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Leigh Ann: [:These are general routines, rituals, That are great for everyone, no matter who you are, no matter what you're going through. I was eating this up. So many of the things that her and I talked about in this conversation, I have started doing since talking with her. And they have been so profoundly impactful.
ealth. I genuinely feel like [:But to get into Dr. Shivani a little bit more, she is an Ayurvedic practitioner, an expert in fusing Eastern and Western practices that help our bodies achieve equilibrium. She completed her master's in She's a master's in Ayurvedic Sciences and her PhD on turmeric. Inflammation is a root cause for many health issues in her lives.
Her passion is teaching at home remedies to reduce inflammation naturally, that help you have more energy, less brain fog, less pain, and ultimately achieve vibrant health. Dr. Shivani Gupta has practiced Ayurvedic medicine for over 20 years, and her approach is to show you the tools in your toolkit. So you can reach for them every time you need them.
[:She has some amazing supplements and ayurvedic teas that all support Inflammation wellness, etc. So please enjoy this conversation with dr. Shivani Gupta. There are so many different wonderful resources therapies modalities that we can use when we're in a time of heightened stress whether it's work stress or Family stress, relationship stress.
o growth, and then also some [: mind, our sleep habits is so [:And so whenever I am going through a heightened These are the first two products I am ordering and making sure that I am taking every single day. Check the show notes below, there will be a discount code and a link you can use to try either of these products or any of the other amazing products by Symbiotica.
haven't years ago, I think in: into some tumerics since you [:But before we get into all of that, can you give us a little bit of your origin story, your history? How did you get a little bit to
Dr. Shivani Gupta: where you are today? Sure. So I grew up in Houston, Texas, an immigrant kid to a family that was living in two worlds. When we were here in the United States, it was you go to the pediatrician, you get your prescription, and that's how you handle health.
And every year, every year or every other year, we were going to India to visit my grandparents, my cousins, my parents, siblings. And when I went to India, every time I got There was a completely different approach. My grandma would reach for spices and herbs and she'd make a tea or a tincture. And I was one of those kids who was chronically sick.
It was just always something. I was air sick, sea sick, car sick, or you sneezed and I went down for the count. And so by the time I got to my twenties, I was like, why am I the weak link here? How come everyone else when we're on vacation actually gets to enjoy vacation and I'm always locked in the hotel room?
You [:And I was like, you know, I think that Ayurveda might have my answers. I think I have to fix my gut. I have to go figure this out. And so they humored me, thank goodness. And they were like, sure, let's do it. And so we went on this quest all around India and I got to study at the different gurus feet and understand what is the science and how does it work?
And, and is it valid or is it just ancient and weird? And what's cool is I fell in love with Ayurveda. Like Ayurveda was. profound. I healed my gut, I learned a completely new way of life, and it resonated so well and healed me that now I'm an evangelist of it. I just love teaching Ayurveda so that everyone can understand there are completely different approaches to managing our health and our well being.
Leigh Ann: Yes, I love it [:Yes.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Yes, I did my masters in Ayurvedic sciences after that because I wanted to write books on Ayurveda. And then my advisor was like, listen, you should get a PhD. If your plan is to teach the world, a PhD makes sense. What would be your topic? And I'm very into Ayurvedic pregnancy. Like, how do we manage pregnancy to lead to the most healthy, beautiful baby?
And I was simultaneously also really curious about turmeric because turmeric is such a powerful anti inflammatory. And I thought, wow, my whole family history is diabetes and heart disease and all these horrible things. That's my genetics. I have to work hard for my health. Why aren't we all using turmeric?
just fell in love with what [:Leigh Ann: Oh my gosh, I love it. We're definitely going to get into that, but let's start. I actually want to backtrack just for any who might be unfamiliar with the term Ayurveda, or maybe they've heard it in the ethers, but don't really have a good grasp on what is it.
Let's just start there with the foundations. For
Dr. Shivani Gupta: sure. So Ayurveda is a 5, 000 year old science from India. It's an ancient wisdom where Ayurveda means the science of life. So it just teaches us an entire way of health, healing, and wellbeing. And it's a sister science to yoga. So if you're exposed to yoga, you know that yoga is not just the practice on the mat, but it's a very spiritual understanding and way of life and mindset.
issues physically, then the [:And then we can get to that spiritual vibration of pure joy and vibrant health that we all crave.
Leigh Ann: Mhm. And does it differ being in the world of holistic medicine? I would absolutely consider Ayurveda a part of that, but also how might it differ? And does it differ? Or do you feel like they're pretty aligned in the approaches?
Dr. Shivani Gupta: You know, under this umbrella, the NIH has an umbrella called natural and alternative medicine, complementary and alternative medicine, medicine cam. Um, Under that umbrella is a lot of our integrative systems that we talk about, like homeopathic medicine, naturopathic medicine, uh, Reiki, medical massage, chiropractic.
ister sciences in many ways, [:We love turmeric, ginger, and our spices, they love theirs. And many of them are the same. They love ashwagandha, turmeric, ginger, like we do. Um, and so I, I consider all of these, beautiful approaches to our health that are oftentimes synergistic. Do we use different toolkits? Absolutely. But a lot of them are actually pretty much in common.
