← Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel
Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel
Your Body Already Knows: Ayurveda, Healing, and Reclaiming Energy
00:53:13
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- [00:00]
Rachel Yukatel
Today on Misunderstood with Rachel Yukatel.
- [00:03]
Nidhi Pandya
When I moved to the West, I realized that there was a lot of fear around wellness. To me, health was the freedom of being well rather than the fear of disease.
- [00:10]
Rachel Yukatel
I love having you here because there are so many things that are misunderstood about Ayurvedic medicine.
- [00:15]
Nidhi Pandya
So I'm going to break down a little bit of the term Ayurveda. Okay. Yuhu means life and veda means science. So it's the original science of life. Now the science of life means everything that happens has to do with life and enhance our experience on this planet. The first principle that you would start on is understanding the circadian rhythms. Our bodies have certain neurotransmitters that are very connected to the cycle of the sun.
- [00:49]
Rachel Yukatel
What is the most misunderstood Ayurvedic practice?
- [00:55]
Nidhi Pandya
Consuming turmeric shots. Turmeric is never meant to be a shot that's going to burn your mucosal lining. Don't do it foreign.
- [01:11]
Rachel Yukatel
What if your body already held every answer you've been chasing? We live in a world where the first sign of discomfort sends us searching outside of ourselves. To Google, to the pharmacy, to the next trendy wellness hack. What if the key wasn't out there? It was in here waiting for us to listen? That's what Ayurvedic, this ancient, often misunderstood science is really about. Not quick fixes or exotic teas, but a way of remembering that our bodies are intelligent, responsive, and always speaking to us. The problem is most of us have forgotten the language and most of it is very misunderstood. Today we're diving into a conversation with Nidhi Pandya, an Ayurvedic practitioner, writer and speaker who grew up with this wisdom woven into her daily life. Her new book, your Body already knows a 21 day plan to decode in your cravings, reclaim your energy and feel at home. And your body is not about following rules. It's about learning to trust yourself again. If you've ever felt disconnected from your body, if you've ignored the signals because life told you to push through, if you're exhausted by this endless search for balance, this is the episode for you. Because maybe the most radical act of healing isn't adding more, but finally listening to what's been there all along. So sit back and please enjoy my episode where we get to the bottom of the of Ayurvedic medicine. Nidhi, thank you so much for joining me today on Misunderstood, all the way from New York. How are you today?
- [03:07]
Nidhi Pandya
Very well. Thank you for having me, Rachel. I'M excited for this conversation and to see what we can uncover.
- [03:13]
Rachel Yukatel
Exactly. Well, I'm so excited for it, too, because who doesn't want to look better, feel better? There are so many TikTok trends, and everybody is into all sorts of new, you know, health, wellness, things that they can try. And everyone's trying it from, like 13 years old to 75. So I love having you here because there are so many things, things that are misunderstood about Ayurvedic medicine and. And all the wisdom that goes along with it. So before we get into it, I want to hear about you. Can you tell us your background, where you came from, and how you found this to be your path?
