to
accomplish. Be around people who rely on habits and rituals than
merely motivational lecturers. Seize the day!

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 THE GUT AND YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS
MIND

Unlock your subconscious mind to unleash your potential. When in

confusion, trust your subconscious mind as it can provide you with way
more choices than your conscious mind. Maestros such as Picasso, Einstein,
Beethoven, Sachin Tendulkar, A.R. Rehman and many other geniuses not
only perform from a conscious state of mind, but also from a state of higher
subconsciousness, the hub of unlimited resources. But, its magic lies within
your physical and mental health. We too can unravel the power of the
subconscious mind by uniting the mind, body and soul; changing limiting
beliefs and perceptions; and letting go of unhappy memories, childhood
traumas and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which are blocks.

THE MATRIX TRIO

The Subconscious Mind + The Gut + The Conscious Mind

The Subconscious Mind

Your subconscious mind is an integral part of you; it’s a limitless and
voracious storehouse of your feelings, your thoughts, your behaviours, your
habits, awareness, everything being absorbed by an invisible force. It’s a
memory bank. It can be compared with an iceberg, where everything above
the water, or the tip, represents the conscious awareness, while everything
below the water represents your subconscious mind. The subconscious
mind, or in other words, the bulk of the iceberg that remains underwater,
hidden from our view, silently does its job of storing and retrieving
data/information. Submerged deep below the surface of the water, the
subconscious mind captures every useful detail—over and above everything
that we see, touch, smell, taste and hear with our five sense organs.
The power of the subconscious mind goes further than you think. It is not
only capable of storing data, but also of retrieving it from the deep recesses
of the mind as and when needed. It is a powerful tool that we can all use in
a variety of situations such as exams, brainstorming, painting, parenting,
leading, cooking and dancing, to name a few. Every situation can be
exceptional with the help of the subconscious as it is a powerhouse of
various choices. It will give you countless choices in a situation where you
are stuck and need guidance, but sadly, the subconscious is often underrated
and underused by most individuals.

The Conscious Mind

The ‘tip of the iceberg’—the conscious mind—is the first mental map we
capture through our five senses. Whatever we capture from the conscious
mind, we start to interpret in our own language, within our heads, from our
‘map of the world’, which are our experiences, memories, thoughts,
behaviours, values and beliefs from what we have been told, taught and
asked to follow.
Thus, the things that represent our conscious awareness are simply the
‘the tip of the iceberg’. Daily actions, like changing your clothes, solving
your math sums, buying food, making a phone call, going to a coffee shop,
etc. are all done by your conscious mind.
But that’s as much as your conscious mind can do. Imagine the
amalgamation, the unification of both your subconscious and conscious
mind that could result in unlocking your hidden potential, which you have
always craved for and relied on the outside world to achieve.

The Gut
Bringing together both, your consciousness and subconsciousness, is your
gut! Consolidating it all together and allowing you to use both is dependent
on your gut health. The 100 million neurons enable you as they are
equipped with their own reflexes and senses, an independent brain helping
you create massive changes in your life. Your gut is the zone where all
communications flow. This trio—the gut, your subconscious and conscious
mind—is the matrix environment in which unhappy memories, childhood
traumas and PTSD will be acknowledged, and healed. New, uplifting
beliefs of cultural, social and intellectual wellness will be created at the
speed of lightning. Connecting the gut’s invisible force and the conscious
and subconscious minds is extremely important to be able to survive, like
we did as cavemen.
Here we discuss six matrix disruptors of your gut’s well-being.
i. Our surroundings are dynamic: In the midst of movement, chaos and
constant change, people’s physical and mental health is vigorously
disrupted. Constantly trying to cope with this fast-paced world can
disrupt the gut.
ii. Same old negative narrative: ‘Once I am thinner, I will be happier.’
‘Once I get my promotion, I will celebrate.’ Regurgitating the same
narrative is gut disruptive.
iii. Addiction to junk food: Consuming fast food on a daily basis directly
damages the ENS, causing inflammation in the gut.
iv. Fears, phobias and limiting belief systems: Fears stem from phobias,
which in turn, stem from our belief systems. Your intuitions and
powerful subconscious states get diminished by your and other
people’s fears and shadows of doubt. Your responses will thus be
fearful and stressful as well.
v. Living in your not-so-good past references: Speaking about yourself
in a derogatory manner and reliving upsetting memories are gut
disruptive. Living in the past is regressive and halts progress. We
cannot change the past, but we can always change the future with our
positive approach and determination.
vi. ‘Gut’ confused: Alcohol addiction and seeking medication for the
smallest symptoms can lead to a lot of confusion in one’s gut health.
The matrix gets ruined by hormonal imbalances due to these habits.
Do you have a volatile teenager whose matrix is affected? Teenagers—I
feel sorry for them, as more than often than not, in them, I see a reflection
of my own teenage years and how much I wanted to be heard. They seem to
be the most affected and misunderstood due to the disruption of the matrix,
whose growing bodies are still under construction and whose minds are so
impressionable.
 They are constantly blamed and corrected for the smallest of things. They
are super smart, creative, quick and vulnerable, but their behaviour, habits
and attitudes depend on the trio—the conscious, the subconscious and their
gut health—which is driving their emotions, hormones and growth. The
confusion begins with the feeling of entitlement at a young age. Helicopter
parenting, rewards in the form of expensive gadgets or vacations, not
enough appreciation, less quality time as a family and a bloated sense of
self-entitlement are all harmful influences on teenagers. Unfortunately, their
gadgets, peri peri fries and Kylie’s make-up are governing their matrix right
now.
Their lifestyles remain unwatched and they are stressed because of
excessive expectations from them to be superachievers. Fast food and
sugary drinks imbalance gut health, which in turn, contribute to hormonal
imbalance at puberty (from nine to18 years), making them easy targets for
early menstrual cycles, PCOS, anxiety, uncontrollable mood swings, temper
tantrums, body-image issues and the most dreaded, depression.
My favourite and most rewarding clients have been teenagers. They
thank me for being a guide and for empowering them. Thank you, my dear
young clients, for openly sharing your emotional stories at home and school
and your lovely millennial lingo!
Let us look at 10 ways to successfully balance your teenager’s matrix:
i. Fruit bowl with peanut butter: A little microbial care by consuming
gut-healthy prebiotic-rich fibres such as bananas, strawberries and
kiwis with a dash of unsweetened peanut butter or melted dark
chocolate is a great way to indulge in a healthy dessert. Swap the
refined flour pasta with a complex grain one such as quinoa, chickpeas
or lentil pasta. Cook in a home-made tomato/pesto/spinach/white sauce.
A tasty Mexican burrito is always a hit with young adults and so are
bean burgers and jowar-based jalapeno pizzas.
ii. Good vibes only, please: Be a positivity magnet. First, you need to
attract good thoughts, pleasant words and positive friends in your life,
and then your teenager will follow suit. You must lead by example.
Walk the talk, as they say.
iii. Let them be: Be weird, be random, be who you are, love the real you,
when with teenagers. Be Rudolf, be different. Dance, sing and laugh
out loud. They love crazy parents. Let go of the flakiness to impress
 people or friends. Being condescending with young adults will only
throw them off.
iv. Identify their resistance: Encourage teenagers to ask questions
instead of simply commanding them to do things they resist. Find
ways to identify what they really feel about that resistance.
v. Take care of their diet: Slowly cut down or minimize the consumption
of damaging artificial additives, GMOs, refined sugar, pesticides and
processed foods and replace them with healthier substitutes such
whole-grain wraps, kebabs, hummus, avocado dips and lean meat
barbeques.
vi. Reduce stress on a trampoline: Jumping with your teen on a
trampoline to their favourite playlist will make them happy and is a
great stress buster too. That’s what you want right, their happiness? It
also releases anger, regret, resentment, blame, guilt and fear.
vii. Use multiple wellness tools: Cook, read, play cards and go shopping
with your teenager. Think up fun things to do together to bond better
with them and so that they see you more as a friend and companion
rather than just a parent. Of course, you will have differences and
arguments, that’s normal. If nothing else, you can simply tidy up and
decorate the room together.
viii. Introduce good fats in their diet: Get in Omega-3 to heal the gut and
help the brain function really well. Make new salads, use seeds to
garnish dishes, try making hummus and yogurt dips with flaxseed,
walnut, avocado and kiwi, and try out coconut-based ice creams—all
good ways to incorporate good fats into your system, which help you
heal the gut.
ix. Start a gratitude journal: Start a family ritual of keeping a gratitude
journal and hold a short discussion on it before sleeping. It might be
fun and also help you say sorry easily. Ending the day with a sense of
gratification and a sense of gratitude is directly related to having a
good night’s sleep. You will also wake up feeling lighter and more
positive about yourself and your life.
x. Surround yourself with positive people: Start spending time with
ambitious, supportive and creative people. Motivated and smart people
uplift your life. Negative and bored people with the same old narrative
are toxic and can have a very negative influence on your life.
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 YOUR GUT, LOVE AND KARMA:
THE THREE PROPELLERS OF HEALTH,
PASSION AND COURAGE

Imagine if your girlfriend or mother said, ‘I love your bugs’, and if we

could literally see our bugs getting attracted to each other, it wouldn’t be as
sexy or romantic or loving, right? It would be spooky! Thankfully, we leave
it at the word ‘chemistry’.
What determines chemistry between two people? When we say, ‘they
have good chemistry’, what we actually mean is their bugs getting attracted
to each other. Even when couples meet via dating apps, they may be great
match—virtually, but eventually it all boils down to the chemistry they
share when they actually meet face to face. Did you know that chemistry
between people can depend on the microbial community in their guts?

It is becoming increasingly apparent that our microbiome has a

tremendous influence upon us and our choices. The attraction starts with
chemistry, the aura and vibe of the other person/partner, which has a lot to
do with microbes. If receiving and giving love is a struggle for you, it’s
time to work on the bugs in your gut. Pick up some good fibre-rich foods
and find new strategies to be back in the game. Love bugs in your gut lead
you towards love. Investing in your gut wellness can help you receive love.
Your love life technically depends on the bugs in your gut. Don’t believe
me? Try it for a week and see how loving you will feel. Research shows
that chemistry is present only where the bugs are in a state of symbiosis.
These strange bug communities and colonies living in your gut shape
your health in myriad ways, affecting your vulnerability, passion and the
ability to choose right from the wrong. Feeding these microbes in your gut
can multiply your likability factor or charisma.
Bugs and chemistry go hand in hand. Make sure you have the good ones
to help you find romance, love and passion. Imbalances in the gut can make
or break relationships overnight. Microbes influence our sexual choices.
What if the concept of chemical attraction has a direct biological basis?

