On Purpose with Jay Shetty - Radhi Devlukia: #1 Reason You Are Tired After Lunch & The Simple Change You Can Make to Avoid the 3 PM Slump

Episode Date: February 26, 2024

Do you tend to feel tired after eating?  Do you want to learn simple changes to stay energized and avoid the 3 PM slump?  On this special episode of On Purpose, My wife Radhi joins us! Radhi is a clinical dietician, nutritionist, and always learning to cook. Radhi brings a modern approach to the ancient principles of holistic wellbeing and earned her Ayurvedic Health Counselor 1 degree at the California College of Ayurveda. Radhi's first ever book called JoyFull: Cook Effortlessly, Eat Freely, Live Radiantly is out right now. In this episode, Radhi teaches how to nourish our body in a way that's truly individual to you. Plus, pick up some practical tips for making sustainable changes in your diet and embracing the method of Ayurveda for balance and well-being. Further into the episode, Radhi touches on the three modes of Ayurveda and how they influence our eating habits, intuitive eating practices that honor your body's signals, and the valuable insights to optimize digestion and transform your relationship with food. In this interview, you'll learn: How to change your diet How food affects your mood The right way to eat proteins How to create positive daily routines How to change your mindset about food Get ready to savor each moment, embrace mindful eating, and cultivate a deeper connection with your body and soul.  With Love and Gratitude, Jay Shetty What We Discuss: 00:00 Intro 04:17 Recipes Inspired by Family and Love for Food 07:09 The Individual nature of Healing Your Body 12:01 How to Make Sustainable Changes in Your Body 14:52 The Three Modes in Ayurveda 20:08 Your Body Deteriorates when You Stop Listening to the Body Cues  23:40 Eat Until Satisfied, Not Stuffed 28:35 Why You Need to CHew Your Food Properly 32:50 Avoid Cold Drinks and Iced Beverages 35:38 Does Skipping Meals Work? 38:31 On a Busy Day, How Can You Slow Down? 41:41 Overeating Proteins Harm the Body 45:02 How to Change Your Relationship with Food 51:18 The Value of Spices  55:58 What is Your Morning Routine? 58:03 How to Not Feel Lethargic After Lunch 01:00:57 Best Practices for Evening Routines 01:05:24 The Recipe Game 01:11:28 What is Your Hope for People? Episode Resources: Radhi Devlukia | Website Radhi Devlukia | Instagram Radhi Devlukia | YouTube Radhi Devlukia | Facebook Radhi Devlukia | TikTok JoyFull: Cook Effortlessly, Eat Freely, Live Radiantly See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, I'm Wilmer Valderrama, executive producer of the new podcast, De Maia Bolita First. Each week, the incredible Vico Ortiz and fabulous Abuelita Liliana Montenegro will play matchmaker for a group of hopeful romantics. Right Vico? You know it! Listen to De Maia Bolita First, Thursdays on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Just do it better. Pesitos.

The Therapy for Black Girls podcast is your space to explore mental health, personal development, and all of the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr. Joy Harden-Branford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, and I can't wait for you to join the conversation every Wednesday. Listen to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Take good care. I couldn't be more excited to share something truly special with all you tea lovers out there. And even if you don't love tea, if you love refreshing, rejuvenating, refueling sodas

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your body while enjoying a truly delicious and refreshing drink. So visit drinkjunie.com today to elevate your wellness journey and use code on purpose to receive 15% off your first order. That's drinkjunie.com and make sure you use the code on purpose. Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the place you come to to become happier, healthier, and more healed. I'm so grateful that you're back here today and I'm so excited to introduce you to my guest. This guest has been on the show more than anyone else.

She was the first guest ever on the show and she's the cutest, most beautiful, most incredible guest we ever have had on the show. And of course, speaking about the one, the only hardest guest to book of all time, longest commute to the studio of all time, my incredible wife, Radhi Devlukiya. For those of you that don't know, Radhi is a clinical dietitian, nutritionist, and always learning cook.

Radhi brings a modern approach to the ancient principles of holistic well-being and earned her Ayurvedic Health Councilor one degree at the California College of Ayurveda. Right now, I couldn't be more excited or more proud of Radhi because her book, her first ever book is out right now. It's called Joyful. It has more than 125 plant-based recipes. And it's all about cooking effortlessly,

eating freely, and living radiantly. Obviously, I don't think I've ever wanted you to get a book more than this one, even more than my books. This is the most important book that I want you to get this year. Please go and grab a copy. We've put the link in the caption, in the comments, wherever you are right now. Go in order, joyful. Welcome to the show, my amazing wife and the love of my life, Radhi Devluke. Radhi. Thanks. Oh my gosh, you're so professional doing this. I mean, we've been doing it for a bit.

It was better than the first time you came on like five years ago. This is amazing. Thanks for that intro. I really appreciate it. I'm genuinely so proud of you. Like looking at this book and obviously I've had the inside track of watching you work on this book for the last three years. The amount of energy, the amount of effort, the amount of love, the amount of devotion that's gone into this book is amazing and it's so beautiful.

And for those of you that don't know, when you do get it, you can take off this part, even though Raleigh's face is, you can take my favorite part off. And look how beautiful this is. It's just a stunning, stunning book. I wanted people to be able to have a coffee table book, but also know that it's my cookbook,

but I like the part where you can just take my face off and leave it on your table for little surprises inside. I have so many questions for you, because even though I've seen you work on this book, I find that when you get inside someone's mind and heart, you understand so much more about what they've created. And even though I've watched you from the outside, I don't always know all the inside.

So I wanna dive straight in. And one of the things I love about this book is the beautiful pictures you have with your family. Your bar, who's your grandma, your mom, your dad. I'm in it as well, of course. I got one picture. But what I love is that your family have been such big inspirations for you

in your cooking journey. And I just wanted to go through your grandma, mom, sister, family, dad. Like, you know, just the people in your life that have inspired you and I wanted to know what have you learned from each of them or what have you gained from each of them in your cooking journey? I would say that because one, both of us grew up in an Indian family, food is literally always

husband and always will be the center of everything, whether it's celebrations, whether it's making sure that we eat dinner every single day together. And so I think I've learned to form connections through eating because of having grown up with it. That is my place where I feel I can connect to someone the most when we're sharing a delicious meal or a nice dessert together. And so there's that. But also, both our moms had full-time jobs growing up, but she still managed to make

breakfast, like homemade breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day. And so watching her do that for us with so much love and also eating her food and feeling her love through the food, I think my deep connection with food comes purely through that to having experienced that from her. My grandma's the same. She passed everything down to my mom in that way. My mom was cooking with my grandma from the age of like 12 and she gets her love for it from her as well. And so I definitely think that it feels like

something generational that's been passed down into me. And my dad, my dad is someone who, you know, he's so quiet, he's so sweet. And whenever my mom would go away for work or anything, he would always step in and be someone who, he wouldn't be like, let's just order out. He would find something. He could make mac and cheese really well. So my dad's mac and cheese is in the cookbook. That's like my one memory of growing up

where my mom would go away, he would make this mac and cheese. And the one time we'd get to sit in front of the TV and eat. And we'd eat mac and cheese and sit in front of the TV. And so I really, I feel like, I mean, which is the same as everyone, I'm sure I could not have created this book without all of the inspiration that I've got from them. Like all the recipes are so inspired by where we're from, like from India, from our heritage of things that we've grown up eating. And then my mom and all the things that I feel like are my comfort

foods when I think about her. And so actually a lot of the recipes are connected to memories and things that I can make and then feel the love and the energy of the person that I ate it with or that I cooked it with or that cooked it for me. It's completely weaved and just created through family. Like that is what the book is about. And that is what I hope people feel when they read it. Yeah, I know it comes across and it's so beautiful

because you see all of those influences and all of those energies that come in. And one of the most interesting things about you is that you obviously trained as a nutritionist and then a dietitian, both of your degrees, and then you've become an Ayurvedic Health Councilor and studied Ayurveda as a big part of your learning journey. And I know you consider yourself a continuous student

and wanting to develop those skills, but walk me through how those two things have impacted your understanding of food. I started off doing my degree as a nutritionist and a dietitian, and so then I was working in hospitals where I was seeing everything from diabetes clinics to the elderly who are malnourished to little children, like pediatric clinics, trying to get little fussy eaters to eat a little bit more. And so I actually loved working in that environment.

