27. Dr. Manasa Mantravadi: Plastics Are Destroying Your Hormones, More Hidden Dangers & How to Fix It

The fact that children are now being born and we can see these toxins and plastics, like, forever chemicals being found in umbilical cords.

It crosses the placenta, and it's actually in fetal circulation. Actually, in one study, I think they looked at the placentas of X number of subjects, and 100% of them had microplastics in that circulation. These microplastics, microparticles are really like 5 millimeters in size or less because you can't see it. It's everywhere. It's in the air we breathe, it's in the water that we drink. It's in the food that we're eating. It's in the clothes that we're weari. These are chemicals found in plastic products, and they are being absorbed into our body again through skin, through air, through ingestion. And they are interfering with our hormone, they're interfering with our genetics. They're interfering with our neurologic system, our cardiovascular system.

There's so many things that are causing the rise of anxiety in children. There's so many things that are causing the rise of ADD, ADHD, type 1 diabetes, obesity. Gosh. But I really think that we're piecing together. There's enough evidence out there to show that these microplastics. Red alert for us to really be paying attention to this. Welcome to the Rooted in Wellness podcast. Dr. Manasa mantra body. I love saying your name. I'm so happy that you're here. This is long overdue.

Thanks for having me. I'm so excited. And yes, it is long overdue. I think we've been trying to get this on the books for some time.

Yeah. And, you know, I'm just so inspired by you. You are on this public health mission more than anything else, and we're going to dive into all of those things. But let's start with just a bit of an introduction. So for everyone listening on this show, you know, everyone knows that this is about merging the wisdom of ancient healing and medicine with the. The benefits and the incredible things happening in our modern world with modern medicine. But it's also very easy to get lost in the fact that we're disconnected from our inner wisdom to heal. So I'm curious for you, you know, do you have any practices? Are there three specific things that help you feel more rooted in your health and yourself and in your life?

Yes. You know, I'd have to say one of the things that really keeps me rooted is mealtime. No pun intended, because I have a company all around mealtime. But it's because I feel so strongly about it. I think shared family meals, proper nutrition for your body, those are the things as an investment in keeping your health is, is really like the root of a lot of what health is. Is, is what you put in your body and the shared experiences around meal time. So I would say one thing that keeps me rooted is certainly meals and meal time and the other is, you know, family and community connections. You know, I read, in fact, I think in the blue zones, one of the biggest factors on longevity in terms of longevity medicine is actually community. You would think food and exercise all important, but that is what keeps me grounded and rooted. Happiness, connections with my family, my girlfriend, my fellow mom, friends. I think having that community and connections is super important. And then the last one is I'm rooted in just nature. You know, we're on these screens all day. We're just, I'm a busy mom of three children, it's just go, go, go. So just being outside, breath of fresh air, sunlight on your face definitely keeps me more rooted in health.

They're such powerful rituals and I love that you, you speak about these just in how it relates to overall well being and especially with your children. I'm curious, did you have that family connection time as a kid? My husband and I talk all the time. Like we have more, we have had more dinners with our children than, you know, we never saw our dads at dinner. Just the result of the time. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, just, it wasn't a thing back then. They were always busy and working. But it's such a valuable, like it's one of the most beautiful things of our family that I value so much.

It is. And you know, it's, it's interesting. So much of my life has kind of come full circle. So my mom protected family mealtime at all costs. So I actually don't know anything other than that. So my dad was a busy physician, especially, you know, as a young resident, lots of long hours, but at the end of the day, she protected mealtime, she protected family meals. And no matter what we were doing, we all set the table and we ate together. And so I think it was such a tradition and again, just a way of life that I didn't know any different. And so when I had my own kids, we are doing the same thing in terms of valuing. Luckily my husband actually had a very similar experience. So neither of us do any different. And so we're like, oh, this is how you do it. But again, full circle. And those were My family traditions and culture. But when it comes to medicine, shared family meals actually leads to healthier outcomes in children. So studies show that if you can do at least three meals a week together as a family, it leads to healthier outcomes from children, from both a organic perspective to a psychological perspective. So there you go. Medicine meets motherhood time and time again.

In my life, I believe it. It's such a sacred space. When the phones aren't off, you can just connect with each other over a meal. I think that's like. It's this wisdom that we have to value again instead of just, like, throwing things down the hatch or on the go. And as busy moms, I know we do this sometimes, but valuing that time is key. So, okay. On the opposite end, you know, there's so many habits that people have that they don't even know are uprooting them. A lot of treat this like a checklist. You know, time outside, check. Exercise, check. But they're not even living into having it root them into themselves. What are some practices that make you feel uprooted?

So the things that make me feel better or the things that I do that aren't so great for me.

Yeah. When you notice you really get uprooted in your life, that's distracting you from your inner health and happiness. What are those things?

So I would say the exact opposite of feeling rooted with, you know, meals and family and nature. The things that, as a busy, you know, mom, physician, entrepreneur, the things that I'm not doing that well and then I can feel in my body. One sleep. You know, it is a integral part to our body's healing from a physiological perspective. And when we are just go, go, go it. For me, it is one of the areas that I tend to kind of put to the wayside. It's like, oh, okay, well, I'm getting the minimum. But the difference between what your body really needs versus what you think that you should just get, there is a delta there, and you can feel it. So when I allow myself to actually sleep without the distractions, I've been putting my phone actually in a different room instead of charging that itself. That one habit has changed the way I sleep. So I think that that is one that I. I can feel my body if I don't have enough sleep. Lack of movement. I think a lot of people do that checkbox. Like you said of exercise, there's a difference between just exercise and movement and joy in movement. So I think that one area that I feel that when I do it, I can Feel it when I don't do it. I can feel it is the joy in movement when I have a lack of joy. So I love to dance. It's one of my secret. If it wasn't a doctor, I'd be on tour with Missy Elliott. I'm telling you, this is my. That's my passion. But, but the, The. The reason I say that is for both mental health and physical health. It. It keeps me grounded and that has kind of gone to the wayside. And. And there is a difference in exercise versus joy in the movement. So I think I feel uprooted when I don't have that. And then just busy life, lack of mind rest. Like literally all day long. It's checklists and I do it and it makes me really good at my job. It makes me really good at commanding kind of the home center and the organization and the school schedules. But, man, it is exhausting for. I know a lot of people who are listening can relate, especially as a busy mom. It's a lot of hats. And so when I don't let my mind rest, I feel very uprooted.