YOUR BUGS AND LOVE

Microbiologists have tested the effects of probiotics on mice and have seen
elevated levels of oxytocin, the love hormone, in them when fed natural
probiotics such as cheese, yogurt and fermented carrots. These
microbiologists have come to the conclusion that most experiments on mice
have similar reactions on humans too. Moreover, after being fed these
naturally fermented probiotics, the mice were able to mingle or be more
social than before. The mice were able to conceive sooner as well. Now, can
you imagine the same possibility for humans!
Oxytocin gets produced in a healthy gut and helps humans bond with one
another. Chemicals produced with healthy microbiota can help increase the
interactions between humans. For instance, when siblings intuitively feel
intense affection for each other, it’s thanks to the common microbial
component that they receive in their mother’s womb. From the same womb
to the same food and home, we as families, are constantly sharing these
microbes. This is in fact a good thing as it prods us to be caring and
affectionate towards our family; our siblings can lean on us and vice versa.
It’s because of that the gut feeling that we get a premonition when one of
them is in danger or is going to get unwell. Has your mom ever told you to
stay away from XYZ, as she had had an inkling that something wasn’t
right? Those were her gut feelings.

INTRODUCING YOUR THIRD BRAIN: THE HEART

When it comes to emotional health, it's not just your head and gut, the heart
also influences your thoughts, emotions and actions through microbial
messengers—neurons or nerve cells. All three organs—the gut, brain and
heart—are signalled simultaneously and they actively take part in most
decisions and actions we take. All three organs are tri-directionally
interacting with each other to either fight or flight from in any given
situation. They work together for you. Each one’s role is different and
unique, yet inextricably linked.

KISS AND TELL

Kissing may be the most primal way to express affection. We kiss babies,
not only ours but shamelessly other babies too till the mother takes offence
and tells us off. The release of oxytocin benefits all three brains by detoxing
stress hormones.
Guess what? Kissing can boost your immunity! Healthy bacteria can be
transferred from one partner to the other through saliva during deep kissing
and a variety of strains can be passed on too. And when you discuss with
your bestie later whether the kiss was bad or good, you are basically taking
into consideration his/her mouth hygiene, the microbial diversity and the
chemistry between you too.

HUGS, CUDDLING AND SEX

Hugging, cuddling and making love have a huge impact on multiplying the
microbes, activating the reproductive system and releasing love hormones
for good health and happiness. Gut bacteria create an ambience to produce
hormones. Imagine microbes can help excite you and produce hormones.
Virginia Satir, a psychologist, recommends four hugs a day for survival,
eight hugs a day for maintenance and 12 hugs a day for growth. The act of
hugging transfers good bacteria from the skin and helps release happy
hormones. It also releases stress from your sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous system. Forget air kissing, hug with intensity and
good intentions, but don’t forget personal hygiene before you get close and
personal!

BUGS AND YOUR LIBIDO

Food plays a huge role in reversing lethargy and lost libido and
transforming your non-existent love life into a scintillating one. Elixirs,
creams and aroma oils have been used for centuries to enhance love life.
Eating natural aphrodisiacs in the form of good fats, fibres, cocoa, vitamins
and minerals daily is the best non-synthetic approach. Aphrodisiac foods
which are great for your bugs are garlic, avocadoes, lemon, kale, mixed
berries, turmeric and black pepper. Warning: the only side effects will be
glowing skin, shiny hair and a satisfied you.
 Let us talk about these natural aphrodisiacs in detail:
i. Vitamins: Make sure you add carrots to your soup/daal/sabzi daily.
Vitamin A in the vegetable makes the skin glow. Carrot is a great
prebiotic and helps activate your sex drive. Vitamin B12 and potassium
in carrots give you energy. We all need that, don’t we?
ii. Aroma oils: A healthy body–mind connection is essential for your sex
life to flourish. Procure good organic aromatic oils such rose, jasmine,
sandalwood, ylang ylang and jojoba, which enhance libido and revive
the lost spark. What works for you is very personal. I recommend
rubbing these essential oils around the back of your ears, neck and
wrists, but avoid genital areas please.
iii. Fats: Have good fats such as coconut wedges and avocados. Curvy
good fat in the right places is always welcome. The curvier, the better.
iv. Cacao powder: Sprinkle some cacao powder to your yogurt bowl,
fruits and coffee or eat it as a dessert. Phenylethylamine found in cacao
releases the same hormones that are released during sexual intercourse.
Need I say more?
v. Cinnamon sticks: Soak a few in your glass water bottle and drink the
cinnamon-infused water all day. This is good for your breath and body
odour.
vi. Celery: It is quite an aphrodisiac. Add celery to your salads, it is great
remedy for thyroid too. I had it all through my pregnancy and
wondered what made me so sexually active!
vii. Chillies: Chillies—bell pepper, banana pepper, poblano peppers,
pimientos, jalapenos, cayenne peppers, Thai chilies, serrano peppers
and ghost pepper/bhut jolokia—produce the ‘heat’ that you need.
These are loaded with vitamic C and have anti-inflammatory
properties.
viii. Ginseng: Its active invigorating compounds help arouse you.
ix. Water: It is the most important element to help your cells feel alive
and good.
x. Probiotics: Yogurt, kombucha and fermented, pickled vegetables are a
fuel for your gut microbes and libido.
ix. Almond milk: It helps release the female and the male hormone—
oestrogen and testosterone respectively, which is good for both of you.
All these help the gut release more and more of these hormones,
rekindling your love life.
xii. Herbs: Certain herbs such as passion flower help in relaxation and
have an anti-anxiety effect on your body, mind and soul, which is
much needed to have a romantic rendezvous with your partner.
xiii. Ginger, onions and garlic: There is an arousal power in all three. You
should include them more often in your diet.
xiv. Strawberries: They are aphrodisiacs and enhance the power of love
and passion. Dip them in chocolate or fresh cream and eat a few, or
feed a few to that someone special!

GUT AND KARMA: THE 2 INVISIBLE FORCES CONTROLLING

OUR LIVES
Gut and karma are the two invisible forces controlling our lives. The law of
cause and effect, karma is a force considered as affecting the events of one’s
life. You reap as you sow; what goes around comes around; you will be
served what you deserve; the reactions produced will be in alignment with
and congruent to the actions taken—these are phrases that we have all
grown up hearing.
Most schools of philosophy believe that the happiness or sorrow of a
human being’s present life is the result of past karma. Since there is no
evidence of rebirth, many have intelligently reshaped this theory a bit to
state that the effects of the causes are to be served in this life itself, that this
is heaven and hell. And, if you are ‘suffering’ in any way—due to ill health
or the loss of wealth or a loved one—a good way to lessen the suffering is
by doing more good deeds to negate the bad karma.
Good or bad karma gets accumulated in three forms: mental, physical
and verbal. Depending on the intensity of the activity, karma—good or bad
—is accumulated.
A plant will be nourished exactly by the intentions—thoughts, actions
and words—of the person taking care of it and it will either blossom or
shrivel correspondingly. Karma, whether good or bad, will get transferred
from the caretaker to that plant. One is the giver, the other is the receiver.
Both the gardener and the plant are partners in this karmic connection of
give and take. The plant was meant to receive love and care and the
caretaker was meant to nurture the plant and see it blossom. Similarly, the
quality and nature of life we lead constantly affects the karmic aura or
atomic particles surrounding our soul, making us either happy or unhappy.
 Courage is the most important of all virtues because without courage,
you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.
—Maya Angelou
Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak,
weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.
—Swami Vivekananda

We need courage for all actions. The greatest people in history believed that
without courage, you can’t practise any virtue consistently and without
good consistent health, you can’t even get close to being courageous. The
main reason why I have connected gut wellness to courage is because all
actions/causes we make physically, emotionally and mentally are from our
three brains: the gut (physical), the heart (emotional) and the brain (mental).
If you crave for less challenging days in your life, career and health,
freedom from stress and illness, abundant love and healthy relationships,
financial freedom, and to be always surrounded by serenity and calm, then
you must courageously accumulate good karma in every breath of your life.
Begin with your core—your gut, your centre, keeping it really strong,
resilient and congruent so that it can withstand any turbulence in your life
and helps you move forward all the way, like a bright shining star.
Imagine, the CEO of an organization operating with a leaky brain. It
would keep him/her anxious and always angry, basically edgy at all times.
How can anyone possibly manage their role as a leader and be popular if
they are operating with an irritated gut? Drinking multiple cups of coffee
makes the body acidic and leads to indigestion. Instead of a dynamic leader
enjoying his/her position, they will spread an unhealthy work culture and
the employees will be the target of sharp poisonous darts (words and
actions), thanks to their deteriorating physical and mental health.
Right now, you are the CEOs of your homes and offices. The question to
ask yourself is: am I operating from a healthy gut or an unhealthy one?
Being a parent is tough, but being a working parent has its own
challenges. Working parents have to juggle more things than professional
jugglers. Dealing with migraine and a weak immune system could turn you
into a mean, controlling and unproductive person and mindless parent.
Unable to support your children or family wholeheartedly, you will operate
from unconscious compulsive reactions that are out of your control.
Here are 10 ways to stock up on your good karma:
i. Veganism: A vegan cleanse or fast is like giving your colon a spa
retreat and a harmless way of living. The cleaner your colon, the
happier your thoughts and kinder your words, the greater your
popularity.
ii. Share your meal: While cooking for yourself and your family, make
some extra and share it with your office staff, liftman or security
guards. This relationship and blessing will last for a lifetime. But given
the present COVID-19 situation, adhere to the most stringent of
hygiene while cooking.
iii. Spread love and kindness: Spread kindness, it is contagious and will
help multiply not just your microbes, but also your karmic savings.
iv. Love your body: Do you have to constantly live up to the image that
others define? Don’t allow society and people to define the person you
need to be. Your body is strong and helps you accomplish so much.
Learn to respect and love all the things it can do.
v. Find a cause you care about: Look for a cause that you are passionate
about—anything that makes your three brains spark with joy. It can be
any cause—humanitarian, environmental or simply caring for pets.
vi. Share your skills: Everyone has one or more skills, and sharing those
by teaching others free of cost only enhances it further. It’s a win-win
situation, really—more karma accumulated and skill honed. You could
do this in the comfort of your home on weekends or online.
vii. Become an organ donor: Donating your organs, skin or tissue can
save a life or eight. I had, as a child, asked my mother, ‘What if I
donate my eyes in this birth as good karma and what if I am born as a
blind human in my next birth?’ She replied, ‘You will be born as an
eye specialist helping millions of humans with eye solutions.’ I was
sold!
viii. Educate children: We took away their water, land and air. It’s time we
reversed the damage done by educating the next generation so that
they can invent new techniques to get it all back. Giving someone an
education is an investment for the children and for your karmic
savings bank account.
ix. Be grateful: Show plenty of gratitude. Set an intention to be calm in
all situations and never hurt anyone intentionally.
x. Plant more trees: Planting trees not only benefit us, but also our
environment and wildlife. It’s the only way to be part of the holistic
 cycle of life and death. Keep plants around you and volunteer to plant
trees around your area.
The reason I have written about gut, love and karma is because all three are
interconnected, interrelated and analogous to each other. Each has a
different evolutionary origin but performs similar functions. Your gut is
always guiding you intuitively, love is all around and karma is the force
that’s making things happen.