I loved being someone who could be patient facing, seeing them every week, trying to see their progress and feeling like I had a direct impact to them. But the only part I kind of struggled with was naturally when you're part of a system, you have to recommend what the system recommends. And so that was a bit difficult for me because I always wanted to be food forward versus supplements or anything in a bottle. But sometimes that's not you know, the easiest or most efficient way. And so I definitely loved it, but I felt there was a slight disconnect. And then when we moved to

New York, I threw myself back into study and I found Ayurveda. And if anybody who doesn't know what Ayurveda is, Ayur means life, Veda means knowledge, and it's basically the science of life. And as soon as I learned about it, it clicked. Everything felt like it made complete sense. And it felt just like when you go to a place and it feels like home. When I learned about Ayurveda, I felt like I found my home in the practices

and the rituals and the understanding on my body. The differences between the two were incredible. Like, you know, Western medicine and Western healing is all about curative. Like you get to the point of disease and then let's figure out how to cure it. Whereas in Ayurveda, it's all about how can we start understanding our body?

How can we start noticing the symptoms, the things our body's trying to tell us and how do we tune into that so that we catch everything a few steps before disease so we can actually have an opportunity to prevent it. And on top of that, it's so individual. Like a lot of the time with Western Medicine, it's one size fits all. And I really appreciate so much of Western Medicine, the diagnostics, like how we're able to figure things out through so many systems that we have. But the one thing we kind of lack is this individual nature of the way you eat a tomato, which we know you eat a tomato and I eat a tomato whenever I make a meal. It affects you so differently to me.

And so I love the individual nature of healing our body as me, like not what this person online is telling me, not what this book is telling me, but let me observe and be an active participant in my health every single day so that when I eat something, I'm not eating this salad because this person told me it was the best thing for their body. I know I'm eating it because it's the best thing for my body and I feel it through the way my body feels through how my digestion is. Yeah, those are like a couple of differences that I found. And then I just started learning more and more

about this holistic practice and start practicing it. So now I know how it feels and I can share it with other people having practiced and lived it. I love that point that you just made about being an active participant in how you feel. And I didn't start with this, but I wanted to say it now. Sadly, you had to give up all those patients and everyone you worked with to only have one patient.

And that hasn't been me for the last eight years that you've been coaching me and you've been my health coach and my health guru. And you have helped me with so many things, whether it was really working on my sugar addiction, working on my addiction to soft drinks, fizzy drinks, what do they call them here? So does so many things I had that I thought I'd figured out.

So I loved meditating and reading and working on the mind, but I didn't want to physically work, how I didn't care about the body. And you helped me understand that. You probably switched my sleep schedule around. I think when we met I was someone who could sleep a lot later and now I sleep really really early and that was a big part of what you changed and all of those have made me feel healthier and happier every single year because you've helped me build these habits and I I just wanna add, none of that was done through force, none of that was done through telling me what to do,

but you were always patiently coaching and guiding me as in how I showed enthusiasm or what I wanted to learn. And so what I love about this book is that you've taken all of that and you've now made it accessible to anyone who wants to change their habits. And that's what's so amazing about this book. It's not a cookbook in that, yes, it does have 125 recipes.

And it does have, it does have recipes. It is a cookbook. It is a cookbook. But it really has all of these day to day guides on habits and how to change your rituals and your morning routine and your evening routine and practices with food and without that change your rituals and your morning routine and your evening routine and practices with food and without that improve your life. And so as someone who's been a recipient of your coaching

and of your guidance, I'm so excited that everyone gets to have this now through Joyful. Well, you've been such a good student. I feel like I haven't even had, it hasn't really been you being a student. You've always wanted to make yourself better in some way. And I think that's the difference, right?

Like you can, we know this from having parents and, you know, having different teachers in our life that I've learned best through observing someone or experiencing how amazing they are through the practices that they've done. And so when I was writing the book, I knew I wanted it to come from a place of love and knowledge because I think that is the place where people learn the best and make sustainable change. It's like I can tell people that eating a certain way is terrible for you and you're going to die early and like whatever it is that you know you could say to really scare someone into it.

But that just makes them either want to hide from themselves or it makes them want to curl up into a ball and kind of be like, I need to ignore this because this is too much information and it's overwhelming. And I do think what you said about, you know, me teaching you, you are an active participant in your health. And I think that is actually the key. Like for me, I've intertwined, I said, when I first wrote this cookbook, I was like, I do not want it to just be a cookbook. I love sharing food with people. It is my love language. But what I want more is food is just one aspect. Like we all know food is just one pillar of our health. And then to be able to intertwine throughout your day,

all of these micro habits that create such major impact. And that's what it did for me. Like one of the things in there is breath work. And I think about this so much, and I just took a deep breath now because breath has honestly saved me from being someone who has mass anxiety going into things that I find so difficult. And by the way, not even difficult things, things that I find difficult. So going into events where there's lots of people, coming onto interviews and speaking in places where I don't have full control over it,

like having all those minor things which actually impacted me so much, breath work has been the one thing that's allowed my mind to slow down, for me to collect my thoughts, for me to energize myself in the afternoon, for me to help relax me in the evening. And so I've

shared breathworks to like really take people through their day to tackle and handle everything that comes our way. And so from breathwork to the way that we eat and the way that we connect to our food, all of that helps us create more joyful moments throughout the day. And the more joyful moments you have throughout the day, the more joy you end up with every single day, like it accumulates throughout the day. And the more joyful moments you have throughout the day, the more joy you end up with every single day, like it accumulates throughout the day. I wanna dive into some things in the book now. Yeah, please.

Because I wanna give people a sense of how this cookbook is shaped and curated in order to help people. And I wanted to start off by asking you this question about the modes, because you break down the modes as like a big part of your book. And you talk about the three,

could you walk us through these three modes and how we think about food when it comes to these three? Yeah, so the three modes in Ayurveda, essentially the energies of the world, of everything that we eat, of everything that exists externally and internally. And so there's the mode of goodness, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance. And so I've spoken about it in the sense of our lifestyle and our food. That's how I focused it in the book. And so

mode of goodness are basically foods which make you feel good. Like on a basic level, it's foods that nourish you deeply, that nourish your body that are filled with prana. Now, prana is life force and what that means is having the most amount of vitality and energy in that produce. And so, a simple way to explain it would be, you pick an apple from the tree. At that point, that apple has the most amount of nutrient value. It has the most amount of life and it's just been taken from the tree.

It has the most abundant in that form. And then you take it home and you leave it out for a couple of days. And you leave it out and slowly, slowly, the quality externally starts getting bad. You see these brown spots that come up and then slowly it starts getting mushy inside. And so the thing is you could eat something in its purest form or it can end up degrading and becoming something which can move through the modes down to something that's no longer beneficial for you. But the point is trying to eat the most amount of foods that form within this, that fall

within this mode of goodness. And so the types of foods would be fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, beans, you know, like avocados and like just all the foods that come from a fresh natural place. And so if you possibly can, bi organic where you can, the less chemicals, the less things that are put onto your foods that are unnatural, the better. And then lifestyle wise, mode of goodness are unnatural, the better. And then lifestyle-wise, mode of goodness are, again, the things that don't just make you feel good in the moment,

but actually bring goodness to your life long-term. And so a lot of the time we mistake our temporary joys for things which are good for us. Anything is learning how to differentiate the two. So you know that for me when I'm eating a sugary doughnut in the moment, it brings me joy. And sometimes that's great. But actually in the long term, it may ruin my sleep. It may make me lethargic in the morning. And so the foods that actually bring energy and good digestion, all the things that make your bodily systems feel good, those are the foods in the mode of goodness. And also the activities are the same. And then when you get to the mode of passion, so all those foods that you eat that give you immediate gratification, so the sour, the salty, the chili, all the things that you put into your food to create

that kind of burst of flavor into it. Those are still okay to have, but again, in moderation. Mode of goodness being the larger amounts of foods and activities that you do. Mode of passion will be a really intense workout that gets you sweating and you're like, oh, at the end of it, you know, it really gets your aggression out. So that's a mode of passion activity.

