Turmeric and Ayurveda: Unlocking the Healing Power of Ancient Medicine with Dr. Shivani Gupta

Deneen L. Garrett: 00:02 00:20 This week's guest is Dr. Shivani Gupta, an Ayurvedic practitioner with over 20 years of experience studying Ayurveda in the US and India, including a PhD in turmeric. Dr. Shivani, tell us more about you.
Dr Shivani Gupta: 00:20 01:28 Yeah, so I have been obsessed with health and wellness my whole life. I grew up as a young girl in Houston, Texas to an immigrant family. And in my family, we lived this very dichotomous life, like the way we lived inside our house was extremely traditional. or every year we would go to India and I would see, oh, wow, like that's a completely different world. It was a true reflection of the culture and values and rules by which my house lived. And then when I was out and about in the world, it was a whole different thing because I was living in Texas in America. So I just grew up in two different worlds and had this journey around my health and my wellness and wanting to prevent the diseases that were really rampant in my family. In my family, especially in India, everyone was obese. Everyone had heart attacks, strokes, Parkinson's, and their lives ended pretty badly. And I thought, OK, this is not a good health history that Indians tend to have. I better look at my health in a different way and find a different approach. This is the pathway up ahead of me.

Deneen L. Garrett: 01:28 02:26 Wow, you know what I didn't realize that the the health issues were so grave, did not know that at all. You know, when I think about Asian cultures, I think about being, you know, eating healthy, right? And like kind of adopting a lot of how they eat. So thank you for sharing this, letting us know. So let's get into what you do. You teach about ancient tools and strategies from Ayurveda and the healing power of turmeric for reversing low-grade inflammation and gut dysbiosis, and how by incorporating Ayurvedic practices and self-care tools, we can learn how to prevent autoimmune disorders and chronic health diseases while improving longevity and vitality. Please tell us more and start with what is Ayurveda?

Dr Shivani Gupta: 02:27 03:25 Sure. So Ayurveda is a system of health, healing, and medicine from India that's over 5,000 years old. So it's one of those truly ancient practices that's stood the test of time. It uses plant medicine. It uses diet. Ayurveda has a major focus on gut health being the center of all health. Ayurveda teaches us that there's a concept called circadian rhythm, which just means we live according to nature's clock. And if we're going to defy nature's clock and fight against it, then we're not going to get to have the health and vitality that we really want to have. So I love teaching about the sleep, the diet, the gut health, so that we can prevent a lot of these horrible diseases that are part of our heritage and part of our ethnicity and background. I think we have this option to learn better and do better, but not necessarily keep handing down the dietary practices or lifestyle habits that have been taught to us.

Deneen L. Garrett: 03:25 03:28 Yeah, and so why turmeric?

Dr Shivani Gupta: 03:30 05:20 Good question. So I was sitting in herbology class, I was doing my master's in Ayurvedic sciences, and everything about Ayurveda I loved because when I had my own health struggles in college, I went on this journey through India, and I realized that Ayurveda has these keys to the kingdom. It has this simple, clean diet that we can follow. It has these gut healing practices, but more importantly, it had these super foods. And here in the West, we consider super foods like salmon and spinach and blueberries and things like that because they have a lot of antioxidant power and a lot of anti-inflammatory power. But if you look at super spices like turmeric and ginger and ashwagandha and all the different spices from Ayurveda, They are such powerful anti-inflammatories, antioxidants. They are reversers of aging. They're such powerful investments in longevity. They improve gut health, heart health, brain health, all the different systems of health. So when I learned about turmeric, I was like, okay, dang, like this is that one spice that if my family had all those generations ago, maybe we didn't have to pay the prices that we paid. And so my advisor in my studies was like, you should do a PhD on turmeric. It sounds like you love it. And I did. I did a whole dissertation on it. I read all the science on it. And it's just made me the biggest evangelist of turmeric, because I think as a society, we are inflamed. We're physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually inflamed. And if we could just look at turmeric as the first source we use for physically supporting us, and once we get that physical inflammation out of the way, then we can start to address all those other layers of inflammation that are wreaking havoc on the system.