Like I don't see much difference between naturopathic Ayurvedic and how we do things. Our mindsets are very similar. So I think it's just different languages. for the same thing. Right, completely. We're using different words for the same thing. Exactly. And we are so bio individual. We're coming from different parts of the planet.
I find it so fascinating when we look at diet and some people are like, yes, carnivore works for me. And I'm like, that wouldn't work for my system, but that's so cool that you are getting those results. That's so powerful. And so in the same way, I think we're all on this journey looking for which system really supports us the best.
Leigh Ann: Completely. And [:Well, there is one best thing out there and I have to find it. But it's more, I, I find I take more of the approach of what's the best thing for me. Right
Dr. Shivani Gupta: now. Exactly. I think that is spiritual ascendance, right? Our spiritual ascendance is usually in a spiral. There's no straight thought. So in the same way, our health is always in an evolution and we're aging.
n entirely different toolkit [:And even in functional medicine practitioners each year i'm shifting practitioners because i'm up leveling In terms of the next set of goals. And so I think like you said that's so important
Leigh Ann: Yeah, and that there's a level of responsibility that requires each of us as individuals to take of it's so funny I I had a another guest interview a little bit before this earlier this morning and we were talking about Yeah, the black and white of, oh, okay, I guess I'm going to do this diet forever.
And this is the workout routine I'm going to do forever. Rather than bringing in more nuance of this is what my body, mind and spirit is resonating with right now. Right. And six months from now, a year from three years from now, it could be, in fact, it probably will be. Yeah, be different. Correct. But that requires a lot of responsibility on us as the individual to go, I am going to check in.
Yeah. Frequently and [:Dr. Shivani Gupta: never revisit it. True again. True. I think in modern day times, we're taught that we can be prescribed something. We have this mindset of being prescribed, and that is true in western medicine. A lot of times when we're. So sick, so unwell, or have something catastrophic and acute happen, we're running to Western Medicine for solutions.
And they have. A very powerful toolkit to deal with that. But then the rest of us who are dealing with some chronic metabolic, something going on, some slowdowns in the system, there's no perfect prescription. There's this, like you said, constant tuning into self and asking, Hey, what's the plan now? And what's cool is in Ayurveda we teach about circadian rhythm and seasonality.
it. I can't, I meet so many [:And I'm like, that is not what we teach. We teach so much. reverence for nutrient density and nutrient variety. And I agree that that's harder because so many of us just want, what's the plan? I'll just win the plan, make my life easier in this category. But I find that we're kind of sucking all the joy and all the happiness and all the love out of these things that are meant to be nourishing to us.
Leigh Ann: And that's
Dr. Shivani Gupta: why we're so malnourished. We're lacking in nourishment in every area and every level of our tissues from physical, mental, emotional, all the way up to spiritual because of this prescriptive approach we're taking.
Leigh Ann: Completely. And you know, me coming from the emotional subconscious side of it, I think there's a wound that we're inflicting on ourself by not tuning in.
But because we're not tuning [:It's let's tune in to honor and nourish and attune to our emotional and spiritual selves too. Absolutely. So now take us through maybe even more of the foundations of Ayurveda. I know there's a million places we could go with this, right? Like gut health through the lens of Ayurveda, pregnancy. I know there's a couple of things I we had in the notes of circadian rhythm, inflammation, sleep, maybe some more of these general things that we can all connect with, but also maybe just give us the premise.
You spoke a little bit already to it's very much about Seasons and living seasonally. Can you say more to that? And also what are some of the other foundational principles? Sure.
Gupta: So the six pillars of [:So the doshas or mind body constitutions is always the first thing that we'd like teaching in Ayurveda, because that gives you so much understanding of self. And once you have that inner wisdom, you can intuitively balance your doshas yourself throughout the day. And so dosha quiz on my website that people can take just to get that first piece.
And then once you understand your elements and what's driving you, then I think it's so important to understand circadian rhythm. And circadian rhythm is a concept from Ayurveda, where we taught that we are meant to rise with the sun, set with the sun. And nowadays, thanks to the biohacking world and functional medicine world, we're learning a ton about sleep.
re not meant to defy nature. [:In September, I decorate for fall and I eat, my diet adjusts for fall. I eat those fall foods. Same with the winter season. And just honoring the seasons is such a beautiful way to give us those seasonal rest times that we need instead of charging at the year 100 miles an hour all the way through. And for example, out of the doshas, I'm a pitta, which means I'm more fire.
So the summer season, if I don't watch out, I can easily burn out. And so I always take that summer season and make sure I travel, I relax and I don't go full force because I will always see the backlash of that if I do that.