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 CAUSES OF CHRONIC HEALTH
PROBLEMS
Life is 10 per cent what happens to you and
90 per cent how you react to it.
—Charles R. Swindoll

It’s hard for most people to even tell that they are stressed because it has
become a way of life for them. The challenges of everyday life destroy your
physical and emotional well-being. These challenges are extreme to handle
all by yourself. A good coach who can shift the frame of the perceived
problem, help you relax and guide you correctly is essential today. Many
happy and successful people have coaches.
Here are the seven worst and the most common mistakes that people
make when they are stressed out.
i. Pushing the problem to the back burner: Are you ignoring the
problem you are facing? The easiest way out is evading the problem
and not allowing your mind to process it. Quickly sweeping issues
under the carpet one after the other till it gets chronic is a commonly
made mistake.
ii. Stress eating: Reaching out to comfort food to deal with stress is very
common today, thus leading to obesity. Soothing your pain and trying
to relieve stress with high-calorie, high-sugar and high-fat comfort
foods make you spiral out of control, thus leading to gluttony, obesity
and erratic mood swings.
iii. Ignoring gut feelings: Listen to your gut feeling when you are faced
with a stressful situation. Don’t ignore them. They will give you the
right advice.
iv. Guilt and negative spiral: Going on a guilt trip and negativity take
you nowhere, except towards making another mistake. Also, you end
up releasing more stress hormones.
v. Sleeping excessively: Do you sleep excessively to escape the problem?
Honestly, I have in the past, only to wake up feeling more stressed out
and lethargic.
vi. Addictions: Online-offline shopping, drinking, smoking, bullying,
cheating, etc. are unhealthy vices that damage gut health and only push
the stress deeper into other parts of your body such as lungs, kidneys,
liver and brain, setting you up for diseases in the long run.
vii. Blowing things out of proportion: Exaggerating an issue, gossiping,
playing the victim narrative in a loop and raising your voice are also
stress related. Always looking for attention, pretending to be
perpetually sick, seeking sympathy, etc. can also make you stress even
more.

GET TO KNOW YOUR ‘SAC’ (STRESS: ADRENALINE AND

CORTISOL)
Sadly, the stress hormones aren’t understood well. Your body is hardwired
to react to stress in ways meant to protect you against threats. In ancient
times, it was from predators but, now in the twenty-first century, it is the
need to juggle, to fit in, manage, organize and cope with daily life problems
such as demands of our workload, hectic social life, sleep deprivation, fast
food, alcohol, drugs, and taking care of your family and their needs.
When we are faced with a barrage of these challenges, emotional or
physical, the hypothalamus (a tiny control tower in the brain) signals
numerous glands via a combination of nerves and hormones to release the
stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol (from the adrenal gland located
above your kidneys) so that you can use the ‘fight or flight’ response to act
fast.
A threat has several effects at many glandular levels to release SAC.
These have been listed below as follows:
i. When we feel threatened, we feel our gut churn and contract; adrenaline
increases the heart rate, elevates your blood pressure and boosts your
energy levels so that you can act fast and avoid harmful consequences.
ii. Cortisol, the primary stress hormone, increases sugar (glucose) in the
bloodstream and helps your brain to think real fast. There is a rush of
these hormones in the stomach, brain, muscles and cells which come
together so that you respond to either fight or flee.
iii. The survival instinct will take charge of your brain so that you remain
focused and lock your attention on protecting yourself from the
potential danger. Your instinct is very powerful and intelligent. That
 instinct prevents you from being distracted in a life-threatening
situation.
iv. Using the hormones to run really fast and escape, engaging the core,
using sensibility and muscular strength to take action—all systems are
activated at that moment to benefit you. That’s the sole reason cortisol
and adrenaline are your friends; they help you survive a threat.
v. These responses are designed to protect the body and to take action in
an emergency. The body’s stress response is usually self-limiting,
meaning once the threat has passed, hormone levels return to normal.
vi. As adrenaline and cortisol levels drop, your heart rate and blood
pressure return to baseline levels and all other systems resume to
function normally. And you can go back to whatever you were doing.

RELIVING THE FLINTSTONES’S DAYS

Before we build concrete jungles, humans were hunter-gatherers, cavemen,
as we have seen in the popular cartoon, The Flintstones. We lived in a
symbiotic relationship with nature, ate natural food, inhaled fresh air, drank
fresh water, lived in caves and killed carnivores to survive.
Imagine, right now you’re a Flintstone, roaming around in la la land,
wearing a sarong of leaves with a sharp spear in one hand and picking fresh
berries for yourself and your family. You suddenly have a gut feeling, and
all your senses confirm that something huge is watching you.
Your gut instinct tells you that an oversized animal is hovering behind the
bushes and is about to attack you. By now, you have started releasing SAC.
It alerts you with a churning gut, raised heartbeat and increased blood
pressure. It warns you, priming you that you will be the animal’s dinner if
you don’t think and act fast.
You obviously don’t continue to pick berries because your survival
instinct is triggered, thanks to SAC. So, you drop the berries and get ready
for fight or flight mode, i.e. either to kill (fight) the animal or run (flight)
from it to save your life. The stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline, were
utilized well.
Cut to the present. Our life is full of chronic life problems. When in
chronic stress, the fight or flight responses are always switched on, we are
constantly releasing SAC, and are unconsciously ‘reacting’ to everything,
not ‘responding’.
EXPECTATION VS REALITY
Expectation: You are driving your car, listening to music and gearing
yourself up for a productive day. You control your breath and try doing
some relaxation techniques to manage stress in the middle of mayhem and
traffic jams. It’s that peak time in the morning when everyone is trying to
reach school or office, but you are still in control.
Reality: Your relaxation practise lasts for no more than three minutes. In
the fifth minute, you are blurting out the most explicit cuss words at
everyone on the road and ranting.
Even at a cellular level, your gut, brain, muscles and heart are filling up
with excess SAC.
Expectation: Have you ever watched a homemaker or mother in action in
the morning? She is nothing short of the superhero Flash, with her stress
hormones helping her work at that speed. She not only wakes up the kids
early but also gets them ready for school, and prepares breakfast and lunch.
In the case of a working mother, she will probably be working on a
presentation or trying to meet a deadline. Using her stress responses, she
transforms from a Flintstone woman to Wonder Woman, managing it all.
Reality: But, more often than not, she’s overwhelmed with pressing
deadlines and cooking for the entire family. She has way too much on her
plate. Her stress levels start hitting the roof. Her entire body has excessive
SAC, which she is not able to utilize efficiently. She is not dealing with her
stress; she is simply reacting to it. She wakes up late and irritated, ready to
blast anyone who comes in her way. An excess of cortisol leaves her
children and other family members at the mercy of her hormonal rage.
Do you realize how SAC is like a leaking tap in your body and why you
are always on the edge? Day-to-day situations that cause emotional stress
and were never addressed in the past cause harm to you emotionally,
mentally and physically. Irritants such as traffic, school admission
pressures, financial struggles, illnesses and so on add to the already existing
stress.
Imagine walking around with a fight-or-flight reaction that’s always
turned on. How confusing your reactions will be! It can make or break you,
most likely you will react aggressively and not respond correctly. These
hormones that were once helping you survive are now affecting you in
various negative ways such as weight gain, leaky gut, muscle fatigue, fatty
liver, migraine, acidity and depression.
The mental effects of stress include anxiety, mood swings, depression,
brain fog, anger and frustration. The physical effects of stress are high
blood sugar and blood pressure, microbiome imbalances, weight gain/loss,
obesity, digestive issues, a weakened immune system, thyroid dysfunction,
PCOS, hair loss, dull skin, low sex drive, missed periods, sleep disorders,
and heartburn and other heart diseases.
We are extremely fortunate that our bodies are tough and give us
innumerable chances to heal. But one day, it will refuse to reboot.

GUT FLORA DAMAGE BY SAC

When the natural stress response goes wild, excess hormones floating
around in the body adversely affect the gastrointestinal tract, the heart or
your brain. It imbalances all the functions of the body—from absorption
and assimilation, to symbiosis and excretion—by disbalancing the gut
microbiome. Stress kills the good bacteria and chronic stress can kill you.
Facing daily struggles of life can put us in discomforting states such as hate,
sorrow, depression, bloated egos, lying, alcoholism, being unkind, lack of
self-confidence, anger, resentment, anxiety, jealousy and bullying.
Guess who’s paying the price of it all? The answer is: our children who
seem to have become liabilities because we cannot deal with our stress any
more! More than 500 cases of child abuse were reported per day during
lockdown. Taking out angst and frustration on children is the biggest sign of
stress and depression. Being screamed at all through their impressionable
and vulnerable childhood, and unable to cope with already existing stress,
the younger generation today is opting for pets and not children.
If you want to fly,
give up everything that weighs you down.
—The Buddha

Here are the seven ultimate solutions to peace out with stress.
i. Communicating, challenging and negotiating: Communication is the
new pain killer.
ii. Rituals and habits: Relying on daily powerful habits such as exercise.
Nothing releases stress like sweating it out daily, which in turn,
 releases happy hormones and surpasses SAC, keeping you
unconditionally happy and healthy.
iii. Get out of your head: As soon as you feel you are getting into a
never-ending loop of negative thoughts and are stuck like a broken
record, go for a walk or call a friend.
iv. Get some sun: Most people with depression, excessive stress or those
who are unable to lose weight are low on vitamin D. To avoid hormone
storage or lethargy, wake up to greet the sun and get some vitamin
boost directly and naturally.
v. Get your breath in control: It’s advisable to get your breath in control
and apply some visualization techniques. Play some chanting music or
the sound of waves and feel your heart rate becoming steady, blood
pressure returning to normal and your gut feeling calmer.
vi. Try keeping a journal to express gratitude: Gratitude practise relaxes
the hypothalamus, stops the production of stress hormones and
activates happier hormones such as dopamine, serotonin, endorphins
and oxytocin.
vii. Have a safe and active sex life: An active sex life can release a lot of
stress.

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 DECIDE: THE MAGIC WORD

Great sports personalities such as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have
had to deal with failures too. They vent, cry and finally face defeat. They
too have innumerable internal dialogues. But the silver lining is that they
have a supportive coach to break their unresourceful states and negative
state of mind. They don’t allow the chronic stress of failure to take over
their life. In fact, they decide to win, they show up the very next day for
practice to prepare all over again for their next match. They tune themselves
to be motivated all the time by living, breathing and practising in
extraordinarily resourceful states. They use many tools for doing this and so
can you!
To illustrate this point better, let us take the example of Serena Williams.
Williams today holds the record of most Grand Slam titles in singles,
doubles and mixed doubles!
When she was 10, Serena’s coach, her father, heard derogatory racist
remarks being made by white parents about the Williams sisters. Serena and
Venus Williams’s dad pulled the sisters out of that promising school and
took over their schooling and coaching from home.
When she started to play professionally, Serena lost many matches to the
best names in the game: Annie Miller, Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis
and her sister Venus. She faced plenty of defeat and missed many trophies.
But as of today, she is ranked World No. 1 and has won 23 Grand Slam
singles. She also holds the record for the most women’s singles matches
won at majors with 357 matches.
Despite the failure and defeats, she kept a balanced state of mind,
ignoring all negativities and focusing on performing. She never gave up.
We all have a tireless and ruthless Williams’s attitude within us to get
through our small and huge problems in life.

