Celebrity Holistic Nutritionist Mona Sharma Shares Her Secrets

Holistic. Registered nutritionist Mona Sharma works with celebrities like Will Smith, but she says her unique approach to food comes from her experiences at ashram's spiritual centers that teach food is your medicine. Good to have you.

Thank you. Thank you.

You're welcome. So for the uninitiated, tell us a little bit about what it's like at an ashram. Am I saying that right? At an Astro and then what you eat there.

So, you know, ashramps today are honestly like the ultimate wellness retreat. And really there's a strong focus on, you know, your mind, your body, but also your spirit and really peeling back the layers of imbalance that are causing you to feel sick. What does that do? That connects you with your optimal self, optimal health, and ultimately, I would say, really the joy in living. You're up at 5:30, you're meditating for half an hour. There's two hours of breathing and yoga. And that's just the morning followed by a nutrition at the beach.

Where is that?

Oh, I went to the one in the Bahamas. Trust me, they exist. They're all over the world. Yeah. And this repetition really happens day after day. And that's what really connects you to like detaching from busyness.

I'm dying laughing because the last time, and my only time I've been in the Bahamas, I went to a resort that had gambling.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And yes.

So wellness starts with. And I love that, that's a huge component of these ashrams. And you brought a soup today that you might eat at an ashram.

Yeah, you got it. So, you know, my dad is indeed, my mom is Danish. And growing up with my dad's awareness around this philosophy, he would take us to the ashram because she had just like debilitating autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis. And with the schedule there, you know, kitchari is one of the dishes that they serve and it's designed to be really easy to digest. It's kind of like the Indian cure all. It's loaded with lentils and basmati rice. You can swap that out and use cauliflower rice as an alternative if you want to go grain free. But the focus is on the healing spices, cumin, coriander, turmeric, which we know that tend to be antioxidants, anti inflammatory for the system.

Are there mung beans in here?

There's mung beans because I don't like.

Mung beans, but I like this. This is lovely.

And then there's also good quality fats. So typically an organic ghee, you can use coconut oil and that helps to. To make you feel full.

We have a problem here, which is I can't stop eating this.

Yeah, it's so good. Does Will Smith like this one? He does, yeah. It's on his meal plan, so I've yet to see. He loves it.

Speaking of Will, you've worked with the Pinkett Smiths for a health makeover.

I did.

And I understand you even came up with a specific smoothie. Can you tell us about that?

Yeah. So Will is great. You know, in our conversation, he was really excited at this idea of using food to heal. So what I decided to do for Will is create a smoothie. I love smoothies because it's a fast and easy way to really get. Dr. Kravitz is asking.

We're moving on to the smoothies.

I want to get a couple last bites there. Smoothies are an amazing way to get a massive dose of nutrients first thing in the morning. So what we've done here is I've taken some spinach, blueberries, brain food. Thank you. Spirulina, an amazing source of protein, but also detoxifier for you. Hemp seeds, omega 3 fatty acids, anti inflammatory, coconut water to sweeten things up. And then I added in a secret ingredient. Any ideas? That secret ingredient is jicama. Mmm. Jicama is actually a root vegetable. You can call it a Mexican yam. Tastes like a cross between a potato and an apple. This is, honestly, guys, my superfood obsession. It is loaded with vitamin C, so great for your immune system, but also really high in prebiotic fiber. We know about probiotics, but prebiotics are essentially the food that feed the good quality bacteria in your gut. If you heal your gut, you heal your health.

Honestly, what's fascinating about this is that it's loaded with all these great nutrients. But more importantly, I am not someone who necessarily loves the taste of jicama. I never had it until I started coming out here to host the show. So I'm fascinated with your ability to create this smoothie that's very light, refreshing, and how you make the jicama or get the jicama in here. So quite frankly, it does taste earthy to me, but it's subtle and it tastes good. So what's the trick there?

Traditionally, it's been on my clients meal plans. Chopped up, you can put some chili and some lime on it, but I threw it through a juicer because I really wanted to see what it was like, it's a little sweet, right? So you can taste that, but it's a little bit.

So you've already. So you've basically taken this through a juicer.

I threw it through my own juice. You got it.

What I've learned then is that it's the consistency of it that is so. Because it's a root vegetable, right? So it's really. You bite into it. It's intense. The actual taste of it, I like.