Deneen L. Garrett: 05:20 05:38 Yeah, and this is of special interest to me because just recently someone had suggested garlic, right? Oh yeah, use garlic for the different health properties. So to hear turmeric, You know, I'm interested in your thoughts on garlic.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 05:38 05:55 For sure. Garlic is great. Garlic is antibacterial. It's like if anyone in my house has a cold, I just roast some garlic and make them start eating the cloves like it's their job. It's powerful. And then ginger is also so powerful, anti-inflammatory. I love a ginger lemon tea in the morning.

Deneen L. Garrett: 05:55 06:14 Yeah. And you know what? I just actually had a garlic tea. in the recipe that I saw indicated to add cinnamon and honey and lemon. So now I'm going to start using turmeric. Start seasoning things with that.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 06:14 07:23 Yes, for sure. When you use turmeric, there's a couple of things to know, though. OK. So turmeric as a plant is wonderful. In its dried form as a spice, it's even more potent than just using the raw plant form. OK. And out of that spice, only three to 5% of it is the curcuminoids. And we know that the curcuminoids from turmeric drive the biggest result when it comes to inflammation, pain, supporting our immune system, antioxidant power, which is what prevents that like achy joints and aging that we all tend to experience. And so I encourage people that in the form of turmeric to take turmeric in the supplement form so that you can get that extract out of turmeric called curcumin and really drive a result for your inflammation. Now, can you have turmeric lattes and eat turmeric in your food? Yes, absolutely, and it is beneficial. Just make sure if you're gonna use it as a food, you're gonna add black pepper or a healthy fat to it, because that's what will increase the absorption significantly. And when you take a supplement, same thing, it should be lipid-based or have black pepper in it.

Deneen L. Garrett: 07:23 07:33 Okay, okay, and I know that right now I'm kind of simplifying this, But if we're adding turmeric, ginger, and garlic, we're in pretty good shape.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 07:33 07:43 Yes? Correct, yeah. I mean, all three are wonderful. I think incorporating those into our lives every day or every other day can be very beneficial.

Deneen L. Garrett: 07:43 08:04 Good, good, good, good. Thank you so much for that. So this podcast, Women of Color, an Intimate Conversation, is about empowering women of color and elevating our voices. Reflecting on what it took to bring you to where you are today, what reactions can women of color take to tap into their power and voice?

Dr Shivani Gupta: 08:04 10:18 That's a great question. To me, it's so important that as women, we step forward with self-care. as our first step towards really showing our own body and our own spirit that we're so committed to ourself first, like it's building that trust. And so for me, self-care is a rhythm that I build throughout my day. first thing in the morning, throughout my morning lunch, evening dinner. And so if I build the rhythm of my life around self-care, that to me is the most transformational way to make sure that I'm paying attention to me. Because as women, a lot of times people are focused outwards. A lot of times women are taking care of spouses, kids, partners, family, parents, elders. Like there's just so many people to nurture and take care of that we forget ourselves. So my number one action is self-care. Number two is take your supplements and your food and all the things that are good for you, and remember to use them as tools to build the level of vibrancy and health that you want. So for example, if you want to feel like you wake up every single day, so vibrant, so healthy, so energized and ready to go, And then you want to maintain that. Kind of think forward. What am I going to eat today? How am I going to hydrate today? What are the tools I use to stay really well? Like sometimes I forget to hydrate and then I get headaches all evening. That's an easy one. And then number three is what's the movement we can incorporate to build the energy battery that we want to have to accomplish everything in our lives. In Ayurveda, we teach about yoga and walking as simple, but very powerful tools to build our health. And so if my life is busy and I can't get anything else done, I just take everyone outside and we walk, walk at the park or walk anywhere. And the walking alone is gonna create a lymphatic flow in the body. It'll clear our minds. Moving in nature is a big part of Ayurveda. So it's gonna reset our whole nervous system to be healthier. And then all of a sudden, all the moving pieces that we need to process in our minds get a chance to process through as well.