Communicating, challenging and negotiating are three strong pillars of self-

care.
When we peel an onion, it brings tears to our eyes, but when added to a
dish, it adds flavour.
 Similarly, getting to the root cause of your stressed out life, peeling layer
after layer of unwanted emotions will make you cry too. It will allow you to
decide what you want to say, do and reach for. It’s time we accept crying as
a powerful tool.
Here are 10 self-help tools to help peel off stress layer by layer:
i. Set an intention and meditate: Allow your thoughts to surface one by
one, acknowledge and visualize them in front of you, as if they were a
third person—the lessons you learnt from it, and whatever you may
have to let go.
ii. Natural superfood diet: Stress can change the pH balance of the body
with all the unwanted hormones floating around in the body. Drinking
coconut water twice daily can help balance your pH level.
iii. Keep the gut light and clean: Eating light can take the load off the
digestive system so that your mind can focus better on releasing stress
and you can follow your gut feelings uninterruptedly.
iv. Activate your Prana: Prana is the universal energy which flows in
and around the body. Practise yoga and pranayama to release stress
from your fatigued cells in the mornings while absorbing sunlight.
v. Exercise every morning in fasting state: Fasting is the best way to
heal faster. Brisk walking, dancing, boxing—any workout that raises
your heart rate and releases stress hormones from muscle tension
simultaneously is good for your overall health.
vi. Use nature as your therapist: Walking barefoot on grass, talking to
trees and flowers, and expressing your pain or joy are great ways to let
go of all that is weighing you down. A beach vacation and a dip in the
ocean to cleanse away the negativity also does wonders.
vii. Bring back the golden days: Be a child again and try to go back to
those carefree days. Look at old pictures and resolve misgivings and
misunderstandings with your siblings, friends and even parents.
viii. Community with an attitude: Befriend those with a ‘front mirror’
view of life to build a community of like-minded people who can
propel you in your endeavours.
ix. Doodling, making art and allowing creativity to flow: Listening to
your favourite playlist, writing a poem or doodling are simple yet
effective tools to release stored up stress. Try creating something new
or painting a wall of your house. Creativity is so underused and
underrated!
x. Energy exchange: Give back joyfully in any form to the community.

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MODERN SCIENCE MEETS TRADITION

In Ayurveda, a sister science of yoga, nutrition is an important key to

health. We are all aware that a rich and varied diet promotes diverse and
balanced microbiome in your GI tract. The foundation of Ayurveda is based
on one’s constitution or doshas—vata (wind), pitta (bile) and kapha
(mucus). Most humans are a mixture of these three dosha characteristics.
According to Ayurveda, these three doshas are responsible for the
functioning of the human organism. When these three reside undisturbed in
the specific organs and tissues, our bodies are balanced and supported by
them. When they are disturbed by outer and inner influences, they cause
sickness, disease and deterioration of the body.

THE THREE DOSHAS AND GUT CONNECTION

Wind, bile and mucus represent the aerial, fiery and liquid forms of life
energy, respectively. Each dosha has its important role to play in the
maintenance of the body.
i. Vata Dosha: Vata or wind, as the name itself suggests, represents
motion. It is swift, dry, light and cool. The wind is the primary principle
of movement in the body. Nothing is possible without it. It transports
everything it comes into contact with. It affects the vascular, nervous,
digestive and gastrointestinal systems. It flows throughout the body, its
main abode is the hip and the colon (think bloating and gas here).
ii. Pitta Dosha: Bile represents the elements fire and water. Acidic bile
controls metabolism. Its function is to break down food and extract the
energy of the foods in the form of fluids to help energize the entire
body (think a leaky gut here).
iii. Kapha Dosha: Mucus is a mixture of water and earth elements. It is
present throughout the body and helps in lubrication. It is mainly
found near the vascular system, and helps keep the body clean and
pure. Mucus distributes hormones from the endocrine glands to the
cells of the body and is supplied by the stomach (think reproductive
issues, PCOS, depression due to hormonal imbalances from the gut).
AYURVEDA ON INDIA’S FOOD PLATTER
The traditional Indian diet is based on the ancient, scientific values of
Ayurveda, yoga and the gut (colon). A traditional Indian platter would
consist of rasa, the six fundamental tastes—sweet, sour, salty, pungent,
bitter and astringent. These rasas are incredibly important for the essence of
life affecting every aspect of our lives, from structural and physiology, to
the mind and consciousness. This platter has the capability of taking care of
symptoms of mild bloating and severe gastrointestinal issues to cancer.
When 90 per cent of serotonin, which helps you remain happy, is made in
the gut, it is common sense that anyone who wishes to be happy should
focus on gut-happy foods. Since a diverse flora is essential to reap
maximum benefits from the gut, it is essential to eat as much variety as
possible. A garden will produce and look colourful only if it has been
planted with a variety of colourful and different seeds. So, for bacterial
diversity, eat colourful healing herbs.
Plants have medicinal healing properties. Everything from stalks and
leaves of fresh herbs to seeds and roots have different expressions.
Here are some important digestive herbs you should use in your cooking
to add colour and flavour to the dish and boost your gut health and
immunity. When these ingredients are eaten daily, vitamins and minerals
absorbed from these powerful superfoods will destroy pathogens, help
tighten gut permeability and boost immunity.
i. Turmeric: Turmeric is carminative; it helps relieve bloating, is
antimicrobial (kills the bad bacteria) and anti-inflammatory. It’s the
golden herb of our country and our ‘haldi ka doodh’ has become very
popular internationally as ‘golden milk’. If you are lactose intolerant,
you can have it with warm water or almond milk.
ii. Clarified butter: Pure ghee is India’s top secret to healing, purification
and disinfecting. And of course not to forget glowing skin. It is
alkaline, a probiotic and multiplies the good bacteria in the gut.
iii. Coconut: Coconut water is the most sought-after superfluid
internationally. Coconut oil usage has been widely prevalent in
Ayurveda, from oil pulling, drinking the oil to hair massages.
iv. Cinnamon: Regarded as the ‘gift for kings’, this spice has multiple
benefits. It is a good source of vitamin K and iron. It helps reduce
blood sugar and kills the ulcer-causing Helicobacter pylori. Cinnamon
water infusions help reduce inflammation, is antifungal and
antibacterial.
v. Ginger: Ginger has curative properties and a calming effect on the
digestive system. Rich in vitamin B3 and B6, iron, potassium, vitamin
C, zinc and folate, if chewed on during long drives or when at sea, it
helps relieve nausea. It also helps control infections and excess mucus
formation in the body. Ginger pickle is a great probiotic and makes any
boring meal finger-licking good.
vi. Garlic: Garlic is a prebiotic with a pungent smell. It has the gut-
supporting nutrient, inulin and other compounds that support cardio-
vascular health. It has many minerals and vitamins such as manganese,
vitamin C and B vitamins such as (B6) selenium.
vii. Fennel: Fennel helps in digestion and is very popular as an after-meal
mouth freshener. Fennel tea helps make the body alkaline by calming
the acids in the tummy. Rich in vitamin C, magnesium, potassium and
iron, fennel seeds may help suppress appetite. It also has anethole—
one of the main active compounds with cancer-fighting properties.

YOGA
‘Namaste!’ The gesture namaste represents the belief that there is a divine
spark within each of us in the heart chakra connecting at the third eye
(between the eyebrows), acknowledging the soul in you and the soul in me.
So, folding your hands in namaste near your heart and bowing your head
are powerful ways to surrender all ego and pride.

Yoga is a holistic healing science based on the belief that health and
wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind and body. Yoga
asanas balance hormones, and emotional, mental and physical stress.
 Yoga has many benefits along with gut wellness and core strengthening.
Here are a couple:

1. Clear bowels: Yoga has numerous benefits and one of them is clear
and regular bowel movements. People try multiple things for clear
bowels when the solution lies in doing yoga.
2. Yoga butts and bodies: Yoga gurus have always sported lean,
chiselled bodies. When B.K.S. Iyengar gained popularity as a yoga
master and introduced books and classes to promote yoga as a therapy
for all, that’s when it got to the West, where yoga was glamourized and
some forms gained immense popularity such as Hot, Power and Aerial
Yoga. Yoga butts are very popular and aesthetically they look great.
Even if you do yoga for that sole purpose, it’s all right, as long as you
practise yoga.

Yoga is a philosophy aimed at the mystical union of the mind, body and
soul through concentration, meditation, breathing and postures.
Regular yoga practise can consistently open up not only your hip joints
but also deep-rooted traumas. Let yoga be that pillar that strengthens your
core and allows it to release built-up stress.
Here are seven yoga poses for dashboard abs and a strong gut and butt:
Virabhadrasana or Warrior pose: Virabhadrasana or Warrior Pose is a
group of related lunging standing asanas in modern yoga.
Utthita Trikonasana: The Extended Triangle Pose that helps balance the
mind, body and gut, elongates obliques and shapes the butt by lifting it
against gravity and allows more space for breathing in and out of the
digestive system.
Pawanmuktasana: It is a wind-relieving pose that shapes and tones butt
muscles, making them round and firm.
Ustrasana: The Camel Pose stretches the stomach and intestines, allowing
the movement of toxins out of the colon. It also opens up the throat for your
thyroid gland to activate. Let out a sigh of relief, and enjoy the abdominal
region getting elongated. Squeeze and release the butt whilst going
backwards and forward. It helps contract the muscles around the hip region
as well, making your booty curvy.
Malasana or yogic squat lifts: Yoga squats, hip opener pose or Malasana
can help fire up the glutes and lift your butt. This asana also helps with your
bowel movements.
Salabhasana: In this asana or locust pose, the activation and engagement of
the glutes are essential for lifting your thighs off the ground and pressing
down your stomach. It is a great asana for both the gut and the butt.
Surya Namaskar: There could be nothing better for your butt than rounds
of surya namaskars or sun salutations.

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 PREBIOTICS AND PROBIOTICS: THE
GAME CHANGERS

The intrinsic link between humans and the earth is like that between a
mother and her child. Mother Earth loves all her children unconditionally,
and the children reciprocate by embracing it and thriving in it. Humans
derive their nourishment from water, sun, air, soil, wood and fire.
From ancient times, we have been blessed by nature’s treasure trove—
fresh and abundant natural food, which helps humans grow and flourish.
Instead of loving it back, we have misused and disrespected it, and polluted
the garden of love. And here we are today, trying to hold her hand once
again for our own survival.
As much as the earth’s soil biodiversity has declined, so has the diversity
of the microbiota residing in our intestines. Here is how humans have
damaged our planet’s biodiversity:

i. The emission of greenhouse gases by individuals, organizations and

communities that leave a carbon footprint.
ii. Plastic pollution caused by chlorinated plastic that releases harmful
chemicals into the surrounding soil.
iii. Plastic toxins entering the oceanic food chain, consumed by fish and
sea mammals.
iv. Water wastage and contamination.
v. Medication toxicity resulting from prescription medication (when
medicine makes you sick), pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Destructive modern techniques have not only contributed to climate change
and global warming but have also led us to poorer health and harmed the
soil diversity in a huge, irreversible way. Modern habits do little to support
gut health. The earth–child connection is destroyed. We do not eat what
Mother Earth bestows, we chose instead food depleted of nutrition and
assaulted with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It’s time we adopt a
perspective that encompasses both humans and soil microbiome as
superorganisms which rely on each other to survive and thrive.