Leigh Ann: And then another
Dr. Shivani Gupta: huge pillar we have in Ayurveda is gut health. Ayurveda is obsessed with gut health.
and we call it the digestive [:So there's so much in our toolkit around gut health itself, which is cool because now the modern day time is talking about gut microbiome and, and the gut access, gut brain access. So the fact that modern day science is proving All of what Ayurveda taught is really fun to watch from the Ayurveda perspective.
Yeah. And then finally, I teach a lot about sleep, a lot about the circadian and Ayurvedic diet based on your dosha. I teach about self care rituals that we can do daily that are detoxing and very beneficial for us as a rhythm. And then finally, I teach super spices, benefits of turmeric, benefits of ginger, because I think the more we use those spices to reduce inflammation that we have in modern day times.
The more [:Leigh Ann: Okay. And I'm taking notes, by the way. So we have six pillars, the dosha is gut health.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Which is also, I put sleep into circadian rhythm. I teach the self care rituals. Okay. I teach the Ayurvedic diet, which is also called the Sattvic diet. It means like a very yogic diet. Where we're meant to just really nourish ourselves with love. And the vibration we have is built based on that food that we eat.
And then my final pillar, I call super spices. Cause I think they're super spices. The new super food.
Leigh Ann: Yeah. Okay. I love it. Perfect. Let's get into some of these. And I mean, I know we could probably spend the whole episode talking about just each of these pillars. So I, you know, we might try and bounce around.
spoke to eating seasonally, [:But I also really would love to hear you speak more to what does it look like to live seasonally with work, with relationships, with activities and whatever, whatever that looks like.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: True. So, you know, it's interesting if you look at your year, Typically in business, we divide it into quarters and we think of our quarterly business goals leading to our annual business goals.
ach is in the winter season, [:That's a heavier season. You're going to typically hibernate in the winter, especially if you live in a really cold place, you're going to stay in more, the sun sets earlier. And so during that winter season that we kind of start the year with, it's actually important to rest, recuperate, almost be in shadow a little bit.
Like you're going to heal thyself and stay a little bit more inwards, not so outwards. And that's nature already dictating that somewhat. That's also a choice because a lot of us could take the holidays and just do whatever we want nowadays, because we have electricity. We have a lot of access to do whatever we want, but taking the winter sign.
set yourself up successfully [:Leigh Ann: And so that
Dr. Shivani Gupta: next season you're meant to just clear, detox, enjoy your spring season. And spring going into summer is when we transition into pitta time of year. That's the fire time. It's burning hot. So if you're someone who already tends to run hot, you have a fiery personality, you You tend to run inflamed, have heartburn, have like volcanic reactions to things, or always hang green.
That makes you a Pitta person. And Pitta people should travel only to cooling places in the summer. We're not meant to travel where it's burning hot. So you could time your travel around your seasons and what supports you the most to really rejuvenate. You can time your work accordingly. I work really hard from January through May and then I hit a wall right around Memorial Day and I tell my team, I'm leaving at Memorial Day.
So really acknowledging the [:physically into your calendar in that way can be a very powerful way to rejuvenate. So this way, this year, for example, I went to Italy and I just relaxed before I got hot, came back, enjoyed the rest of the summer. And then summer going into fall is actually a very interesting seasonal transition. So summer into fall, we're switching into Vata time of year.
That's a very air time of year. And so when you have the fall winds that come and the leaves that fall, a lot of times we feel burnt out, overwhelmed. After the summer, that's another important time between spring and, uh, between summer, fall, actually to do a detox, any light detox for a week, just take a week and clean and clear out your life.
Maybe you give up all inflammatory foods. And I evade that we have lots of different types of detoxes, like kitchardy detox and different things we can do using different porridges and foods and spices, but switching into fall season, rested and detox is important. So you're supportive for your fall winter season.
And so anytime I hit [: So one of the products on my: at you up from the core, but [:And so in the morning I use the PEMF frequency for energy to kind of wake up, get my system going. In the afternoon, I might use the grounding frequency that kind of replicates the same frequency you would get if you were going to be grounding on the Earth's surface. And then they also have like a beta theta frequency that helps slow you down, that I'll put on at night.
And then oftentimes, during the day, after workouts, if I'm feeling a bit run down, I'll use the cellular recovery frequency. So, I am literally on this thing two if not three times a day. And it is one of my absolute favorite products. Sometimes I travel with it, but if I was, if I ever lost it, I would be replacing it immediately because it's such a staple in my routine.
y holiday sale that's coming [:Yeah, it's the last few years, it's really struck me how odd it is that we celebrate New Year's in the dead of winter. And there's this, you know, there's this energy around it. I, I, um, was with a Persian man for many, many years and they celebrate the lunar new year, which is really basically the start of spring.
