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holistic wellbeing for a joyful life

In this episode, I sit down with plant-based cook, nutritionist, Ayurvedic student and author of JoyFull, Radhi Devlukia-Shetty for a deep dive into holistic wellbeing. We discuss the transformative power of leading an Ayurvedic lifestyle and how we can bring this ancient wellness wisdom into our everyday lives. Radhi shares lifestyle tips and easy practices to help balance and nurture your wellbeing. I even asked her to ‘Dear Radhi’ me on how to nurture my own wellbeing—and her advice was so good. Our enlightening and personal conversation will encourage you to live more consciously and joyfully.

In this episode you’ll learn:

  • How to repair your gut and keep it healthy
  • The basics of the Ayurvedic approach to wellbeing
  • How to identify your Dosha
  • Delicious ways to incorporate spices into your diet to boost your health
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This podcast is intended to educate, inspire, and support you on your personal journey towards inner peace. I am not a psychologist or a medical doctor and do not offer any professional health or medical advice. If you are suffering from any psychological or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified health professional.

dear gabby #194 Feb 26, 2024 physical wellbeing

gut health, ayurvedic living and vitality: big talk with radhi devlukia-shetty

Gabby: [00:00:00] So you walk in and I have salmonella. So this is really good timing is we're going to talk about your bug.

Joyful, joyful, which is genius. It's gorgeous, I dear Gabby, people like I coach people on the show. You're going to dear Roddy me.

Today, dear Roddy, I have salmonella. I have to take another course of antibiotics. So look, we're talking to you about food nutrition. Rebuilding your ecosystem through the food, I mean, whatever is gonna come through us today. but my love. What would you do for yourself in this moment?

Radhi: Good question. So, okay, you're on, you have to take another course of antibiotics.
And you said you've been on a few this year. Or, in the past year.

Gabby: 23. Yeah. Mm-Hmm.

Radhi: So the first thing I would say is, you have to do what you have to do. And, I think there's a mindset towards, when you have to take medication, even if it's something that you don't like, the first thing is having a positive mindset towards [00:01:00] whatever you're taking.

I remember this, This lady who follows Ayurveda, she had gone through cancer and she was telling me that whenever she was doing chemo she would imagine it to be nectar that was being poured through her body and seeing it as something that was nourishing her body even though it was stripping her of pretty much every piece of energy that she had.

And I always remember that when I have to take something that I don't want to take that I know is going to harm my body in some way but at the same time heal me because so many things do that, right? Like they'll do one good thing for something and then they'll negatively impact you in another. So first thing is mindset and just having that mentality of, I need to get through this period of time.

I have to take this. But then also awareness of if I am taking this, what part of my body is it going to affect negatively?

Gabby: I wanna hear a picture of 101. A lot of my audience is familiar with Ayurveda, but what is it in a nutshell and how is it benefitting us and how we start to use in our lives.

Radhi: Ayurveda is a 5000 year old health science and its a health system that incorporates healing from the prospective like its a holistic healing and natural healing it uses everything nature provides us with and it teaches you how you can heal your body using nature. And so what I loved about it in comparison to conventional diet and medicine cause I'm a nutritious in dietitian by profession and then I studied Ayurveda.

It was really useful cause I got to see both sides of it. What's beautiful about it is it's all individual. You learn what your body is, what your constitution and we'll get onto that in a little bit, but it categorizes you as a specific constitution is what they call it and then it teaches you how you're internal environment and your external environment can be optimized to improve.

Make you bulletproof and to make you optimal in your digestion, your mental state, your physical body, and your emotions too. And so I love it because it incorporates everything because we're not just our gut, we're not just our body, we have so much more to us.

And it really allows you to incorporate everything and teaches you how everything from your food to everything that you allow into your senses has the ability [00:05:00] to affect.

Every part of your life. And that's, Ayurveda in a nutshell. I've done like a small part of it. I've studied as an Ayurvedic health counselor, but to be a doctor you study for like seven, eight years, and even then you just scrape the surface. But there are some really useful basic tips, and that's what I base my book on.