PREBIOTICS AND PROBIOTICS

Prebiotics and probiotics are both immensely important subjects in the
world of nutrition these days and thankfully so as they are more than
capable of preventing and reversing many illnesses. Although they sound
similar, prebiotics and probiotics play different yet complementary roles for
your gut health.
Prebiotics are living organisms and substances that come from types of
carbohydrates (mostly fibres) that humans can’t digest. They are food for
the bacteria in the gut. The good bacteria in your gut rely and feed on this
fibre and multiply. They help fight bacteria such as Salmonella and E-coli.
Probiotics, on the other hand, are living organisms that benefit the host. For
example, when milk fermented with lactic acid bacteria multiplies the
beneficial bacteria in it and improves health. These bacteria are found in
certain foods or supplements.
Your body’s inner galaxy is as beautiful as the Milky Way—vast and
mystic. The good bacteria help fight dangerous infection-causing bacteria.
They also play a huge role in balancing hormones, strengthening your
immune system, improving brain function and suppressing out-of-control
inflammation.

Prebiotics: The Good Bacteria

Prebiotics are types of dietary fibre that feed the friendly bacteria in your
gut. This type of fibre helps the microbiome to produce nutrients for your
colon cells and leads to a healthier digestive system. Some of these
nutrients include short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, acetate and
propionate, which help metabolic health.
Here are a few yummy yet healthy ways to get prebiotics into your
system:
i. Garlic: It is a herb that converts any boring food into an interesting
meal. Garlic acts as a prebiotic by promoting the growth of beneficial
Bifidobacteria in the gut. It also prevents disease-promoting bacteria
from growing.
ii. Raw chicory root: High in inulin, it is a prebiotic fibre that aids in
digestion and alleviates constipation.
iii. Leeks: Leeks belong to the same family as onions and garlic and offer
similar health benefits. It has up to 16 per cent inulin fibre, promoting
gut bacteria and helps break down fat.
iv. Bananas: They are rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre. Resistant
starch in green, unripe bananas is high in prebiotics.
v. Oats: Rich in prebiotic benefits, oats are a very healthy grain. They are
rich in resistant starch and beta-glucan fibre that lower LDL
cholesterol, aid sugar control and reduce the risk of cancer.
vi. Apple: Pectin accounts for 50 per cent of an apple’s total fibre, which
increases butyrate and helps decrease bad bacteria. They also have
anti-inflammatory properties and help in digestion.
vii. Flaxseed: One of the best sources of prebiotics, it contains soluble
fibre from mucilage gums and insoluble fibre from cellulose and
lignin.
viii. Onions: Onions strengthen gut flora, help in fat breakdown and boosts
immune system. Onions have antibiotic properties and is heart
healthy.
ix. Psyllium: It is a prebiotic needed for healthy colonies of probiotics to
grow. It softens your stool and helps relieve constipation.
x. Dandelion greens: They are a great source of fibre and acts as salad
filler. Inulin in dandelions reduces constipation and boosts the immune
system.
xi. Chickpea: Chickpea is high in fibre, and rich in iron and B vitamins.
It can be used in salads, patties or as hummus.
xii. Lentils: Lentils, whether pink or red, help stimulate the beneficial
bacteria and aid in digestion.
xiii. Asparagus: A great source of prebiotics, asparagus soups or a stir fry
is a great way to get some asparagus in your diet.
xiv. Herbs: Beyond food, herbs contain prebiotics used in their powder
form. Some herbs are burdock and dandelion root and the famous
triphala.
Probiotics: The Good Bacteria
The term ‘probiotic’ comes from the Latin word ‘pro’, which means ‘for’
and the Greek word ‘biotic’, meaning ‘life’. They help create an
environment in the gut where good bacteria flourish and bad bacteria are
suppressed.
The two types of probiotics are:
i. Lactobacilli: These bacteria help produce lactase, the enzyme needed to
break down lactose—the sugar in milk. They also ferment
carbohydrates in the gut, which produces lactic acid. Lactic acid is
important as it helps create an acidic environment in the digestive tract
and blocks many harmful microorganisms. It also increases the
absorption of minerals, such as calcium, copper, magnesium and iron.
ii. Bifidobacteria: This type of bacteria lies within the mucus lining of
the large intestine and the vaginal tract. Its main job is to stop disease-
causing bacteria and yeast. Besides working to control the acidity or
alkalinity (pH) level, which protects against bad bacteria, it also
increases the absorption of iron, calcium, magnesium and zinc.
Probiotics have benefits beyond the gut and help treat and prevent many
common ailments such as allergies, arthritis, gastrointestinal issues, acidity,
blood pressure, cancer, anxiety, depression and more. Probiotics, the good
bacteria, are easy to get into your body naturally and in severe cases, by
using a supplement, which can really multiply the numbers and boost your
immunity and gut health.
Here are the benefits of consuming probiotics:
i. It prevents heart disease by reducing inflammation.
ii. It lowers cholesterol.
iii. It helps in weight loss, as it slows down the absorption of dietary fats.
iv. It helps in satiety by increasing the release of the appetite-reducing
hormone Glucagon-like peptide-1.
v. It helps balance blood sugar levels.
vi. It balances hormones.
vii. It aids in digestion.
viii. It helps boost immunity.
iv. It lowers blood pressure.
x. It enhances learning and memory.
xi. It prevents allergies and eczema.
xii. It helps improve oral hygiene.
xiii. It boosts your moods.
xiv. It helps for a better sex drive.
xv. It cures urinary tract infection.
There are many ways in which you can introduce probiotics into your
system. Let us look at 15 of these:
i. Yogurt: It is considered the MVP of probiotics because it has a flavor
and texture that most people enjoy, and it can be used in most cuisines.
The number of colony forming units (CFUs) depend on the brand of the
yogurt. Check the labels for live and active cultures. Also, look for
yogurt made from organic milk. The popular cucumber raita of India
and tahini of the Middle East are easy to make, delicious and rich in
probiotics, proteins and good fats. Use it as the base of a sauce, salad
dressing, marinades or as buttermilk. Lactose-free yogurts and coconut
yogurts are also available these days.
ii. Kefir: This yogurt-like probiotic-rich drink is now well recognized in
the health industry. It is made from kefir grains and offers up to five
billion CFU in a single serving. Vegans benefit from this drink, as it
can be made from non-milk liquids such as coconut kefir, rice milk
kefir and coconut kefir. It is a huge hit when had with added fruit and
vegetable flavours and a dash of cinnamon, vanilla and active
charcoal.
iii. Green vegetable juice: Do you like drinking a vegetable juice daily?
Make your juice with celery and spirulina along with your other
greens. Open a capsule and toss it into the probiotics of the ready
juice. There are billions of CFUs in one glass.
iv. Overnight cooked rice: Rice lovers, we have some good news for
you. Cooked rice kept overnight harbors trillions of the beneficial
bacteria that help quicker digestion. This recipe also helps in anti-
ageing, improves bone density and releases muscular pains.
v. Pickles: Home-made traditional pickles contain high amounts of
probiotics and can be used in almost everything—from sandwiches and
wraps to a side for your regular Indian meal. Just make sure they are
brined in water and salt instead of vinegar, which prevent the bad
bacteria from growing. Reading the nutritional label is key.
vi. Beet root: Fermenting beets counteracts its natural sugar and makes it a
probiotic powerhouse along with its iron, folate and vitamin A and C
 benefits.
vii. Sourdough bread: This kind of bread is high in good bacteria as it is
baked with naturally fermented flour. Make sure your baker is not
adding artificial yeast to ferment the bread.
viii. Cheese: Aged cheese contains probiotics. Gouda, cheddar and Gruyère
are good examples of cheeses to be eaten in smaller portions.
ix. Kanji: Kanji, or Indian kombucha, is a salty-and-sour Indian drink that
helps in digestion and is rich in good bacteria. It is made from carrots
or mustard seeds, fine sea salt and filtered water. It is easy to make
Kanji at home and is great for gut health.
x. Overnight probiotic lemonade: This is an all-time favourite with
children. Make fresh lemonade with lemons, sugar and a few grains of
kefir and set it aside for one night and two days. It is a healthy treat.
xi. Apple cider drink: Naturally fermented raw unpasteurized cider
vinegar has multiple benefits. I love adding a cap full of cider to a
fizzy apple juice with some sprinkled cardamom or cinnamon.
xii. Supplements: Additional to the natural probiotics, investing in
capsules is a good idea to see quick recovery and results. Important
things to look for when purchasing a probiotic, #1 multiple strains, #2
balanced formula, #3 potency, CFU, #4 allergen-free.
xiii. Miso: A staple in Asian cultures, miso soup is made from soya beans
fermented with brown rice. It is great for beneficial bacteria and can be
used as a salad dressing, too.
xiv. Kombucha: It is a delicious fermented tea and the best replacement
for sugary sodas, which are poison for your bacteria. It is great to serve
at parties as well.
xv. Sauerkraut: It is a pickled cabbage made at home which contains
diverse strains of gut-healthy bacteria. It is a condiment you can add
to burgers and salads. Everything tastes better with sauerkraut!
Thus, your gut flora needs a diverse garden to flourish! Eating a variety of
greens, and a colourful variety of fruits and vegetables creates a favourable
habitat for your microbiome.

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OceanofPDF.com
 THE SEVEN-DAY GUT REBOOT DIET
The four Rs: Reduce, Redesign, Recharge and Repair
Reduce junk, reduce inflammation
Redesign your gut microbiome with gut-soothing enzymes, pre-
probiotics
Recharge your gut with plant-based foods
Repair your gut with good fats

YOUR SEVEN-DAY GUT DIET PLAN

Day 1
7 a.m.: 1 glass of water + 1 tsp of cold compressed flaxseed oil
7.30 a.m.: Yoga asanas as mentioned in Chapter 18. Have a tender coconut
after yoga
9 a.m. (breakfast): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee + 1 banana + 2 tbsp of overnight mashed rice + 1tsp of mixed
seeds + 1 tsp of pure psyllium husk with plain water + 1 tablet of
glutathione 500 mg (helps rebuild the gut lining faster)
Only water till…
12.30 p.m. (lunch): Salad plate: ¼ boiled sweet potato + ¼ boiled beet root
+ ½ cucumber + ½ tomato (with salt + pepper + lemon) + 1 jowar phulka
(chapati) or quinoa wrap with French beans, other vegetable sautéed in
olive oil + small bowl of yogurt + 1 capsule of probiotic with water (30
million–100 million)
Only water till…
4.30 p.m. (snack): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee in almond milk or cow’s milk with rice crackers and a hummus
dip + sour home-made pickles (carrot or lemon)
Only water till….
7 p.m. (dinner): Medium-sized bowl of soup + medium bowl of light
vegetable khichdi with lentils + 2 triphala tablets (after dinner)
Only water till the next morning (7.30 a.m.)
 Switch off your phone by 9 p.m.
10 p.m.: Meditation, chakra healing or gratitude practise before sleeping.
Rest well.

