Mindfulness with Partha Nandi

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Hey, it's JJ Virgin. And welcome to the JJ Virgin lifestyle show where we'll connect with some of the coolest people in the world. Plus, I give you tips that you can put into fast action to up level your health and your life. Now, today's show is all about simple things you can do. I like to say the little hinges swing big doors. So it's all about the little things that you can do that add up to big shifts over time. And I have the undiet doctor on with me today. He is the perfect blend of east meets West. He grew up, his childhood was in India and then he moved to the US So he's had the opportunity to grow up with meditation and yoga as his normal. He's kind of looking around now when all of us are like, oh, my gosh, this new age thing. And we'll talk more about that. But then also going to medical school here and learning western medicine and just bringing it all together. We're going to talk mindfulness today, how to really be present the impact that can have on your health. All sorts of cool stuff. So let me tell you a little bit about who I've got on my new buddy, Dr. Partha Nandi. He is a practicing physician, international speaker, and host of the internationally syndicated medical lifestyle show Ask Dr. Nandi. Very cool show I'm looking forward to being on soon. You definitely want to dial into that because he is all about just kind of a no nonsense approach. But it's no nonsense coming from, again, the perspective of bringing in spirituality, mindfulness and community. All the things that I've been really deep diving into over the last year as I've been working on the miracle mindset. So as he's been saying all this, I was just like cheering in the background going, yes, you know, more science to back up all of the things that, that I was just using intuitively when I was in the hospital with my son Grant. All right, so I am excited to introduce Dr. Partha Nandi to you. All right, let's do it. Dr. Partha Nandi, welcome to the show. I am so glad to have you here today.

Hey, thanks for having me, jj. I really appreciate it.

Well, let's dive in to what you call yourself because you're known as the UN Diet doctor. What the heck is that part that.

You know, what I think is there's a lot of people that Fail. And you know this, that when they get into a diet, they've got great, great intentions, but they fail. They just can't sustain it. So what I try to say is, listen, you know what I like to call myself the Undiet Doctor. Meaning that let's get some simple principles and ideas that you can follow. Instead of saying, I've got to take a teaspoon of this, put it in that and then wait for it to boil. You know, all this stuff that there's so many diets out there that people, it's difficult for them to put their head or even their brain around, you know. So I think that telling them some simple principles that they can follow, not just, you know, after the holidays, but all year round, that's the idea behind being the Undiet doctor. Talk about things that you can do easily and not just talk about a.

Diet, quote, unquote, that will make a big difference. I love little things that make a big difference. So your whole background's interesting because you're obviously Dr. Parthenondi. Now, you know, you're not Joe Smith. So you've got, you've got a background of being. Now where are you from? You're not from India, right?

Well, you know, I was born there. I came when I was nine. And then I did, you know, all my education here, like my middle school etc, and then I've been here ever since.

All right, Because I've got another buddy. He's like, no, I'm from New Jersey. I'm like, oh, okay. But he spent well. I was lucky.

I was lucky, jj, that I was. A lot of things I talk about, you know, with east meets west, is that I remember when I was a kid that I could remember some of the things that people in India did and that, that affected me. I was just old enough to remember that stuff. For example, you know, my, my parents always meditated, so it wasn't, it wasn't weird. And, oh, I just knew New age thing for me, it was part of my life ever since I was, I can remember, right? They meditated, they prayed. Spirituality was a huge part of my life. And why, why that's important now is because, you know, patients come to me and say, you know, I. Especially this time of year, they say, I know what to do. You know, I, you know, I do internal medicine and gastroenterology. So they've got all kinds of issues that are coming up because they have a physical problem and stress makes it worse. So they, they ask, you know, what pill can you Give me what? Some. Can you give me something to take the edge off? What I tell him is, hey, listen, you know, Joe or Mary, something that's going to be a little bit weird to hear from a practicing doctor is that, have you ever thought about yoga? Have you thought about meditation? Because when you do that, you take away some of that stress and what we call the adrenergic tone or all those hormones that are released that drive your body nuts. And then they ask me more and I tell them, listen, you know, we. I do a television show called Ask Dr. Nandy, and I also do the health news on ABC in Detroit. And we actually did a meditation, a mobile meditation, to one of the toughest precincts in Detroit, the Detroit Police Department. And we went, took the meditation unit, the mobile unit there, and we had officers go in and actually on their lunch break do meditation. Within five minutes, their heart rate and their blood pressure was down. So, you know, imagine doing that over time. I tell my patients that instead of saying, can I have a little bit more Valium, Can I have a little bit more Xanax? Or whatever it is that they think that that will help them. I go back to some of my roots, which is spirituality. My mom and my dad did that for forever. So that's why it's important that I was old enough to remember some of that stuff. I remember people doing yoga. I remember some of the Ayurvedic medicine that people talk about now, and Eastern medicine. It was part of people that are around me. And so it's important. When I was actually six years old, I had rheumatic fever and I had an Ayurvedic doctor that tried to help me. So I was intimately involved in some of this stuff. And not everything works, but that memory still stayed. And it helps me in my practice today. It helps me in what I talk about in the show. So it was really important for me.