And the foods would be what I just said, like chilies and sour foods and spices that are really intense. And they have their place as well. Of course they do. All of these have their place, are really intense. And they have their place as well. Of course they do. All of these have their place, by the way. They all have their place. But as we go down, you have to have less and less of those foods. And then the last one is mode of ignorance. And those are the foods that essentially make your body feel lifeless and lethargic

and make your digestion feel sluggish. And those type of foods end up being foods which are deep fried because it's so dense and heavy in oil, leftovers, foods that have gone bad in the fridge that have been there for a long time. Basically food that have lost their life and according to Ayurveda also meat and foods which no longer have life in them,

like animals that have died and then they no longer have life in them, like animals that have died and then they no longer have that vitality. And so, yeah, it's just being mindful about all the things that fit into those modes and how they're affecting you. And it's not just on our body, it has the ability to affect our mind and our consciousness too, because everything carries energy. So whatever energy that food has when we're digesting it, it's also assimilating into our blood

and then our bones and then our entire being. And so it can also affect our mind. So a lot of the foods in those categories, they also will affect our mind in the same way they affect our body. And I love this because I know you've done this for yourself before, you keep, and I've been, you've recommended it for me to do as well,

is doing like a food diary or food audit for a week. And actually just testing it out. Because I think sometimes we don't realize how subconsciously some of these things work and how subtly they work. And if you hadn't taught me in how to spot these things where it's like, well, did you sleep badly? Oh, wait a minute. What did you eat the? Oh, wait a minute. What did you eat the night before?

Right? Often we think it's so mental, but so often it is physical. It is biological. It is to do with what you consumed. The therapy for Black Girls podcast is the destination for all things mental health, personal development, and all of the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. Here, we have the conversations that help Black women dig a little deeper into the most impactful relationships in our lives. Those with our parents, our partners, our children, our friends,

and most importantly, ourselves. We chat about things like what to do when a friendship ends, how to know when it's time to break up with your therapist, and how to end the cycle of perfectionism. I'm your host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. And I can't wait for you to join the conversation every Wednesday. Listen to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast

on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Take good care. Hola mi gente, this is Woman Valderrama, executive producer of the new podcast Dei My Abuelita First, part of iHeart Radio's My Cultura podcast network. Each week, host Vico Ortiz and Abuelita Liliana Montenegro will play matchmaker for a group of hopeful romantics who are putting their trust in Abuelita to find them a date. Your job right now is to get on Abuelita's really good site. Our Abuelita definitely knows best. On date my Abuelita first, three single contestants

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Listen to Dave MyAvelita first on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Something about Mary Poppins? Something about Mary Poppins. Exactly. Oh man, this is fun. I'm AJ Jacobs and I am an author and a journalist and I tend to get obsessed with stuff. And my current obsession is puzzles.

And that has given birth to my new podcast, The Puzzler. Dressing. Dressing. Oh, French dressing. Exactly. Ha, ha, ha. Oh, that's good. That's good.

We are living in the golden age of puzzles and now you can get your daily puzzle nuggets delivered straight to your ears for 10 minutes or less every day on the puzzler short and sweet. I thought to myself, I bet I know what this is and now I definitely know what this is. This is so weird. This is fun. Let's try this one. Listen to the puzzler every day on the iHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That's awful. And I should have seen it coming. Yeah, I think we've tuned out of our bodies so much. You know, when they say about your own inner voice of when you've got too many voices that you have allowed to be louder and louder around you, your inner voice becomes you know, quiet or it becomes dampen in the same way our inner cues, our inner intuition about our own body, we kind of end up losing that because we're constantly hearing, avocados are amazing for you. So you end up being an avocado every day, even if it's making your tummy feel bad. These salads are amazing for you. So you end up being an avocado every day Even if it's making your tummy feel bad these salads are amazing for you So then you end up being those salads and slowly your body is screaming at you

Well, first of all, it starts to whisper and it's like oh, it's a bit I feel a bit uncomfortable and then you ignore it and then you're like oh my skin is breaking out and or I'm losing my hair Or you know your external symptoms start to come and still you're like it's nothing to do with my food You know, I'm gonna keep eating this and external symptoms start to come. And still you're like, it's nothing to do with my food. I'm going to keep eating this. And so you slowly, slowly start quietening your own bodily cues that you completely start to deteriorate your body just because you've stopped listening to it. And then your body stops communicating to you.

And if it does, it will scream at you until your body gets to the point of breaking down. You get IBS, or you end up getting gut issues, you end up getting skin issues. And so we don't seem to be able to catch ourselves in the point of, oh, I'm feeling a little bit uncomfortable today. I wonder what it was that made me feel uncomfortable. And so the diary is really important because if you do struggle with any physical, you know, problems at the moment, digestive issues, whatever,

start doing the diary of this is what I ate and this is how it made me feel two to three hours after. That's usually how long it will start taking to digest your food. And then start pairing that up with, okay, this didn't make me feel good, so I'm gonna cut that out and let me see how I feel.

It's a process of elimination. And it does take a little bit of work, but it makes such a difference because then your body will start talking to you a little bit more the more you listen to it. Yeah, it's like what I told you last night where I've been exercising, I've been meditating, I've been feeling really great, I've been sleeping really well. And then for the past four nights, I've just had such a busy schedule that my morning routine, evening routine, everything went out of whack. And then last night I was like, I just need to eat sugar and I know exactly why.

I know. I was like, I literally haven't turned to it. Whereas last night I literally ordered. You can eat it after three weeks. Yeah, for three weeks. Yeah, it's been amazing. I had no refined sugars and I was absolutely fine. But then the last four nights, my schedule was crazy.

And so last night I ordered a chocolate fudge cake, a tiramisu, and had a scoop of ice cream. And it was amazing. It was great. And I'm really happy I did it. But at the same time, I noticed why I was craving it because for three and a half weeks I've not craved it at all.

And again, I'm not making, I'm not trying to food shame people or make people feel bad. I really enjoyed that food that I had last night. But it was a recognition of how much my body didn't need that when I was doing all these other things and how much I resorted to it as well. Yeah.

Well, it's a wrecking. You have noticed what your triggers are for wanting foods that are just there to give you a hit that you need. And so you already know that when I have lack of sleep, when I don't have time to rest, when I don't get my weekends, when I'm going from one thing to another to another, slowly it's deteriorating me. And then I get to that point. And so I think what you've done is you've recognized it. So you know where you're leading,

you know where you're going and then you'll have to, you know, you have your sugar dose, which is fine. Like everybody loves having a little bit of something, but the fact that you're able to recognize that the, I know this is gonna happen. Like this is what's gonna, it's gonna lead to if I continue down this road. Yeah, doughnuts tonight.

Yeah, definitely. I wanted to dive in. There's something beautiful that you did in your book. And I thought these were really well written and explained and super unique as well. And things that I don't hear people talk about all the time. So I wanted to dive into it. You have nine tips for living joyfully.

And the reason I wanted to ask you about some of these, my favorite ones, is because I think they're underestimated and they have a huge impact on the food we eat. I'm just going to pick some of the ones that I like. Number two is called Eat Until Satisfied Not Stuffed. I was thinking that until I met you, I definitely believed that I would eat till my limit. And now I'm like wanting to know what's made and how much there is and everything else, but walk us through why it's important to eat until satisfied, not stuffed.

Yeah. And Ayurveda, it says that you should eat until your three quarters satisfied, not full. And so what that means is not getting yourself to the point. So there's such a fine line between eating enough to fuel our body and then eating so much that it then makes us feel drowsy, lethargic afterwards. And so learning what those cues are for your body is really important. And so it's easier for our body to digest when we haven't over stuff. Like think of your stomach as like a a fairness where you constantly keep putting things on top and so naturally there's only certain amount of digestive juices that are flowing in your digestive system. So it's like it produces enough for the amount that you should be eating and then you end

up overdoing it and overwhelming it where your digestive juices aren't actually allowed or unable to digest everything that's in there. So then what happens is your food remains undigested. Your undigested food ends up fermenting in your stomach. You then get gut discomfort. You then feel a bit slothy after your meals. You feel bloated. Feel bloated. So then those foods end up fermenting, producing toxins in the body. Then you start getting headaches and just feeling really groggy or they're like, I wonder why I feel this way. I just ate a full meal, I felt energized, but first I thought I would get energy from it, but instead

it's made me feel worse. And so the three quarters full thing is you will know when you've eaten too much, when you instead of feeling energized by the meal you're eating, you feel the opposite. You feel lethargic, you feel under the weather, you feel groggy. And so that's a good indication to you that maybe you've either eaten the wrong foods or most likely you've eaten a little bit too much. And so the way to actually make sure you do that is conscious eating and like mindfully eating, because the fact is when you're distracted, you've got burrito in one hand, you're typing on the other, you're talking to people like you're all over the place.