Day 2
7 a.m.: 1 glass of water + ¼ tsp of cold compressed flaxseed oil
7.30 a.m.: Yoga asanas as mentioned in Chapter 18. Have a tender coconut
after yoga
9 a.m. (breakfast): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee + 1 banana + 1 tsp of mixed seeds + 1 medium-size green lentil
chilla (pancake) + 1 tsp of pure psyllium husk with plain water + 1 tablet of
glutathione 500 mg
Only water till…
12.30 p.m. (lunch): Salad plate: ¼ boiled sweet potato + ¼ boiled beet root
+ ½ cucumber + ½ tomato (with salt + pepper + lemon) + 1 jowar phulka or
quinoa wrap with sautéed vegetables in olive oil + small bowl of yogurt + 1
capsule of probiotic with water.
Only water till…
4.30 p.m. (snack): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee in almond milk or cow’s milk with rice crackers, savoury salad
topping (Indian sev puri) + 1 or 2 tbsp of sour pickles/sauerkraut.
Only water till…
7 p.m. (dinner): Medium-sized soup bowl + medium burrito bowl + 1 tbsp
psyllium husk with water
Only water till the next morning (7.30 a.m.)
Switch off your phone by 9 p.m.
10 p.m.: Meditation, chakra healing or gratitude practise before sleeping.
Rest well.

Day 3
7 a.m.: 1 glass of water + ¼ tsp of cold compressed flaxseed oil
7.30 a.m.: Yoga asanas as mentioned in Chapter 18. Have a tender coconut
after yoga
9 a.m. (breakfast): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee + overnight oats chia pudding in almond milk, top it with 1
banana and berries + 1 tsp of mixed seeds + 1 tsp of pure psyllium husk
with plain water + 1 tablet of glutathione 500 mg
Only water till…
12.30 p.m. (lunch): Salad plate: ¼ boiled sweet potato + ¼ boiled beet root
+ ½ cucumber + ½ tomato (with salt + pepper + lemon) + 1 buckwheat
wrap with sautéed cabbage vegetable + 1 medium mixed lentil daal in olive
oil + small bowl of cucumber yogurt/raita + 1 capsule of probiotic with
water
Only water till…
4.30 p.m. (snack): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee in almond milk or cow’s milk or kefir or kombucha drink +
boiled sprouts chaat (mixed sprouts)
Only water till…
7.30 p.m. (dinner): Medium-size soup bowl + 7-inch jowar pizza + 2
triphala tablets (after dinner)
Only water till the next morning (7.30 a.m.)
Switch off your phone by 9 p.m.
10 p.m.: Meditation or chakra healing on YouTube or gratitude practise
before sleeping. Rest well.

Day 4
7 a.m.: 1 glass of water + ¼ tsp of cold compressed flaxseed oil
7.30 a.m.: Yoga asanas as mentioned in Chapter 18. Have a tender coconut
after yoga pranayama
9 a.m. (breakfast): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee + 1 medium vegetable uthappam and an apple with berries + 1
tsp of mixed seeds + 1 tsp of pure psyllium husk with plain water + 1 tablet
of glutathione 500 mg
Only water till…
12.30 p.m. (lunch): Salad plate: ¼ boiled sweet potato + ¼ boiled beet root
+ ½ cucumber + ½ tomato (with salt + pepper + lemon) + 1 buckwheat
wrap with sautéed mixed vegetables + 1 medium mixed lentil daal in olive
oil + small bowl of cucumber yogurt raita + 1 capsule of probiotic with
water
Only water till…
4.30 p.m. (snack): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee in almond milk or cow’s milk or kefir or kombucha drink +
vegetable sticks in pesto dip + 1 capsule of probiotic with water
Only water till….
7.30 p.m. (dinner): Medium-sized soup bowl + a 7-inch quesadilla + 2
triphala tablets (after dinner)
Only water till the next morning (7.30 a.m.)
Switch off your phone by 9 p.m.
10 p.m.: Meditation or chakra healing on YouTube or gratitude practise
before sleeping. Rest well.

Day 5
7 a.m.: 1 glass of water + ¼ tsp of cold compressed flaxseed oil
7.30 a.m.: Yoga asanas as mentioned in Chapter 18. Have a tender coconut
after yoga
9 a.m. (breakfast): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee + 1 apple + 1 small banana + 1 tsp of mixed seeds + 1 tsp of pure
psyllium husk with plain water + 1 tablet of glutathione 500 mg
Only water till…
12.30 p.m. (lunch): Salad plate: ¼ boiled sweet potato + ¼ boiled beet root
+ ½ cucumber + ½ tomato (with salt + pepper + lemon) + 1 medium bowl
of rice + daal + vegetables + small bowl yogurt or butter milk + 1 capsule
of probiotic with water.
Only water till….
4.30 p.m. (snack): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee in almond milk or cow’s milk or kefir or kombucha drink + rice
crackers + ½ avocado guacamole dip (small) + 1 capsule of probiotic with
water
Only water till….
7.30 p.m. (dinner): Medium-sized soup bowl + rice Hakka noodles with
vegetables + 2 triphala tablets (after dinner)
 Only water till the next morning (7.30 a.m.).
(You can extend the time by starting with coconut oil at 9 a.m. breakfast
time.)
Switch off your phone by 9 p.m.
10 p.m.: Meditation or chakra healing on YouTube or gratitude practise
before sleeping. Rest well.

Day 6
7 a.m.: 1 glass of water + ¼ tsp of cold compressed flaxseed oil
7.30 a.m.: Yoga asanas as mentioned in Chapter 18. Have a tender coconut
after yoga
9 a.m. (breakfast): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee + medium bowl of poha (flattened rice) with vegetables + ½
apple + 1 tsp of mixed seeds + 1 tsp of pure psyllium husk with plain water
+ 1 tablet of glutathione 500 mg
Only water till…
12.30 p.m. (lunch): Salad plate: ¼ boiled sweet potato + ¼ boiled beet root
+ ½ cucumber + ½ tomato (with salt + pepper + lemon) + 1 buckwheat roti
with potato + okra vegetable + small bowl yogurt or butter milk + 1 capsule
of probiotic with water
Only water till…
4.30 p.m. (lunch): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee in almond milk or cow’s milk or kefir or kombucha drink +
sprouts salad + pickles + 1 capsule of probiotic with water
Only water till…
7.30 p.m. (dinner): Medium-sized soup bowl + garlic fried vegetable rice +
2 triphala tablets (after dinner)
Only water till the next morning (7.30 a.m.)
Switch off your phone by 9 p.m.
10 p.m.: Meditation or chakra healing on YouTube or gratitude practise
before sleeping. Rest well.

Day 7
7 a.m.: 1 glass of water + ¼ tsp of cold compressed flaxseed oil
7.30 a.m.: Yoga asanas as mentioned in Chapter 18. Have a tender coconut
after yoga
9 a.m. (breakfast): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee + fruit bowl (any 2 fruits) + 1 tsp of mixed seeds + 1 tsp of pure
psyllium husk with plain water + 1 tablet of glutathione 500 mg
Only water till…
12.30 p.m. (lunch): Salad plate: ¼ boiled sweet potato + ¼ boiled beet root
+ ½ cucumber + ½ tomato (with salt + pepper + lemon) + 1 jowar roti
hummus falafel vegetable wrap + small bowl yogurt or butter milk + 1
capsule of probiotic with water
Only water till…
4.30 p.m. (snack): Fresh vegetable juice shot + drink herbal tea/masala
tea/coffee in almond milk or cow’s milk or kefir or kombucha drink +
sprouts salad + pickles + 1 capsule of probiotic with water
Only water till….
7.30 p.m. (dinner): Medium-sized soup bowl + vegetable khichdi + 1 tbsp
of pure psyllium husk with plain water
Only water till the next morning (7.30 a.m.)
Switch off your phone by 9 p.m.
10 p.m.: Meditation or chakra healing on YouTube or gratitude practise
before sleeping. Rest well.