- [03:48]
Nidhi Pandya
Yeah. So, Rachel, I grew up in Mumbai, India, and I grew up in a joint family, and my grandfather was an Ayurvedic healer. So I often joke that I. It's my first language. So when you're raised with 15 people living in the same household and the backbone of our lifestyle, what we eat, how we interact, being Ayurveda, you don't even know that you're learning Ayurveda, so to say, right? To somebody who doesn't understand what Ayurveda is, it is. It is a system of life, of medicine, of prevention, of treatment, all of that that comes from India. But what Ayurveda really understands is the rhythms and patterns that really make us human and make any living species on the planet living. Right? The difference between me and my vax statue would be that I have breath, I have a heartbeat, I have a pulse. And similarly, everything outside has a rhythm, like the earth has rotation, revolution, which kind of leads to life. So Ayurveda really understood these rhythms and patterns. Today, we call them circadian rhythms, seasonal rhythms, daytime rhythms, all of that. So I grew up understanding all of this, Rachel. I grew up with all of this gifted to me. And being a very sensitive child. I. My. The running joke is I always was curious about what makes people sick and what makes people tick. And when growing up with 14 people in a family there, you have your playground and you also have your research laboratory, same stimulus, respond differently. I was doing this. I was preoccupied with this my entire life, and I didn't realize it till I became an adult. And I did have a choice. I mean, this Ayurveda pulled me into it. I was drawn, sucked into wanting to do this. Even at a time back then, 20 plus years, nobody understood, nobody even knew the word. One out of 20 people that I spoke to in the US may have understood or even Heard of the word Ayurveda today? I can safely say that at least in a place like New York or LA, 7 out of 10 people understand Ayurveda or have heard of Ayurveda. And even then, back then, I was like, I don't have a choice. This is my calling. Especially. I had had some experience with pharmaceuticals, doing some marketing pharma here. And I realized that the wellness system that I had been given at birth, that I was indoctrinated into, was really what needs to be brought back. So I was just pulled into Ayurveda. I got a formal education. I studied from the Sanskrit text. Sanskrit is the ancient language of India. So I really went back right to the source. I got that education for six, seven years. And that's it. This is what I do 24, seven.
- [06:28]
Rachel Yukatel
So, oh, my God, So much information there. First of all, you said it was like your. Your language that you learned when you were younger. So explain that to me. Like, what does that look like when your family is different than our American families growing up with that as your language?
- [06:43]
Nidhi Pandya
That's such a beautiful question, Rachel. So to give you an example, right, like, there's certain meals, everybody has a large lunch that's offered. Anything that's an indulgence, it's a treat is offered at lunch. But let's say, Rachel, I was supposed to, like, I were to ask my mom that, hey, mom, can I have cheese at night? Then, for example, the response that I would usually get is like, why don't you eat it for lunchtime tomorrow if you want to eat cheese now here as a young girl, you're making so many connections. You're learning that your digestion is probably not the best. You're learning that cheese is heavy. And you're also learning that meals, that large meals or heavy meals can be eaten at lunchtime because probably that's when your digestion is more forgiving. So don't realize that you're learning all of this as a young child. Or to give you another example, right? Like when I would go down to play and mom would say that, Nidhi, come back before you see bats weaving through the sky. I mean, those are the days you actually saw bats in the sky. Now, to be here as a young child, what I don't realize, which. What I did realize from my conscious mind is I'm making a connection that, oh, human beings are slowing down their activity, right? Because it's dark, I can't see as well. But look at these other. Other species, other creatures, they Actually come out at night. This is their time to hug. So you're understanding diurnal and nocturnal right there and then. Or if we were like five, five girls in the house, you know, cousins and sisters. And when you would go out, my grandfather would, for example, specifically say to one of my cousins that, hey, Ruchi, you want to be careful when you guys are out in the sun? Make sure you're drinking coconut water. Now, just in that statement, I have understood that, yes, whenever we go out to the, to the sun, Ruchi gets all red on her cheeks. She gets a headache, and probably coconut water is cooling and hydrating. So I was never told that according to Ayurveda, you should drink coconut water because it's hydrating. I just understood that everything you're doing is making a connection. You're offsetting something that people exhibit patterns, and you live in a manner to offset those patterns. Even the daytime rhythms are just simply patterns. And everywhere in the world, whether it's seasons, whether it's your own body, you exhibit these patterns. And just knowing these patterns allows you then to understand how to live in balance.
- [08:53]
Rachel Yukatel
Wow. Okay. That's fascinating. I don't think as an American, we grow up with any of that information at all. So a lot of what you're talking about is almost like what people hire nutritionists later on in life when they've struggled with some issues with either their gut or their weight or whatever to understand. You said you went to school for six or seven years, so you're obviously learning about patterns. I'm assuming you're learning about nutrition, you're learning about skin or beauty. Like, explain what you're learning in those six or seven years.