It's not an Ayurvedic cookbook, but I've incorporated a lot of the principles. That I think have seriously changed my life, and the food principles that have changed my life that have allowed me to continuously live optimally when my immunity is so much stronger, my gut so much stronger, and I understand how what I'm eating is going to affect my physical body and my mental state.

Gabby: Boom. I'm so psyched to talk about that. Yeah, me too. I do want to circle back to this other thing you said earlier though about setting intentions with your medication and then we'll, cause it falls into this whole lifestyle choice of how you live. Even if it's something that you have to do that might not be the greatest thing, how can we do it with grace?

I've always believed that it would pray into the medication. So I'll set an intention [00:06:00] or I'll say a prayer through the medication. Thank you for releasing what isn't wanted here. And then the same would go like taking the kefir and saying, thank you for replenishing what I've lost. And that the power of that intention is so profound.

And it's spiritual. It's not, I mean, it's recognizing that there's God in all of it. There's God in the food, there's God in the medicine, there's God in even, even the diagnosis at times. It's giving us direction.

Radhi: And that's living consciously, like being conscious is being present with what you're accepting into your body and what you're letting out of your body.

And I, I share that about Before you eat, even having this small practice of gratitude or prayer, and even before that, when you start preparing the food, having a specific intention, like when a mom is cooking for their baby, I always compare it to this because I feel like that's the closest that you can probably experience it.

The food that is cooked with so much love for you, whether it's your mom, whether it's your husband, you know, you feel it through the food and in the same way, I genuinely believe when I'm cooking for [00:07:00] people, I can pour in an intention of healing and genuine care for the person that they are feeling through their physical body.

So it nourishes them in the physical body, but also has the ability to nourish their spiritual, part of them and their mind and their, spiritual body too.

Gabby: And we talked about this a little bit last night. I went to dinner at your house and,so if you don't know, Roddy is married to Jay Shetty.

It's kind of odd being with the two of you cause you both have the most incredible eyes in the world. It's like you have the green and he has the blue and it's almost like your eyes were like soulmates and came together. You guys are just gorgeous

Radhi: Yeah, it was very random. Honestly, I didn't look at, everyone was like, did you just see his eyes and think I said, you know, I didn't even notice his eyes.

I think it's, you know when you, I've grown up with colored eyes, so I'm not used to, I don't recognize him as much on other people. 'cause I guess we're also.

Gabby: Yours are like this yellowy greenish.

Radhi: My grandma, I get mine from my grandma. He is just a genetic anomaly. Yeah.
Gabby: Yeah. He is a genetic anomaly with his blue eyes. Yeah. But your babies are going to have some fun. fabulous eyes.

Yeah, I wonder if I'll skip a generation, who knows?case, so I'm at your home and [00:08:00] I feel like you've definitely designed your home to be in the, in your, and your coffee.

Yeah. So you can get into this. so there's these different types of bodies and Why don't you give like a 101 on this just so we can start to think about it a little bit and maybe a tip on what to eat, how to live, if that's okay. Yeah, sure.

Radhi: sure. So, as I said, Ayurveda breaks down humanity into different categories. And so it's all based on the five elements as is everything.

It says everything from our external environment, the physical things that we touch, plus what's inside our body is broken down into the five elements. So that's earth. Fire, air, ether, and water. And so, there are three specific constitutions, or in Ayurveda they call them doshas. And, each one incorporates two of the elements.

So kapha is earth and water. And as I'm saying these, I encourage people to like, think about the qualities in their mind of these specific elements. So earth and water is kapha. Vata is air and ether. And pitta is fire and water. [00:09:00] And so, if you think about the qualities of these properties, so let's start with kapha, for example, it's earth and water.

And so if you think about a person, if you're envisioning a person that was created from earth and water, what would you think of?

Gabby: Earth and water, I would think of, kind of grounded But it's like fluid and
Radhi: Mm hmm. Yeah. So if you think about so Earth is the stability. And so if you think of physical features, they all have more of a sturdy body type.

So yeah, they have, they may have like wider, broader shoulder. Exactly. Broader shoulders. They're, you know, may have thicker muscles. their cheeks may be a little bit fuller. their eyes a little bit bigger. And so

Gabby: You're Kapha.

Radhi: I'm, I'm a bit kaffir. Yes, I've got kaffir in me. And so, a kaffir body is that type and then in terms of mentality, if you think about when earth and water go together, it becomes quite muddy.