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 50 CHEAT CODES

1. Your ‘six best doctors’ are freely available: sunshine, air, water,
nutrition, sleep and exercise.
2. Stack up ‘wins’ by listening to your ‘gut feelings’.
3. Eat slow-releasing carbs such as millet flour.
4. Whatever you are thinking about multiplies in your life. So, think
positive.
5. A daily probiotic supplement can help restore equilibrium in your gut
and strengthen your immunity. It must have the two bacteria
lactobacillus and bifidobacterium and a few other strains are welcome
too.
6. There is no fad diet that will ever be able to do what eating right can
do, ditch the fad diet today!
7. Pin up the ‘body’ picture you would like to achieve for yourself on
your bathroom mirror, at eye level. Your subconscious will help
manifest the goal.
8. Install new software into your brain every morning! It’s called
‘reading’; read good books on health, inspiration and self-care.
9. For pain-free, cheap and cheerful plump lips and skin, eat three plant-
based sources of vitamin E daily: kiwi, pumpkin seeds and olives.
10. For vegans, some excellent sources of calcium are bananas, kidney
beans, almonds, tofu, sesame seeds, broccoli, turnips, okra and white
beans.
11. Add chia seeds to everything—shakes, salads, water and yogurt—for
an added protein, fat and fibre boost.
12. Indian kids have been winning the ‘spelling bee’ for the last 14 years!
Eat the Indian superfoods—turmeric and coconut—to boost your
cognitive fitness.
13. Keep clean foods close to you, nibble when you feel you are getting
‘hangry’ (angry when hungry). These can be nuts, seeds, fruits, yogurt,
water, rice crackers and chana (horse gram).
14. Raise your natural ‘DOSE’ by delivering more for people than you
promise. Let karma always be in your favour!
15. Walk away from anything or anyone who takes away from your joy.
Your time is far too precious to put up with negative energy.
16. For better chemistry, hygiene is most important, so release toxins in a
Zumba session and get those hormones flowing.
17. Use your creativity and resources to build an awesome life on a vision
board. Do visualization as a family activity.
18. Forgive instantly, make it a second nature, because you deserve peace.
19. Sleep, unplug your mind, body and soul. Most importantly, follow
your circadian rhythm.
20. Take your beetroot, celery and wheatgrass shots daily and be
productive and focused.
21. Have coconut water, ginger, spinach, fruits and slow-releasing
carbohydrates daily, dream about your goals at night, and allow
superfoods and fluids help you achieve them in the day.
22. Be romantic, passionate, sexy and have regular safe sex with your
partner.
23. MCT or medium chain triglycerides from virgin cold-pressed coconut
oil can help heal your inflamed gut lining at jet speed.
24. Old ways don’t open new doors. Get out of your comfort zone and do
something different.
25. The best way to keep depression away is to do 10 Surya Namaskars,
facing the sun, as soon as you wake up.
26. Talk to your friends about your issues and if you can’t, seek
counselling.
27. Stop Eating CRAP (C – Carbonated drinks. R – Refined sugars. A –
Artificial foods. P – Processed foods).
28. If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong
company. To go from good to best at leopard speed, be with people
smarter than you.
29. Do you drive to the gym to walk on a treadmill? Stop wasting your
time and money.
30. Use this DIY coconut scrub for brighter skin! Ingredients: 2 cups
coconut oil, 1 cup Epsom salts, five–seven drops of fresh rose water.
Scrub on your face and neck for two–three minutes and wash off.
31. Your stomach lining can be healed in just two days if you don’t eat
chilli, fried foods or sugar.
32. It is okay to feel low, anxious and depressed. Go for a walk, talk to a
friend or get professional help.
33. Don’t just eat less, eat frequently and eat home-cooked meals. Cook
with non-toxic material such as cast iron and stainless steel/metal and
in ceramic utensils.
34. Bioactive compounds such as beta-carotene in chilli peppers (red,
yellow and green) boost your immunity. Use them in your daily foods
as weapons against bad bacteria.
35. Your primary and secondary foods should be balanced. Choose well!
36. Eighty per cent of your immune system is in your digestive system;
think of the gut as your ‘wall’ and eat anti-inflammatory super herbs
such as ginger, curcumin and spirulina daily.
37. Boost your energy daily, recharge your body’s energy house,
mitochondria, in your cells with pranayama every morning.
38. If your brain has too many tabs open in the form of to-do lists, you will
need a recharge every three to four hours. Instead of sugary sodas, opt
for fruit smoothie shots or plain flavoured yogurts to complete the list.
39. Did you know that your gut is as heavy as your brain? One more
reason to listen to your gut feelings.
40. Keep those bugs multiplying with a rainbow variety of natural foods;
they determine your health—physical, emotional and mental.
41. Feeling tense? Divert your attention to making a bowl of indulgence.
In a small bowl, arrange some roasted pumpkin, beetroot, baby
spinach, onions, thyme, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper and
drizzle mint and yogurt chutney.
42. To reduce bloating and overall body fat in just a week, reduce the
amount of animal fat in your diet.
43. Drink plenty of detox water!
44. ‘The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live
in a friendly or hostile universe.’—Albert Einstein.
45. Meditation is a free tool. Make use of it.
46. While bathing, use an active charcoal scrub to remove dead skin and
activate your lymphatic nodes, which is your body’s drainage system.
47. It’s okay to fail. It’s okay to cry.
48. We were the great apes! Mirroring is a way to learn the smartest and
the fastest.
49. Be desperate to get healthy, the world will feel like a better place to
live in.
50. Save planet earth. Minimize the use of plastic, paper and water. Carry
your own recycled cloth bags, steel water bottles, glass jars and
containers to refill your supplies.

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OceanofPDF.com
 HEALTHY RECIPES TO LOVE
Here are some gut-friendly recipes that you can include in your diet:
GREEK SALAD (FALAFEL + TAHINI)
Ingredients for the salad
1 cucumber
10 cherry tomatoes
½ capsicum (red/yellow/green)
1 small iceberg lettuce
1 carrot
1 onion
50 gm feta cheese
½ cup olives
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

Ingredients for the tahini

½ cup yogurt
1 tsp white seeds
1 green chilli
1 tsp olive oil
Salt
(Blend all the ingredients into a smooth paste.)
Method
Chop all the veggies into small pieces, add tahini, small pieces of green
chillies, olive oil and salt. Mix everything well.

CLASSIC HUMMUS
Ingredients
1 cup dry chickpeas/garbanzo beans
½ tsp baking soda
½ lemon’s juice
1 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt as per taste
2 tbsp tahini paste (ready-made or home-made with crushed sesame seeds)
2 cloves of chopped garlic
½ tsp seeds (flax, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin or watermelon)
Method
1. Soak 1 cup of chickpeas overnight in double the amount of water.
2. Put it in a pressure cooker for about three–four whistles with a pinch of
baking soda or in a large pot with water to boil for about an hour.
3. Drain the water and add all the ingredients except seeds and oil.
4. Add a few spoons of ice water to make the hummus even smoother.
5. Process all the ingredients in a blender on high speed for four to five
minutes until smooth.
6. Serve in a bowl and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Garnish with sesame seeds.

SPROUTS SEV PURI

Ingredients
1 long taro root (steamed arvi)
½ cup steamed sprouts
Sev (crunchy noodles made from chickpea flour paste)
Green chutney
Sweet chutney
Coriander leaves
Chaat masala
Method
1. Chop steamed arvi in round shapes.
2. Arrange the steamed arvi on a plate.
3. Toss in some steamed sprouts over it.
4. Top it up with the green chutney and sweet chutney.
5. Sprinkle sev, coriander leaves and chaat masala.

BURRITO BOWL
Ingredients
(For the rajma)
1 cup boiled rajma/kidney beans
1 cup chopped tomato
½ cup finely chopped spring onion
½ finely chopped mushroom
1 finely chopped green chilli
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp oregano
½ tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
(For the Guacamole)
1 avocado
½ finely chopped tomato
½ finely chopped onion
Coriander
½ tsp lemon juice
Salt
(For the salsa)
1 cup finely chopped tomato
½ cup finely chopped onion
⅓ cup finely chopped green capsicum
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander
1 finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1 tsp dry red chilli flakes
Oregano
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
Salt as per taste
(For the sour cream)
1 cup fresh cream
2 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup hung yogurt
Salt to taste
Method
Rajma
1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the chilli flakes and sauté on a medium flame
for a few seconds.
2. Add the spring onion and sauté on a medium flame for 1 minute.
3. Add the tomato and mushroom, mix well and cook on a medium flame
for 2 minutes, while mashing them slightly with the back of the spoon.
4. Add the cooked rajma, chilli powder, turmeric, oregano, salt and 1 tbsp
of water, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 2 minutes, while
stirring occasionally. Keep it aside.

Guacamole
Combine all the ingredients in a deep bowl and mix well while mashing it
with a back of a spoon. Keep it aside.
Salsa
Combine all the ingredients in a deep bowl and mix well. Keep it aside.
Sour cream

1. Beat the cream until thick.

2. Add the lemon juice and hung yogurt and mix well.
3. Season with salt, mix well and serve.

GREEN MOONG DAAL VEGETABLES CHILLA/PANCAKE

Ingredients
1 cup green moong daal
½ cup spinach
½ cup methi/fenugreek
1 zucchini
2 inches dudhi
1 carrot
1 cup chopped cabbage
¼ cup coriander
2 green chillies
Salt as per taste
Method
1. Soak the green moong daal overnight.
2. Drain the water and grind the soaked moong daal with ginger, garlic,
onion, green chillies, coriander and all the vegetables and salt into a
smooth batter.
3. Heat a tawa or pan and grease it with olive oil.
4. Spread a ladle full of the batter to a thin disc.
5. Drizzle a little more oil on the sides of the chilla/pancake and cook on
medium heat till the underside is done. Eat with some fermented
chillies.

SUPER GREEN STIR FRY WRAP

Ingredients
1 thumb ginger
3 garlic cloves
1 cup bok choy/Chinese white cabbage
1 cup spinach
½ cup baby corn
1 carrot
½ cup mushroom
1 zucchini
Salt to taste
1 tbsp gluten-free soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil
Method
1. Stir-fry the chopped ginger, garlic and soy sauce in olive oil.
2. Add the chopped bok choy, spinach, baby corn, carrot, mushroom and
zucchini.
3. Add salt to taste and green chilli paste for flavour.

HOME-MADE JOWAR PIZZA BASE

Ingredients
(For the pizza base)
1 cup jowar flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp dry yeast
½ tbsp baking powder
Salt
Butter
(For the pizza sauce)
8 red tomatoes
2 onions
1 green bell pepper
½ cup fresh basil leaves
½ cup fresh oregano
1 tbsp dried oregano
½ tsp chilli flakes
2 garlic cloves
(For the topping)
Mushroom
Onion
Red and yellow capsicum
Olives
Grated cheese
Method
1. Mix the ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
 2. Gradually add water, mixing well to form a soft dough.
3. Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface and knead for about
five minutes, until smooth and elastic.

Pizza Sauce
1. Blend all the vegetables (everything else should be raw with boiled
tomatoes).
2. Mix some pizza seasonings such as oregano, chilli flakes, basil, thyme,
dried onion flakes, garlic powder, fennel, dried lemon zest and ground
black pepper.
3. Spread it on top of the pizza base.

Topping
1. Finely chop all the vegetables (mushroom, onion, red and yellow
capsicum and olives) and spread it on top along with the grated cheese.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Then, let it bake for around 13–15
minutes.

METABOLISM-ENHANCING HERBAL DRINK

Ingredients
50 gm coriander seeds
25 gm cumin seeds
25 gm fennel seeds
1 tsp ginger
Method
1. Boil two cups of water.
2. Mix cumin, coriander and fennel seeds and ginger.
3. Let it sit for five minutes and sip.

BEETROOT KETCHUP
Ingredients
2 cups cut and cooked beetroot
1 tomato chopped
¼ cup water
¼ cup vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar or jaggery
1 bay leaf
½ red onion chopped
A pinch of salt
A pinch of pepper
Method
1. Heat all the ingredients over a medium flame in a saucepan until the
liquid has thickened.
2. After letting it cool for a couple of minutes, blend the mixture till it is
super smooth, looking like ketchup. Enjoy your fries and home-made
ketchup over some chitchat.

OVERNIGHT RICE PORRIDGE

Ingredients
1 cup cooked rice
½ cup almond milk or coconut milk
Fruits and dry fruits for garnish (optional)
Method
1. Soak the cooked rice in almond milk or coconut milk overnight.
2. Next morning, you could relish it with some added fruits of your
choice such as bananas, berries or apples. Garnish with some dry fruits
for that extra crunchiness.

JOWAR WRAPS, QUINOA WRAPS AND BUCKWHEAT WRAPS

Ingredients
50 gm jowar flour/quinoa flour/buckwheat flour
½ cup warm water for binding
A pinch of salt
½ tsp ghee or olive oil
Method
1. Take the flour of your choice (from the ones mentioned above) in a
glass bowl or a large plate.
2. Add salt and olive oil/ghee to it and pour the hot water, spoon by
spoon, to mix the ingredients into a smooth dough.
3. Make small balls of it (about three equal balls).
4. Take each one and roll it on a rolling board with a rolling pin.
5. Place the rolled out dough on a pan, turn it to the other side once it is
cooked well, making sure it doesn’t burn on either side. Add a dash of
oil or ghee to the sides of the wrap to prevent it from sticking to the
pan.