Such value points. And I love that you brought out the joy factor because I think that one of the badges of honor that we wear as busy, entrepreneurial moms is I'm going to work out, I'm going to get it done, I'm going to go get whatever, 30, 60 minutes, I'm going to get my strength training in. Instead of like the wisdom of a women and men in our bodies is like the feeling of flow and joy and ease when we can do things that feel so embodied. And music is so powerful for that too. Right. So I'll see you on your Missy Elliott tour next.

I did go to the tour, and it was amazing. She's never been on to herself.

It's incredible. Yeah, but music is so powerful for healing. I think that it often even helps set the stage. Right.

Absolutely.

We talked a little bit about your dad, the dinner table growing up, what that looked like for you. I often think of, you know, the blessing from my dad being Indian and that connection to family. Like, it wasn't uncommon to live with relatives or to have our elders around. And in my mom's side, the Danish culture, it's not uncommon to live in communities of people where we help each other and support each other. So I'm curious for you how much of your Indian heritage really influenced your view on health and healing?

Oh, a lot. You know, when you're a young teenager, you think your mom doesn't know everything, anything. And then you turn around and you're like, she knew everything. She knew everything. And so I think, you know, the influences that I had stemmed from both of my parents, but specifically my mom. She prioritized food. It was a big part of our kind of culture in terms of health. It was always healthy food, fresh food made from scratch right there and then. It didn't have to be some big, ornate thing. She was a hyper efficient. She still is to this day. Hyper efficient in what she does. So her concepts of prioritizing healthy nutrition, that was kind of fresh from the earth and made right there with the love of her own hands and her heart, you could really feel that. That's. I think that's why I make that a priority for my own kids. It's the way that I show love to them. And another one is, I didn't realize how much of a kind of an eco warrior she was. And it was truly just because, you know, part of our culture is very much, you know, rooted in the love for Mother Earth and the respect for the land around us. And so everything was reduce waste, don't waste, you know, a speck of rice as you're eating, reuse things. She would, even till this day, take natural plants and make shampoos and oils out of them. And so I just grew up watching that. So I think that's a big thing that we as parents have to realize in the modern day. We're so concentrating on, on the child and doing it, but actually they learn just from watching us. And so we can be more rooted and more balanced and just lead by example. I mean, look at me. Like, she shaped so much of what I do just by watching and living it.

That's so true. And this is where you and I have so much in common, because I feel like my path was shaped so much by my parents. My mom had a severe rheumatoid arthritis growing up. So it was with my dad's insights on Ayurveda, on using food as medicine. Like, that's been ingrained in me since I was a little kid. And I'll never forget, like, till this day, I'll never do it as well as my mom. All of my aunties taught my mom how to cook Indian food and the attention that she would give to making the spices just right and how to heat them up properly and how to, like, wait until they become fragrant. And more than just cooking properly, it was such an experiential thing for her to put her love and attention into the food. It's no wonder. This is something that we just. We feel from our mother. So, yeah, I, I just, I think of you often with practices like that, when you talk about mealtimes and time with your kids, and it's just so important.

Yeah, it is, it is.

So you and I met at the EWG conference, the Environmental Working Group conference. And you know, your journey is just so impactful. So why don't we start by just diving into this epidemic of plastic toxicity that's happened? You know, I think that a lot of people are starting to understand the impact of plastics. But in your mind, you know, how much do you think that pla. Plastic toxicity has really impacted us and our children?

Oh, way more than I, you know, that anyone really wants to know. But it is the. It's the harsh truth. And when I talk about plastic and the toxicity, what I want to make sure that everybody listening is, is that I do want to paint a story of hope, because a lot of what we hear is doom and gloom. But I think it's important to understand the real environmental risk, the real health risks, and then understand that there are real things that we can do within our own family and then within our community. So I just want to start there because I feel like every time this. It feels very overwhelming. But, you know, plastic since the 1950s, it's a relatively new material. If you think about it in terms of material, it has really shaped our lives into a fast, convenient, cost effective way of life. And before the 1950s, that's not how we lived. So I want to just kind of remind everybody that there was a time in which we were cooking healthy, fresh on sustainable materials and valuing not just cost and the shortness of time, but actually the ample time that we had together. So I want to kind of draw that conclusion because it's such a short period of time since the 1950s that has had such prolific and devastating results on our environment and now on human health. So I think when you say, how much plus plastic toxicity are we facing? Well, in General, less than 8% of the world's plastic is actually recycled. And so it is cheaper to produce new plastic. So by 2040, we're still set to double the amount of plastic production. And we know from the lifecycle of plastic, from the time it's produced to the time we use it to the time that we dispose of it, it causes incremental and devastating results on our planet, but it also does that for our health, from fetus to adulthood. It has impact and so when you have, you know, like over 200 types of plastics and over 10,000 different chemicals in those plastics, it's virtually impossible to live a plastic free life. Right. So it's, that's why it's important to understand that it is a big, big exposure and understand how it is affecting our health. But then, most importantly, where are the key things that you can implement change? Because it can feel overwhelming when you live in a plastic world and you can't do anything about it. So I want to be able to empower people that they can.

Yeah, let's take a pause over that. Because, you know, out of the people that I, the clients that I work with, when we do an audit of their house to look for where these plastics are. And even as a mother, it's so easy to feel guilt, like, oh my gosh, how did I not know this? How am I using this? And then you look at the toothpaste and you look at the packaged food, you look at the package of containers, and it's all plastic. So thank you for pointing that out. You're not a failure. You didn't do anything wrong. It's just part of this awakening that has to happen right now that we're learning what the impact of these plastics are. So talk to us about microplastics. Exactly. Because I think this is something that's specific to when we think about our children's health. The fact that children are now being born and we can see these toxins and plastics, like forever chemicals being found in umbilical cords, right?