Deneen L. Garrett: 10:20 11:10 Yeah, that's awesome. I had also read not too long ago, a recommendation is that after you eat, you know, to go for like a 20 minute walk. And, and so, you know, you mentioned being in Houston, I'm in Detroit, it's cold right now. So and I do like to walk outside. So that's not the thing to do right about now, because it's so cold. However, walking around the house, you know what I'm saying? Just keeping it moving is, is what I'm practicing. Awesome. So often, Black women and other women of color do a lot or even too much. We don't always prioritize ourselves or even our self-care. I just recently took a pause in the way of a two-month social media break. Talk to us about the importance of taking time for ourselves and the power in the pause.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 11:10 13:39 Sure. So I think the problem we have in modern-day society is we're inundated. And between our phones, our email, our laptops, the TV, it's just a lot for the brain to process. And it constantly puts our bodies into a sympathetic nervous state. So parasympathetic means we're in a rest and digest mode. We can absorb and assimilate what we eat. The body is at rest mentally, physically, emotionally. versus sympathetic is when we're in fight or flight. And so a lot of times nowadays we just put ourselves into fight or flight from the minute we wake up, get the kids out the door, get in the car, traffic, get to work, start working, maybe remember to eat at our desk while we work so we're unconscious eating because we just want to get that meal in there. keep going, caffeinating, sugar to stay up, and then flipping to like home, kids, cooking, dinner, all the other responsibilities, and then spouse, and then crash. And so my invitation is, can we create a completely different rhythm within that structure? I know we're not going to change the whole structure. I know we're not going to all run off to you know, Italy and eat pasta all day. We have our lives here. But within that life, I like to teach self-care as a rhythm. And I personally need an anchor point. Like I need a reminder to do self-care. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to stay too busy. So I use tea time as me time, as my anchor. And every day I know I'm going to have my first cup of tea at eight and my second one at 10 and my next one after lunch. Then I do like a high tea at 3.30. And that's my transition point into my later part of my day, 3.34 when I end my work day. In the evening, I might have a delicious cup just to like settle down for the evening or a bedtime cup of tea. And those were those points in the day where I just pause and I check in with myself and I ask myself, are you feeling okay? What do you need right now? Have you structured your day so you're gonna get to eat today? Like what is your plan this week? Does this week look like you're gonna survive it the way you structured it? And a lot of times my intuition will come up with an answer like, hey, you need to change that timing by 15 minutes. Hey, you need to cancel on that person. Or no, you can't do that thing. You can't be everything to everyone if you wanna be fed and survive. And so that one power of that pause has transformed my whole life.

Deneen L. Garrett: 13:39 13:47 And you know what? I like that idea. So you're drinking a lot of tea. Yes, I am.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 13:47 13:47 Right.

Deneen L. Garrett: 13:47 13:59 And then I'm up here thinking, I'm like playing it back in my mind. I'm like, okay, she's in Houston. She's not in London. And then she's from, you know, she's Indian. So yes, that is cultural.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 13:59 14:27 Yes, it is. But I don't even drink Indian chai. Like I drink green teas and I drink, um, I make teas like as part of my company, I design teas and formulas. And so always designing things that I would love that have like adaptogens or help me sleep or have jasmine in them, um, and balance my hormones. So to me, tea is like a functional tea to help you. And then it's like, I'm addicted to tea. Like people are addicted to coffee. So it's like that joy you get from your first cup of coffee.

Deneen L. Garrett: 14:27 15:20 Yeah, and you know what, I really tried to get into tea. So I think it was earlier in the year. I so I someone had made me a dirty chai. And I'm like, okay, this is kind of good. So I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna make my own. So I bought all the ingredients, and was trying it. And it really just was not working out for me. And then I even bought these teas, like all in these different flavors. And it just didn't happen for me. So I haven't gotten to the point to whereas you know, the tea is really my thing and I'm going to drink in a set of coffee. Although I did have today the garlic tea. So I saw something for garlic tea and I, you know, I was drinking that kind of like you said, functional, but for health purposes and it wasn't bad. I'm not quite sure that it's going to replace the coffee, but you mentioned supplements, right? And you have a company. Tell us a little bit about your company before we move on.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 15:21 17:14 Sure. So about eight years ago, after I had finished the turmeric PhD, my husband looked at me and said, you're going to, are you really going to tell everyone that for every single problem they have in life, they can take turmeric? And I said, yes, because this spice is amazing. And he's like, well, if that's really the mode, you should create your own. And I went out there and I looked and I couldn't find anything on the market that I liked. that I could trust, that I could send everybody to go take. So I was like, all right. So I went on this exploration mission and my goal was, could I create a tumour that's so potent that all of orthopedics, when I have a pain like my plantar fasciitis or my knee pain, instead of giving me NSAIDs, which give me stomach aches and ruin my stomach, could I instead take tumour? Could Ayurveda be that powerful? And so that was my hypothesis. And I went out there and I met with a factory who I knew very well owned by an MD. And I said, look, this is my goal. And he was like, that's not possible. But we were able to source this very potent form of curcumin at a level of 95 plus percent grade potency. And it really drives the result. So for eight years now, I have been meeting with orthopedic surgeons, functional medicine, primary care docs, and my goal is just to show the world that we have alternatives. We have solutions for our pain, for our inflammation, for our immune system. And so it's called Fusionary Formulas. It's the website's fusionaryformulas.com. And my goal is just to show everyone turmeric and ginger and all these spices and teas can play a profound role in our lives. And then I also like to teach people how to live that Ayurvedic lifestyle, because it's not just take the pill for a problem. It's let's go ahead and use this as a solution. And we created a special code for your audience. WCPodcast will equal 15% off. at fusionaryformulas.com.