So what happens is when you end up eating your food, you haven't yet prepped your body to say, hey, by the way, food's coming. And so when your body knows that, by the way, you may not have even looked at what you're eating. Food start, your digestion starts as soon as you look at food.

That's the beginning of when our digestive juices start flowing. Our tongue knows to produce the enzymes it needs to start digesting the food from the mouth. And so when you don't give it enough notice, you start eating and your body's like, oh, I wasn't ready to digest all this food. And so the taking, looking at the food, having a prayer of gratitude just before you eat a second with the food to tell your body food is coming to nourish you now. Then taking a bite, slowly eating it. You'll notice that when you eat slowly, and by the way, I don't

mean you have to long out your meal for like an hour. It's just taking bite at a time instead of eating a bite before the last bite is finished. When you do that, you'll notice, oh, I actually only made it through like three quarters of this burrito and actually I feel actually great. Like this feels good for me. This feels like enough. Whereas if you eat that fast, your body doesn't even get to tell you, oh, okay, I'm stuffed now until it's too late. Absolutely. And then the next one that you were kind of leading on to is this idea of chewing your food, the importance of that. But before I do that, I want to talk about the one you just said. Like, I think it's so, so, so interesting to hear about how the digestive process starts.

I know. Like until I met you I'd never heard that in my entire life of oh wait a minute my body actually has to be ready to eat but that actually makes so much sense. It's like when you go to a restaurant you order what you want and then they have to prepare it and then you're being prepared to eat it but we almost want our body to respond like technology where it's like on off, like do this now, do that now. And it's almost like, well, no, your body needs to through the scent, through the site, through as everything else like needs to actually feel ready.

And that's such a powerful point. It's such an important point. Like when you put a kettle on to boil water, like everything takes a little bit of time and our body is a system. Like it takes a second to gear up just like when it's rested for eight hours at night and then suddenly you're waking up

and you're throwing in your coffee and you're throwing in all this heavy food and your body's like, oh my gosh, I just got up. Give me a second. It's like someone's screaming at you when you're waking up. And so that's how our body feels too. Mm-hmm. Chewing your's how our body feels too. Chewing your food.

Chewing your food. Oh, okay. So I have this memory of my dad, my granddad. Every time we would sit down for a meal, he would remind all of us, you have to chew. I think it was like 32 or like some 32 times, like chew your food. And so everyone would have to sit there chewing their food like 32 times. You don't have to do it 32 times. That's like the recommended amount

because the fact is the more you digest in your mouth, which is what our teeth are for, the more that you break it down, the less work our stomach has to do. So if you're eating food, even if it's small, even if it's big, it's like, our teeth were made to break down the food. Our tongue was made to release the enzymes

to break it down. You skip that part, your stomach's doing double the work than it needs to. Chewing your food. Our tongue was made to release the enzymes to break it down. You skip that part, your stomach's doing double the work than it needs to. Chewing your food. So if you're having digestive issues, one of the simplest things you could do is chew your food a little bit better. Because if your digestive juices or your gut is a little bit weaker, it's going to find it even harder to break things down. So whether it's raw foods, you know, sometimes cooked foods you can get away with, soups you can get away with of course, but the things you have to really pay attention

to chewing more are the things with the roughage around it. So like more fiber around it, the beans, salads, when you're eating salads, especially chew it well so that it gets broken down. I mean, that's such a simple yet huge point. I know as someone who eats very fast and you've slowed me down so much, but I always found that I had to eat quick

because when I worked in the corporate world, you didn't really get a lunch. And so you'd quickly eat and you didn't wanna be seen eating because you're always being judged for not working hard enough. And so I go into this habit of like eating really, really quick. And what I realized was, yes, I could eat quick,

but it's exactly what you said. I wasn't chewing my food properly. Obviously I'm then getting cramps or feeling bloated or whatever else it may be. And you don't feel good. And you don't feel good. And now you're not working or you're not alert at work because you're not feeling great anymore.

And so it sounds so simple, but that ability to chew your food effectively, and I love what you said about how the stomach's doing double the work. Again, we don't look at our body as a system. No. So we don't recognize that, oh, that's what's putting pressure on my stomach, and that's why I'm feeling pain. Yeah. Because I could have eaten food that's good for me, but I'm not chewing it. I'm not breaking it down. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, I love that one. Okay, I'm picking some more because these nine methods of eating joyfully, living joyfully are brilliant. So that's a couple of them. I wanted to pick a few more. This one was intriguing to me because you put eat and cook with your hands. Yes. You know, I mean, in our culture, in Indian culture and in many of Eastern traditions, you eat with your hands. And again, that's another way. It's another sign to your body because we've gotten used to holding metal things. So our body doesn't actually know.

It could think that we're about to saw something. It could think that we're about to write something. You know, there's no connection. It's dead material that you're holding onto. And so you start cutting your food up and your body's looking at it, but it doesn't quite understand. So I can see the food, but I can't touch the food.

And then suddenly you put it into your mouth and it's like, oh, we're eating now. So our hands have nerves and as soon as they start feeling the food, even with children, if you think about it, touch and texture is such an important part of your body recognizing what you're doing. And so that's just another indication to your body

that you are about to eat. And also a connection to food. Again, we have such a disconnect to the food that we're eating. It doesn't kind of allow you to do anything else. Your hands are a little bit dirty. You're connecting with the food that you're eating. And so one, it removes distraction

and you doing other things. And two, it just allows you to reconnect back to the food that you're eating. It helps when your hands are a cooking pan. Like you can hold really, you can hold really hot food. Like I'm like, I literally throw something into the air and you'll just be like standing there going, what is your issue?

Yeah, my mum calls them asbestos hands. I don't know what that means, but she's always called it. I think it's like a thing when they were younger, like asbestos, but my mom has it too. I think it's just a cook thing. You just get like numb at the tips of your fingers. You just pick anything up. One more that I wanted to focus out of all of these. Like I said, there's nine. I'm just picking some of my favorites was, and this one,

I think is a big one for people and this one was a big one for me, avoid cold drinks and iced beverages. This is one that whenever I've shared it with people who have had gut issues without fail, they've said, oh my God, my gut has changed so much since I stopped drinking cold drinks. Game changer. And the reason is your body, when it is starting to eat, is creating heat. Like if you think about a furnace, you think about a fire for it to burn something, our digestion is like a fire, it needs heat.

So there's your body trying to build up this heat and take all its energy towards your stomach and then you're going, and then dampening the fire. Dampening the fire over and over again as your body is just heating up, the acids are just building up and then you're like, oh, let me dilute the acids and let me dampen the fire, the digestive fire that's happening. One part of it is the cold drink, like the cold part of it that's dampening the fire. And the other part is too much liquid

when you're eating is diluting your digestive juices. What's recommended is like a half a cup of warm water or some a warm tea that you can maybe with some spices for your digestion, drinking that slowly, sip at a time as you're eating your food. And then like half an hour after or half an hour before you can, if you really want to, you can drink a drink. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's such a, and it's so common, right? Like I grew up in a house where I would have a can of spray chilled right next to my meal. With a pizza, yeah, something. Sprite is whatever else it may be, and you get so used to it, or like, you know, we have a friend who will just put loads of ice into water when they're just about to have their meal. And it's so normal.

It's a normal part of culture. Yeah. But it's not necessarily good for you. Yeah. Which is the same as everything that we see. It's like there's so much. So just because it's the most common thing to do, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do for us.

Yeah. Absolutely. And so those are some of my favorites. Thanks. I guess there's so many more. But I thought those were so unique. And I'd never heard them anywhere before.

I've obviously learned them through you, but they're so simple. And what I love about them is you don't need to learn a new skill, you don't need to develop a new habit. These are things that you can start practicing right now. Yeah. What else did you learn from my book? I wanted to ask you about, I mean, I learned a lot from you, but I learned it from you and now the book is going to help lots of people.