Yes, that's right. That's right. It crosses the placenta and it's actually in fetal circulation. So I'll do a Little Medical School 101 to really break it down so everyone can have a degree in plastics after this podcast, really, when we talk about plastics, there's two parts to plastics, okay? One is plastic particles. That is what is commonly referred to as microplastics. Right. So that's what we think about the actual particles of plastic. Then there are plastic chemicals, so you might have heard of bisphenols and phthalates and these things, these chemicals that are used to make plastic, to make them pliable, to make them, you know, withstand years of not being degraded properly. So there's plastic particles and there are plastic chemicals. Both affect our health negatively, but in different ways. So I think that's just kind of one basic concept to understand when you think about, when you, a lot of people have heard about microplastic and, you know, you're eating A credit card worth of plastic a week. And, you know, people can get freaked out on what that means, but you can't see it. So it's hard to conceptualize. So microplastics come from really two different places. Number one is it's actually the small particles that are used to make plastic. So when they're making, you know, plastic water bottle, they're starting with these little, you know, pellets, and they're small. So those are kind of like primary microplastics. And then there's the other one, which is the breakdown of plastic. So when plastic eventually breaks down, it keeps going down and to make it smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller as it degrades. And so these microplastics, microparticles are really like 5 millimeters in size or less. And so those are again, because you can't see it. It's hard because we're. It's everywhere. It's in the air we breathe, it's in the water that we drink, it's in the food that we're eating, it's in the, it's in the clothes that we're wearing. So it's this very invisible culprit that we.

It's really unavoidable. Yeah, it's.

And it's unavoidable. And then there are. So that those things are found in our circulation and as we mentioned, even in fetal circulation. So we know that we are exposed. And actually in one study, I think they looked at, you know, the placentas of X number of, of subjects, and 100% of them had microplastics in that circulation. That can be scary, right? Everyone, like, everyone's now listening and, and trying to go take out every plastic product in there. Don't worry, don't worry. We, we'll get more educated and empowered. The other part of microplastic. So there's plastic particles and there's plastic chemicals. So those are the things like bisphenols. And I want to make it very clear, BPA is just one of the many chemicals called bisphenols. And so when we talk about BPA free again, I feel like the doom and gloom police. But BPA free does not mean safe. And that's because those chemicals structurally are the same as bps, BPC and some of the what we call regrettable substitutes for bisphenol. So bisphenols and phthalates are two of the chemicals you might have heard along with pfas, which is kind of a forever chemical. These are chemicals found in Plastic or plastic products. And they are being absorbed into our body again through skin, skin, through air, through ingestion. So those are kind of the, the big three. And they are interfering with our hormone system, they're interfering with our genetics, they're interfering with our neurologic system or cardiovascular system. And so, again, these aren't things we can see, but we know, because what we do see is just a huge shift in what our health looks like in terms of children's health or women's health or men's health. So the quick kind of understanding. I think a lot of people may have heard of something called endocrine disruptors or endocrine disrupting chemicals. I want to just make sure people understand why plastic is bad. So those chemicals, you know, our hormone system is really important for our brains to grow, for us to go through puberty and fertility at the right time, for our bones to stay healthy, for our arteries to stay clear. All of that is part of the endocrine system. And so it's just a signaling pathway. These plastic chemicals look like our natural hormones, and so they go in and kind of pretend to be those hormones, hence hormone disruptors, and they wreak havoc in the normal communication. So that's particularly important for children who rely on these endocrine systems, these hormone systems, for them to grow and develop in the normal way. And so that's kind of how, from a plastics perspective, how it's entering our body and how it's interfering. So microplastics are, you know, within us. Sometimes it land in our gut. We see a lot more colorectal cancers because of this. They land in our arteries, we see more heart disease. And then all of these endocrine disruptors from the chemicals.

Yeah. And these chemicals, they live in the tissue of our body. Right. And I think it's so important because ourselves are someone very close to us, that we know who's suffering from some sort of hormone imbalance, sleep disturbance issue around allergies. Like, the list goes on and on and on. And, you know, there's two parts of the story. One, um, you know, we've taken out bpa. So we see a plastic and it says BPA free. We say, amazing. That's, that's so great. You know, they're caring for us. But at the end of the day, a lot of these big food brands, they're for profit. And most people listening, they don't know about PVS and pvf. Right. And these could just be as altering. But, you know, the, the awareness isn't there yet. And the side of the story where I can imagine when all these plastics were created, it was solving a big issue around public health for school systems. Also our children getting sick less often with single use plastics and stuff like that. But then when you walk into a school today, everything is plastic. And when I think about these toxic microplastics, I don't know if you've seen food cafeteria at your kids schools. A lot of the products are sitting on top of these heaters to keep the food warm. And God bless these food programs for being able to give food to people in need and children in need. But these plastics are sitting on top of heat for hours. Those plastics, chances are, have toxins in them that go into the food than the kids then ingest. Right. So what does it look like in your mind if we know that this is something that's impacting our kids health? You're doing so much work around policy change and stuff like that. But you know, parents listening, how, how can they be proactive? Like we're aware of the doom and gloom. A lot of us are getting heated hearing this conversation just a little bit like we want to do something, how can we make the change, but also how can we avoid them?

First things first is knowledge is power, right? And so really understanding how plastics are affecting health is one of the biggest first steps you can take as a parent because then you are knowledgeable when you are talking to your local legislator or your school or you know, or a brand that you might be concerned about. And so I think having the knowledge is the, is the biggest first step. And I just want to, you know, one caveat to this is what I see on a daily basis is big, huge population shifts. So we have talked about not being able to visualize plastic, right? It's not like, you know, back in the day when we were young, you, they had a lot of public health announcements on smoking and then that black lung, you know, there was like very visually like we could see it or this is your brain, this is your brain on drugs. There was campaigns to visualize it because plastic is so pervasive and because it's really something you can't see, it's hard, it's hard to conceptualize. So the knowledge gained today is incremental power in being able to understand how it's affecting. But what I see and what most parents don't see is a population of children that have health outcomes that we've never seen before. And that's really important for your knowledge because you have to Be knowledgeable when you are making changes either in your own home or within your community. So, for example, when I was in medical school, type 1 diabetes was a childhood diabetes. Type 2 diabetes was an adult onset period, end of story. That wasn't, you know, a thing. I routinely and my colleagues routinely are treating children with type 2 diabetes who are 9, you know, and morbid obesity, we're treating children who are undergoing puberty as early as six. We are treating a record number of adhd. So why I say this is people can see those things. They see that in their community and that becomes more visual. And linking that to the environmental toxins is very important because genetics doesn't change in a generation. It doesn't. And so there's environmental factors at play that affect a generation of children. And we've been through this before. And when we found out lead was bad for children, squirming brains, we removed it. And we had policies around it. We had better, you know, pediatricians, vast queen for it. We now have a generation of children who are four to eight IQ points higher than the generation before them. So that's where the hope comes in, right, for parents listening is that we've been through here. Now we know we didn't know. So no guilt. We didn't know. Food service brokers don't have to feel guilt. Parents don't have to feel guilt or shame. But now we know with this knowledge. So what do you do with it? So number one is you can make some simple changes at home because as we've just discussed, you can't live in a plastic free world. Unless I suppose you could live on a beautiful island by yourself and grow your own food and transportation. But realistically, you can't avoid it. So there are certain things that you can do. And I just think about mealtime. You can, you know, diminish how much plastic you're using in your food wear. That's a simple thing. You know, I own a company called Ahimsa and that is stainless steel. Glass and stainless steel are excellent choices for foodwear for your family. And that is by the American Academy of Pediatrics that came out with a formal policy statement in 2018 recommending these two materials that you know, have been around for a long time.

