'Everything that is advertised is not healthy'

Sheetal

Celebrities of the likes of Virat Kohli, Anushkha Sharma, Kangana Ranaut and Amir Khan have shown the way to lead a healthy vegan life. With the busy life they all lead, they still make sure they know what’s on their plate and where is it coming from.

Famous vegan diet advocate Dr Nandita Shah talks about where to start if you are thinking of turning to plant-based diet. She says, “We all have learnt how to deny our instincts and fall for what is marketed to us. When people ask me what I shouldn’t eat, I simply state ‘make a list of all the things that are advertised, and do not eat them.’ Everything that is advertised is not healthy. In simple language, nature’s bounty doesn’t need to be advertised, if you are to take a trip to forest and see fruits or vegetables, your mouth would naturally water. Nobody markets a vegetable or a fruit to you. Nobody markets the goodness of nuts to you unless they can put some secondary masalas on them, seal them in environment destroying plastic and then market them to you”

Dr Shah is the author of the best-seller book, Reversing Diabetes in 21 Days. She says, “We take care of our things. For instance, one little scratch on our car bothers us. But, while the car is replaceable, your body isn’t. Start eating fresh. Though in the beginning, it will be tough to make healthy and conscious choices but with time, it will be a part of your life.”

As a medical practitioner in India, she states that vegetarians and non-vegetarians get exactly the same diseases at the same frequency and the reason behind this, she continues, ‘is consumption of meat and milk by non-vegetarians and vegetarians, respectively. Vegetarians consume a lot of dairy—milk, yogurt, paneer (cottage cheese), cheese, sweets made of milk solids and ghee, butter, and cream—in their daily diet that have the same properties as meat—high protein, high fat, and no fibre. The main causes of diabetes and heart disease indeed.

To promote a plant-based diet and a cruelty-free lifestyle, Dr Shah has founded Sharan, a voluntary organisation. The winner of the Nari Shakti award for 2016, she brought to light the advantages of eating a plant-based diet and how eating raw, unprocessed food (like the animals consume) prevents and reverses lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart-problems, depression etc.

For Dr Shah, the mind-body connection has always been an integral part of her work. She stresses the importance of documentaries like The Game Changers in opening our minds to veganism and many benefits of a plant-based diet.

Dr Shah’s vegan journey began in 1985 when she learned the truth about dairy, the suffering that a cow undergoes due to repeated impregnation and loss of her offspring so that our milk bottles can be filled. Ask her if all those picky eaters, who are already losing on many important vitamins and nutrients, when shift to vegan diet will be able to sustain a healthy lifestyle, she answers, “Whole food, plant-based diet has innumerable benefits for your health, to the environment and in showing kindness and compassion to the animals. Making that healthy choice of keeping animal and dairy products out of your system is good enough to lead you towards better health.”

Sheetal.dadhwal@tribunemail.com