So I think one of the biggest things for people these days is a lot of people are missing meals and skipping meals. And often what ends up happening is then your first real meal is dinner, like your first real meal, like substantial meal. And naturally we end up overeating or we end up, you know, we're trying to get all the nutrients from that meal. What's your take on skipping meals? And how does that affect us? And what can we do if we find that to be a pattern in our life? Yeah, I would say that, you know, it's, it's

a very specific thing to your body type. And you will know just by doing it, whether you are the body type that can take it or not. I have a body type where I can not eat in the morning till I've worked out, I work out on empty stomach. I then will have my meal maybe at like 10, 11 o'clock. I will fast for a long period of time and my body thrives off it. You, with your body type,

your digestion is so strong and fiery and your body type is off it. You, with your body type, your digestion is so strong and fiery and your body type is such that you have to have your meals on time. When you wake up you're ready to eat, you're hungry. By the afternoon, like clockwork, you are hungry. Like every meal has to be at the right time. Otherwise, you feel that negative effect. You feel your stomach getting acidic. Like you feel all those effects, all those effects. I would say you really need to... I mean, I know I wish I could give a direct answer, but that would be wrong. You have to see if when I am waking up and if I'm hungry straight away, your digestive system is

ready to eat. If you're waking up and you're like, I could go another three hours without eating, test that out for yourself. And so there are certain body types where, especially if you're like, I could go another three hours without eating, test out, test that out for yourself. And so there are certain body types where especially if you're quite a slim build, you lose weight quite often, quite easily, you generally are quite ravenous and, and hungry all the time. You probably need to be having your meals regularly. And if your digestion is suffering when you don't, that's an indication that you need more regular meals. For me, if I end up skipping a meal, my body actually is good with fasting and it actually feels better sometimes

and less lethargic when I do do that. So sometimes I will last off like two meals and I'll be okay with it. But I think, yeah, there's so much where it's like, intermittent fasting is amazing. And then someone does and they're like, I felt awful. But like they said, it works works for me but I feel so bad doing it then don't do it it's not for your body type. The active participant

thing keeps coming up in my mind but it is work to figure out yourself just like when you're figuring out your partner and you're figuring out you know your relationship with them your body is the same it's waiting for you to listen and learn from it and and it will tell you what it needs. Yeah, and I think what's been my personal experience is that when you don't listen to these smaller initial warnings, the body just gets louder and harder and harsher. And we think there's something wrong with our body. When actually your body's been doing the right thing all along, which is telling you to be an active participant and listen to me.

It's like your partner that just gets louder and louder and louder if you're not listening or your alarm clock gets louder and louder and louder when you're not listening. You know, waking up. Yeah, exactly. And so your body's trying to get you to do the same thing. Wake up, yeah.

Yeah. All right, one question I want to ask you is, on a busy day, what's one practice you can implement to make sure you slow down? What's one thing you do and one thing people could do? Because I feel like eating fast, it sounds like. Drinking fast, we do a lot of things fast and that seems to cause a lot of issues.

For me, because as you know, my mind, the way I talk, everything is quite this and then this and then this and I'm all over the place. And so I can relate to being someone who's very fast-minded and constantly feeling like I'm all over the place. I have to just say breath work again. Breath before you eat, take three breaths. Before you go into something that you're worried about, take three breaths. Like really feel deep breaths going into your body because we take such shallow breaths. Your breath is the anchor between your mind and your body. It brings you back into your body. It allows you to reconnect with yourself. And so it sounds really simple, but I guarantee you,

like, take a breath right now. Like, take a breath and feel what happens to your body. It automatically slows down. Every time I've gone from in this podcast, from where I'm speaking fast, I've taken a breath and then I slow down. I've taken a breath and I've slowed down. Every time I've gone from in this podcast, from where I'm speaking fast, I've taken a breath and then I slow down. I've taken a breath and I've slowed down. And so my cure to having a fast mind and having the habit of being like that has been just taking a breath. And it's like as simple as it gets, right?

Like breath is there for you. It's ready to be used and navigate your emotions, your day, and help you in some way if you allow it to. Hi, I'm Laura VanderKam. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist, and speaker. And I'm Sarah Hart Unger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer, and course creator. We are two working parents who love our careers and our families. On the Best of Both Worlds podcast each week, we share stories of how real women manage work, family, and time for fun. We talk all things planning, time management, organization, and more.

We share what's worked for us and our listeners as we're building our careers and raising our families. We're here to cheer you on as you figure out how to make your days even more amazing. From figuring out childcare to mapping out long-term career goals, we want you to get the most out of life. Listen to Best of Both Worlds every Tuesday on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to comeback stories. I'm Darren Waller. You may know me best as a tight end for the New York Giants. You may also know me for my story of overcoming addiction and alcoholism.

You may have heard a few of my tracks as an artist or a producer. You may have seen the work that I've done through my foundation. And you may know my friend and co-host Donnie Starkins as well. He's a mindfulness teacher, a yoga instructor, a life coach, a man fully invested in seeing people reach their fullest potential. And we've come to form this platform of comeback stories to really highlight not only our own adversity, but adversity in the lives of well-known guests with amazing stories. Catch us every week on Comeback Stories on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah, definitely. It's a great natural tool that's built into the body in order to help you set a pace for life.

Oh my god, that's so true. And if you think about it, every single one of your emotions is monitored by breath. Yeah. Like when we're nervous and we're anxious, our breath gets shallower and quicker. Yep. And when we're calm and focused, our breath becomes deeper and slower. Yeah. And when we're stressed or we're under pressure or we're late for

something and we're worried, our breath gets shallower and gets quicker. Yeah, exactly. And when you're feeling like you're in the right place and you made it on time and all of those things, your breath gets deeper and slower again. And we also, I've always said to people, we also say things like, that takes my breath away. Like when something's really beautiful, it's breathtaking. And we also say things like, let me just catch my breath or let me take a breath,

because it's linked to our emotions. And so we've learned to realize that our breath changes, but we haven't learned to realize we can change our breath. And what you've just described is you can choose to change your breath. Totally. In order to feel a way you want to feel. Totally.

I completely agree. Yeah. You can really navigate your emotions through it. Like I think about when I'm crying, like depending on how I'm crying, my breath changes completely. You know, if you think about when you see someone really intensely crying, they're breathing so shallow, they're feeling so overwhelmed, and suddenly their breath is getting faster, they can't even speak because they can't catch their breath to actually

say something. And so, yeah, breath can navigate your emotions, your day, your mind, everything. What's something you've changed your mind about this past year when it comes to your mindset around health or the way you eat food? Protein. I grew up vegetarian and my sources of protein being from an Indian family as well was lentils and beans and you know those are actually the main sources for us.

And then when I started learning more about what I was working out and the amount of protein my body needs, you know, my book, I talk about how the average American, I think it was something like has over 75% more protein than they need. So there's one side where because of the foods that people are consuming, they're actually overeating on protein

to a point where it can harm your body. But then I find with vegetarians and if you're plant based, you actually can get the right amount that you need. And I've been managing to do that, but it does take a little bit more work to get it, to navigate and get it into your food. But I've noticed what a difference it's made. Like everything from hair fall, hair shedding, I, when I started increasing my protein, my hair was shedding less.

My skin was getting better, I was feeling more satiated and more full in my meals because sometimes I realized my meals were focused so much on carbohydrates that they were being digested so fast and I was hungry even though I'd had such a large meal, I was still hungry so often. And then I started introducing protein and I could last three, four hours, five hours between my meals. And I felt satiated. I felt the same way it's changed our food. It's made such a difference. And so, um, you know, some of the, for anybody who's plant based or thinking about having more plant based

days and they want, want protein, I would say, obviously beans and lentils are great sources of that. But then also, you know, I kind of want to dispel the myth around tofu being bad for you because there have been so many studies that have been done. Yes, to say that when you have, you know, they talk about soya and how it affects your hormones and your estrogen levels, those studies were done on people who are having such an excessive amount of soya. It was like, imagine having five or six blocks of soya every single day. And so, I mean like blocks of tofu, let's say. So naturally, anything in excess,

not chunks, large blocks, large blocks, yeah, anything in excess, of course, that's going to cause negative effects on your body. Everything has that. There's anything in excess, even water in excess, you can have too much water. And so I would say that if you are having a healthy, natural amount of tofu or soya in your diet, it's not going to affect your hormone levels. And I mean, I'm happy to share the studies at some point about that, but I've really researched it because I was scared of it too. So soya is a great source of it. Another great source is from your nuts and your seeds, hemp

seeds, flax seeds. In two tablespoons, I think there's nearly like six grams of protein. Now, you may think that's a small amount, but you add that into a few dishes every single day throughout the day and you can gain so much from it. And then obviously, you've got your meat alternatives, which do have that. I try to avoid that as much as possible and get it from natural means. But there are so many great ways to get protein into your diet and that for me this year has been, I've really been focusing on that and it's been a game changer.