And that's what our parents used.

And you had mentioned there's no leaching. So that's an important concept to understand. Plastic is always migrating, like those chemicals are migrating into the food. You made an important point. Heat makes it worse. So it's doing it at baseline. I'll make that clear to everyone listening. It's doing it at baseline, but when you expose it to heat, like the dishwasher or in the microwave, it's. It's worse and it makes it worse. So you can avoid it. You can avoid. And if you have to use it, certainly don't put it, you know, expose it to heat. But trying to use glass and stainless steel. But I also think about. I think about mealtime a lot. But the toys, if you have toddlers, remember they're exploring the world with their mouths and their hands, and they live in a plastic world. So from plastic baby bottles to their toys, just choose better materials. Even with the toys that you use, there's a lot of wooden toys out there. And even, let's say, skincare products, like, be just mindful about reading the labels. You know, is it free of bisphenols? Is it free of phthalates? Let's see, what else? Oh, and something as simple as saying no to a receipt when you go to the grocery store, because those receipts are lined with bpa. The can, the line, the cans of food that you get are also lined with bpa. So just eating fresh and whole. So it doesn't have to be complicated. Just in general, think of going back to life before the 1950s. And if you can kind of just remember that as a general rule for your family, fresh, whole food right from the earth, natural materials like wool and cotton, if you can kind of just break it down into the most simplistic things, it makes it less overwhelming to think about all the changes you can make.

Yeah, I want to dive into AHIMSA and a bit of your story, but I think it's really important to call out the fact that we live in a world and especially in the US Just like toxic food ingredients. When it comes to food containers and these plastics that you're talking about, government won't do anything until they are proven to be directly harmful. And yet it's so hard to prove because there's so many toxins, to your point, that are in our environment. There's so many things that are causing the rise of anxiety in children. There's so many things that are causing the rise of ADD, ADHD, type 1 diabetes, obesity. Gosh, breast buds in little girls and boys. Right. It's just. It's wild. But I really think that we're piecing together. There's enough evidence out there to show that these microplastics. Red alert. For us to really be paying attention.

To this, that I'm So glad that you said that, because I think that's actually important for people to hear. It is no longer, you know, I would say even as early as five years ago, people were still piecing it together. This is a scientific statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, a group of 67,000 pediatricians in the country. This is from the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This is from the Endocrine Society, the World Health Organization. These are medical organizations validating and saying this is no longer that we've studied it. These are policy and formal recommendations. That is very important because science does have to show causation or correlation. And then what you see is you start to see change. But actually, before the legislative and oversight change, you know what comes first? Consumers. Consumers and. And people really voting with, you know, at the ballot, voting with their wallet, voting with their voice, like, whether it's within their school. So I want people listening to this podcast to understand that you have more power than you think. You know, you shouldn't. You, first of all, you shouldn't have to, as a consumer, have to figure this all out. Our government should be doing a better job at this oversight so that brands do better at producing better products that are better for our planet that we're leaving behind for our children and better for our health. And it is a direct contrast to your point. In Europe, the same companies are held to a higher standard. Most people don't know this, but here, the fda, the Food and Drug Administration, they have oversight over both the food and drug. They don't have enough resources and support on the food side. And it mostly goes to pharmaceuticals. In Europe, it's actually European Food Safety Authority, efsa. It is an entire organization directly responsible for food safety. And so there is a specific difference between the way we kind of police these. Here in America, we say all these chemicals. More than 10,000 food additives in our current system have really never been tested. They just are in circulation. And our philosophy is here is innocent until proven guilty. Whereas in Europe, you have to prove that these chemicals are not harmful to the planet and are not harmful to human health before they're in circulation. So that takes time. But what doesn't take time is making those choices as a consumer and using your voice to speak out at your schools or in your kind of local policy or even within brands. And I'll tell you, moms make a difference. You know, like legislators and brands, they're afraid of moms and mama bears can make a big difference.

The fact that you Know, food and drugs are associated at any capacity is just wrong. And I feel like all of our ancestors, they prioritize food for a reason. They understand the value of food in and of itself was to keep us alive and healthy. And we went to drugs as a last effort, right? So the fact that they're even connected is just backwards. Did you hear about that recall that happened at Costco with all the chickens that were left, the chicken that you buy in the bag that was left on top of the heat? So I learned that those plastic bags have to have a specific code on the bottom for them to be safe to sit on that heat all day and all night. Sure enough, Costco wasn't using the right bag. They sold something like millions of chickens in these bags, which is disgusting to think about on its own. But, you know, again, it's just case in point of another big food company or organization that put something out into the world that consumers expect. Expect to be safe. But I think the awareness now around this is like, if you're listening, just how much of what you're consuming is coming from plastics and even the kids foods, like all of the kids foods that I know we need as almost necessity sometimes because we're too busy, we don't have the time that our mothers and grandmothers and fathers also to create the food and the snacks. And there's a time and a place for them, but just be extra mindful. So why don't we say if everyone listening had Mona and Manasseh show up at their house and we're going to do an audit. Let's start in their kitchen. Okay, let's get start in their kitchen. We're going to move to the bathroom next. What do you look for first in the kitchen?

