How Fasting Awakens the Body’s Healing Power in Chronic Disease

And a joy. And I am really— I really appreciate you for inviting me. It's more than me. I think this is the time very well spent in my life. So when we talked about what would be the best, I thought probably From Vishya to Amrita: Fasting and Ashtanga Yoga for Chronic Disease Reversal. Because anything I do has to be focused on reversing disease. So how many of you like this title? Please say yes in the group, please. Can you see me?

Yes, we can see you but not your slides. Yeah, people are typing yes.

Fantastic. So I'm going to— I think probably because I'm not sharing. Yes, can you see it now?

Yeah, now we can see your, uh, presentation.

Good. So people like the title, Vishwa to Amrita?

Yes, awesome. Yes, they, they typed. Yes, almost 200 people have typed.

Yes, fantastic. Thank you.

And also, I want all of you to make a lot of notes, a lot of notes, and please share it in the portal.

Okay?

Yes, please go ahead, doctor.

Thank you. So today, you know, fasting has been part of our life, and there are several fasting methods people have done research. But what does it do basically? Basically, you know, when you eat Your stomach, it will stay 3 to 4 hours, gets digested. Food is in 3 parts: carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Then there are several mechanisms, reactions that happen in the— and the good is taken up. The liver and the kidney, the intestine handle, and the bad is excreted out. And this keeps happening, but people don't understand that each time you eat, whether it is good food also, the body has to work hard on it. It is what is called a sympathetic process, which is it activates. So that itself creates inflammation. So the point is Indians figured this out that in Ayurveda, Vata, Pitta, Kapha, and they nicely identified things and what is good for each. And then when they fasted, they figured out that it actually reduces the inflammation. So as you age, we used to have 9 hallmarks for aging. Now there are 12 hallmarks. And one of the important things, very, very critical thing, is inflammation in the body. And that is called inflammaging. So every day when you age, you are getting inflamed, and fasting is one which actually reduces inflammation. And then when you reduce your inflammation, your insulin starts acting well and your gut gets better, which is the intestines, the bacteria gets better. And when you keep doing this on a daily basis And I have actually— PubMed is the place where doctors go for all the research, and I kind of put all that research into kind of trying to help you. And you can— you all can see here at the end, this is published articles about understanding what is visha. It's a toxic state. How do you get toxics? When you eat a lot of— your lifestyle is what produces toxins. The kind of eating you do, the kind of when do you sleep. So people must sleep by 10 PM. If you don't, 10 PM to 2 AM is when your body detoxes. And if you don't, if you're awake, it can't detox, and then you enter into a toxic state, and then you create inflammation. And that's why you see inflammation producing as, oh, I can't move my body well. Oh, I have joint pains. I have like pain in the neck, pain. Then I can't think properly. I feel like there is brain fog. Um, I— there is— my mind is not clear even though I sleep well. I can't think clearly. So this, this is chronic inflammation. So these simple things Indians figured out and they said, you know, we're going to go by Early rise, early to bed. By the sunsets, people used to go to bed. Nowadays, because of all this stimulation, we are sleeping very late. That includes me also. So then, then what happens is your cells become deaf to insulin. Then the glucose goes up when you are toxic. So then when the glucose goes up, insulin goes up. And you can see people's insulin when it's going up in the cheeks. They'll have some black here in the, in the temple, here in the sides. They'll have black in the back and in under the neck. They'll have— that is called acanthosis nigricans. That means they have too much insulin in the body. And when you have too much insulin in the body, then the glucose goes up and diabetes. So every 5th diabetic on this earth He's an Indian. So it's very important. The toxins that you get are because of processed food. Everywhere there is bags of food. Please stay away from all this— Haldi Rams, any of these things that are processed. Processed is anything that is produced in the factory. Stop that, please. That is the biggest cause for a lot of health problems. Then I keep saying my, my 6 poisons. I'll tell you here itself. Processed foods. Give— eat food that is God-given in the God-given state. Please don't make it artificial from the— in the bags and eat. Then sugar. Sugar is very inflammatory to the body. Then dairy. Dairy is very, very saturated fat. And then all the dairy nowadays is filled with hormones and antibiotics. That changes the gut bacteria. Then refined flour like maida, it's a disaster. White rice— try to eat brown rice, millets, quinoa if it's available. Gluten, a lot of wheat is a problem. I mean, Indians don't have so much as Americans, but Still, we also have the same kind of that. These all build toxins. If you eat whole food, plant-based, then you'll be fine. Plastics. Remember, imagine the amount of plastics that have come. The plastics leach. Nowadays, when heart doctors are actually doing heart cath, when they're trying to remove the blood clot, when they have stroke, or when they have heart attack, they are finding in the blood vessel a lot of plastics. They're called microplastics. And we have a system in America, it's called plasmapheresis, total plasma exchange. When we do that, we are able— we are actually seeing at least half bag of plastics filtered from the blood. So please move away. And our Indians have figured this long ago. Thank God we didn't have plastics those days. We used copper because copper water, when it's stored, it becomes a little bit, uh, leeches, and then it's an alkaline way. Or in, in, uh, in the clay pots. So because the toxins damage the DNA, and that's where you get cancers. You can see that in India, a lot of cancers are coming up. Then when you have a toxic state, your cortisol— and that's where you get belly A lot of people get belly around the abdomen, uh, fat around the abdomen. That is cortisol for you, and that also changes sex hormones. So at 50, people have decreased libido, decreased, uh, erection problems and all that, and that is because your toxins impact the cortisol, the insulin, and then sex hormones. And in India, because of the social system, they can't tell things properly. So what are the drivers? In my mind, these are the drivers that actually cause chronic disease. One is inflammation. How do I check? It's a simple blood test. We do what is called C-reactive protein. Anybody can do that. If it is greater than 3, you should really change. It should be less than 1. 1 to 3 also, I tell people start changing your lifestyle, but they'll be normal. Normal is not what I look for. I look for the lowest value. And IL-6 is another blood test. TNF-alpha is another. We can check all this in the blood. And then insulin resistance, we can do hemoglobin A1c. Nowadays I get a lot of labs to review from India and I see their liver enzymes going up. It's called fatty liver. Why? Because we are consuming too many calories. We will say we are vegetarian, but everything is a fry. If you see Indian cooking, they will fry in the beginning, they'll fry afterwards, everything, tadka, all these things, they're full of oil. And oil is the one that has more calories, 9 kilocalories per gram. Carbohydrates and proteins, 4 kilocalories. So when you have more calories, you'll— the fat accumulates, and then the cells get all packed up, and the insulin cannot act. Insulin's job is to push the blood glucose into the blood, into the cells, to give you energy. And that's why you'll see people getting tired easily. And then that's the reason you get— and then diabetes, because because of insulin resistance. And then in young people, young girls, they'll get what is called PCOD, PCOS. And then environmental metabolic burden— you get toxins, hormones— because some people have this carbohydrate craving. Everybody blames when people are obese, oh, it's because you're eating more, you're eating— no, sometimes the hormones are responsible for it. And Like, for me, cortisol is a problem. Why? Because I'm doing so many things, uh, so you'll have stress. But if you do keep your life simple and kind of— I, I say follow the rule of 8: 8 hours sleep, 8 hours work. In the next 8 hours, 4 hours for yourself, which means that you work on yourself, like meditation I am into Heartfulness meditation. So every day morning I do meditation, and evening I do cleaning and night prayer. So that's about 1 hour and 15 minutes that I focus on meditation. Then I do yoga for 1 hour, that's— and then maybe exercise, and then brushing and all that. And then 4 hours for family. So if you do that structured timetable, then your cortisol gets better, and sleeping by 10 PM, waking up by 5, you know, all those affect the cortisol. And then when you sleep late, there are hormones called leptin and ghrelin. These things have a mismatch, and then you start eating late night. So please don't eat after 7 PM. Then gut dysfunction. This is getting a lot of attention these days. They're calling it leaky gut. Indians have figured this out. We used to do a lot of whole food plant-based diet. And a lot of beans that really give. And then we used to eat by season, so different colors, different vegetables, fruits. So that fixes the gut, you know. And then the genes, because the lifestyle has changed, the genes are changing. We call that the bad genes get turned on and the good genes go off. So now this is your answer. Hey, my grandpa used to live for 90 years. They never had any trouble. Why are we at 50 having so many issues? Because we have, we have triggered and we have kind of stimulated the bad genes to turn on and create problems for us. And your stem cells is where everything, tissue repair happens. So when the body is detoxing between 10 to 2 AM, after it happens, then a lot of stem cell regeneration and rejuvenation happens. So sleep of 8 hours is a must, 6 to 8 hours. You know, sleep is the time wherein the body regenerates itself. So I am trying to do stem cells. The ozone that I'm trying to do is a way that I can stimulate stem cells, reduce the inflammation, improve the oxidative stress, so that reduce the oxidative stress and improve the ATP production and more energy. And that leads to mitochondria, which is the powerhouse of the cells. So people say, oh, I don't have the energy, maybe it's aging. No, it's because of your lifestyle. Your stress, oxidative stress is so more, inflammation is so forth. Then the energy is not produced despite eating. You still feel, you know, and this is the published evidence in the bottom. When you see this, It is what has been published. So how does fasting help? You know, the— now that you know what are the causes for, uh, disease, so when you're fed versus when you're fasting, so what happens is after 12 to 14 hours of your fast, the body, whatever you eat, is turned to glucose, and then it, it kind of gets to the cells. And once the cells use up, and then it turns into fat and then stores. But then what happens is if you fast and you're not giving glucose, whatever stored glucose in the liver, after 7 to 8 hours, slowly it gets depleted. And then since the glucose is not there, the body— like your brain, your heart— constantly need energy. Then they go into the fat, and then the fat starts getting burnt. Then the ketones are formed. And then they found that this actually helps. And then the damaged proteins that we have created in the body, they all get cleared up. And then there is this pathways that are stimulated that helps you to live long. So I'm wondering, when I learned all this in the anti-aging medicine, I used to wonder, our people used to go to Himalayas, and I don't know in snow what kind of food they get over there. but they're simply sitting and meditating. And then some people get all this, they live for so many years. So obviously that shows that even though these people didn't have— they were in a constant ketotic state most of the time, and that helped for them to live long, you know. And then the inflammation decreases. That is the key thing about this fasting. And New England Journal of Medicine is one of the most reputed journal, you know. And so let's see what all it does, you know. Uh, weight loss up to 8%, your fasting glucose up to 16%, up to 14%, blood pressure up to about 10%, triglycerides up to 16%, your inflammation. So that is the key. Once you reduce inflammation in the body, a lot of things get better. Your heart health, I call that, gets better. Your visceral fat— visceral fat is the key thing that causes a lot of medical problems— that gets reduced. Like COVID is a great example. COVID loves fat. So that's why older adults, when you get 65, it doesn't matter how beautiful you look, but your visceral fat increases, and then that causes more problems. So once you fast, your visceral fat reduces, then your insulin actually works better, and then inflammation. So they actually did a study for diabetes people, and they showed that just by doing fasting and everything else being the same, the A1C dropped. Obviously, you got to do this under— and JAMA is one of the most reputed journal in US. It was recently published. So this, and our Indians have figured this out. So I'm going to kind of stop a little bit and say, how are you guys going through this? Are you able to understand and are you able to follow through? Because I like this to be interactive, and please ask questions and I'll answer it there. Hopefully I'm able to translate this into understanding at your level. Thank you so much.