SAUTÉED FRENCH BEANS

Ingredients
150 gm French beans
1 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste
A pinch of turmeric
A pinch of coriander powder
½ tsp cumin seeds
A pinch of red chilli powder
A pinch of asafoetida
Method
1. Cut French beans into slant, 1-inch long pieces.
2. Add oil to the pan on medium flame.
3. Sprinkle the cumin seeds and asafoetida when the oil has heated.
4. Put in all the French beans and season with salt.
5. Let it sauté for about three to four minutes.
6. Add the remaining turmeric, coriander powder and chilli powder and
toss for a minute.
7. Turn off the flame and serve in a bowl or plate with some jowar
chapatti or quinoa chapatti.
VEGETABLE KHICHDI
Ingredients
30 gm rice grains (washed and soaked)
30 gm bottled gourd chopped into 1cm cubes
30 gm carrot chopped in cubes
30 gm chopped French beans
½ cup green peas
20 gm green lentil
20 gm yellow lentil
3 cups water
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
½ tsp garlic minced
½ tsp ginger minced
Salt to taste
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ cup chopped coriander
½ tsp garam masala
Cumin seeds
Asafoetida
Method:
1. Mix the rice grains, lentils, carrot, French beans and green peas and
put them in a container in a pressure cooker.
2. Let it cook until four whistles.
3. Turn off the flame and let it cool.
4. Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan, and add cumin seeds and
asafoetida.
5. Add chopped onion, tomato, garlic and ginger to the oil and let it sauté
for three to four minutes, add the spices to the sautéed mix.
6. Open the cooker and add the cooked rice and lentil mix to the pan with
onions and tomato and mix well for three to four minutes.
7. Add salt to taste and garnish with coriander leaves.
 8. Serve hot with yogurt.

SAUTÉED VEGETABLES
Ingredients
½ cup broccoli (chopped)
½ cup carrot (diced)
½ cup red bell pepper (chopped)
½ cup yellow bell pepper (chopped)
½ cup zucchini (diced)
½ cup mushrooms (diced)
½ cup bok choy (chopped)
6/7 garlic cloves (minced)
½ cup basil (chopped)
Salt to taste
3 tsp olive oil
Chilli flakes
Oregano
Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a deep pan and sauté the garlic for a minute.
2. Add chopped basil and salt to taste.
3. Add all the vegetables and toss for two to three minutes till it looks
half cooked.
4. Sprinkle chilli flakes and oregano and toss again.
5. Serve hot.

SEV PURI WITH SWEET POTATO BASE

Ingredients
Sweet chutney made of dates, tamarind and jaggery
Green coriander chutney
Garlic chutney
1 chopped onion
1 sweet potato boiled and chopped
Coriander for garnish
Salt to taste
Method
1. Boil the sweet potato in a vessel.
2. Let it cool and make thin round slices of the potato.
3. Place chopped onion and a drop of each chutney on every sweet potato
slice with chopped onion.
4. Sprinkle salt and garnish with fresh coriander.

OVERNIGHT CHIA PUDDING

Ingredients
½ cup chia seeds
Banana
Berries
Almond milk or coconut milk
Method
1. Soak the chia seeds in almond milk or coconut milk overnight.
2. Serve the next day with your choice of berries or sliced banana.

BOILED SPROUT SALAD

Ingredients
¼ cup boiled sprouted red chana (brown chickpeas)
¼ cup boiled sprouted moong bean
¼ cup finely chopped coconut
¼ cup chopped spring onion
1 green chilli chopped
¼ cup chopped coriander
½ lemon squeezed
Salt to taste
Method
1. Boil the sprouts either together or independently in a pressure cooker
or in an open container on medium flame for 10 minutes.
 2. Strain and put aside to cool.
3. Once cooled down, add the coconut, green chillies, spring onions, salt,
coriander and lemon juice and toss it all together.
4. Your salad is ready to serve.

VEGETABLE UTHAPPAM
Ingredients
(For the batter)
½ cup white lentil
1½ cup rice
3 cups water
A pinch of sugar
Salt to taste
(For the topping)
1 chopped onion
1 chopped tomato
1 chopped green capsicum
1 chopped green chilli
1 cup chopped coriander
Salt to sprinkle
Gunpowder to sprinkle (optional)
Method
(For the batter)

1. Soak the rice and white lentil together in a big vessel in three cups of
water.
2. Leave overnight to have enough fermentation.
3. Put the soaked rice and white lentil mix in a blender and blend to a
smooth batter.
4. Add a pinch of sugar and salt and leave aside for two hours to ferment.
5. Take a non-stick flat pan and start making small pancakes (size of your
choice), add the toppings to it along with the gunpowder, coriander and
green chillies.
6. Add a little olive oil around the pancake and turn upside down till its
looks cooked.
 7. Serve with coconut chutney and sambhar (optional).

HAKKA NOODLES
Ingredients
1 cup boiled Hakka noodles
Juliennes of ½ red bell pepper
Juliennes of ½ yellow bell pepper
Juliennes of ½ green bell pepper
Juliennes of 1 carrot
¼ cup French beans cut in a slant
1 tbsp pounded ginger
1 spring onion cut into long strips
1 tbsp pounded garlic
2 tbsp chilli paste or chilli sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
Salt to taste
Method
1. Take a deep pan and heat on medium flame.
2. Add sesame oil to it. Once it is heated, add garlic, ginger and spring
onion and toss for a minute.
3. Add the rest of the vegetables and chilli sauce and toss it all together
along with the Hakka noodles.
4. Continue tossing for two minutes on medium flame and turn off the
gas. Your noodles are ready to be served.

POHA
Ingredients
½ cup poha
1 cup water
1 chopped onion
1 chopped tomato
1 boiled potato finely diced
¼ cup boiled green peas
1 green chilli chopped
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp mustard seeds
5/6 curry leaves
½ tsp asafoetida
½ tsp lemon juice
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric
Salt to taste
Method
1. Soak the poha in water for about six to seven minutes.
2. Strain the water, and in your palms, take a part of the soaked poha and
squeeze gently and extract excess water out of the poha.
3. Repeat the same method for the remaining poha and set aside.
4. In a deep pan on medium flame, add mustard seeds and then the cumin
seeds and asafoetida.
5. Add the onions, tomatoes, green chillies and curry leaves and sauté for
two minutes.
6. Add the boiled potatoes and green peas and sauté again.
7. To the mix, then add the poha and all the spices, salt and lemon juice.
8. Toss thoroughly for two to three minutes. Turn off the flame and serve
on a plate. Garnish with coriander.

PICKLES
Ingredients
3 carrots
10 green beans
1 cup ginger juliennes
2 radishes
2 beetroots
2 cucumbers
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp rai kuria (mustard seeds) (optional)
2 tbsp tamarind paste
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp pounded garlic
Method
1. Cut the vegetable of your choice into two-inch-long sticks.
2. Boil the vegetable if you need to for two minutes (in case of carrots,
radish and beetroot). After removing from the boiling water, towel dry
the veggie sticks and keep them under the sun for an hour to remove
excess water or dry at room temperature overnight.
3. Mix all the spices, tamarind paste, oil, garlic and salt.
4. Marinate the vegetables with this paste and keep in a glass jar with half
its mouth open for one night.
5. Shake the jar with the lid closed and your favourite pickle is ready to
eat.

PESTO SAUCE
Ingredients
1 cup fresh basil leaves
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons pine nuts
⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
⅓ cup olive oil
Method
1. To make the pesto, combine basil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan in
the bowl of a food processor; season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. With the motor running, add olive oil in a slow stream until
emulsified; set aside.
3. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

CELERY JUICE
Ingredients
1 small bunch celery
½ cup water or more if needed
½ cucumber
1 amla
⅞ mint leaves
Coriander
Salt to taste
Method
1. Roughly chop the celery, cucumber, coriander and amla and add to
your blender. Also add mint leaves with the water. Begin to blend. If
it's not blending, add a little more water.
2. Strain the celery juice and drink.

ONE POT VEGETABLE BROTH

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil/ghee/avocado or coconut oil (if avoiding oil, use water)
1 medium onion (with skins, finely chopped)
4 cloves garlic (with skins, finely chopped)
3 medium carrots (with skins, finely chopped)
3 stalks celery (finely chopped)
1–2 tsp each sea salt and black pepper
10–11 cups filtered water
1 cup chopped sturdy greens (broccoli, spinach, collards, etc.)
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 small handful fresh thyme
1 small handful fresh rosemary
2 whole bay leaves
3–4 tbsp nutritional yeast (if you don’t have it, omit)
4–5 tbsp tomato paste
Method
1. Heat a large pot, add the oil or water, add the onions, garlic, carrots,
greens and celery along with the salt and pepper.
2. After the vegetables seem softer, add the herbs and allow it about 1
hour of simmering, till the flavours develop, and you have a rich,
flavourful broth ready.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
At the outset, I would like to thank Rupa Publications. I am honoured to
receive the title of ‘author’ writing about my favourite subject, gut health.
I would also like to thank some very special people who have been my
strength and without whose indispensable support, this book would not
have become a reality.
My parents, for the sacrifices they have made for me and their
unshakeable faith in karma, fair practices, and fresh and home-cooked food.
My sisters, Ritu and Gini, who balance and spark my left and right brain.
My husband, Pratish, who has always supported me and my
entrepreneurial aspirations. My three gorgeous brats—Myshka, Arjunraj,
and Ginto, my golden retriever—who are my lifelines. Myshka, for helping
me with the topic of teenagers’ mental wellness.
Thanks to my GUTAVATAR team and my INUEN team, without whom I
wouldn't be able to function. I happily share my success with you all.
All my friends who had to drag me out to have some fun and relax and
their genuine reassurances that everything will be fine.
All my clients, students and their families, who continue to send me love,
respect and experimented healthy foods, thank you.
Gratitude for my 24 Jain Tirthankaras, whose virtues I pray for and who
guide me to be humble, kind and generous every day.
Finally, thank you to all my readers for championing my cause, as part of
the proceeds from the sale of this book will be going to the Bal Asha Fund,
an orphanage and adoption centre for children, which has been extremely
close to my heart since the past 30 years.

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 Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Introduction
Part I Gut and Your Weight Loss Connections
1. Getting Started on Your Gut Journey
2. Everything You (Did Not) Know About Your Gut
3. Meet the 100 Trillion Game Changers in Your Gut
4. You’ve Got the Magic in You!
5. You’ve ‘Gut’ a Second Brain
6. Gut Health and Fad Diets: At Loggerheads
7. Your Diet Failed, Not You
8. Bacterial Takeover
9. Leaky Gut and Brain: The Signs
10. Gut and Your Immunity
11. You’ve ‘Gut’ Connections!
12. Your Weight Loss Goals: The Secret Solution
Part II Access Your Gut Feelings, Intuitions and the Subconscious Mind
13. Your Gut Feeling: Are You Listening?
14. The Gut and Your Subconscious Mind
15. Your Gut, Love and Karma: The Three Propellers of Health,
Passion and Courage
16. Causes of Chronic Health Problems
17. Decide: The Magic Word
18. Modern Science Meets Tradition
19. Prebiotics and Probiotics: The Game Changers
20. The Seven-Day Gut Reboot Diet
21. 50 Cheat Codes
22. Healthy Recipes to Love
Acknowledgements

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