Okay, so I want to point out everyone has their journey in different places. Because I actually realized that my journey into kind of environmental health and culinary medicine really started my kitchen because that was what was so prominent in my childhood. Whereas for somebody else, I have a friend, her kind of commitment to environmental stewardship and health actually came from the fashion industry. And so her transformation started there. So I think it's important, whatever you can do, whatever is most important to you is natural to you, you can start there, you can start in that room. So for me, it's the kitchen for sure. So number one is a really easy swap. When I first found out there's a few different things when you think about what you cook with. So, you know, a lot of people have heard we're talking about plastics but just in general, Teflon will, you know that coating the non stick, it is, you know, obviously great to not have sticky substances to your pans, but it's laced with pfas, which is a very harmful chemical that is called a forever chemical. One One quick swap for a non stick pan, you can use cast iron and stainless steel. So that's, you know, one swap when you're cooking, another swap when you're serving food. Most of children's products, when you go down the aisles of the big box stores are little plastic cups and bowls and suction bowls, suction cups, little compartment plates that have cute little characters on them. And we think that we're doing better for them. But really that's an easy swap. You can switch to glass or stainless steel. Obviously you can choose a Himsa, which we can talk about later. But I think it's important for people to know that there are choices like glass and steel and those Tupperware containers, get them out of there. So that is one that we know because people usually store in plastic. So you can take those Ziploc bags, you can take those Tupperware plastic containers and switch those to reusable. So I really like glass. I heat up a lot of things in glass and then transfer it to, you know, Himsa products or Ida Le Vas, like right then and there. Beeswax wrappers are great because those are reusable. Instead of using Saran Wrap, ditch the Saran Wrap.

We don't need it.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. So there are a lot of there. What's nice is there are options. You know, at Ahimsa, we actually have containers as well. So you just use alternatives. But glass and stainless steel are a really great option. Glass and cast iron and steel are great to cook with. And even in your kitchen, some of the small things we don't think about a sponge, for example, try to find, you know, I usually try to use those kind of reusable sponge, reusable brushes or compostables. You can even, you know, from paper towels, for example, you can just use the reusable cloth. So it doesn't have to be all at once. You can just choose one thing. I started with containers. I, I mean, I was eating like my kids were eating out of plastic plates, by the way, like when they were little, until my mom scolded me. But you just start somewhere and then you can kind of eventually build.

Just yesterday I had somebody swap out all of the Tupperware containers for glass instead. And like everyone's got that drawer. That's one simple change with massive, massive impact. Right?

Yes. And it's a it I always like to ingrained in people, cost per use. Don't think about something being more expensive. Glass is going to be more expensive than plastic. Steel will be more expensive. But when you start to wrap your brain around price per use, the number of times you use it, but also price per health on the exposure to your child or to your own health, and then, of course, price per planet, it's like, what are we doing? So I think if we can be more mindful on buying less stuff and reusing it, it's also really good, whether it's in the kitchen or any other part of your home.

Yeah. And even, you know, when you think about food products. Right. The condiment containers and stuff like that, even things like beans and lentils and stuff like that that would have typically come in a can before, they're now available in class. And it's recyclable. So it's a double benefit for your health and for the planet. They're reusable also. So. But I agree with you. Let's really emphasize, start in one spot and then take on another task. Going into your bathroom, it's the same thing. I know you're going to talk about toothbrushes and toothpaste containers and mouthwashes and stuff like that.

Shower curtains are another one. I feel like a lot of people have the polyester just always choose natural materials. So again, it doesn't have to be complicated rules. Just think, what's the most natural thing? And so if you have to use a shower curtain, choosing something like a cotton, something like linens, things that don't have that synthetic, you know, polystyrene, and these kind of plastic chemicals that are, again, being exposed to you at baseline, but certainly with heat are. Have further exposure.

And this is where another area where I really hope that moms and women can come together is with clothing. So do you know how hard it is to find a brand that has a completely natural, you know, underwear for our kids, or socks without spandex and plastics in them, where their skin is getting hot and they're taking in those chemicals every day? Right. For women, for our bras, for our athletic gear and stuff like that. And I thought there's some great brands out there that are getting there with like, you know, the efficacy of how it feels and how it makes us feel also. But I think it's happening. This is why conversations like this are just so important.

So the more we support those brands and the more we speak out to policymakers, the more it drives the market. It shouldn't be better for you brands. It should be, everything is okay. Like, is good for you. Like, it really shouldn't be. Like, you know, even in the grocery store, when we think about the health food, like, what does that even mean?

What is a grocery store? Grocery store should be health food.

That's the one aisle. That's an important distinction. And kitchen too. Food versus food product. You know, we talk a lot about plastic, but also, you know, plastic processed food system is what we see both in the homes and at school. So it's not a singular thing, but it's just the food system as a whole. So again, going back to those concepts of what's the most natural thing, what was, what did our ancestors do? And just kind of think through how they would have done it. They probably would have chose the orange or the peach and not the peach in the syrup in the plastic. Like, that's probably what they would have chosen. So just think like your ancestors and.

Can we stop a little bit? You know, fertility issues and plastics. I'll never forget when, when I had a miscarriage, doctors said, oh, you know, it's so common. Like, that was the justification that I need, needed for it to happen. And a lot of people listening have gone through their fertility journey. Can you talk to us about microplastics and fertility?