Yeah, so everyone is saying great, and we have almost 1,000 members. Thank you, thank you.

Yes, thank you so much. So, so now I'll kind of go into a little bit of details, you know, because what is autophagy is when you get into fasting, your body starts cleaning up. Then all the damaged proteins and the cells that are there, that needs to be cleaned up. And fasting actually cleans it up. And then what happens is when you fast, there are certain enzymes called sirtuin— it's called a pathway— they actually get activated. And then you feel actually more energy. So like, for example, in people, in children who have seizures, we give what is called medium-chain triglycerides like coconut oil or— and ghee especially. They— like people who have autism, and they actually go better into the brain the same way ketones go better into the brain. And actually you feel more energy, and then the gut changes from inflammation and actually stops the, uh, improves the, uh, gut layer, I call that. So the reason is if you constantly keep eating— earlier we never used to do this. Now food is everywhere. You can just buy Swiggy, Zomato, order food anytime and every time. It's— so please try to kind of go back to our old ancient methods, you know. And see how they change. So one example they actually did is that 7 days, they actually made a 7-day fasting, plus they moved to a plant-based diet. And in rheumatoid arthritis, they actually did a study and they showed that their function was better, the inflammation reduced, and they call it fasting-mimicking diet. So autoimmune. So the way now everybody in India, even here including me, I never had any problem until I came to US. Then I'm trying to create my career, so it was very stressful. I was doing a lot of research, publishing papers, staying up till 3. I was a professor at the university. Suddenly one day, you know, I was so tired, tired. I got my blood test, so my B12 vitamin D, and thyroid was totally abnormal. My antibodies were high, so which means I got autoimmune thyroid disease. So the point is, in India also I'm seeing a lot. So sometimes your thyroid will be normal, but ask your doctor to check thyroid autoimmune antibodies because they come way early before thyroid shows up. So please, everybody who is listening to me, make sure that yearly once Apart from checking your liver, your kidney, and your basic— we call that complete blood count— and your cholesterol, please check your thyroid disease, thyroid antibodies, B12 level, folate level, then vitamin D level. You'll be amazed to see just doing simple things how good you feel. So I want to talk about fasting mimicking diet. This is a new phenomenon Nowadays in America, there is a company called Prolon. P-R-O-L-O-N. They actually give you meals that are already ready-made. You just buy from them and you don't have to do anything. This is a very funny thing. You will be eating, but the body doesn't understand that you're eating. The body thinks that you're actually fasting. So what they do is they figured out that low-calorie, low-protein, plant-based when they do it at a certain level, it mimics that as though we are doing a water fast. So the body— it's like, uh, tricking the body. You're eating, but still your, uh, your body thinks that you're fasting, and then it reduces the insulin resistance, reduces the fat in the liver and the inflammation. And they have shown— this is all research published.

Doctor, are you sharing the screen? Yeah, screen share is off, I think. Yeah, please check.

Oh, oh, sorry about that. My, my apologies. Oh, I wish— can see it?

Yes, we can see now.

Oh, sorry about that. So this was the cellular activity, the certain gut remodeling Then the fasting in autoimmune state, then the fasting mimicking diet here. Then, yeah, so yeah, this is it. So then what happens is when you follow this on a long-term basis, probably they say do it once in 6 months. It actually improves the biologic age. And they have shown that there is what is called chronological age, which is actually your age. Can you see the slides now?

Yes, we can see the slides.