Deneen L. Garrett: 17:14 17:47 Awesome. Awesome. So, um, if you're interested in trying, um, the supplements go to fusionaryformulas.com and use W O C podcast to get your 15% off. This will also be included in the show notes and on my website, Danino Garrett.com. So pivoting, I honor my late sister, author and poet soul true. by asking about Dreams Deferred, the title of one of her books. Please share a Dreams Deferred moment.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 17:47 18:34 You know, I think having kids can be one of those big, you can call it a derailments in our lives. It's an amazing, magical thing, of course, but it definitely derails or sets new paths and new journeys and new timelines. to what we want to do. And so for me, I have always wanted to write books that impact lives. And I never find the time, like I never sit and write and finish a book. So Dreams Deferred to me kind of reminds me of those books that are calling to me, that are inside of me, that want to come out and are begging me to just take a few weeks, take a month, and make this space in my life to just go ahead and do the thing that's calling to me most.

Deneen L. Garrett: 18:34 20:54 And I love that. And so a couple of things with that, the other day, so here's the deal, similar situation for me, except for it's not my dream. It's like dreams of other people. They're like, write a book, write a book. And I'm like, on what? You know what I'm saying? It's like the things that they're recommending are things that are just natural for me that I don't even think about, right? And so for me, it's like, OK, yeah, I don't know. I have to really get my mind around that. But anyway, I did. I was a contributing author back in 2019. The book launched and it actually launched International Women's Day in March. of 2020, or actually maybe it was 2020. I don't, I'm not sure. Anyway, whenever it was a couple of years ago. And the other day the publisher, she posted on LinkedIn that the book Upward, that the book had received like third place in this book contest. Nice. And that it's being used in a Minnesota university in a graduate level course. Wow. And I'm like, oh, my goodness. Right. I'm like, wasn't even thinking about the book. And that just goes to show that, you know, there's impact, whatever. But for me, what it did is it reminded me that I have a connection to a publisher so that when I am ready to move forward and make those moves, I at least have that resource. Right. And so it just kind of puts it out there to say, hey, this dream or this, whether it's your dream or somebody else's dream, it's closer than you actually realize. And so I'm like, that's such a beautiful thing. But yeah, the book is Upwards. It's a leadership book. Nice. And like I said, I was just so thrilled to see to be reminded right for that book to come back up and i'm looking for the foot, so the full name is upward leadership lessons for women on the rise. So yes, yes, yes it's exciting exciting alright, so I empower women of color to live a dream lifestyle, what is a dream lifestyle to you and how do you live a dream life.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 20:55 23:18 You know, a dream lifestyle to me is one where it's designed by me, where I have control over the different aspects of it. And I keep pushing it to be as exceptional as I can dream up. Like, do I live in a home that's comfortable? that's easy, that's comforting, that feels like it's home to all of us, whoever wants to live with me, whether it's my kids and my husband or others as well. Do I have a body that I feel at home in? Is my body healthy and vibrant? Do I wake up energized and do I have the energy to work through my whole day and build things at all cylinders firing? Do I have the relationships I want? Do I have a great relationships with my children, with my husband, with my best friends, with my family? That to me is a top, top priority. So my dream lifestyle is if I'm happy and I feel at peace and like we've got smooth sailing going on across maybe 90% of the plates that are spinning in the air and or the creations that I have, then that to me feels really good. And for me, living a dream life is that co-creation. So my dream life is I sleep amazing. I wake up healthy. I get to work out every day for most days. I get to go to work in this office of mine that's beautiful with my inventory and my best friend is my co-founder with me and we get to create awesome things. I get to go home to children, but I reset and kind of readjust my pace before I see the kids. so we can have a beautiful evening. And then weekends for me are either plow through on the work, because I'm creating so many things so fast, or it's connect with kids and family. So it just depends. But a dream life to me is when you're in that vibration of feeling so good, then every dream you have comes that much closer to you that much faster. Like right now my business is booming and thriving, which is amazing. And recently I applied to write a book for Hay House and they said yes to me. And I was like, what's happening in the world? That's incredible. But I thought, you know, I do so much work to like live life at this dream level that isn't that cool that my dreams get to come true along the way as well.