Yes. So there's two aspects of this when we talk about both women's health and men's health. I don't know how many people have heard about fertility. You know, we talk about hormones. Our brain immediately goes to fertility. I talk a lot about it in terms of hormones and growth and development for children. But on the flip side, I too have had so many friends, have issues. I also underwent, you know, hard time having kids originally. And so, like, it shouldn't be that common, but plastic is so common and these chemicals are so common, whether we like it or not. So there was a study looking at BPA and like, the levels of the, the women who miscarried in a study and when they measured it, that the women with the highest level of BPA circulating were 83% more likely to have had a miscarriage. So there is a clear link. And again, a lot of this has to do with endocrine disruption because as you can imagine, our endocrine system, I point here because it goes from our brain and then we have, like, our pituitary releases hormones, it goes to our ovaries it's a very well oiled machine. It has to work in a certain way. And so when these chemicals interfere, it can wreak havoc on end organ systems and in this case, fertility. The other is when we think about men. So when we think about men's health, I think a lot of focus is on women and infertility, but actually it also affects sperm quality and I think that's really, really important. And the men who, you know, are loud about it, are very loud because it is, it's an important thing. They have decreased with these microplastics, decreased motility, decreased sperm count itself. So the quality and quantity of sperm are decreased. So if you go to an OB GYN and if you have ever had to go to a fertility clinic or talk to a fertility specialist, one of the first things an OB GYN will tell you now is to decrease your exposure to plastic in whatever way you can. So that kind of goes back to the conversation we had earlier that it's no longer just a link here or a study here, these are now formal recommendations. So we should be taking it seriously. But I can't emphasize enough the social industry and social policy. It should not be up to us, the individuals, to have to do all this.

Yeah, and look, fertility, it's 50, 50. And I think men deserve all the attention in the world because they shouldn't be suffering either. And with testosterone levels decreasing more now than ever before in history, I think it's something that, again, another high alert area that we need to talk about. So I want to talk about Ahimsa and just how inspired I was hearing you speak about your brand Ahimsa. So before you dive into that, can you just shed a little light around your background and your practice and how that led to the creation of ahimsa?

Yes, well, we started off this podcast talking about my mother. So my mother is the reason I went from medicine to entrepreneurship and, and truly. So I'm a pediatrician by training. So I'm a board certified pediatrician. I did endocrinology fellowship for a year and saw a lot of patients with endocrine issues, including, you know, morbid obesity, early puberty, a lot of these things that I hadn't seen even as a medical student. And so I was on a text message chain with my girlfriends who are all pediatrician moms. We all have our kids. And in 2018, a formal policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics came out talking about food additives and children's health. And this was the first time we really had understood how interval food additives and the food system was on the outcomes that we were seeing in practice. And they had made the recommendation to avoid plastic and use glass or stainless steel. Well, I was born in India and came here when I was 3, and my mom brought over steel from India because it was very precious to her. And so we routinely ate off of steel plates, you know, you know, those steel cups. And it's very common. It is the material of choice for tableware in India. And so we were making these recommendations as. As a medical organization. But then I thought, how am I supposed to tell a bunch of parents to use steel or glass when the entire market is plastic? So I kind of looked and, you know, I sent my girlfriends a picture of the steel things that I was using at home because my mom made me do it, and they said, oh my gosh, can she get me some? And I thought, well, surely it's out on the market. And I saw a big disconnect that we weren't really offering that to parents yet. I, as a pediatrician, am supposed to now tell parents, hey, plastic's bad for you. Use glass or stainless steel. So that's where the idea came from, is bridging this science to the lack of industry offerings. And sometimes, you know, it can just be that simple. It just needs to be a simple solution for people to use. So we produce stainless steel cups and bowls and plates and containers for children and families. So a lot of parents use our products, too. And they're made of stainless steel, but they're colorful because they're made with also a very thin layer of titanium, the same kind of titanium that goes into indwelling medical instruments. I saw my husband once had a medical. You know, he. He does cancer surgeries. And I said, how. How is that blue? And why is that purple? Why is that one pink? And he said, oh, it's titanium. So I, I researched basically that process. Truly medicine met motherhood, and they had a baby called Ahimsa, which is this, this. This line of stainless steel dinnerware for kids that's colorful because we know children need to be engaged when they eat. They need to be excited. So I really use my background as a pediatrician and understanding of children's nutrition and development in children to infuse that into products to make it really simple for parents to create mindful meal time.

I didn't know that about the story and adding the color. So, yes, for people listening, we've all seen stainless steel. And we come to, you know, in the west, we we want things that are colorful and beautiful, and companies get really creative around these plastic colors and dyes also for our kids. And a lot of the bamboo dishes out there are even coated with plastic on top of them, so be mindful of them.

Or they have. They actually can have melamine resins or formaldehyde that binds it together. So even though the bamboo might be okay, it's the. It's the fillers. Wow.

So with the Himsa, you know, everything's going to be linked out. You and I are going to do a partnership on getting more of Himsa out into the world. But they are the most beautiful dishes. My daughter's eyes, she got the box, she opened it up, her eyes like this for me, like she was getting a toy or something. She owns her cup. It's like her unicorn cup. And, you know, it's great for boys and girls. My son loves that they have their own set of these beautiful, safe dishes. So well done.

Well, they're little jewels. They're little like jewelry. And nothing says India like jewel tone and steel. So I felt like. And actually the name Ahimsa is from India, a Sanskrit word meaning avoiding harmony. And it was certainly the first oath I took, you know, with a Hippocratic oath as a. As a physician, and certainly the first oath I took as a mom is to, you know, not harm my kids, do everything I could. And so it was the one word that summed up what I was doing with this company. And people ask me all the time, are you going to go back to practicing medicine? And I say, ahimsa is me practicing medicine at scale in a preventative way.

Let's talk about what you're doing at scale. I'll never forget when you said you were going to a meeting at the White House to help with policy change. Tell us about what's happening in that world, some of the, you know, action that you're taking to change policy.