Okay. So when you do this fasting mimicking diet, the biological age improves. The chronological age is what your date of birth shows, but the biologic age actually determines how good you are. And there are tests that you can do, simple things that check, that actually gets well because that is anti-aging for you. So, so I always try to bring Patanjali Yoga Sutras because that's my, because that's my goal, to bring back the ancient wisdom and put it in the modern context to make. And this is the behavioral framework, you know, that makes fasting safe, enjoyable, and sustainable. Okay, and it is con— I gave you enough evidence how yoga-based lifestyle programs improve the blood pressure, the glycemic control, metabolic syndrome. So Yama is the ethical boundaries that people should have, good things. And then Niyama is your daily self-care. Asana is the movement, so movement is medicine. Pranayama is breath training. It looks You're all experts in that. Pratyahara is sensory fasting. Dharana is focus training. Dhyana is meditation. Samadhi is meaning and purpose. So this is, this is the evidence that you have. And they have actually done research, and this was published in Diabetes Care in 2019. They introduced a 12-week yoga-based lifestyle intervention. And they found that your waist circumference reduced and metabolic syndrome was reduced, and they reversed that. When you reverse metabolic syndrome, you reverse your diabetes. So the point I'm trying to make is, if you follow these 8 steps— because everything has to happen like, like a symphony of music, you know, only is beautiful if you put all the notes together and there is a harmony to that rhythm. So the same way, Ashtanga Yoga has to be followed and imbibed into a rhythmic process in your daily life in order to get results. So when they did, they reduced A1C by 1 point, glucose drop, and cortisol. The point is, people, you— this may look like, oh, this is not too much, But once your cortisol decreases, it's a huge thing for the rest of the thing, because cortisol is very dangerous. If it is— it is very good when you have appropriate amount. If it is low, you're— it's a disaster. If it's high— so the best way to regulate cortisol is our breathwork, pranayama, sympathetic, parasympathetic. And what happens is pranayama, when you do yoga, your vagus nerve is in a high drive, then the parasympathetic mode gets better, and that's changing the game. So meta-analysis means that they look at all the research put together in yoga, and this is what they have shown— that it affects glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, waist-hip ratio, cortisol. It's a huge thing when you actually do daily yoga for for, for at least 1 hour. So how does this work? So I'm kind of showing here fasting and ashtanga. So the fasting activates repair, as I have shown. It helps to clean up. And then when you add ashtanga to it, it creates a consistent routine and discipline, and then it reverses disease. Which, because you're switching the metabolism of the body, and if you make it a daily habit, then your life will be sustainable and joyful. So the point is, fasting alone by itself is powerful but can be challenging. But if you put this all yoga together, and as I said, the 6 pillars— exercise, nutrition, stress management, sleep, Addictions and social relationships are the 6 pillars. And if you make this a daily habit, then it affects the 8 drivers, and then it affects your reversal. So as I said, and I'm again going to compare fasting with Ashtanga Yoga. So I told you that fasting helps these 3 blood levels and then reduces the visceral fat, which is fat inside the body around the organs of your body, improves the gut barrier. Because when gut leaks, all the chronic problems start. So the way it works is when you have a lot of inflammation, the intestines, the gut we call that, has where the immunity— 80% of your immune system is in the gut. So that's why our Indians used to push breastfeeding. When you don't breastfeed, what happens is your immunity goes bad. When you eat a lot of processed foods, when you eat artificial stuff, when you eat constantly, your gut gets messed up. When you eat a lot of meat and meat products, saturated fat, that's a problem. And then, and then the LPS leakage, which is actually the key reason that you see a lot of infections and everything, viral infections and all that. So when you fast, all this gets lowered. And they have done multiple randomized controlled trials, which means this is the standard of science, you know. So yoga, yama, avoid inflammatory foods and substances. Niyama, stabilize sleep. We, we had certain practices and timetable, you know. Pranayama calms the HPA axis. Pranayama and dhyana which is what I told you, that the— it's called HPA, means hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, from the brain to the adrenal. Adrenal glands are just above the kidney, and they give the cortisol. So the teaching pearl is every fasting window is your body's chance to put out the inflammatory fire, and yoga adds the soothing water for that. So again, how does it affect the insulin resistance? It improves the sensitivity, and then the fasting glucose— even when calories you're matching, then what happens is the type 2 diabetes gets well. So when you have Ashtanga, the niyama, consistent eating window reinforces with the circadian insulin sensitivity. What that does mean— we used to have that. Get up, wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning, do your daily routine, And people used to do yoga, pranayama, mudras, and then they went to work and they came back by evening 5, they ate, or sunset 7, sleep. So that is called the circadian rhythm. That helps glucose muscle intake. And diabetes people, just do this for me as an experiment in your own life. 30 minutes after you eat— I mean, every time you eat, 30 minutes you try to walk. Lunch, dinner, breakfast. See how your glucose changes, you know. So, so when you do this routinely, your cravings also drop. So insulin resistance is your body saying enough. Fasting and yoga teach your metabolism to listen again. So as I said, diabetes is a calorie problem. So toxins— how does fasting help? Toxins. It— this is the insulin, insulin growth-like factor signaling, we call that. That gets reduced. Once that gets reduced, it clears the damaged cells. So in, like, in cancer, it is one of the best things to do, apart from doing other things. When you fast, you'll be amazed. And when you eat sugar, you're actually feeding, and this is what happens. This signaling gets worse in cancer. So that's why you should completely eliminate sugar when you're having cancer. And clinical fasting has shown that they improve. So how does Ashtanga help? You know, Yama Niyama Asana. So avoid chemical-laden food, plastics, smoking, alcohol. These are all disasters. Now Indians, in every movie I see, it's sad. That everybody is making as though smoking and alcohol are just okay. Alcohol is one of the disasters. It's all refined and so much of a problem for, uh, the health. It's very inflammatory. So, and smoking, I don't need to tell you guys, it's, it is really, really very inflammatory, nicotine. So please avoid those two. And then niyama, hydration. You got to drink water. How much do you drink? If you're— I'm going to kind of— if you're, let's say, 90 kilos, which is approximately 200 pounds, 100 ounces, which is about 3 to 4 liters. So everybody should be drinking 3 to 4 liters. And Indians figured this out. They used to say, when you wake up, drink warm water, you know, in the beginning. And then fiber. Beans have fiber. And that helps the gut. Asana enhances circulation and elimination. So autophagy is your internal housekeeping. It, it is like your vacuum cleaner. So fasting rings the bell, yoga keeps the house uncluttered. Hormones— how does fasting help hormones? Then it normalizes the hormones that I told you, the leptin, ghrelin, insulin. And the cortisol that helps appetite control. Once, as I said, the fast— the fat keeps moving, then the visceral fat reduces, and then intermittent fasting changes the cortisol and then changes the diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. So in Ashtanga Yoga, when you have regular sleep, supports the circadian rhythms. When you sleep well, you rejuvenate well. And pranayama and dhyana, cortisol helps. Then pratyahara, which is like detoxification, try to kind of bring those habits. Like, and then when you stop watching a lot of screens, screens eliminate— the screens emit what is called blue light. And when you see a lot of blue light, like in the evening, like 7 to 10, then there is a gland inside the brain called pineal gland that stops producing the melatonin, and then you can't sleep well. So please, after 7 or 8, stop all screens, read a book, meditate, do pranayama and yoga nidra, and then get into your body and sleep. This was recently published in a magazine called Science Direct 2026. So hormones are the body orchestra. So the rhythm is gone if your hormones— especially women can easily feel, and some men feel too when they hit like 50, because their estrogen, progesterone changes. And then in men, the testosterone changes. So you need to understand that you need hormone replacement and then bring back the rhythm to the body. So what fasting does is it doesn't change anything with menopause or andropause, but It helps to reset the stage, and Ashtanga Yoga is like conducting the music. How does fasting help the gut? It reduces inflammation. As I said, that changes the LPS-mediated by improving the— when you fast, what happens is the bacteria, when you keep on feeding, keep on feeding, And if you feed the wrong things, then the bad bacteria goes up. And people, that's why they feel bloated, they feel discomfort, and they say, oh, it's aging. No, it's not aging. You've fed your gut all stuff that is not good all your life, and you didn't have a rhythm to your life. And that's why the bad bacteria grew more than the good bacteria. And then that changes. Insulin resistance and cholesterol, and that changes your autoimmune problems. There's a lot of issues that happen. So we used to have gut cleanse in Ayurveda that was really good because they knew, and they ate a lot of whole food plant-based fiber, which is the key. And asanas also, mobility reduces constipation. Pranayama stimulates vagus nerve. Dharana, mindful eating. So I like to be a little bit poetic this morning. Your microbiome is like a living garden. Fasting is like pruning. It trims all the plants. And plant-based refeeding, when you give whole food plant-based and yoga, are like sunlight and water to your gut. Epigenetics. So everybody is born with the same genes. When people say, oh, it runs in my family, it's the genes. No, that's wrong. We're all born with— there is only few genetic diseases that unfortunately some people get, and that is real. And it's good news that we are getting what is called gene therapy now, very targeted. Some people have already gotten in America, they're doing research on it. And sometimes what now I'm doing into regenerative stem cells is You can actually take body stem cells, but again, if I take your own stem cells from fat or bone and try to give it back to you, if you didn't live a good life, the stem cells are also not going to be good. So you can't take flowers from a garden that is full of weeds, you know. So the same way, if you— then stem cells don't work. So we give stem cells from— that are extracted from umbilical cord, and that also helps. To kind of reduce the inflammation and some of the epigenetics. But the most important thing is fasting can simply change the pathway, and they actually help to change the metabolism, how it happens in the body, and helps you to live longer. So it's like genetics are like a loaded gun, your lifestyle is like the trigger. That makes the gun explode. So I, I love that. Your genes load the gun, your habits pull or release the trigger. Fasting and Ashtanga help your epigenetics choose health. So please, and look at Ashtanga Yoga, they actually figured this out. When you have good discipline, you'll have epigenetic benefits to accumulate. When you do dharana and dhyana, it changes the thought patterns, that feed harmful gene expression. And samadhi is like long-term identity for health. So stem cell dysfunction, we are talking about it. They actually have done studies wherein if you fast and fasting mimicking diet, it actually helps improve aging markers and regenerates. So periodic fasting is very good. Asana helps to preserve muscle and joint. And dhyana and samadhi. So it's like this, we have monsoon in India, so when you fast, it's like the gentle monsoon rains that help to get new growth. So yoga keeps the soil fertile. So mitochondria is your powerhouse of the cells, and when you fast, it helps to improve the biogenesis and energy, and then it helps to make sure that your body metabolism is run on fats and the ketones. So fasting gives your mitochondria like a tune-up, and Ashtanga Yoga ensures that you don't drive them back to