And so when in balance, a kaffir can go towards having low moods, feeling stuck in the mud, change is very difficult for a kaffir. And when balanced, they can be the [00:10:00] person who brings comfort to you. They're the people you can go to and know that you can trust in them. They're very methodical.

Everything is usually done at the same time, in the same way, stuck in their routine. And so that's a generic, example. When it comes to food, a kaffir

Gabby: kaffir

Radhi: Is meant to do things which stimulate them because when if you think about the earth and water and the muddy quality of it Generally, we want foods and spices in our life that are going to energize us uplift us because a kaffir tends towards being a little bit more stagnant and so you want things that are going to bring movement And more fluidity to your life and a little bit more stimulation.

So that's just a small example of a kaffir Pitta body, which is fire and water, predominantly fire, because when I say Jay, I was telling you yesterday, Jay is a typical Pitta, he knows in mentality knows exactly what he wants, very determined, gets things done, when imbalance can get a little bit agitated because of the fiery nature, his digestion is very strong.

A Kapha's digestion is very, can be [00:11:00] quite sluggish and slow. But because Pitta's have fire in them. he needs his meals exactly on time. His digestive fire is really strong and will just, like a fire, just eat everything up really fast. and so when it comes to physical features of a Pitta, sharp features, fire is sharp.

So, strong nose, sharp nose, angular face, pretty, They say average body shape, not extremely broad, structured and not very petite, kind of somewhere in the middle. and then a vata is air and ether. So they are the lightest qualities. And so a lot of creatives in their mind would probably be vatas.

Because, or I would say artists, like the typical artist, where they wander around in their creativity. They can get quite lost in their creativity. but then find it difficult to actually be sturdy and get things done. And so in body type, that would be a smaller build in terms of smaller bones, smaller, petite features, thinner hair, smaller eyes like, everything that's more petite and delicate is seen to be a vatter body.

Find it [00:12:00] difficult to put on weight. Even if they tried really hard and ate a lot more, they find it a lot harder to. And so those are, I hope that was a good breakdown.

Gabby: was great. I'm pitta. I'm pitta.

Radhi: Yeah, yeah.

Gabby: I, it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jane, I, yeah, yeah. Pitta, pitta, pitta.
Similar, similar

Radhi: personalities.

Gabby: similar personalities, similar that, that's also how I digest and just like move and live and go. I thought I was like a little Vata because of my frame, but I really don't resonate with that at all. Totally.

Radhi: And so your physical body could be one. So actually we'll just, just to be accurate here, we all have all three in us cause we all have the five elements, but you generally.

Totally. When you go to an Ayurvedic doctor and they diagnose you, they'll give you predominantly the two that you have that are higher percentage. So you could be 70 percent Pitta, 20 percent Vata and 10 percent Kapha. Like that's how your breakdown would end up being. And if anybody wants to know what their constitution is without going to a doctor, there are so many online, quizzes that you can do.

And so you can, you can fill it out as what you [00:13:00] usually are, like you could compare it to when you were a child and, up till this point, what you would normally be. And then you can take it as you are now. And when you take both of them, it helps you to see where your imbalances are. And so the idea of life when you're going through understanding your dosha is I'm constantly trying to get myself back to my original constitution in a balanced way.

Radhi: it. I

Gabby: Well, either way. But it was so beautiful the way you were talking about it last night. You're like, I know he needs to eat at this time, or he's going to have this, this and this and, and you can care for him in that way and have that extra level of attunement to your partner and alignment with your partner.

I love this [00:14:00] concept. so, okay, so here I am, I'm a Vata, I'm like strongly Vata and I'm, out of alignment with my vata right now with my, with, with the, not my, with the strange bacteria that has entered my body. What might be the things I could do? Of course, I'm going to take an antibiotic to get rid of this, but then what else can I do beyond the feeding the good bacteria, but to come back into that balance now?