Yeah, it's amazing. I felt the difference as well for sure. I think it's been huge. What's the biggest change you've made in your health journey that has changed your relationship with food? Eating to make my body feel good, not look a certain way. Because I realized that, you know, a lot of my book is to do with the journey I've had to go through with food. Where I remember when we met, I was so conscious about the way that I was being perceived and the way my body looked, that I would want to

eat a way that I thought made me look better. And especially this last year, the last couple of years, I've been trying to improve my relationship with food because I didn't realize how much it was impacted by the way I wanted to look versus the way I wanted to feel. You know, a lot of the recipes in this book and a lot of the things that I've shared are helping people to connect back to their body, but create a better relationship to understand that food, like you don't have to choose between food that, between food that makes you feel good and food that brings you joy, food can be both.

And you can learn how to do that and the way to cook to make you feel that way. Like we normally associate, if I want to look a certain way, I have to eat salads and things just leaves and I can't have any fun when I'm eating because anything that brings me joy is gonna be bad for me. Like it's gonna be something that doesn't make me look a certain way.

But actually how you feel when you're eating and how you feel in your life is so, feels is so much more satisfying when you nurture that versus constantly living to figure out how you're going to change the way you live. Existently both can be true. You can want to change your external body, but at the same time thinking about, how is my inside feeling too? And doing both at the same time is possible and will make you feel so much better. I was listening to something today

and I was talking about self-objectification. And it was really interesting because it was talking about how we view ourselves constantly as other people view us. We live our life as other people view us. So for example, on this podcast, I may be thinking, how am I going to sit in a way where I'm going to look the most flattering? And how am I going to like move my body in a way where maybe they don't get the bad side of me? And so you're constantly living through other people's perception of you, essentially objectifying yourself.

And so I feel like having a better relationship with food has allowed me to care less about those things and live from inside out rather than outside in. Does that make sense? That's so powerful, yeah, so powerful. And that requires so much courage and going against the grain because society's conditioned us to think a certain way.

Like, I remember years and years and years ago, I remember walking through a department store and the line above, the kind of billboard above the makeup section said, get the natural look. And I just found that hilarious because I was like, you obviously already have the natural look. I'm not saying there's anything against makeup. I've no issues with it.

I'm good with it. It's great. It's interesting how it's being sold to us. And so we're being convinced that the natural isn't good enough or there's a way to be more natural. And each to their own, everyone's allowed to do whatever's right for them. But I think the more we live our life

through the lens of will people think I look good like this? We'll always be disappointed because there are some people who think you look good and some people who think you don't. Like we talk about this a lot with fashion, like I really enjoy fashion. But when you see my fashion choices, you're like, I'm not sure what you're doing, mate.

And then everyone else will think it looks great. But the point is I'm doing it for myself. Yeah, totally. And that's the only person that you can ever do it for because it's so hard to win. Like you could have everyone think you're amazing and one person think you're not or the other option where everyone thinks you're crazy and one person thinks you're amazing. And then the other day the one person you need to feel that way is you. Yeah. Right? That's what I'm hearing from what you're saying. Yeah, totally. And you kind of rob yourself of experiences. Like, I'm not sure what you're amazing. And at the end of the day, the one person you need to feel that way is you. Yeah. Right?

That's what I'm hearing from what you're saying. Yeah, totally. And you kind of rob yourself of experiences. Like I was talking to Liz Moody. I was talking to this guy and she was saying how, you know, when you go to the beach and you look into the sea and you see the sand underneath you

and you're like, you're thinking, oh, I wanna go into the ocean, but I'm a bit worried about what people are going to think about me in this swimsuit. I've had that. I've I've robbed myself of so many experiences. We've gone to pool parties and I've been I'm not getting in the pool. Like just so you know, I'm not going to get in the pool right now because I don't feel comfortable. And I've robbed myself of so many experiences where she was like, think about when you're 80 years old and you look back at those experiences and you're, are you going to say to yourself, so glad I didn't get in the pool that day because they would have seen my cell you like,

or are you going to think, I'm so glad I jumped into that ocean and I felt that ocean around me and I created these memories and I felt the sand beneath my feet and I had the experience. And so I've really been thinking about that a lot more of like having the experience because whenever I've gone into situations where I'm constantly consumed by other people's view of me, I've not been present. I barely remember the event. I barely remember where I've, what I've been doing or where I've been like, there's so much, so such lack of presence,

which it doesn't allow me to even experience what I want to. And I feel like that's kind of changed throughout the time I'm still working on it. But it's definitely, yeah, all of that fuels into everything. Like it really changed the way I was eating and connecting to my body too. Yeah, I think you've also found this,

and this why I'm excited for people to get the book, is that you've found a way to make healthy food really tasty. And I always say that to you, like I find it so easy. I'm so lucky to have you. And I always say that to everyone. When everyone's like, oh wow, you live a really healthy lifestyle. I'm like, you don't know who I'm married to, right?

Like, and it's, and now it's almost like everyone gets to have you in their kitchen through the book where they can also feel that way and feeling confident that when you're cooking for your family, that you don't have to sacrifice taste in order for it to be good for you. And a big part for you with that is the spices and the herbs that you talk about.

So walk us through what you're fascinated with spices. Like our nickname for you is Spice Girl. And because of that, like in the actual sense, like walk us through the value of spices and why they make food flavorful and good for you. I'm so glad you asked me because it's literally my favorite topic about this book. Spices have you know, been a part of our life, our whole life, because I remember even when we were younger, I would be, I'll be coughing and sneezing and my mom would do spices in water to like boil boil a tea with spices to help me with that or you know

when you get a cut or a bruise our parents are getting out this turmeric patty and like putting it onto our scabs and you know we grew up with that but I didn't realize the power of them until I started studying the medicinal potency and benefit of them. And so yes, they make your food taste and look vibrant. Like it's amazing. You can take like a humble potato and you can mix different spices together and taste different parts of the world through just the spices you're using.

So spices not only take you to different parts of the world and help you to experience different cultures and cuisines, they also allow you to buy really basic ingredients and elevate them and make them feel so different every single day. And the benefits of spices, oh my goodness, well, you know this, for the past, I don't even know how long, 10 years, I've used spices in my medicine box. Spices have been my go-to. If I have a headache, essential oils and spices. If I have a headache, what do I go to? Yeah, essential oils and spices. If I have a headache, what do I go to? Yeah, essential oil. My peppermint oil. If I have a cough, what do I tell you that I'm going to make you?

Ujwain seeds in water. And I have found when I've allowed my body to rely on natural means to heal itself, and what I mean by that is the spices, the oils, whatever I'm using, the food that I'm eating, my body's immunity has gotten better and better. The way that my body reacts to being in stressful environments has changed because I've allowed my body to heal itself through what I'm actually putting into my body. And so I actually have feel my best when over the past few years, progressively as I've done that. And it's so easy because all you have to do is there's spices you can buy ground or whole or in mixes of blends that you can just add in.

You don't even have to think about it. You can put it into your hot water in the morning. My one of my favorite things is CCFT, coriander, cumin and fennel tea. Easy way if you're not used to using spices at all, even if you don't cook at home, add these three spices in equal parts, a teaspoon of each into hot water. Beautiful way to add in spices without you even having to do

much. And then experiment with your food. Become like a play in your kitchen. I really think, you know, the book is not prescriptive. I actually want you to use the book and the recipes to play in the kitchen and sub things out. And I've got so many things around like, if you don't have this, use this. If you don't have this, use this because nothing about food has to be prescriptive. And so spices are a really fun way to do that. So yeah, one of the huge intentions and goals with my book is for you to have a spice cupboard that is full and over full by the time you get to the end. And I've got a chart in there to tell you what the benefits of them are,

how you can use them to your medicinal benefit, but also to make a food taste way better. Yeah, I think that's really important that you've got so many charts and graphs and things to make it really easy in the book for anyone to understand. Because a lot of people may be thinking, God, I've never really used that many spices.

I'm not really aware of them, but you've actually made that really simple and accessible. Yeah. And then I'm like, pick a spice a week and play with it. Pick a spice a week, add it into different things like nutmeg, add it into your milk, your, your milk at night. Nutmeg is a mild sedative. It helps with sleep. In the morning for your digestion, you know, for centuries, Indians have eaten fennel seeds after their meal. It's a tradition. You go to an Indian restaurant, you go to an Indian house. They will be passing around fennel seeds after their meal. That's because it is amazing

for gas, for bloating, for digestive relief after you've eaten. Try out fennel seeds in your water in the morning. Pick one thing. You don't have to be overwhelmed with so many different practices and spices and things in the book. Pick one or two a week that you want to incorporate and see how you like it, see how your body reacts to it. Yeah, I love that. I mean, you just mentioned two things there that I wanted to speak to you about. People have always been fascinated with your morning and evening routines. I wanted to ask you, what does your morning routine look like now? And why have you chosen the specific things that exist in it? Good question. Are you not part of my morning routine?