So while the jewel tone kind of portions and healthy eating habits were important in the home, I realized, you know, as a physician, I treat all children right, no matter what zip code you live in. You walk into my clinic and I treat you. And what I realized is the children who are living in food insecurity are in free and reduced lunch. They are getting their meals from schools. So while we had a consumer line, I wanted to make sure that I met all children where they were eating, and so those children are eating at school. So one of the biggest social impact scale projects that we've had is something called the conscious Cafeteria. And what we do is we produce stainless steel trays, no longer those disgusting plastic reusable ones that have been around since the 40s and not changed. So we do products for schools to get rid of single use plastic or that reusable plastic, because we know from a health perspective we shouldn't be using it. And certainly from a carbon emission waste, emission waste production, we shouldn't be using single use. So we implemented this program called the Conscious Cafeteria program, in which we help schools go to reusable foodware, but also pair that with education. So we did this really cool project to create environmental literacy for students age K through 2 with the Smurfs, the little blue guys that are making the comeback. And so we pair curriculum with healthy food habits, sustainability, and bringing really turning the cafeteria into a classroom with the Conscious Cafeteria program. And we did a pilot study, we're in hundreds of schools, but we did a pilot study of 15 schools and studied the outcomes. We were seeing carbon reduction as much as 70 to 80% in the first year, waste reduction more than 60%. Schools were saving money in that first year. But most importantly, we were teaching children, we were teaching children about healthy food on that plate and the concepts of reduce and reuse. And so we've kind of now taken those study results in this concept to, you know, at the federal level, to the White House Council for Environmental justice to say, listen, schools need to get the funding and knowledge to know, to make better choices like reuse, like not the heat and serve type of food, but whole organic, freshly cooked food. Again, what a cafeteria looked like in the 1940s. And so, and that's a staggering thing that has been an exciting part of this journey. Using data and medicine to enact huge behavioral change has been something I never knew I was going to be doing in my future as, as a pediatrician. And really showing that in the 1970s, with the commercialization of school lunch, going from freshly cooked food, reusable materials to heat and serve, single use and truly health outcomes. Doing this over time with obesity, with type 2 diabetes, you can see the link between food and our food system and our health outcomes. So being able to kind of clearly tell this story to consumers and to policymakers is a mission for me. You know, people say, why'd you do this? You know, because had I known what entrepreneur and you're an entrepreneur. Had I known what entrepreneurship was like.

Oh, yeah, we talked about this. Would we do it again?

It's a lot.

It's a lot. But I have to say, because of Your journey, the drive that comes with it. Right. Like, there's this sense of purpose that comes with it where, you know, I say this all the time. Would I love to be, you know, 100% fully present with my kids and just be a mom and, gosh, all the work that comes with us. Yeah. But I also think that the joy that you and I can get is that we live in a time where efforts are, like, these are needed, and not all of us can take action. Not all of us know how to. But I think this is why, like, I really hope people listening pass this podcast on to another parent, because it's through education and awareness and inspiration and also through the data from someone coming like you that we can take inspired action to. To create change.

That's right. And. And that's why I'm doing it. I'm doing it because I went into pediatrics to advocate for children. And most of my job as a physician right now is in treating them. But the other half of my job, and the more important part of my job, I believe, is to keep them healthy in the first place. And so by, you know, doing things that invest in food and invest in nutrition, invest in our food system, we are, in fact, changing that trajectory for millions of children, but also for the one planet we are leaving behind for them, like, there is no other planet that they're going to. It is our job. And that's why I kind of gave up this former career to do this, is because I'm so passionate about advocating for kids. They don't have a voice. They don't vote, they don't have jobs. They don't get to say what is served in their school cafeteria. So it's up to us, the adults in the room, to fix this for them.

And we have little kids, too. So my kids, they don't understand when I ask them not to have, you know, the goldfish crackers, when I ask them not to have the Fruit Loops up school or the Cheerios or, you know, the food that comes in those plastic containers or, gosh, the coffee cake. I know there's no coffee in it, but they're giving cake for. To kids for breakfast. Like, they don't have the understanding because they assume if it's coming from my grocery store, from my stock school, then it's something that's safe. So, Mommy, help me understand this. And I saw yesterday there's a video that was going around this little girl going grocery shopping can't have this. It's not organic. Can't have this. It has this chemical. Can't have this. It comes in plastic, and it's like, no, we don't want to be painting that lens for our children. So tell me about you and how you approach this with your kids. For my kids, I really help them understand two things. One, if they don't know how to read the ingredient, then their bodies won't know what it is. And then two, the impact of plastic. Like, if it comes in a container that is in plastic and another piece of plastic or that's on heat, then they understand that it might not be good for the environment. And then the food colors. So there's three.

The food colors.

Also, if there's something that's like, super colorful and vibrant and bright, we have to understand that that's probably not going to be good to. Good for us.

Even kids, you know, in the school cafeterias, I think the same thing. If you just break it down to really simplistic terms for them. I always say, how many bodies do you have? And they're like one. Like, how many planets do you have that you live on? Like, one. And so getting them to really have this sense of kind of ownership over their own body and their own planet is actually very powerful. It's one of the reasons I went into pediatrics. Children are actually much smarter than adults, and they're much kinder, and they're much more driven. And if you can teach them these general concepts, they understand it. They understand it. And so, like you giving them those very specifics, like you mentioned, reading the labels, but also normalizing, you know, do my kids have sweets? Of course they do. Of course they do. Do they have some junk food from time to. Of course they do. There's two important things. I make it the exception, right? So it's not. We're not having it every day. It's. It's the exception. But the other thing is, I don't make it the villain necessarily. I spin it into mommy's not being mean. I'm doing this because I'm showing my love for you by helping you make better choices. And for me as your mom, my job is to protect you and keep you safe. And this is one way. So suddenly they don't look at it like this is this bad thing, but rather, my mom loves me, my dad loves me, and here they're helping me make better choices. That's a different narrative than feeling. You know, we always say, don't yuck my yum. Right? And so instead of having a negative connotation, it gives this positive connotation and sense of ownership for them to really start to understand, make decisions.

My son is nine and you know, when he does ask for certain foods or foods that he sees at birthday parties, I actually, I'll say to him, he's understanding. If we don't buy that food from that company, then we're sending them a message to create something that's gonna have everyone else heal or something that's going to be safer. And he knows after he's been to a birthday party, if he's indulged in the fun food, which of course my kids do, I want people to know that, yes, I'm a nutritionist, but my kids have, we have desserts, it's normal. But he will notice a difference in his bowel movements. So he is so attuned to like, oh, mommy, my, my stool was off today. You know, I wonder what it was. And I love that because he, he's taking ownership of his own health by acknowledging what he ate has an impact on his body.

Yes. And I think that is our role as listen parents. And I think all of us want to do what's right all the time. I'm guilty of it too. But at some point we also have to just be modeling the right thing and educating and empowering them as well. It's a big part of parenting.