burnout. So this is very helpful because in yama, when you follow yama, good things, then it discourages the toxins. Niyamas ensure sleep. Pranayamas are oxygen utilization. And dhyana helps to decrease the mental overdrive. So the 8 daily fasts, I call that from visha to amruta. If you can put this daily thing into your habits, because everybody knows this knowledge, but how do you put your— so I just created this, my goal, do it. And how do you transform yourself from turning fasting from a temporary intervention into a new identity for yourself, and you make this a practice. So I'll kind of go— and this is like in the Frontiers of Nutrition journal. So no smoking, no alcohol on fasting days, minimize ultra-processed foods. The— when you do this, toxins, inflammation, hormones are affected. So before each meal, ask Does this nourish or harm my body? And you know, in certain cultures, they pray before the body— I mean, before they eat, they pray. Especially in Christian traditions, I see that in a lot of families here. And I'm sure in India they used to do it in the past too, that they used to say prayer. And the reason is they want to make sure that your eating is very mindful, that each food particle that you're eating will actually be a source to rejuvenate your life and improve the cellular function and helps to get great health. So fasting from, you know, fast from chaos if you have daily habits. So there are several ways of intermittent fasting, and the good thing is if you can say 12 to 6 hours overnight fast and then same waking and sleeping time every day. That itself changes your insulin resistance, hormones, epigenetics. So it's very important to create that simplicity. And then asana, 20-30 minutes of yoga or walking most days. We call that timed eating or timed fasting or time-restricted eating. That changes your insulin resistance, mitochondrial and stem cells. So daily morning doing yoga, Surya Namaskar, evening walk before or after dinner, and then pranayama. They just figured out 5 to 10 minutes of diaphragmatic, the Kapalbhati, and the alternate nostril breathing. Then that changes your inflammation, hormones, gut. And then box breathing, we call that 444. You guys know this better than me. They have found, and this is the article that published saying that how this helps. Uh, and fasting, pratyahara, digital sunset— I would say 2 hours no screens, and then that changes the gut health, hormones, and mitochondria. And all devices off by 8 PM, you know. And dharana— so make sure that you eat only during a certain time, and that changes your insulin resistance and epigenetics. And my suggestion is eat slowly. My grandmother used to say, because I was in a hurry because I want to go and play outside, because I used to wonder, I used to figure that if I spend less time, but that is wrong. Nowadays you can see and hear about weight loss injections. So our Indians figured this out, that mindful eating. When you are eating, you just eat and focus on that. And you chew your food properly, and actually about 20 times versus 40 times, they have done a research study. So when you eat slowly and you chew your food properly, that actually changes the game because you absorb better. And this hormone that we are trying to inject from outside, called the semaglutide or the tirzepatide, we call that GLP-1, that is actually released. So you will actually have weight loss. Then pranayama, dhyana, they all help to create a strong mind, and then you can have strong will because— and then your cravings, and you don't obey them because a strong mind in a strong body, when you practice this, your inflammation hormones and stem cells get better. So it's very important you do this. And again, reflection. Every day writing a gratitude journal and reflection at the end of the day. Why am I doing this? Because I say your body is your temple. Your soul has found this body. So our Indians believe that we need moksha. So your body is the vehicle for you to transport. It's like rocket, you know, that they have critical and then they get liberated into the space. The same way, our body is very important. It's a vehicle. So you protect this well so that you can attend to the soul and attain Moksha. And then you need to kind of say that, why am I doing this? And self-love for the body. So attending to yourself is not selfishness. I never— I always thought I, I'm born to create, uh, I mean, I, I, I thought when I was in 8th grade, I said I have only 2 reasons for the purpose of my life. I said I'm going to become a doctor to serve humanity, and I'm going to find why am I born, the purpose of my life. Luckily, I got both. I got into meditation very quickly, uh, When I was in internship of, uh, in Gandhi Hospital, I learned about Ramchandra Mission and Heartfulness Meditation, 30 years. And then I became a doctor to serve humanity. And I didn't even know until I came to lifestyle medicine that first I need to take care of myself before I need to do. So I'll be honest, I got burnt out. But when I started practicing lifestyle medicine, when I take care of myself, self Health is really a good thing. Love yourself. So 8 to 10 windows, like example is 10 AM to 6 PM. This is called time-restricted eating. There is intermittent fasting, alternate-day fasting, 5:2 pattern, and then there is fasting mimicking diet, 5-day cycles, low-calorie, low-protein. So these are all the fasting protocols we call them. And what's the goal is to kind of Make sure that you— it reduces, as I said. But how do you do the protocol? 14:10, which is like fast 14 and then 10 you can eat, or 16:8. I think 16:8 is the best way that you fast for 16 hours, 8 you can eat your breakfast, lunch, dinner. And, uh, but again, focus on, uh, the morning routine. And pranayama. And then there is this another protocol that reduces the insulin. They have done this research and it was published in Annals of Internal Medicine. Improves insulin sensitivity, fasting 16:8, 5 to 6 days per week. And then you can, you can start with 12:12, 14:10, 16:8, or 14:8, but no food after 5 to 6 PM. And then it's very important that you do that. And then when you do fasting mimicking diet, actually has shown to help in toxin and autophagy. And they have done a lot of research in cancer also as well. And usually it should be medically supervised. So, and then again, how does it translate to Ashtanga Yoga? You know, no harm, no alcohol, no smoking, you know, that all helps. So support cortisol. Then this is another fasting protocol that people have used, hormone rhythm, wherein supports the cortisol, melatonin, appetite hormones like the leptin, ghrelin. So 12 to 13 hour early time-restricted eating, 7 days per week. Example, 7 AM to 7 PM or 8 AM to 8 PM, no food. This is very critical before bedtime. The reason why they want you to finish eating by 6 or 7 PM is It takes 4 hours for the body, for the stomach to get empty. So when you go to bed by 10 PM, you really want your stomach to be empty. Otherwise it will be a big— and then a lot of people get hungry. Then drink water before you eat anything. It's a— because when your body feels hungry and craving, it means that it needs water, not food. So try to do that. So the other protocol that they have published is gut healing fasting. They can do 24-hour water or broth fasting and 4 to 6 weeks, and then plant-based diet always helps. They actually did a lot of research. We call that functional medicine here. In Ayurveda over there, you know, inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome, autoimmune, They really help with fasting, you know, fasting helps a lot. And epigenetics also, they have done research, 14 to 16 hours time-restricted eating. They have done 3 to 4 cycles per year, 5-day fasting, and they change the longevity, you know. And for stem cells, they have figured out a protocol like 3 to 5 days fasting mimicking diet every 2 to 3 months. And for 3 to 4 cycles. And make sure that you have adequate protein. What is protein? Is 1 cup of beans will have 16 grams, you know, 15 to 16. 4 cups is enough for a male— for a female. And for a male, 3 cups is enough, you know, for protein. Mitochondrial metabolic goal is that when you do that, your mitochondria— the way you can do this is for patients who are very healthy, uh, 5 normal days, 2 days they just eat only 600 kilocalories and then reset that. And they need to do resistance and aerobic training. Resistance is lifting weights, and, uh, or you can do a 1 to 2 days per week fasting. And, uh, so It needs caution, you know, because sometimes fasting can change game, and especially people who are in diabetes or on insulin, pregnant or breast women, and frail elders, you know, who are underweight, and some people have eating disorders. So it's good to kind of work with your doctor. And, uh, and, you know, my goal is to be creating Live Well program. I address all the 8 drivers. I kind of look at what the risk and readiness is based on each individual and create SMART goals and try to create prescriptions for each of the driver. And then we monitor, adjust medications, and then support their inner journey and outer healthcare journey. And so, so how do you do this? You know, how do you implement this? Probably 12 hours overnight for 2 weeks, then 14 hours and then progress towards 16 to 18. And then, so the point is try to do more than 5 days per week. When you're in the fasting time, if you really feel hungry, eat water or green tea helps. And then morning hydration is key, breathwork, you know, they really help and slowly escalate. So you do it, don't do it uh, like in a hurry. Take time, have a goal, and go work towards the goal. So what you can do is Monday to Friday, 12-night fast, 8 PM to 8 AM. Morning, 10 minutes of pranayama, hydration. Eating window, 8 AM to 8 PM, whole foods. Then digital sunset, 9 PM. Weekend, same, 12 hours. Then more asana, mindful eating at table, no screens. Evening, gratitude journaling. You see now everybody has got a phone and they're all at the dinner table. So try to create consistency slowly rather than in a rush. So sometimes advanced protocols can be 16 to 8 morning meditation, practice asana. And I mean, Badri is good at doing all this because he's your coach and trying to kind of create that discipline. And these are some of the things. You can expect that once you create this kind of a protocol, in week 1 to 2, you'll see improved energy, better sleep, reduced bloating, hunger adaptation begins. Then week 4 to 8, then you see weight loss 2 to 5%, improved fasting glucose, reduced cravings, habits solidifying. Then 12 to 14, hemoglobin A1C goes down, your blood pressure gets better, improved lipids, identity shift. I mean, it's funny, I did this in an American woman. She is 80 and she wants to be looking young now. She always tried to look, and she's getting plastic surgery done even at 80 here. And she said, I don't want to take my blood pressure pill, I want to cut it down. I heard that you help in disease reversal and you don't like medication, so that's why I'm coming. And I said, okay, let's start drinking hibiscus tea, 5 cups per day. and she did it. I actually cut her lisinopril into half within just 2 weeks because her blood pressure— because they have done a research study. Hibiscus tea, 5 cups, is as good as taking a blood pressure pill. But again, you got to do it with talking to your doctor and all that. So 6 to 12 months sustained weight loss, 5 to 10% medication reduction, and reversal of metabolic syndromes. So this is Like a real story, you know, and, uh, wherein 52-year-old male, diabetes, waist 42 inches, metformin and then cholesterol medication, 16 to 8, 6 days per week, 9 AM to 5 PM. We did a plant-based Mediterranean diet and daily pranayama asana, weekly meditation. The 6 months, 28 pounds is approximately 14 kilos, waist 6 inches, hemoglobin A1c. We took off the metformin, blood pressure came down, and the patients say, I feel 10 years younger. So the whole thing is fasting is not anything new. It's been part of Indian culture, Ayurveda, yoga, and spiritual traditions for thousands of years. What's new is the scientific language that I'm explaining, and it's an Indian doctor having been in America for 25 years. Now I am able to explain with science and now it's got more power. Rather, our Indians have figured this out through observation, and if you can implement that, it helps to change the game. And your Ashtanga Yoga is actually the roadmap that ensures not only healing but creates a lifelong journey of health, which actually is your new wealth. So from Vishya to Amruta, it's not just a concept. It's your invitation to yourself from sick care to self-care, passive dependence to active co-creation of health. So lifestyle medicine is powerful, it's evidence-based, and using Ashtanga Yoga, it's spiritually grounded and transformative. So I want to kind of say one fast, one breath, one step on the mat, one consciousness, one choice at a time, and one great health for yourself. I hope this was helpful and you understood, took lot of notes. Let me know what you think of this.