Well, not everything works in general, so you're absolutely right. But I mean, what you just described with meditation, if that was a drug, would be the most popular drug on the planet. So it's always kind of interesting. You hear someone coming in, they want a Xanax that'll help them in like 20 minutes. And they could just meditate and get the same effect in five, you know, spend any money. So you hinted at them. So I'm going to make sure we talk about them. You said you had some simple ideas, simple things that could make a big difference. So I definitely want to get our listeners a couple of those.

You Know, people talk about, I want to make a huge change in my diet. I want to lose, you know, 15 pounds, 20 pounds, and all this, all these goals. Don't want to fit in the dress. So I tell them a simple change. Eat until you're about 3/4 full. You know, the Okinawans do this. They just say, you know what? I want to eat until I'm not quite full, but just about 3/4. This is a simple thing to do, but it's really difficult to adhere to, meaning that you can do it once or twice. But, you know, we're kind of accustomed in our part of the world that if you don't supersize something, it ain't right that you didn't get your money's worth, right? So if you go to a buffet and you don't finish the entire freaking place that you got, you don't have your money's worth. So it's a simple thing. But to do it on a. On a systematic basis is gonna be difficult. But if you do that simple thing, eat until you're about 3/4 full, meaning that your brain, it takes it a little while to catch up to your stomach. By the time you know, you're full, it's a little too late. Because what happens is then you're, you know, you feel bloated. And I'm sure you hear this too, because you do the same. You do, you do lots of. Lots of advice and expertise in this field. But people say, I feel uncomfortable and horrible. So I tell them, just do that one thing, and that'll help you to actually lose weight and feel better. The second thing about, for example, exercise, they go, you know, I just, doc, I want to do it. I want to get motivated and fit, and I can't do it. And what I tell them is that, listen, even if you can do five minutes a day, because you want to start simple, right? If you can do five minutes of anything, just move. Don't pick a particular exercise you don't have to do CrossFit, you don't have to lift £500. You don't have to run around the planet. Just do anything for five minutes besides get on the couch. That's a start. If we do that, then that'll get you to get in the process of being fit, because then once you get five minutes, you can do 10, etc. Then lastly, I tell them another simple thing I can tell your audience is that have purpose in your life. What that means. I tell them, listen, when you are doing something, find out why you're doing it. And if, if it's worthwhile, if it fits your goals, meaning that find out what makes you happy and then go backwards and say, is most of what I'm doing making that process occur? Meaning making what I want to be happy occur? So listen, all of us do things that we don't always enjoy. It doesn't mean that 100% of the time, but the majority of your activities going towards that goal. And if you have that, if you have purpose in your life, then I think that makes a tremendous difference. Not only just making you feel good, which is the intuitive response, but now science shows that you actually live up to six to seven years longer. And Dan Bettner in his landmark, you know, studies showed that and many other people have shown that you have purpose in your life.

So do you have trouble though, do you have challenge with people coming in and you say this to them and they have no clue where to even start with that. Like, even if you ask the simple question of, you know, what are you doing? And every day for fun, they look at you like you might be a little bit crazy.