Radhi: So one thing I would say just to touch back on food is a big part of when our digestion is weak. Ayurveda talks about how eating raw foods is The worst thing to do for your gut when it's weak because if you think about it Your body's having to digest the fibers and then get to the nutrients and we have seven layers of tissue in our body So for the nourishment of all of them by the time it gets to our skin our hair our nails That's why a lot of the time if our gut isn't strong We don't digest the nutrients and then our hair starts falling out or our nails are becoming really brittle and so [00:15:00] if you are noticing that your gut is weak and Only have cooked foods because a lot of the processing is almost done outside of the body essentially and so avoiding raw foods Especially while you're on this, you know 30 day period of taking your probiotics to allow your gut to rest a little bit more to be able to replenish and create this good Bacteria, so avoiding raw foods and then a key component is adding in spices into your food

Gabby: because

Radhi: spices help one with your gut lining and helping it to replenish, but two helps you to break down food.

And I think spices are something which people use to add flavor and vibrance. And I share this, one of the biggest principles in my book is about this. you can use them for vibrance in your food and flavor. But even more so, use them to medicinally protect and prevent disease in your body.

Because that is what spices are there for. They are such potent healers.

Gabby: And once you start,

Radhi: You know, incorporating them in a daily basis. You'll notice when I started doing this religiously 10 years ago, my [00:16:00] immunity, my digestion, my energy levels, my mood. They have been never been better. I have just gotten better and better with time rather than feeling myself getting weaker.
And so Should I recommend some spices

Gabby: Yes, please do. Yes. No, you're dear Roddy me. Okay. Keep it coming.

Radhi: So you start your morning and this is what I start my morning with every day and this is for everybody type Coriander seeds cumin seeds and fennel seeds. It's called CCF. It is the queen trio of spices in Ayurveda They're very gentle to the stomach, but at the same time, they help to purify your blood.

They help to detox your digestive system. And so in hot water, you can equal parts, a teaspoon of each, boil it and drink that water. And that is an easy, simple way to get spice. And fennel

Gabby: And fennel. CCS, all the seeds,

Radhi: the seeds. Seeds are generally and you know, if you're picking spices, ideally pick whole spices because as soon as spices are ground up, their smell, their potency and their flavors start to diminish.

And so ideally,

Gabby: them somewhere special? 'cause like sometimes they can get mold on [00:17:00] them and things like this. Yeah, yeah.

Radhi: organic where possible. don't want to complicate things. Whole Foods has lots of whole spices wherever you can get whole spices from Indian shops. If you have any close to you, they have all the spices in abundance. And so definitely incorporating spices into your life.

Nothing too, irritating. So avoid the chilies and the paprikas.

Gabby: that's not going to be great for your

Radhi: no, especially not if it's,

Gabby: A

Radhi: Yeah, compromise. So I'd say coriander, cumin and fennel are the perfect ones to start with. And then you can start sprinkling them over your curries or using them in your salad dressings when you're having them.

But making sure you're activating them with fat because a lot of spices, with the majority of spices, their properties are activated when cooked in fats. And so you get even more of their medicinal potency and they're gentler on your stomach because they've

Gabby: been, you know, uh,

Radhi: Sautéed in the, in the oil.

Gabby: Oh my God. Yeah.

Radhi: Yeah. So good. And they smell so much better that way. So definitely spices. And then, you know, our body goes through, just like our mind goes through trauma and we feel anxiety, our body goes through [00:18:00] it too. And we don't realize that our body's going through it. Cause sometimes like Jay has this a lot, he, his mind has managed to really figure out how to cope with stress.

But his body hasn't and so he will be like I'm not stressed out. I don't have it like I'm okay I'm not feeling it But his body will start to shut down or start to get acid reflux or his gut will start acting up and he's like I Ate this last week and I was fine and I'm eating this now and I'm not And so your body can feel stress even when your mind does not.

And so you have to realize that when your body starts talking to you, and by that I mean you feel aches and pains and gut issues, it's your body telling you there is some sort of stress that's happening

Gabby: in your body.

Radhi: And so, meditation practices,

Gabby: Totally.

Radhi: find a way whether it is, and you know, meditation is again, something that is so personal.

So whether it's mantra meditation, that's the type of meditation I do. And I talk about that in the book as well, or whether it's silent meditation or whether it's journaling a way to, I see our body as a place to process [00:19:00] and, allow things to flow through you. your body and your mind are not places to stagnate or hold things.