Awesome, powerful, powerful, Doctor. Like, thank you, thank you so much. And everyone, you can type it in the chat box. How's the session? Super powerful, amazing, thank you so much, powerful. Very useful. Too good. Yes, you can read the chat box from chat box. Yes, awesome, awesome. So thank you, thank you so much. We have more like around 1,100 members now. I think it came to 1,000 members and who have been attending. And as it's getting live streamed on YouTube also, and thank you so much for taking your time and coming here today, uh, to add this value. Really eye-opening session for all of us. And, uh, I think how fasting plays an important role in our health. Many people think that eating, eating only, they focus. Yeah, so where is— where I'm like, many people focus only on eating, but you focus on fasting. And I hope they'll be following. And, and at least intermittent fasting, I want all of you to start with intermittent fasting. Start eating before 7 PM. See, in our community we have a rule that you have to eat before 7 PM. Right, so that is for the road. So can I take some questions, Doctor?

Yeah, absolutely.

And also, anyone would like to share before I go forward to this?

Like, anyone, you know, I'm trying to make this my life journey of bringing Ashtanga Yoga into modern medicine. I want people's input if I'm on the right path to kind of make this, you know, First I'll take some, uh, like experiences, then we'll go to the questions.

Anyone has anything to share? Chitraji, how was the session? And after that you can answer the question also. Ask the question. Yes, go ahead, unmute yourself. Please unmute.

Namaste. Namaste. Thank you for this lovely session.

Today being Ekadashi, in India we do fasting.

You are aware of it, and Omoti sir must also be aware of it.

So I am fasting today because every Ekadashi I do the fasting.

It will be either I'll be having only water or a glass of milk.

So is that fine?

Yes, as I said, The reason why I say milk now is a little bit, uh, because I don't know where the milk is coming from. It has become a production. And if you look at milk, it was by— for the cow or the— or whatever you get the source from, was for the baby. So it's got a lot of fat in it. And now in America, I don't know how in India also, I hear It's become a big industry now, so they're using hormones, they're giving antibiotics to prevent infection. So they all come and that changes your gut. So I— dairy has become one of the most allergic substances, you know, uh, and they— and it's got saturated fat. So I try to stay away from dairy because of that reason. And saturated fat is what causes a lot of problems with heart disease. So since I don't— that's the reason, unless you know that you're giving grass-fed. In America, they feed corn to this. So for me, I like to kind of stay away from dairy because of that. And then I would rather have you drink lemon water with some honey if you know where, or just lemon water or fruit juice. Or fruits, that would be a better choice. I stay away from dairy.

Awesome, thank you, thank you so much, Doctor. Let's go ahead, our session. Go ahead.