Crazy. So what I tell them is that I tell them, write it down. I said, listen, you know what I tell them? This is not an easy thing. It's not like you just sit down one day and oh, it takes two minutes and you're done. What I tell them is write it down. It may take you a week to write down exactly what things make you happy. But in general, you know, when I'm seeing them in the medical practice, when I'm, they usually have a symptom, right? They usually have something. They don't come to see me and say, hey, how you doing? And go out. They should have a problem. So I tell them, listen, you have this problem besides the medical problem, what do you think is causing some of these issues? And I get them to understand that there's more to their problem than just the physical ailment. Once I get them there, to me, it's always about the motivation, right? So you got to have a reason to do something. Meaning if you're not, if you're just having the greatest time of your life, typically you're like, I don't need any help. But most people have stuff that's going on in their life that they want to change. And so I use that as a motivation for them to use their brain and get some effort into doing what they're doing. And then it's not a one time process. You have to follow up. You have to follow up and say, okay, what if I. I've done this? What happens a week later? What happens a month later? And I help them with that. I help them get, you know, start writing down goals and get diaries so that they can. They can figure out what they're doing and if they're actually following up again, just like you point out, Nothing really works 100%, but it's a start. And if you make these really simple changes, any one of those three can impact your life.

But what I'm hearing from you, and I'm just digging it because it's. So much of what I've been teaching is journaling is key. You know, getting really in touch with the purpose and the why behind things are so key because, I mean, as you can see out here, we don't have a shortage of strategies. Like, I don't believe the real issue with people being so sick now and unhealthy is because of lack of strategy. So what. What do you see as, like, the biggest hurdle? Like, when patients are coming to you, What's. What's the big block or the big hurdle? Is it. Is it not having purpose?

What is it? They feel like there's a Mount Everest in front of them instead of taking little chunks. Most people, by the time they see you, they're 50 pounds overweight, not just five. So they see a huge mountain in front of them, and they feel like, this is something I cannot overcome. So I think once you break it down and say, listen, you start off with one day at a time, five minutes if you can, just a little bit less, don't add sugar, maybe once a day instead of, you know, don't add sugar at all. So if you. If you break it down for them, I think that you take away that huge mountain. So I think one of the biggest problems that people feel. Feel like it's. It's something that they cannot fix. And some of the solutions that are given, I agree with you. There's not a shortage of strategies, but most of them are pretty complicated, you know, and they're. Most of them are given in such a way that. That they can't really sustain it. So I think that one of the biggest obstacles they have is besides the people that don't have access to health care, there's a big problem there. But assuming that you have access to health care and you have access to. See people like me and yourself, they feel like, you know what, it's a mountain and I can't do it, and I'm just not even going to start if I can convince them that just. And you know, this just making that first step, it's huge. And if I can convince them of that, I think I've done a great service for them, including myself.

Well, in your. Everything you're doing going on tv, everything you're doing on Facebook is providing the information. So what's been fantastic out here is, yeah, people might not be able to get to see you, but they can still get that information. I mean, that's what the Internet has really done for all of us is it's just been an equalizer so that everyone has access to the information. So it's really now about someone deciding that they are going to make the littlest change and build on it every single day, you know?

Exactly.

Yes. Now I'm going to throw a curveball at you too. But let's. Let's turn it on to you and I. What I want to know is what you do every day, like, what is that thing? Let's just pick one that you do every day that you feel makes the biggest difference in your life.

I really think meditating, I mean, I don't know. I don't always do it for 30 minutes a day, but no matter where I am, even if I'm traveling around the world, I take five minutes and I do a couple things. I breathe, I stop and I breathe. And I just take a breath and get perspective of what's going on. And then I just spend at least five minutes trying to just reflect on that. And that helps me tremendously. Otherwise, it's a whirlwind. And you know better than most is that you can get caught up in all the stuff you're doing and forget about what it's all about. And so I take about at least five minutes, sometimes more if I have it, just to reflect and breathe and try to make center myself to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. And that I call that meditation for me. And that helps me tremendously every single day.

Awesome. And I know you've got something for everybody. You've got your ebook on mindfulness. Tell us a little bit about that. I'm going to tell everyone how to grab it.