Deneen L. Garrett: 23:18 25:45 Absolutely. That's what it's all about, right? That that's really about what the dream life is. You know, it's different. people, right? The specifics are different for different people, but the pretty much the goal of it are pretty much the same, right? Freedom, happiness, joy, attracting and manifesting wonderful things like those are pretty much like what you want to experience in that dream life. And again, the specifics are different for different people. So that's just awesome. So like from our conversation, like things that stood out from, oh, and other, you know, you were talking about how you live, also tea. So there's lots of tea. There's lots of tea, so don't want to forget that. But just some of the things that stuck to me early, you know, and I mentioned, so adding turmeric and ginger and garlic is, you know, a good thing. And also tapping into the supplements that you offer are enhancements as well. And I like the self-care as a rhythm, right? And then with an anchor. So kind of like centering yourself around this thing. And you know that when you are, you know, you know that you're gonna do this thing every day, same time. And that's just something, a focal point to look at. So I like that to even think about that focal point. And like what you said earlier, absolutely. Like the, I liked how you talked about the physical impact or the physical, I'll just say impact, but, or residue and whatnot of when we're going, going, going, like how, you know, we wake up, we pick up the phone, we're checking social media, and it just has us in this state because you're right, right? Because again, when I took the pause, I took it basically because I was too reliant on social media. And, you know, and when you're on social media, they have an algorithm. So you have to be constantly on. And so that I can see now listening to you, especially how that impacts you physically, because you're like thinking, Oh my God, I gotta, gotta keep this. If I don't, then, you know, the impressions and things are going to drop and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Right. And so that does wear on you because I noticed it was such, it was such a piece when I wasn't on.

Dr Shivani Gupta: 25:45 26:13 Right. And that's a big deal. And I also think that it's constantly making us crave. Like when I'm on social, I'm craving a more perfect house, a more perfect body, a more perfect this, that, the other, motherhood. And when I get off it, I'm never satisfied. So now I'm very conscious when I watch social media, I'm like, that's all filtered, created content. That's not real. Please remember that whatever we create in real life, that is what's real and wholesome and good.

Deneen L. Garrett: 26:15 26:37 Absolutely. And I do want to say this, there's lots of, of course, there's lots of value to social media, right? Definitely. Lots of value. It's how you spend your time on it or your, you know, make sure you're intentional about using it and why you're using it. Right. And that can definitely help. So before we wrap, what would you like to leave the guests with?

Dr Shivani Gupta: 26:38 27:39 I'd love to leave everyone with this notion that if we put self-care first, like self-love, self-care acts throughout the day, we can rewire our brain and reteach our body to know and expect that we will consistently put ourselves first. And because we do that, we can trust ourselves to take really good care, to have our tea, to have our supplements, to have our food, but also just to prioritize self and that peace that we crave. And by doing so and building that rhythm of self-care, we can completely transform our potential. We can transform how we feel in our bodies, how we experience the world around us, the level of peace, the level of joy that we have. So self-care can become this like magical tool in the toolbox that supersedes all other tools and helps give us that really vibrant, joyful life that we crave.

Deneen L. Garrett: 27:39 27:51 I appreciate that. I definitely do. Dr. Shivani Gupta, thank you so much for lending your voice on Women of Color: AN Intimate Conversation and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you. You're welcome.