And there's something about that, that feels so much more resonant versus We're in the dead of winter and we're supposed to be setting all these New Year resolutions and like hitting it hard at the gym and yeah, so counter.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Season. It is. It is. And I find a lot of people, like, have you ever seen those memes that come out February 1st?
e I'm like, yeah, we're kind [:Leigh Ann: Oh my God.
I would love that. I think it just makes so much more sense for our constitutions to be like, to your point, winter very much feels like a time of going inward, slowing down, doing a little bit less. And weirdly, for many, many of us, at least, especially here in the U. S., it tends to be one of the busiest times of years where we have the most parties, the most engagements, the most things on our to do list.
Yeah. Um, setting, if you're a business owner, setting your goals for the new year, coming up with your plan. And it just, I, I feel like rebelling against it a little bit.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: I totally get that. I agree with you. Let's both make it our new, new years in the spring. Yeah,
ve our own New Year party in [:I love that. So now let's look at kind of day to day life. How can we, what are some of the general principles of day to day life? Maybe living in a circadian rhythm, sleep. What are some of the Ayurvedic principles that we can bring into our day to day life to support better sleep? And then I do want to spend some time on gut health since it's such a foundational pillar, but let's start with sleep.
there. Sure.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: So, you know, Ayurvedic self care daily rituals is where I think Ayurveda shines the most. Ayurveda has said so much, but so much of modern science has come in and said, yes, that's validated. So, so much of us know a lot about gut microbiome and sleep and these things, but most people have not heard of the Ayurvedic self care rituals still, which kind of shocks me.
and an entrepreneur. And the [:So I put that into my field. Let's just, can I have peace today? And then as I start. We recommend having a glass of water next to your bed and starting your day with hydration. Why? Because we are obsessed with everyone having a daily bowel movement, if not more than one. And in America and in the West, we all tend to run constipated in this day and age.
And so our whole morning is planned around making sure you go to the bathroom. So hydration, if you need support to get things moving, once you start walking around, brush your teeth. But after you brush your teeth, we recommend using a copper tongue scraper. So do you use a tongue scraper?
Leigh Ann: Um, my toothbrush has a little tongue scrape on the back of it.
I don't know if that's, you know, worse than a copper one, but I do scrape my tongue, but not with the copper.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Nice. At least you do it. So we recommend taking a copper tongue scraper or metal tongue scraper. There's a lot of steel ones online, or I have a copper one on my website, and you just gently scrape the tongue seven to 14 times.
don't want to gag yourself. [:Sometimes I'll brush my teeth and run and I'll be like, wait, I forgot something. Oh, I didn't scrape my tongue. So you're scraping the tongue to gently massage all those organs, detox them, because we're all about detoxing the body of anything that's accumulating that doesn't belong. And you're also clearing off your taste buds and you're also.
you're supporting gut health. It ignites the digestive fire to scrape the tongue gently. So it's really like a five second, 10 second habit, but it gives you so many benefits so that later when you hit those intersection of seasons that I talked about, you're already so detoxed. There's not as much to do.
up. That wasn't great. Other [:And then another one from IRV that is oil pulling, tablespoon or two tablespoons of oil. Ayurveda always loved sesame oil, but now there's a lot of conversation around seed oils. So I recommend coconut oil is also a great one. And so you can take about a tablespoon or two of oil, put it in the mouth, swish it around for five to 20 minutes.
That sounds weird and it sounds like a long time, but there are oils nowadays that they've made to taste minty. So we don't think of it as much as a weird habit. And then once you've switched it around, you could be doing anything. You could shower, get ready, make your morning coffee. There's a lot you can do while you're oil pulling.
It's like a good double tasking, multitasking habit. And then when you spit that out, make sure you spit it out in the trash, not your sink, toilet, or shower, or you will clog the pipes of your home. And the goal in oil pulling is you're really collecting all the bacteria and gunk in your mouth that accumulated overnight and getting rid of it.
in your mouth and that's the [:So I love oil pulling as that next habit. And then from there in IRV that we would have recommended yoga, morning stretches, morning walk in nature, having a beautiful, healthy, warming breakfast. What I find here in the West, a lot of us at that point run to work. So So weekend and you can have that beautiful morning ritual practice.
That's great. Otherwise I've shifted a lot of the rituals into my evening rituals. And I teach that in the evening we can do our dry brushing. We can do a habit called a Pyong massage of human massage is doing a full body massage for yourself using oil, like sesame oil. And that's so nourishing. It grounds any, but that energy, any of that chaotic tornado, anxious energy, we kind of emulate throughout the day, it grounds us for a better night.
[:Leigh Ann: Is there any kind of like guided video for that massage? Or where, where could someone learn how to do that? Yeah. You should make one for us. Make
Dr. Shivani Gupta: one. I've never made one like that. Yeah. Yeah. It's simple. You take oil, preferably you warm it and you rub it on your body from your feet all the way to your neck.