Yeah, absolutely. So I think mindfulness has been something that's used for centuries, but now professional athletes and teams are using it to try to focus on getting the best out of someone. For example, if you're a star pitcher and you are trying to pitch in the American League Championship Series, you think about, hey, what if I don't make that pitch well, you're not going to pitch well. So the idea of yen mindfulness to me is staying in the moment and understanding the importance of that moment and doing the best you can with that moment. And the striking thing to me is not worrying about the consequences. So a lot of times, you know, we are success driven and we want to perform. So I think for mindfulness, you take that step out, it's like you just say, this is the moment, let me live it. For example, I'm talking to you. I'm not thinking about what's going to happen afterwards, not thinking about what happened before. Just say, okay, I'm talking to jj. I want to be able to let her listeners know this is what it's all about. And it's not so important how successful I am at doing it. It's just taking that moment and making the best out of it. And so that to me is mindfulness. And that can really change your life, whether it's you want to be a better performer, whether you want to have better outcomes for your health. Because guess what, when you have that statement that you're in the moment and you're not worried about all the outcomes and what comes before and after you, your stress level and all those hormones that are ravaging your body actually go down a little bit. And so that's why I think it's important. And we talk about it a little bit more in our ebook and I think also we put purpose along with the mindfulness there. How purpose can be incorporated in mindfulness to achieve the goals that you want in your life and your health, to achieve wellness.

That is excellent. So it's like being present means finding purpose, which is.

Yeah, exactly. Right.

Yeah. Well, that is one of the biggest challenges I see out there was for me too, was just being able to be present, not so focused on the future, which makes you anxious or looking back and getting depressed. And it is, you sit in the present and you, you get unattached, these outcomes. Otherwise you're always chasing the next big thing. It can make you make you nuts. So thank you so much for being here. I want to let everyone know how to grab that and to get that ebook by Dr. Parthanandi, you're going to go to jjvirgin.com forwards/doctor Nandi. And that is spelled N A N D I N A N D I. So D R N A N D I. And that will be in the show notes as well. And thank you so much, Dr. Nandi, for being with me today. I so appreciate it.

It was a blast. AJ thank you for having me. Thank you.

Thank you. Now, after the break, I'll be answering listener's question. So stay with me.

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Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener's question. And and I've been getting a lot of these questions, by the way, off of my Facebook page. You can go to facebook.com forward/jj virgin official and leave me a question there. Today's question. I always like to pick questions that go along super well with the topic that I'm talking about. So I saw this one from Barry in Huntsville, Alabama, and I had to bring this question up because she says, jj, I want to get healthier, and I just don't know where to start. What's the first thing that I should do? All right, I know sometimes I feel like they just write these questions for me. And thank you for that, Barry. So here's the thing. What's the one thing that you need to do? Well, again, what I was just talking about with Dr. Nandi is there's no shortage of strategies out there. You know, you might think I'm going to say, oh, start the day with the shake or go on the virgin diet or do the sugar impact diet or get bursting or go to sleep and see, I just did it. And you're like, ah, overwhelmed. There's actually something that needs to sit on top of all of that. And here's the thing. There are no shortage of strategies. But the bottom line is the reason you aren't where you want to be right now in your health, in your life and your finances, your career, your relationships, any of those areas isn't a shortage of strategies. It's a limitation of your mindset. In fact, when I queried my community last year and I asked them, if you aren't where you want to be in your health right now, why not? And the biggest reason was a mindset issue, they didn't feel good enough. They didn't feel Worthy. So the first thing that I want you to do is get a big why behind this. Get that big purpose in there. Because if that's in there, if you start working on that mindset, you'll dial in the strategies. Just like Dr. Nandi said. You start with one thing. Maybe it's starting the day with the shake. Maybe it's tracking five minutes of exercise. Maybe it's starting the day with gratitude. You start with one thing, get that dialed and go to the next. But above all of that is if I want to get healthy, why? What does that look like?

How will my life change?

What will happen with my family, my relationships, my peers? What's going to happen with my career? What about my finances? Start to draw out that whole life and get that real strong why as to why you want to do this and the purpose behind all of that. Because, you know, we were all put here to do big things. But you can't do big things if you're wiped out, exhausted and in pain, right? So I always look at and go, gosh, it's just. There's no reason anymore for health to be holding us back. The strategies are there. So the first step is knowing that you're worthy, that you've got a big purpose. Figure out what that is, what's your why? Then start with that one thing, and build on those health habits every day. Alrighty. Now, again, if you'd like to submit a question, just pop over to my Facebook page. And that is JJ Virgin official over at Facebook, and I have a favor. It would help me so much if you could jump on Stitcher or itunes and leave a review for me. And while you're there, subscribe and share with your friends. It really helps a lot. I so appreciate it. All right, this is JJ Virgin signing off and reminding you to live courageously. Show up, step up. You are stronger than you think.

Hello, listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I tag all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately. And I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading Next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment, whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change, or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything. You'll learn something about yourself as a reader, and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and Visit our website, whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com to find out more.