I think we've given a lot of great tips for where people can start. I think that we've really emphasized, without getting overwhelmed, to start in one area. Area. I think it's also important to emphasize, you know, even when it comes to food, start by finding the healthy alternative, the healthier alternative of the one food, because those do exist. And then slowly make the transition and what you're going to notice, and I'm sure with your kids as well, once you kind of go on a detox from those ultra processed packaged foods, your kids taste buds will change and they'll start to adapt to real food. And so I'm always, you know, when people ask like, well, what are the best snacks you should give your kids? And it's really looking what, what are the foods that our mothers and grandmothers would recognize? Right. You know, they should be accustomed to eating an apple, carrots and cucumber slices and veggies and fruits and things that naturally come from the earth, so they understand that that's the real food and that something that comes in a package or a box is probably not real food. It's been manufactured. Right. Not going to serve you. So start just simple choices, add up. And you get used to them.

That. That's right. And. And people ask me all the time, how do you kids eat so healthy? What did you do? And kind of like how we started this, which is full circle again. I know we're ending, but my mom, I watched her serve, like, fresh food to me, and so I don't know any better. That's all I know. And so she didn't do something magical. It was just this repetition. So to your point, okay, fruit. Like, my kids are expected, like, when they come home. Like, my snack after school really is fruits and vegetables. And so they naturally choose fruits and vegetables in that lunch line. So it's. There is no magic recipe. There's not some. It's just repetition, good modeling, and positive reinforcement. And they'll get it, I promise.

It's the modeling. You know, if we were in high school together, you would have seen how much I got teased because my locker always smelled like Indian food.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

But my mom just had so many rituals. They literally were just imprinting on us, which I value so much today and I do with my kids. So, yeah, they're watching.

Mother knows best. Mother knows best.

Totally. Our mamas. All right, so we're going to do send all the links for ims A home. I encourage everyone to start making the transition. Check out all of the incredible, beautiful products. Would you say that there's a way, you know, when we're speaking about policy change, like, what's one or two takeaways? If we wanted to take action right now, what can we do?

So an easy thing to do is go to your school. So you can actually go. Our consumer product is@himsa home.com but you can also go to ahimsaschools.com and there you can sign up for our email newsletter. You can download a guidebook that is easy to send along to your school leaders to be empowered to kind of have that conversation, to have the knowledge behind it to help people understand the why within that school system. Change. That's it. That's one that's actionable and within your own child's school. And the other one is really, I would say, more than you know, I guess there's three. Two is just choose better brands. That's it. And that's not me as a brand owner. That's just me as a consumer trying to drive change in the market. For whatever it is that you're doing, whether it's a Himsa or another brand, just choose. Choose with your wallets the brands that are really trying to do the right thing. And then number three is at a hyper local level. Your mayor, your county leaders have a lot of say in what happens in your particular community. So a quick email talking to them about, you know, the single use products within your system. City with kind of the plastic problem, anything to just get their minds also thinking about it and the kind of connection to health and the planet. We just have to converse. So use your voice, you know, so use your wallet, use your voice and you know, just do the choices that you can, that you can make, because not everyone can make those choices. So do what you can for your family that's best for you at the time. And that's okay, whatever that is, that's so powerful.

And let's partner and put like a call to action through social. So we just continue to normalize this. And I think for parents too, it's, you know, it might be uncomfortable to not buy a lot of the foods that you're seeing floating around in schools that other kids are getting. Just be brave and help your kids understand why. And I promise you, like you're gonna inspire, inspire other parents. You're showing other parents how to do the same thing. And often it just takes being the first one to do it. And you are such a model for that. I'm so grateful that I met you.

Oh, back at you. I appreciate all the work that you're doing and giving voices to, to a lot of people and hopefully a lot of people who are listening not just to this podcast, but all of your episodes to enact change, whether it's for themselves or their family or their community.

Thank you. So some rapid fire questions as we close out. What are the most common mistakes or misconceptions that you're seeing women make with their health?

Okay, this is a good one because I'm in my 40s now, so treat rather than prevent. I think a lot we're just, we're like, how do we fix the problem? But I think if women specifically, we can start thinking through prevention, whether it's with skin, food, whatever that is. Really thinking through prevention first.

You got it. Now that that's on our mind. In her 40s, right? What's one way that women are making health too complicated?

Perfection. We think all or none. Start small, start small. Just make one simple change. I do this, by the way. I'm guilty of perfection and trying to. And it turns out you just make the one small change, stick with it, and then make another small change and stick with it. So don't Go for perfection. Just go for start.

Perfection is exhausting.

Yes.

What's your favorite ancient healing remedy?

Oh, turmeric. I'm Indian turmeric. It's like in my big Fat Greek wedding, the Windex. It's like you just pour turmeric, whatever. Like, throw it into the air and everything goes away.

Okay. If you had to pick something about modern medicine that excites you, what would it be?

Emerging field. And not just emerging fields that are now routinely in practice. Culinary medicine and environmental health medicine. So that's exciting to see that medicine is finally, for the first time, prioritizing prevention. So I. Those are my two areas that I'm deeply passionate about is environmental health and culinary medicine.

I've never heard that a culinary medicine. Culinary medicine. That's incredible.

Okay. Food is health. That's right. Yeah.

Relate to the game on that. Let's see. What are the top three things that we can start doing right now to optimize our health? We've talked about a lot of them.

Yes. So I. I would say the big three. Eat fresh. So just eat fresh. Eat like your ancestors ate. So think. Think about the simplicity in that. Find joy in moving. I think that's a really important one, both for our physical bodies and for our mental health. And then reconnect with nature and people, like, just go out, go on a walk with a friend. Like, what it can do for your soul is exponentially more than anything you can do scrolling through social media, which is kind of like what we are aim. You know, it's just society. So I think just go back to how our ancestors loved you guys. It's better for you.

All right. Dr. Manassa Mantravati, thank you so much for being here. I adore you. I'm so grateful for this conversation.

Back at you.

I have a feeling the next time you come on, you're just gonna have so much more insight. So I really hope that everyone listening today has taken to heart one, the insight that you gave us, but the fact that we're at a point in history where men, women, and children are exposed to more toxins, chemicals, and plastics than we have ever been in history. And changes are happening, but they're not happening fast enough. And it comes down to our choices, making a decision with our wallet and being proactive. And I'm just so grateful for the work that you're doing with Ahimsa Ahimsa Home, Ahimsa Ahimsa School. We'll have all those links linked out below for everyone to follow along. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you. Everyone do one, one thing. We do it together. We make a big change for this world. So thank.