You don't know what my morning routine is. What is my morning routine? So I don't know what happens before I wake up. So I wake up in the morning and brush my teeth and also use my tongue scraper, which by the way is an Ayurvedic ritual that if you don't do, that is a must. You don't know how clean your mouth can actually be if you haven't used a tongue scraper. It's also really important to remove toxins that have built up over the night because

that's the time your body starts to clean up and take away the toxins and one place that they come out is on the top of your tongue. And so tongue scraping is a must. And then I make my CCFT in the morning, sit down for my meditation. And I have a mantra meditation practice, as you know. And that's usually for about an hour and a half mixed in with breath work to help me refocus and keep bringing my mind back to my practice. And then I usually get ready for my workout,

go for my workout. And that ranges from Monday, Wednesday, Friday, a weight workout and love weight training. It really helps to build strength and I feel confidence in my body. The other days I'll either do running or like a heated yoga class. Other things that help also stretch out my body

because I find weight training kind of shortens your muscles, whereas Pilates and yoga really helps to lengthen them. So kind of a mix of both. And then I'll come back, get ready. And then what else do I do? Oh, then I eat my breakfast. Yeah.

What do you usually have for breakfast? Oh, I don't normally have for breakfast. So at the moment, I'm trying to do savory breakfast after listening to Glucose Goddess. I'm really trying to incorporate more savory foods and I prefer savory breakfast anyway. So I do everything from a sourdough toast with some sort of protein on it. So either like having a good amount of hummus with lots of veggies, I'll put like tomatoes and cucumbers, maybe doing, and I'll sprinkle some sort of spices on top. So whether it's, you know, toasted coriander seeds or cumin powder and then a bit of hot sauce because I just love hot sauce. And then I'll have that or I've

been having these like protein bagels, you know, topped with the same kind of thing. And then I'll have a protein shake afterwards. So what about your lunches when you don't want to feel lethargic after your lunches? Because so often we struggle to know what to eat because we still have a few hours of work left. Like what do you do for your lunches? What do you enjoy? Yeah, I try to keep it balanced in the sense of I will still have a carbohydrate at lunchtime. And by the way, our body is so in sync with nature. And our digestion is the strongest when the sun is at its highest. And so the sun is at its highest naturally in the middle of the day. And so our lunch should actually be our largest meal of the day ideally because that's when our digestion is the strongest. It's able to digest

like the heavier things that we want to eat. And so I will have like a larger portion of my carbohydrates if possible in the afternoon. And then I will mix in lots of different veggies. Eating the rainbow is no joke. You have to eat a variety of colors. So I will make sure that when I'm doing my sharp, I have a variety of vegetables with different colors because each of those colors represent different nutrients and different vitamins and minerals.

To make sure you're also getting enough of what you need in terms of vitamins, minerals, make sure that you have a variety of different colors on your plate. So I'll buy pink radishes, I'll buy cucumbers, I'll buy different colored carrots and either I'll have them on the side or I'll just quickly saute them, have it with either some noodles or throw some tofu in their scrambled. Honestly, I just make sure I know the basics of like, a really good way of doing it is write down where your protein's gonna come from, what veggies you love eating,

and what carbohydrates you like. And then just mix it all in. I love doing a one-part thing. So I'll throw in noodles, I'll throw in my veggies, I'll throw in some tofu, mix it all up, or I'll do a scrambled tofu on toast. I just know that the areas I need to make sure I have in my meals, and then I kind of just pick

and choose between, go between them and decide what I feel like and what flavors I want. And then what about dinner? Dinner. Walking through the whole day. I know, oh my gosh. Dinner, I mean, you know, it can be so varied.

I love, for me, a dal or a soup or like a beanie curry. I'll probably have, I wouldn't have like as much like flat bread or rice with it just because I try not to have too many carbs at night or something too heavy at night. But I love Indian spices are just my comfort food. And at night, especially when it's cold outside, I love having a mixed lentil like dal. And all of these recipes are in the book. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, there's a really good like red lentil dal in there. There's also my mom's three bean curry with coconut milk

and oh, it's so good. It's so much flavor in it. So yeah, I'll usually do that or a one pot thing because at night you just want to throw everything in one thing and not spend too much time in the kitchen. And so there are so many recipes in there that are like 30 minutes. And then other ones where maybe you feel like spending

a little bit more time in the kitchen and so you can spend an hour creating a beautiful meal if you have time on the weekend. Yeah, I'm so lucky that I get to be the recipient of all the gifts. You are the guinea pig. Yeah. Yeah, I'm the guinea pig. Yeah. Yeah. All of this has been tested on me. And what about your evening routine? How has that been

constructed for you? My evening routine is usually I try to, as soon as I stop working, I usually go walk for a little bit. I find it really helps me to wind down. I won't do an intense workout, but I'll definitely walk, go on the treadmill for about like 20 minutes, half an hour, listen to something. And then one thing that's really helped me is I don't like bright lights at night.

I really try to avoid bright lights. It's made such a difference to my like, circadian rhythm, the rhythm of your body that helps with sleep. Artificial light really messes with that. And so whether it's using candles or really keeping the lights dim, that for me has helped me notice that, oh, wow, I'm actually really tired by 830 or 9 and it's time for me to get into bed rather than, and by the way, TV has the same line. So do our phones. And so for me, the bright lights are too intense for me.

And it really messes with my rhythm of sleep. So I've started using candles and stuff a lot more. And then we've been trying to read a lot more. And so if I'm by myself, I'll read. Sometimes watch a little cheeky show of something which might be called Love Island, not gonna lie. And then, oh, eat dinner and that before that. And then one of my favorite practices, which is like a self

love ritual for me is abhyanga. It's a really beautiful practice of abhyanga is it's I talk about it in the book and it's, it's massaging your own body with oils. That's as simple as it is. But if you think about it, how many times a day do we probably have a lot of negative self-talk? And how many times a day do you give yourself a hug? And like just, it's literally like giving yourself a hug.

Just as when someone's had a long day, a hard day, they come home and you give them a hug. Like you give them a cuddle. And in the same way, our nervous system wants us, wants to hear from us and feel from us that, I love you and I a cuddle. And in the same way, our nervous system wants us, wants to hear from us and feel from us that I love you and I care about you. And one of the most amazing ways of doing that is by just giving yourself a little massage. And so whether it's just the bottom of your feet, putting the warm oils on your hands, massaging the bottom of your feet, that's where all of our nerves end. And so bottom of your feet or even giving

yourself a little scalp massage, or if if you have time have a warm shower and Lather your body in those oils oils actually help to lubricate your nervous system. They seep into your skin They basically act as a hug for your nervous system They help to soothe your nerves at night and so that's been one of my favorite rituals that I do before I sleep Yeah, and I'll do that whether it's a two-minute one quickly or if I have a bit longer on weekends And I just kind of lather myself up till I'm really deep-fried Yeah, I love it. I love it No, and I'm glad that we went through a whole day because I think so often we don't there was so much that just came out of that

Oh good in terms of like, you know like what to eat in the morning? Why you eat certain things in the afternoon while you don't eat them at nighttime like we just learned so much and so many Practices and again for anyone who wants to understand them more deeply, they are well explained inside Joyful, the book. Oh my gosh, can I say one more thing? Of course you can. I realised actually, you know, I was going through a period where I was finishing eating by 5pm. Like I wouldn't eat anything after that. And what was amazing is I was using... I hated you when that happened. Yeah. Yeah, I was using a tracker and for my sleep, I was using the loop at the time. And amazing is I was using... I hated you when that happened, yeah. Yeah, I was using a tracker and for my sleep, I was using the Woop at the time and I noticed

I was getting a hundred percent, I've never had this, a hundred percent sleep score on my Woop. And it was telling me, and I'd gone from being 70% to having a hundred percent every single day. And it was because my body was not working while it was sleeping. That's huge. Yeah, because when you end up eating late at night, when you're trying to sleep and your

body's trying to rest and actually spend time having downtime, it's actually still working digesting its food. And so you can wake up after eight hours sleep feeling so tired still because your body's actually been working half of the time to digest what you've been eating. So that was like a big like a hard moment for me. I was like, wow, that really does make sense. Having lighter meals at night affects so much, including your sleep. I love that. I love that.