And then Indian women also do a head oil massage once a week. So we put that oil into our hair and either leave it in for like 30 minutes to an hour or we sleep with it in our hair to make our hair thicker and healthier.
Leigh Ann: I love that. I want to ask some more specifics, but I want to pause and take, well, actually, were there more rituals after the oil,
ow, after a massage, you can [:That's one thing I do a lot to also just ground my energy at the end of my day and as an investment into better sleep. Or you can just take a hot shower but try not to wash all that oil off because we consider ayurvedic oils very Medicinal very healing so we kind of want to leave that a little bit in so that it keeps soaking into the body And then before bed, you know people can do journaling meditation Meditation and yoga is a part of ayurveda.
So anytime we're going to recommend, uh the lifestyle Our goal is going to be, you know, stretch a little bit before bedtime because a lot of times we're holding a lot of tension and then that tension is going to affect our sleep
Leigh Ann: and do
Dr. Shivani Gupta: legs up the wall or a few gentle stretches, then that's really beautiful.
settle the digestive system [:Leigh Ann: Oh, I love all of this so much.
What I want to pause to really highlight here is it's ritual, not even routine. It's ritual. And this is something in the depth psychology program I'm in. Ritual is so, So ritual and reverence are like the foundation of everything we do. And I think that's really important because I, I work with a lot of cancer and chronic illness, individuals, clients, patients, and I, I resonate.
And I acknowledge that for many of them, they are given. So many routines and so many things they have to do every single day, that it does become very mechanical. And okay, now I do my sauna. Now I take these supplements. Now I go on my walk and I get it. And especially when you're in a deep treatment phase, sometimes it does become that way.
But what I hear in this [:Dr. Shivani Gupta: And I think of it so much as self love. I think so many times we're so wrapped up.
I know for myself, I get wrapped up into social media. I have a team. They're pushing at all times. They're like, this is your content on YouTube day. Be ready. And I'm like, okay, it's like so many moving pieces and the children and their schedules trying to raise a healthy household around here. Um, and so if I don't start my day and end my day with an act of self love, I'm almost, my energy is dispersed into the ethers of everyone who wants my energy.
on. And these activities are [:And so to me, Ayurveda has taught me that. How to sleep according to my circadian clock. We want everyone to sleep from 10 to two on that circadian clock. So we rejuvenate. So we get that brain health online and we detox properly.
Leigh Ann: Um, but
Dr. Shivani Gupta: I'm not even willing to give ourselves that then that's why we're always running on empty.
And so I really think of myself as treat your body like a Maserati. If you want to have a beautiful vehicle at the end of this that functions and works, the ritual is the key piece to that.
uh, I have to do my nightly [:It's, Oh, this is something so loving I get to do for myself. And also, it's not to say that this needs to be every day for the rest of my life. There's room for nuance, but what is the baseline? If we can try and get that baseline as much as possible to be one of ritual and reverence, I think that's going to be such a good place to start.
Absolutely. Absolutely. You can shift everything. Yeah. I want to ask a couple more specific questions. One, I really would love your input on meals, particularly. I'm, I'm really interested in breakfast, but also dinner. And I have a very specific question for you, which is I've noticed the last probably four months for me.
every morning with raw milk. [:So it's still about 30 grams of protein, but I've just noticed recently, it doesn't feel like I have been able to digest well. If I'm eating first thing in the morning, I, I feel like my gut needs a little more time to wake up. Sure. And I guess the question here is, is that a constitution or is that, um, something's a little imbalanced.
You really should be able to eat a full meal pretty soon after waking. You know, we're
Dr. Shivani Gupta: all so different based on, uh, do you know what your dosha is? I did the, I did a quiz like four years ago. I don't remember. Okay. I would guess Bitta. Vata, if I had to take just a guess. I can't see your whole self Yeah.
was still trying to go full [:And I, I thought to myself, okay, you didn't detox at your intersection of seasons. You didn't take the time. Your body's just demanding it from you now. So how would you like to address it? I had to kick my own digestive fire back into gear. So I started my mornings with ginger lemon tea. That's an easy, simple tincture that kicks off digestive fire.
We know through modern science that ginger has such a powerful effect on digestive system, digestive enzymes, and those things. And I really love that one solution forever. Um, if I'm ever having constipation or my system doesn't want to move in the morning, I'll take one shot of aloe vera juice up to half a glass of aloe vera juice.
There's a brand called George's that I love that tastes like water. So I've been using that on everybody around me. Cause it turns out everyone's having constipation issues in this moment of their life. And I'm like, I don't know. That's unacceptable guys. Let's fix that first. I love your juice is my favorite first trick, but sometimes we do need an herbal or a hydration solution, hydration or pre caffeine.
[:I'm not going to function the way you want me to. I'm not ready for your meal first thing. And I'm, I need you to pause on that idea. Yeah. And it's interesting because so many of us become like smoothie protein shake people, even in the winter. So it's cool. Maybe you're getting your protein in a warm way.