They're places to allow to process and let go of things. And so in Ayurveda talks about how a lot of our disease actually roots from stagnant emotions that have been held in the body. And our gut is that too. And so really think about, take a moment to think if you are getting ill regularly, if your immune system feels compromised, if you're doing a lot of the things right in the food area and maybe in your lifestyle, think about what emotions you may be trapping and holding in your body because that could be what's causing, low immunity and gut issues too.

Gabby: That was the case for me. I mean, I am a big believer. I write a lot about it in my books. Recently about how the psychosomatic effects of our traumas or our unprocessed rage and the gut is a first responder right there and it can easily create dysbiosis just because of what we're not processing we will.

From Dr. Sarno perspective, you send [00:20:00] this impermissible rage to your stomach so that you don't want to deal with it mentally, but your gut will have to, yeah, you're going to swallow it. Exactly. And so just having that level of attunement is so valuable as well. I got to say, Roddy, your book is absolutely gorgeous.

I am, I receive. A lot of books like this, right? it's a popular niche. People are really in tune with their bodies now and creating beautiful foods, but also telling stories. This is special. the wisdom and the authority with which you can speak here comes through the book, but also the sort of like, you're so goofy and fun.

And, It's funny because online, I see you in this like very, you're very childlike in a way, meaning, how do I say it properly, just very joyful and that's the title of the book. I mean, it's joyful. It's joyful. I didn't even mean to say that. It's joyful. And you bring such spirit to everything that you do.

And it's [00:21:00] coming through the book, mama, just the language in the story. storytelling and your energy is just infused in this book and it's the kind of book that you would come back to again and again and again and you'd use it for, for inspiration and you'd use it for healing and you'd use it for just your spirit coming through the page and I mean that, I really mean

Radhi: means a lot coming from you, honestly.

Gabby: I mean it mama, because I've seen so many different forms of books and I just, there's certain books that come to me and I feel the energy of the human coming through. And so for listeners who are looking to one, you understand Ayurveda, one learn more, the beautiful recipes, having your spirit and stories coming through, but also just really getting that authority figure who's also going to bring you this level of joy coming through the page.

Radhi: Yeah. I always say whenever, people ask why I wrote the book, I always say, I feel like I've been a student of so many great teachers that it only felt right.

One of my teachers said that knowledge that's not shared is useless. And I love that so much. And I, Always. I have had imposter [00:22:00] syndrome for such a long time in my life, as I'm sure so many people have, but the thing that pushed me to keep going is I see myself as a bridge and constantly see myself as a bridge where there are so many teachers that I have had that know far more than I do, but I have a platform where I can at least share the basics.

And then if they're interested, they can keep going further and further and further. And so I see my book as an accumulation of all the incredible teachers from my mom, who is the most incredible cook, to my Ayurveda teachers, to my yoga teachers, to my nutrition and dietetic, teachers that I had at college.

When I was writing the book, I said, I do not want it to just be plant based recipes. I love cooking. It is everything that, I pour my heart into it. But at the same time, food is just one aspect of having a joyful life. there's so much more to it.

Gabby: it. And

Radhi: so There are easy recipes.

There are recipes from my heritage that are, you know, inspired by the spices of India, but also there are burgers and like a roasted red pepper tahini pasta and there's noodles. And basically, I really thought about it as something where someone can pick up and there's [00:23:00] something for everyone, every craving, every mood, Also a reminder that food that you're Makes you feel good and food that is joyful and actually makes your body feel good, do not have to be separate things like we all, we almost always feel like, okay, if I, if I wanna be healthy and if I wanna feel good, I have to eat food that tastes really bad. And it doesn't have to be.

You can have food that makes you feel good and brings you joy at the same time.

Gabby: And the joy of making

Radhi: And the joy of making it. Yeah. The joy of making it and. experimenting with the foods and realizing that you have the ability to completely change how your body feels based on what you're preparing in your hands.

And that's such an incredible power to have.

Gabby: Totally. I was talking about this with Jay last night, how, when I was in your home, and It's like very Asian influenced. It's all vegan. All the furniture is vegan. Like it's just Zen. It's kapha. It's very kapha. It really is kapha. And it's grounding. It's grounding.