That's great. No, that's huge. And that's amazing. I mean, to have a 30% increase in your sleep score because your food is not being digested while you're sleeping. Yeah. Because so many of us are eating so close to when we sleep. Yeah. A little snack, a little dessert, a little sugar.

Yeah. Huge. What do you want to do? I want to do something fun with your work. So I'm going to ask you questions that I want you to link back to recipes that apply to those questions. Oh, okay. You can look at your book if you need to to show us. But I can give you an example of the question. There's no example. We're just going straight into it. Go. So the first question I'm going to ask is if someone has a long day at work, they're really tired, but they do want to make a home-cooked meal. What's the easiest one that they can go to? My rainbow noodles stir fry.

Okay. It's like super easy. What I would say is have your veggies cut up earlier, then it's literally like a 10-minute meal. Amazing. Yeah, it's got this really great sauce with it. You get your veggies, you get everything all in one thing and it still tastes good and it feels like takeout.

Yeah. Okay, good. How do you recommend people meal prep? Because that's an important part of all of this. Chopping takes up so much time. My meals are cut down significantly when I've chopped my peppers beforehand, when I've grated my cabbage, when I've, you know, everything that you possibly can. I wouldn't say to do it too in advance because as soon as you cut up a vegetable, it starts to spoil. And so I'd say you can cut up peppers two, three days in advance. Same with carrots, cabbage and stuffed tomatoes go bad straight away. You cut them up by an hour later. They're bad. Avocados as well. And so there are certain things you can chop up. And I recommend doing that,

especially if you're someone who has been wanting to eat more at home, but just don't have the time to. Cut up your stuff in the weekend because at least I'll give you a good three, four days worth of chopped up stuff that allows you to eat at home. And that's been a good change for me. I've been so busy lately and I've still, since I've got back here, I'm actually so proud that I have not ordered out or eaten out once. And that's crazy for me because I've also been way busy than normal. But having things chopped up and also having planned what I'm going to eat, usually we end up ordering out when you're like, oh, I haven't got nothing planned. And I just don't even want to look at my fridge and figure it out. Figuring out is half the battle. So if you already know and you already have the ingredients, it makes it so much easier. And then you've chopped

up, you've basically done half the work. I love it. Yeah. Okay, so let's say another scenario, I've got all these scenarios. Okay. So someone's got someone they're dating coming over for the first time, second time, maybe they can making them something this time. What do you cook for someone to impress them from your book? Oh my gosh. You want to show off, you know?

Good question. I would say my jalapeno cheesy dough balls. You know why? Because they're fun. We had them the other day. They're so good. You can have like, there's a masala topping to go on top too. But the reason I say that is because it shows that you don't take things too seriously.

That it's a fun dish that's like a pull apart thing. You didn't try too hard. Yeah, you didn't try too hard. You're, it's a sharing dish where you kind of pull apart the bread and it's fun. It's also just the pop of flavor and vibrance. And also who doesn't love a good bread dish? Yeah.

Like bread is life. Love it. Yeah. If you've got another scenario, if you've got the girls coming over, it's girls night, you're hanging out, what are you gonna make? Okay, so for girls night,

I would probably say the roasted red pepper tagliatelle. And then mixed with that, we're not done yet. I wanna come to the girls night now. say the roasted red pepper tagliatelle. And then mixed with that, we're not done yet. Yeah, roasted red pepper tagliatelle. And then doing like the butter bean and tomato salad, because you always want something a bit lighter on the side. And then having some sort of veggie side, because you always need, I have a whole veg hero section. So I'd probably do like the zucchini, Baba Ghanoush or the sweet and salty

broccolini. And then for dessert, because for a girl's night, you need dessert. I have this decadent cake, which is amazing. It's like one of the best desserts in here, I'd say. I made it the other day, the triple chocolate, brownie, black forest celebration cake. But what I do is I deconstruct it so it ends up being a brownie sundae. So that would be my ultimate girls night. I love that or I do ultimate guys night. Oh ultimate guys night easy. I would do my bean burgers. Okay I like that. I would do my bean burgers. Strong start, strong start. I then would do bean burgers

with the side of my dad's mac and cheese. And then for a bit of balance, I'd probably throw in some veggies, which would be in the form of my golden caramelized fennel. I think that'd be a nice, like, little refreshing side dish. And then for dessert, I'd probably have to go for cookies three ways. That sounds good. Or a crumble.

I like that. Cookies three ways, I understand. Cookies three ways. The crumble's amazing, but I think for guys that, yeah. And last scenario, date night. Ooh, date night. Or you made me on date night. I mean, I've been really lucky because Rady's been testing recipes from the book every day. So I've been spoiled every day You know what date night I probably go with

It depends is this like a like a married couple together for a while They want to make a special day. I probably do like my Mexican lasagna because That was so fast. It's just so tasty and then I throw in maybe like my warm nutty superfood salad on the side. Oh, and maybe my cavolo, the sweet potatoes with cavolo nero pesto. So when are we doing dinner? Yeah, I mean, I can make it all tonight if you want. Straight off. And then the baklava cheesecake.

Oh, baklava cheesecake. Oh my chocolate mud pie for you because you love chocolate. Chocolate mud pie. Both of those are amazing. Ravi, I'm so proud of you. Thanks. And I am so excited honestly for everyone to have you in their kitchen because I'm so grateful to have you in ours. Thanks. And like you all just heard, there are obviously over 125 plant-based recipes in here and every single one of them sounds amazing.

And I can truly say as someone who's eaten every single one of them, multiple times, I'm not bored of them, they're incredible. And I think anyone who gets this book and cooks from it is gonna invite so much joy, so much energy, so much vibrancy into their life. And that's what I wanted to ask you as a final question around, you know,

you call the book joyful You talked about cooking effortlessly eating freely and living radiantly like what is your hope for people? because this isn't just about It isn't just about the recipes. It's about inviting abundance Three intentions one intention is reminding people that you do not have to choose between the food that makes you feel good and food that brings you joy. It can and should be both. Two, that life is about all those little joyful moments to accumulate to bring you more and more joy throughout the day, whether it's through your practices, your wellness

rituals or through the food that you're eating. And three, that you fill, you spice up your life. Like you fill your cupboards with the spices that spice up your body, but also spice up your food too, that really create vibrance because spices are vibrant and create more vibrance in your body in your life too. And actually, I don't know, last one, I feel like I am a seriously grateful student on many great teachers. And it really was a way for me to be able to share so much of what I've learned from the people that have taught me so much from my mom

to my Ayurvedic teachers, to my spiritual teachers, everything, I was able to accumulate that and pour it into this book. And I'm so excited for people to feel the changes that I have felt in my life through everything that I've shared in there. So yeah, that's my intention for it. The book is called Joy for Everyone,

more than 125 Plant-Based Recipes by Raditya Vlukya. Cook carefully, eat freely, and live radiantly. You know what I'm gonna say, go get it right now. I owe the world to me. I love supporting you, not just because you're my wife, but because you're so incredibly talented and so smart. And I think this book is going to change so many homes, families, relationships. So it's definitely changed ours. So thank you so much. I love you. Thanks for having me on. How exciting. And so excited for you.

Thanks. Thanks everyone. If you love this episode, you'll love my interview with Dr. Gabor Maté on understanding your trauma and how to heal emotional wounds to start moving on from the past. Everything in nature grows only where it's vulnerable. So a tree doesn't grow where it's hard and thick, does it? It grows where it's soft and green and vulnerable. A tree doesn't grow where it's hard and thick, does it? It goes where it's soft and green and vulnerable.

Craig Ferguson goes in search of joy, in talks with actors, doctors, stand-ups, and scientists, everyone. Is it love, religion, drugs, money? Where do you find it? Craig Ferguson in search of joy, the celebrations, the dances, science, poetry, laughter, and music of joy. Don't miss it, Joy with Craig Ferguson. and now on the I Heart Radio app, Apple

Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm here to help. Hi, I'm Laura VanderKam. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist and speaker. And I'm Sarah Hart Unger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer, and course creator. We are two working parents who love our careers and our families. On the Best of Both Worlds podcast each week, we share stories of how real women manage work, family, and time for fun. From figuring out childcare to mapping out long-term career goals, we want you to get

the most out of life. Listen to Best of Both Worlds every Tuesday on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.