I love that.
ially for us busy in the day.[:And you, you did say specifically warm breakfast. How, yeah. So how do we feel about things like yogurt and berries in the morning smoothies? And is that just like a no go for morning? Save that for afternoon, save that for dinner. What does that look like? You
Dr. Shivani Gupta: know, in IRV that we teach to hold an intermittent fast, minimum 12 hours.
So finish dinner by seven, don't eat before seven. So these popularity of intermittent fasting is really cool. Cause I've always said like, give the digestive fire a break. Just like if you were going to build a campfire at night, you would tend to that fire down to be like slow smoldering. It's doing its job, but it's not fully lit.
You don't keep that fire going all day. So in the same way, we're meant to think of our digestive fire as a campfire. So at night Settle it down. Let it rest until morning. In the morning, wake up the digestive fire. So that's setting your intention first thing in the morning. That's hydration, creating peristalsis, so the system moves.
ongue scraping, igniting the [:I can handle a smoothie. I can even handle it with fruit. What's interesting is IRB that says fruit should never be mixed with anything else. Ever. And I find that rule so hard to meet sometimes because I'm like, I just want some blueberries in my yogurt. Come on. If I ever do fruit in yogurt or milk, it's like I do like two or three of them.
Because I know Ayurveda always said never, ever, ever combine those two things. No dairy with fruit. And we have a Western culture that's obsessed with smoothies and like throw everything in the smoothie. But you know what? At the same time, if your morning smoothie is where you're going to get all of your nutrient density for the day.
rks. I'm also a busy mom who [:The better we do teach that it's important not to be constantly in motion when we're trying to because you're not going to receive the benefits. You're not going to receive as much of that benefit. So maybe the negotiation there is sometimes I'll do this when I'm driving, for example, after work, I go to get the kids.
I'll just pause and listen to meditation music in the car. That's my time to tune in. So maybe if it's smoothie in the morning driving, It's not listening to news or negative things. It's doing the positive with that to balance it out a little bit.
to clients often too is the [:So it's something you can have on all day at work, at home, wherever you're going. And no, one's really going to notice it. And I love that because a lot of the nervous system regulating devices out there or supportive devices out there, aren't that practical. You really have to do them at home or it's not something you'd really want to be doing or using in public.
calmer state. They have won [:So I'll encourage you guys to check the show notes below for a link to learn more about the product. I also have a discount code below and I think they probably have some holiday sales coming up as well. But it's something I use very very often and I really feel like it has helped train my nervous system to have a lower baseline.
My baseline is so low. So much more regulated. And likewise, when I'm in a moment of stress or a day of stress or a week of stress, I make sure that I'm wearing my Apollo every single day, just to give my body that extra support, those extra safety signals without necessarily needing to think about it.
nd also just products That I [:I mean, we're starting to know and see studies behind it, but I think we can all, if we really tune in, feel that difference. If I am chugging my smoothie while listening to the news, while stuck in traffic, and I'm in this sort of frazzled, urgent energy versus. I'm drinking my smoothie, my smoothie slowly and with intention and I've put calming music on and maybe I'm still in traffic, but my whole energy composition is completely different.
To your point, I think the body is going to receive that differently. Correct. And
I'm a big fan of tea, taking [:I, I created something called tea time is me time. So every time I have tea, I take a moment and I just ask myself, how are you doing? Everything? Okay. Anything we need to change about today or this week? And I have trained my intuition to respond. So my intuition will answer and say, actually, you need to change up what you just said.
You're doing this week. You need to cancel on all of those people. You can't do all this, or you haven't planned your days. You get to eat dinner. Have you thought about that? And so you can really shift your life to be less chaotic and less draining. And instead be so nourishing because you're choosing to take those little slices of time back and tune into yourself.
mix fruit with anything? I'm [:Dr. Shivani Gupta: Um, let's start there. Beverages with food, we have a very hard line, and I obey that.
We teach never, ever, ever drink anything with your meal. Ever. And so it's funny, my family will serve everyone drinks on the table, and they know, don't give mom anything. She will not drink a sip of water with her meal. If I'm dying of thirst, fine, but I don't think of mealtime as drinking time. We're meant to hydrate and drink all our beverages outside of our mealtimes.
Why? Because the stomach is going to release digestive enzymes for that meal. And the minute you pour all that liquid on top, you're going to be, you're going to be, um, diluting that, that effect. First of all, but second of all, when you think of it as digestive fire, if you go to a restaurant or an event and they're offering you iced tea, ice water, iced soda, you're just pouring that on top of a fire, shutting off the fire.
that this meal you're about [:A lot of times we have chronic issues. We are like, why? I'm so good. But it could be this one little habit of hydration at mealtime that could be turning off the fire that you need. And then you asked about food combination. Food combination is actually a big concept in IRB that we teach that there are six tastes to food.
you feel so heavy after any [:It's a beautiful, intelligent, digestive fire that's saying, Hey, I can only handle so much. Don't just put me out. And then I can't handle it. And so our job is really to honor that fire and start to become aware of what is the right amount of food. What are the foods that our system has the strength to process?