Namaste, sir. Namaste, Doctor. Uh, as usual, whenever you come, this is the second session I have attended of yours, Doctor, and, uh, as usual, it's mind-boggling, the knowledge and the way you are going about with the protocols, introducing Indian things into modern medicine. And thanks to Badri sir, I could connect with you. I had just one question, sir. Most of the things are for people who are totally mobile, but there are a lot of people like me who are in wheelchair or like So, sir, a humble request, do some for people like us to see.

Yeah, so, so there is what is called chair yoga. I'm sure you heard of it, right?

Yes, chair yoga.

Yeah, my yoga teacher actually teaches even for us. He'll make me do, make me do Surya Namaskar in the chair. Okay, so you can actually do— and then there is surya. So you can do in— and then get some weights and sit and do this for resistance training. Or if weights are a problem because accidentally you may fall and it'll hit, get rubber bands. You know, there are— yes, you know, in physical therapy you can go, they get elastic bands. So, so If you want, like in America we get bands that are like, this is 5 pounds, this is 10 pounds, right? This is 20 pounds. So that is also weight. So it's giving you that resistance training. And but the most important thing that you can do in chair is, is your breathwork, pranayama, that nobody stops you. Do all kinds of pranayama, okay? Whatever pranayama is there, do all the mudras. You know, because each mudra has got a certain specific guidance. Then meditation you can do. So yes, exercise is a problem, but when you do pranayama, you'll be burning calories.

Yes.

So when— but you, you have control on what you eat, so eat less, fast more, 16 to 8, and nobody— and then eat, eat whole food, plant-based diet. And do the times, you know, when you get up, when you sleep. These are all under your control, has got nothing to do with mobility, you know.

Yes, yes.

And that's what I'm saying, you know. And then for stress management, meditation, I said. And, and then, uh, for, uh, somebody said how to reduce belly fat. Belly fat is all cortisol, so you're stressed out. I go through the same problem. When you— so, so the, the only thing in wheelchair, what I would do is even if you do this sit-ups in the chair, right? So those are very, very, very helpful. Uh, and then, uh, even though your cortisol is normal, uh, because of the rhythm changes, they happen, uh, your belly fat. But then calories is also a problem for belly fat. Hormones are a problem. Sometimes if you're a male, your testosterone can be in the lower limit of normal. So there are— see, it's not one thing. That's why it's several things that cause the problem. You got to fix all these things, and sometimes you have to resort to medical questions. Like, uh, so somebody like Vishali, I would use the weight loss injections so that quickly you get to see results and then you get motivated. You'll see like, okay, now I can do it. You know, sometimes you got to reset the body hormones, you know.

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you so much.

I hope I answered your question, Shilpa ji.

Yes, very, very, very well, sir. Thank you. And thank you for coming and keep coming.

Oh, thank you, thank you for—

so thank you, thank you so much, Shilpa ji. And I'll take some questions from the like document we got. Uh, the first question, like, I— please let me know in case whenever you have to leave. And I'll ask one question, like, it's a very common question people are asking. I'm a diabetic patient, I'm a cardiac patient, and some people are saying like HbA1c is higher. And am I permitted— I am on medication— am I permitted to do fasting? Also, some of them are saying they are also kidney patients, fourth stage kidney patient.

Yeah, so the, the point is it depends on how your blood sugar over the day is coursing. Nowadays what happens is there is what is called CGS, continuous glucose monitoring. You can put a device here, it's available in India also now. So if you put that and you watch it on an app, then now you can see how your glucose and all is doing. So for some people, even though you fast, then as I said, the fat start getting mobilized And then you see, because each person has a tolerance level for glucose in the body. I know people who don't care, the body doesn't care, even though your sugar is like 70, they don't have any symptoms. But then there are people whose sugar, even if it drops below 130, they become hypoglycemic. So the goal for all these patients when you're fasting is to that threshold we call that to cause symptoms for hypoglycemia. You need to keep at that threshold. Each body is different, everybody is the way their threshold. So simple answer, yes, you must fast and you can fast. Everybody can do 14 hours of fasting and, you know, 10 hours. So breakfast, lunch, dinner, you know, all diabetics need. So, but Why for diabetes people— so everybody on this, try to download this app called Daily Dozen by Michael Greger. I keep telling, so you can actually go and see what causes diabetes by research. There are videos, you can listen. Diabetes is— type 2 especially— is a calorie problem. Cut down the calories, stop eating all the animal products. And eat lots of fruits and vegetables. And some people will question, oh, the fruits and vegetables increase the sugar. That's much better than eating a lot of fatty stuff like fried food and all. So stop the animal products, take the oil, oil out of your cooking, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Then your diabetes will get controlled, and then you can fast. So the important thing is first fix your diabetes. That will affect your A1C.

Yes. Also, how about the people with hypertension as well as heart problems as well as hypertension?

Hypertension is not a disease. It's a symptom that comes out because there are certain changes that happen at the blood vessel. So there is a lot of inflammation there. There is what is, and there is a lot of— when you have a lot of inflammation, then your immune system gets activated. Then there is oxidative stress, that's a problem. So to reduce all that, if you reduce everything, then the hypertension goes away. So hypertension, then heart disease. Where do you get heart disease from? It's because the extra calories, the cholesterol is all The fat that you eat is getting deposited in the blood vessel. So when I say no animal products, the, the food that you eat, the eggs you eat— eggs have phosphatidylcholine, they get converted in the gut to TMAO, trimethylamine oxide. All it takes, all that cholesterol, and puts it in the blood vessel, and the blood vessel fat goes more, and then it breaks out, and then platelets come there and try to heal that rupture, and that's your heart attack. So your cholesterol, your fat, your lifestyle, all these are a problem for heart disease. So people want easy fix, right? So when you go and get a heart attack, they put a stent. All they're doing is opening it up. They didn't fix anything. So you're fixing your lifestyle is the key that reverses the problems.

Hmm.

Yeah, cabbage. So somebody gets a bypass surgery, they think, oh, it's all done. No, that's wrong. They just created more plumbing. They change the plumbing routes, but the actual problem is still there. So people have to figure that, and then they come home, and then they should actually change their lifestyle. From eating, from exercise. So, and then food, food. So eat to— eat to— there was, there's a slogan, live, uh, eat to live, not live to eat. Nowadays there is so much of food. I, I think I said in my previous lecture, somebody is saying there is 4 AM biryani. What kind of nonsense is that? There are hotels that call themselves 4 AM biryani. This is stupidity. It's absurdity for me, you know. We— so these habits that you do, so that's why you can reverse heart disease, but it takes a long time because when you get heart attack at 50, you have done 50 years of nonsense. So when I changed, I changed because I learned about lifestyle medicine at 51. I'm 57 now. How can you just become overnight a saint? It takes time. You have damaged for 51 years, so you got to slowly take time and change your habits. And it takes a while, and then you, you see, create habits. And it's a slow process, you know. There's no— that's why people, when they take pills— because everybody who gets a heart attack gets a cholesterol pill— then you'll see, oh, 'Oh, after a few years I got diabetes.' Well, a third of people who are on cholesterol pills get diabetes, whether you like it or not. So, so this, this is a problem. So I'll tell you how it all starts. You have poor lifestyle, slowly their cholesterols change, then slowly their blood pressure creeps up, then slowly their diabetes comes in, slowly they get a heart attack, then Some people, if they don't get heart attack for whatever reason, they end up having a stroke. So this is the— I call that astrology of your health. So the point is, if you start doing this from the beginning, which I didn't know, that's why I'm so passionate about this, you know. I used to eat everything and I thought it was okay.

Yes, doctor. So like recently, unnecessarily, like without— there is a higher chances that without stent also you can reverse that challenge which they're going through. But unnecessarily doctors are also recommending and they are also going with fear because many people have a lot of fear. And what is your opinion?

Yeah, that's why they take money. They, they encash your fears. No, that is wrong. You control your health. You You can reverse your health.