It's like on the top of this hill and it's just like earth. [00:24:00] And I was saying to him that I'm like a crasher. Like I had this hippie mom. She would like show up anywhere. She'd be like, Oh, I'll come stay over. so I'm going to come and live in your

Radhi: whenever you're here. And

Gabby: I want to request a vata meal

Radhi: Okay, perfect.

Gabby: and I want to cook it with you.

And I want to relax in your home. And I want to have tea with all of the. Spices in the morning. And I want to have a full blown Aria Veda retreat at your house.

Radhi: think that'll be so

Gabby: I'm inviting myself. But I know that you're, you know, your husband's like my brother. So it's like

Radhi: Yeah, no, oh my gosh,

Gabby: but I would invite myself even if it wasn't Jay.

You know what? It's so

Radhi: And you know what? The environment is so, it's so nice that you felt that because I have a Vata mind, like my mind

Gabby: can be kind of

Radhi: all over the place.

And so to create a space around you for anybody who feels like they're imbalanced in any part of their life. Create an external environment at least that counteracts that and balances it because that slowly then infuses to you internally as soon as I walk through that house, even if my mind is [00:25:00] all over the place, there's something that goes and it just completely re centers me and grounds me.

And there's different things you can do for that. But I really recommend people if you're feeling all over the place internally, create some sort of organization externally to and balance out the chaos that you're feeling internally. And slowly it starts kind of rubbing off on you because I had to do that a

Gabby: So I'm mainly Vata, right? Mitta pitta, yeah. So what would be a good balance for my pittaness?

So pitta is

Radhi: fire. So you need the air and the calm. And so if you're choosing workouts, nothing too intense

Gabby: That's true.

Radhi: yeah, nothing too intense. That's going to increase that fire. if you are picking music, Basically everything opposite.

Yeah. Calming, soothing, the foods that you're eating, not too many spices and sours and extremes. You are, you live in the extreme and so you probably need things that help balance that out. So in your homes, not extreme colors, having colors that make you feel close to water and [00:26:00] nature and earth as possible.

Yeah, it's everything that you think. You know, irate is actually really simple if you think about it, we don't live in nature, we are part of nature, and we have to remember that, that everything that's happening in nature around us is affecting us, too.

Gabby: Yeah.

Radhi: Yeah, it's just, it's magical.

It really is. It's really beautiful.

Gabby: magical,

Radhi: you are!

Gabby: First of all, thank you for dear Roddy ing me.

Radhi: No, thank

Gabby: Thank you for Joyful. I want Joyful, everyone. Everyone, this is, this book is massive. and I can't wait to see everybody sharing their images from Cooking Then. The beautiful, the pictures are stunning. You, my love, are just, I could stare at you all day. She is the most magnificent, beautiful, you walk your talk in your presence.

And your whole aesthetic and your gorgeous

Radhi: skin.

Gabby: I'm in love with Ruddy. I love

Radhi: grateful to be on this podcast.

Honestly, this is so surreal to be on your podcast. You've been a legend for such a long time. No, you are actually a legend and, it feels like such an honor to even come and

Gabby: a conversation

Radhi: with you, and I'm so excited for you to come and live with

Gabby: I'm going to come. I mean, you [00:27:00] gotta be careful, sweetheart. I'm going to show up with my bags.

Radhi: We have all the rooms

Gabby: I might show up with a five year old. I'm just kidding.

Radhi: please! Come on!

Gabby: not. I will not put that kid on top of that mountain. Who knows what's going to happen on top of that hill. Uh, no, no, I will come by myself

It will be my Zen time. Yes, I'd like that. I fully booked a room.

Radhi: that.

I fully booked a room. Yeah,

Gabby: Josh can come too. I love you. It's beautiful. It's beautiful. Thank you. Send me pictures of Jay's meals. I obviously need them

Radhi: will. Yeah, exactly.

Gabby: right. So everybody go by Joyful and, Radhi, where else can they find you?

Radhi: I'm on Instagram at ra deluccia and I have a YouTube channel where I share recipes and a lot of wellness tips too.

Gabby: and yeah. Yeah. Your YouTube is great. I love you. Thank you. Beautiful.