What foods should we avoid? What combinations of food always irritate us and slow us down? For me, I'm gluten free. And mostly dairy free other than cheese. So the more we can understand what's irritating to our system and slows our system down, the better.
Leigh Ann: Mm hmm. It, I'll give you a testimonial on the drinks with meals.
At least once a day, if not [:Sure. Never did. And in some ways, I think that actually served him well, but when he stopped drinking. Any kind of liquid with meals. It completely stopped.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Yeah. Isn't that crazy? It's simple, simple things. So when I get to a restaurant and they're like, what do you want to drink? I'm so confused. Cause I'm like, I don't drink anything.
And so I say, everyone will have water with no ice. Can I have a hot water please? With lemon. And I will, if I want to drink hot water with lemon, I can, or I'll just have a few sips. The lemon is alkaline. It's, it's also going to support that digestive fire.
Leigh Ann: And then you move on. Yeah. And then on that note, when, so when, when is the ideal time to drink?
Is there a, if you've just eaten, wait this long, or if you're going to eat soon, eat within this, or excuse me, drink within this, uh,
minutes, bookended on both [:Leigh Ann: Yeah, and then if you are maybe try to make it something warm at the very
Dr. Shivani Gupta: least. Exactly. So you're supporting the fire It's a hot beverage. That's why in a lot of cultures soup is served before the meal. It's this hot warm liquid It's still very nourishing. It's gonna ignite your fire. It's gonna keep you hot and ready For that next meal coming.
Leigh Ann: Yeah. And we're obsessed with ice here in America.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Unfortunately, yes.
Leigh Ann: I love this. I, you know, when he tried that, I gave it a go for a little bit. I think I want to give it more of a, like real intentional go the, the no liquids with meals. Yeah. And I'm also such a beverage girly. Like I honestly, I feel like I could just live on liquids.
Although I love food. I'm such a foodie in my day to day life. I'm like, I'll have my. Chai in the morning. I'll have a like raw milk saffron latte at night. Maybe an herbal
Dr. Shivani Gupta: [:Like we have no choice. I have to plan what is breakfast, lunch, and dinner and that afternoon snack or else I'm in trouble. So just different constitutions can do different things. So I mean, it's, it's beautiful to, you know, understand this idea of hydration and beverages outside of your mealtimes. I think that simple habit alone can fix people's digestion in such a profound way and reduce their toxic burden in the system that then a lot of the small issues we talk about that are inflammation based, whether it's our joint pain or our brain fog or digestive issues after meals.
A lot of that can be resolved through that simple habit.
Right, and even in holistic [:Um, even though it can also be very empowering. And it's like, let's, Address these foundational things, give it a couple months, then let's go do some testing and see what's still lingering to the, you know, to the example I gave her my ex. It's like, I mean, who knows what conventional medicine would have put him on for IBS or some kind of protocol of that nature.
But, um, even holistic medicine could have gone down this whole road of testing for parasites and hormones and, you know, mineral deficiencies, which is great. And that's good to know, but let's correct the original thing, you know, some of these foundations first.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: And I do think we love going down those rabbit holes.
se that can make you kind of [:If you're trying to address every deficiency all the time. So now I just pick a theme. I'm like, what's my theme that I'm focused on in this season? And we'll, we'll address that one theme because there's only so many habits we can shift in the body without destabilizing.
Leigh Ann: Completely. Yeah. And we tend to be very all or nothing.
Yeah. I think as a culture, even of just I'm all in or I'm all out. And to your point, maybe it's, let's, let's pace it a little bit. Yeah. It's a body. It's a being. I do want to lean even a little more into now eating at night and when, you know, when maybe we should not be eating at night or when is that cutoff?
And then you also briefly said, Yeah. There's a window of sleep. We really want to try to get you said tended to. I'd love to hear more about that as well, but particularly when it comes to meals, what is, what is the Ayurveda approach to evening or dinnertime?
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Sure. So what we teach is have a breakfast.
this moment of intermittent [:I think women are seeing that with our hormones and cycles we have to be a little more intuitive and careful and understanding around that. Um, so I do have breakfast or I have a mid morning breakfast if I hold my fast till 10, 10 30. If I'm working out, I'll eat. If I don't work out, I can hold longer.
And then lunch, we consider the biggest meal of the day. And so we teach that when it's 10 to two on the clock, when the sun is highest in the sky around noon, that's your best time to eat your food. That's going to give you the most nutrient density and have the best absorption because you're digestifiers on board with you.
ttle salad on the go type of [:So I'm going to eat my salad now. And I'm like, no, I eat a hearty lunch. Then for me, I can't hold till dinner, like my digestive fire and the way my day runs. Once I have the kids, it's almost like the tougher part of my day has started. My business day is much easier because I have to negotiate with these people on homework and these things.