Got it.

And but obviously when you're getting a heart attack is not the time to talk lifestyle medicine. If you're getting a heart attack, go to the hospital, get, get whatever needs to be done, whether it is a stent, whether it is a bypass surgery. But when you come back home, please, uh, you know, the Yoga Institute, I think I told in the last, they, they wrote a book on reversing heart disease 15 years ago. You can buy that book, the Yoga Institute in Bombay, about reversing heart disease.

Yesterday we had a session with Hansaji.

Ah, there you go, their organization. So, you know, I have that book. I'm working on creating a program, you know, based on that. And we have other books that are published. And okay, let me get this.

We are School of Yoga also.

So this book is I, I went to get trained in ozone therapy. This was written by an American. And when did they write their— this book was published in 1985. 1985. So what does that tell you? That people already knew from then on. So it's sad that we don't try to learn from the, you know, books. Yeah.

So how to start fasting, like water fasting, fruit fasting, juice fasting? What is the best way to start?

So first of all, I'll say You know what, start shutting down the shop by, as you rightly said, if you want 7 PM, shut the shop by 7 PM. Okay, forget about water fasting, this fasting, that fast. First get that habit under control. So then if you were already say, okay, I can do this, then I told you the simple is when you look at your plate, your plate should have 50% of fruits and vegetables, 24— that, and then 25% lentils, beans, 25% grains, you know. But eat small quantity. When you are calorie deficit, you're actually— health is better. So then if you say, okay, I can do this too, I don't care, like this, then what happens when you do water fasting is at least you are giving some water and that gets you into a ketotic state because there are not calories. Then when you go into juice fasting, then there is some calories. Then when you go to other kinds of fasting, the more calories, then you're feeding the body a little bit of something. But the point is, whatever it is, create a structure whichever works for you. Because somebody— water fasting— somebody like me who is— I was a food addict. I can't do water fasting. I would rather choose something that works for me, like maybe juice, because I like something. Or maybe I'll do some, uh, hello?

Yes, yes, yeah, we can hear.

I'll do some fruits because I need to eat. So each person, what works for you, please do that. But again, The bottom line is whole food, plant-based diet. Stay away from processed food. Stay away from sugar like chai. You know, everybody, you know, processed food, sugar, animal products, dairy, refined flours, you know, a lot of gluten stuff. Those, those are more important.

Yes.

And one clarification we want because I am seeing the pattern of common questions. Who should— who can do fasting? Who cannot do the fasting? Like, because there are so many diseases. Some people are saying they have GERD, they have diabetes.

I, I, I did that, right? There is a slide that I used for people who, uh, Yeah, who needs caution? So type 1 diabetes or advanced diabetes, people on insulin, because they need to be careful. Pregnant or breastfeeding women, people who are underweight, people who are really, really old. And, and then, uh, it can be implemented, you know. And then people who have history of eating disorders, but otherwise everybody else can fast.

Yes.

So when we are talking about fasting, dear friends, you start with like eating by 7 PM, slowly start reducing, increasing into 16 hours. From 16 hours, try to increase it to 17 hours. So that is, that is also enough as a first step. It's not about like throughout the day or anything also. Like if you can do throughout the day also, once in a while, it's good. Yeah, go ahead, doctor.

Yeah, 16 to 8 is easy, you know. 8 hours, you've got a window wherein you can eat your breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sleep, you know. So it's like breakfast you eat like a king, lunch like a queen, dinner like a pauper, like, or a beggar. And, you know, simple. Keep it simple, you know. The more complex you make— and then eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, cooked, uncooked. Stay away of— take away the oil, you know. And then next is take away a lot of salt. We have a lot of herbs and spices in Indian diet. We have so many, you know, things that we have availability. You'll be surprised that people in America don't even know that they can cook from turmeric. They rather take a pill called curcumin. That's a byproduct of turmeric. Indians have figured out turmeric helps and reduces inflammation, and they have been using it for thousands of years, you know.

Wow, great. So what is the best thing we can eat for breakfast?

So the breakfast is like, if you know, food is very cultural. So the South Indian guy, you ask him to eat a chapati in the morning, will not do it. That fellow wants an idli or a dosa or anything. But when you do idli try to make it with urad dal and moong dal. Rice, if you want to add brown rice, you know, nowadays, or millets, ragi idli and all that. Then again, when you're eating the chutney, make sure that there is not oil there. Make it without oil and use, like, instead of salt, use amla, use mango, use tamarind, things like that. You know, it's salt too much is also a problem in our Indian society. Why we have diabetes— I mean, why we have hypertension is also we overload with pickles, you know. So North Indians, whatever the cultural diversity is there for them, but the principle is oils are a problem. Don't eat— everybody wants vada sambar, you know, but then sambar is loaded with oil, and vada is loaded with fried food. So these are disasters. Try to eat a breakfast that doesn't have oil. And like upma— upma is refined flour, so it's a problem. But if you make upma with whole wheat or whole rice, you know, then that's different, you know. But then people want instant idlis, then they'll get into in refined, I mean instant, all that, that's a, that's a problem. So North Indians, you know, whatever breakfast, like every state has its own delicacies, right? So I'll tell you a story, real story. I had a Jain, 83 years old man. I think I told in the previous, his A1C was 13.1. Well, Jains don't eat anything, but then how do they start their breakfast? They, they, they, they eat kakra and all these things that are fried in Gujarati. And then most of them are refined, you know, with the— with the— what do you call that— murumura and all that stuff. So you need to kind of change those things, habits. And a lot of them have sugar even though they're vegetarian, the kind of food they're eating, you know. So get back to, uh, trying to stay away from oil. Then your diabetes goes away and then everything gets better. Metabolism is the key for everything. I hope I answered it right. It's cultural, it's— but trying to keep it whole food, uh, whole food, whole— I mean, whole grain is better. Then if people— some people will do fruits for vegetable and for breakfast, you know, like a fruit bowl, that's also fine. Seasonal fruits, you know. Yeah.

How good is drinking water in copper bottles? Like, because some people are saying it's not good. It doesn't affect kidneys or anything on the body?

No, I don't think so. Here's your answer. I'm doing it. I don't think I'm—

I'm—

people say a lot of things, but you should always understand the simplicity of it. Just drink good water. Now in America, we are doing what is called reverse osmosis. You know, these are all minute points and all that. But eat potable water, that is healthy. We used to use pots, and there was a reason why, because the way the air current flows. And then they used to put copper because there is a leach of that, and then that makes it alkaline and then helps change the pH. But these are all details, you know, just drink water like 3 to 4 liters.

Got it. So kidney, fourth stage, kidney problem, fourth stage. And, uh, like, can you please tell us about stem cell treatment? Will that help?

Yes and no. First, I would strongly suggest look at moving to a whole food plant-based diet. And there is a nice video, Badri, in, uh, that, uh, there is this website called nutritionfacts.org. Or that Daily Dozen app by Michael Greger. How many of you downloaded that app, Daily Dozen by Michael Greger? Yeah, so when you go there, you get— so I'll— where is my phone? Oh, it's upstairs. So in the— in that, there is information, and then if you look up, there is a video that specifically talks about reversing chronic kidney disease. Stage 3. Stage 4 is a little difficult, but first, if you do all this, your GFR definitely improves. Then stem cells help. There are— I mean, why am I doing ozone? It's an inexpensive way to kind of reduce the oxidative stress, inflammation in the body that recruits stem cells and then helps heal. So You can give it a shot, but a lot of cheating happens in stem cells because the way they're created and they're made. So you got to be careful. You need to know authentically if they're— so you should ask the question, live cells, how many live cells are there? So if they are done right, because stem cells are— you can't just do the same thing for everything. They are kidney-specific stem cells. So these are all very, very high details. So if you get the right person who is doing regenerative medicine, and if you get the right combination, like we got what is called exosomes also. There are signaling molecules that tell the kidney, hey, you're failing, you need to regenerate. But again, if your house is on fire and I'm trying to throw water, but on the other side you're actually throwing petrol on the house, it's not going to work, right? Still going to burn the house. Down because petrol is more powerful. So first change your lifestyle. So in that app, please watch that video, then find a good physician who can do stem cells, then they try it. It's not a bad idea to try it, and then— and but fix your lifestyle first.

Good. Even after everything is normal, why doctor is advised to continue the medicine?

Well, you stop the medication and see if your diabetes goes up, if your blood pressure goes up. There is no reason. I usually start stopping pills once they're— once they tell me that they're changing their lifestyle and actually I see the numbers also going down, then I'll start having the discussion. Hey, can we stop slowly? And then we take people off. It's called deprescribing.

God, how do I start with sleep problem? Nowadays I experience food craving. I do eat more recently. I am aware that eating is wrong, but I understand, but I am unable to implement this.

Yeah, so what you do is change the, the kind of food you have in the house. So, uh, don't have any packaged foods. Try to have on the dining table fruits, fruit table, I mean like a bowl filled with fruits, or put like carrots, uh, cucumber and all that cut up and put there. And so that when you see— but a lot of times when you have those cravings, it's your stress, cortisol that's pushing. And so what you do is You start meditating, start doing a lot of pranayama, and then, uh, then what you do is when you feel like you have that craving, first drink water, lots of water, then see if you still have the craving. A lot of times when you crave for food, it's your body asking for water. And then fix the cortisol. And then habit creation, you know, mind, strong mind in a strong body. So I understand, but you start slow. So start your meditation in the evening, start pranayama, and then engage yourself, do exercise. And then obviously, then you'll start, then don't watch TV in the night with all this nonsense, you know. I stopped watching news long ago because it doesn't matter which place you're on this earth, it's all negative. So your mind is an unexplored garden. So what you feed into the mind happens. So stop feeding that, that I have this craving. You create positivity. Imagine, manifest yourself that I'm not going to have this craving. I'm going to have— when I have the craving, I'm going to eat. So you feed, it's like soil. You put poison weeds, you put good plants, the soil just grows both. So the mind is also like that. So you put positive thoughts saying that I'm going to become healthy, I'm going to kind of do this, I'm going to do this, create goals and say if I get this craving, I'm first going to reach for a grape. If I get this, then slowly, then you can then drink water first and then go for the other things.

Yeah.

Okay, so being— check your hormones also, you know.

Yeah. So I am vegan, how do I— how can I be stable on B12 and vitamin D levels?

Yeah, so it's a long, uh, discussion, but in the past, Indians, we used to get it from yogurt, uh, and, uh, but now since it's so easy available, just take a supplement. All people who are vegan must take B12, 100 to 1000 mcg daily. That's a recommended thing. Vitamin D, please take a supplement and that will be the best way to figure it out. But otherwise, you can take almonds and make almond milk, or eating almonds and walnuts. You know, almond milk has 450 grams of calcium, and then the sesame seeds, you know, all— they all have vitamin D. But for me, you know, trying to do how many things I can do in life, so the easiest thing is if there is B12 and vitamin D available, I'll take it and check the levels. Your B12 should be 800, your vitamin D should be 80. That's the level for optimal health. There are a lot of foods I don't need to I mean, it's, you know, that help. But B12, definitely. I actually did a study because people say if you eat meat, you'll get B12. That's true, but I did a study in all older adults. You know, these are, uh, they come get admitted for rehab in my nursing home. 200 people, 98% had deficiency B12 despite being meat-eating people. So the food chain is all corrupted. So So the best thing is, in the past they used to say that B12, because there are questions about, oh, the stomach, the gut produces B12, but that's not sufficient. You need supplementation. In the past, the milk was good. The vegans used to survive with yogurt. But with all the changes and the food and the environment and the climate, the earth, the— it's better to just take.

Sir, yes, go ahead.

I want 2 questions, simple questions, sir. Number 1, we were talking about the bottle, copper bottle. When we are having a pot with, you can say, wide mouth, we rub it like anything and we clean inside. But how we clean this tube? Because copper oxide is formed inside. So when you are having small holes, how we can clean it from inside?

So I have a brush, sir. I do the brush. I have a metal brush. So I do. Okay. And my thing, I see your—

copper oxide, I have thrown the bottle and I put a pot from that. I can clean it very well.

Right, right. You know, but I, I, because I'm putting water normally, you know, when it gets empty and gets exposed to the environment, that's when it forms that green thing. Otherwise my bottles are all clean inside, you know. I use a metal brush.

Okay, thank you. Second question is, you have given a long session and where I am listening from the very beginning, it's a long and very beautiful Powerful session you have given. In spite of that, I want to ask a simple question. Will you summarize your whole session in simple and few words so that we can memorize it well? Because I am crossing 75 this year and not taking any pill right now.

And thank you again. I see Major Satish Jiwani. Thanks for your service to our country.

Yes, sir. Now I want to spread the knowledge which Badri has given to us to my community also.

Yeah. So remember I told you the simple 6 things, stay away from them. Yeah. And start sleeping by 9 o'clock.

Yeah.

When you wake up by 5, I mean 10 to 5.

Yeah.

Sleep 5 o'clock to 6 o'clock, yoga. Yeah, then pranayama. Yeah, then read something or exercise or walk. Yeah, okay. Yeah, then go to work if you are working.

If you are retired, I'm retired, not doing anything. I'm completely surrendered to you, sir.

Right, then go and volunteer your time, spread the message of good health. Yeah, yeah, volunteering helps your health actually.

Yeah, yeah.

Then help socialization.

I'm doing socialization, that one.

Yeah. And go and help.

I spread teaching this knowledge to others also.

From— yes, sir. But go and help somebody who are underprivileged.

Yeah.

Because when you help and give yourself, so make that part of your daily routine. Come back by 5:00, then again do yoga, eat whole food plant-based diet. You know, meditation daily, pranayama daily, you know. And then 6 o'clock, then you finish off your eating, then read some book, because every day if you read, then you get more knowledge.

I'm very much sure about reading, right?

And then 9 o'clock, you go to bed. Simple daily routine, you know. Very good, sir.

Yeah, thank you, thank you so much. Like, we have many more questions, but yeah, like, I just wanted to check your time also, doctor. And, um, yeah, so yes, I think you also have, uh, like some other appointment you have mentioned. So yeah, so I get carried away with you guys. Yes, we are really sorry. So yes, please, in case if you have to take off, like, uh, but thank you so much for all the inputs you have given. I will summarize to them. In a structured way.

And I'll send you the PowerPoint. You can take— I think I have your email, right, Bhatri?

Yes, I'll send you on WhatsApp. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, here, please. Yeah. So, Doctor, we also have Yoga Nidra, dear friends, now. Like, I will be going through Yoga Nidra process now. Yes. So yeah, I think you have an appointment. Yes, yes. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much. Really appreciate you all. I hope I answered, uh, most of you. I'll share the PowerPoint and Badri can send it, you know.

Yes, yes.

Thank you all. Happy Shivaratri. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks again, Badri. Uh, I'm excited, uh, that each time I come, that more and more people are coming. And thanks for the feedback that, uh, I should continue my journey. Make Bharat healthy again.

Yes, yes. I want all of you to do one help, like, because Dr. Muthuji is here. Yes, thank you so much, thank you so much, Doctor. So I have posted the image. Please share your takeaways here so that I can share it with him. How was the session and what are your takeaways? So please go to the portal and share your takeaways here. So all of you, I'm sharing this link and please share your takeaways. Thank you so much, Doctor.

Thank you very much.

Before you leave— oh, like, I think he left. So thank you so much. And so here is the link, uh, dear friends. He has an appointment, I think he forgot. Like, I, I have reminded, so like, um, so please click on the link in the chat box and share your takeaways. Keep sharing your takeaways. And, uh, so first of all, thank you so much, all of you.

Now