So at four o'clock I have my high tea and snack. That's like my set time between 4. I'm going to pause. I'm going to have my tea. I'm going to have a delicious snack, hopefully with some protein or some unctuousness to it. So it's very satisfying, like hummus or tzatziki, some healthy fat in there that'll hold my brain to work for the next six hours.
lly be done by seven because [:We want to stay up late. We want to Netflix and chill. We get munchy. We're reaching into the pantry for whatever around 10 o'clock. If we can hold that fast, just that seven to 10 fast. before bed, we're walking into bedtime with our food digested. So instead of the body focusing on digesting this food we just ate, which happens, we go out late at night, you have that late meal, but instead of doing that, the body can then clear the lymphatic system.
We know we can accumulate up to three pounds of waste in our brain lymphatic system throughout the year. So when we talk about brain fog and brain inflammation, why is my brain not working? It's like, well, why do you use it as a trash dump? Why didn't you to consider that this too needs to clear at night.
e is your investment in your [:And so I think of it as little garbage trucks that come out and my little garbage trucks are meant to come out and gather everything in my brain, in my heart, emotionally and physically that did not serve me because I'm gonna end up eating something processed or Drinking water that might not be perfect or breathing air that's not perfect Like the world is not a perfect place or using skincare that maybe is not perfect So whatever that accumulation is, The body will collect it all at night and then clear it out in the morning, but we have to give it that rhythm.
eally bookending. All of our [:Leigh Ann: Yeah. Yeah. I love that three hours. Give yourself three hours from the time you ate to going to bed, but you really want to be in bed asleep by 10.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Yeah. And it could be longer if you can hold a four hour, five hour, go ahead. I'm not one of those people who can eat like a five o'clock dinner and then last till 10 o'clock at night,
Leigh Ann: but some
Dr. Shivani Gupta: people can.
So, so the bigger you can do the better for you, but most of us, I think three hours is just fine.
Leigh Ann: Yeah, and then last last question, time, like duration of sleep. Is this unique to different doshas? Is there sort of a standard of practice here? Yes,
Dr. Shivani Gupta: so it's interesting. Yeah, I mean Vata people tend to have disrupted sleep.
y sleep cream, my sleep tea, [:Like I need to do the things to sleep properly. Otherwise I'm just wired and I have to read a book before bed. So that's how I settle that mind. I'm actually a bit by nature, but the fire means I also have this fiery brain that's coming up with new business ideas and, and things to put in my book and everything.
All day long. So at night, I also need to cool my system down and make sure I let go of work by eight o'clock. I won't touch my laptop after eight. I settled the house by nine and I go upstairs to start my evening rituals to really settle and relax for bedtime. And as a bit thought, we normally have good sleep.
We're fine with our sleep as long as we honor it and we don't eat late and have heartburn and all this fire coming out of us. So.
Leigh Ann: And then finally there's
Dr. Shivani Gupta: a person is more earth energy. They carry earth and water. So they actually, once they fall asleep, can sleep super late into the morning. They can sleep till 10, 11 noon.
This is a [:So you move your energy before you start your day.
Leigh Ann: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I love that so much. So I know I've got to let you go and I want to be respectful of your time. This was amazing. I think it's. so great to be able to just cover some of these foundations and then maybe we can have you on again to go deeper into some of the specifics.
And then of course, we didn't even have time to get to turmeric and all the super spice.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: That's okay. I'll come on any time. This has been so fun to talk about Ayurveda in this way with your audience today, because if we put these foundational pieces in place, simple, free foundational pieces, All of a sudden our, our health can shift and become lighter and become easier.
And that's my goal for everybody.
Leigh Ann: Yeah. And I think [:And I love that Ayurveda really. Encompasses that philosophy. Absolutely. So beautiful. Can you tell everyone where they can find you? I'm going to make sure everything is linked in the show notes anyways, and I'm going to go jump and take your dosha test because I want to know.
Dr. Shivani Gupta: Yes. So if anyone wants to find me, my website is It's DrShivani.
com. It's S H I V A N I. And my DOSHA quiz is there, my inflammation, 7 Day Inflammation Challenge, everything's there. And then I have, on Instagram, I'm at Dr. Shivani Gupta. And then my teas and different things I create is at Fusionary Formulas. And I made a special code for your audience, a Crescent. We'll give them 50%.
elow. When you mentioned the [:Dr. Shivani Gupta: I am. I'm very into tea, obsessed with tea. So I made a sleep tea. I made a menopause, perimenopause tea for my crew. So I'm very into teas that help us sleep.
Just functionally achieve the goals we want, whether it's a great sleep or unwinding at the end of the day or things like that.
Leigh Ann: Yeah, it's so beautiful. I can't wait to check it out. Well, thank you so, so much. This has been such a joy. Thank you for giving all of us your time. For sure. Thanks for having me.