- [09:24]
Nidhi Pandya
I love it. You know? Yeah. I'm just going to take a moment and say, I love that you're getting into this organically. You know, it's just, it's one conversation into another because a lot of times people go directly into what is Ayurveda, and then it's hard to understand. So you're right. So I'm going to break down a little bit of the term Ayurveda. Okay. You, who means life and Veda means science. So it's the original science of life. Now, the science of life means everything that has to do with life and enhance our experience on this planet. So what are some of the things that we learn? Right. So aada, which is often known for only its treatment and prevention of disease, but that's not what it's all about. It actually goes further. Nutrition, lifestyle, herbs of Course, fertility, child care, social conduct, mental health, every single system in the body. Digestive system, your respiratory system, your reproductive system. You learn about each of these systems in tremendous detail. So everything that has to do with human life, like, how do you choose a partner? How do you set up for your profession? I mean, these decks are vast. They are so much information, and there's so much wonder. And, you know, it's very precise, too, by the way. So it's not like code that you have to figure out. Everything is just stated very clearly, very deeply understood. So it's a vast science, and you basically learn all of this, or including longevity and biohacking. There's a whole module, like, there's a whole set of textbooks on that. So you basically learn about anything that has to do with enhancing your experience of life on this planet.
- [11:05]
Rachel Yukatel
When did you learn that this wasn't just like a cultural tradition, but this is something that you wanted to be your life's purpose?
- [11:13]
Nidhi Pandya
So I realized when I moved to the West, Rachel, more than 20 years ago, I realized that the way I had treated health like a value system, and it brought me tremendous freedom. So it just. Health meant. And understanding these rhythms meant to me that, wow, I can eat my junk food. I know when to eat it. I can live my life however I want, and I know how to balance it. I have this sacred relationship with the rhythms and the patterns in the world and my body. And it just felt like a very romantic relationship, you know, it just felt really like. Like health as a family member, you like, you give it reverence, you know?
- [11:49]
Rachel Yukatel
Yeah.
- [11:49]
Nidhi Pandya
And when I moved to the West, I realized that there was a lot of fear around wellness. There was a lot of fear. It was not like. My joke is that to me, health was the freedom of being well rather than the fear of disease. And when I moved to the West, I realized that health was the fear of disease. And then I had to look back and say, how did I learn this kind of paradigm of. Well, of health? And I realized that it was just ingrained. We were. I was just raised like that, and it can be transported to others the same way. It can be taught that way. Then when I, you know, this was the time, I mean, I was thinking about having children in my early 20s. And of course, this is before I had children, but I knew that I was going to have kids. I mean, I always meant to be a mother, and I said, I cannot bring my children in this, into this world without this wisdom. And the only way to be this wisdom is to Embody it is to stand for it, is to teach it. And I did all of that. And today I have two young teenage daughters, and I can tell you they understand these patterns and rhythms. They live in New York City, they live completely modern lives, but they're very much in touch and they understand these rhythms and patterns really, really well. So I think that became my really deep calling. The contrast that I found in the west made me want to go back to my roots much more.
- [13:04]
Rachel Yukatel
Effy, right?
- [13:06]
Nidhi Pandya
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- [13:31]
Rachel Yukatel
Try it out for yourself@wix.com okay, so you've explained Ayurvedic. I'm sorry that I don't pronounce it the same way you do because it sounds so pretty when you say it. But when. So you've explained it sort of in broad terms, are there sort of like core principles or tenets that people need to know about it so that they can really identify what it is that you're talking about?
- [13:54]
Nidhi Pandya
Yeah. You know, I want to give you two, two ways of doing this. So firstly, when you talk about, like, for people who are just wondering, what in the world is Ayurveda? If you've heard of turmeric and you've heard of Ashwagandha, and you've heard of oil pulling or dry brushing or bullet coffee or even intermittent fasting, all of these practices have their roots in Ayurveda. So just to give you context of like, hey, this is that parent science where these practices have emerged from. But if I have to point out a few tenets and say, hey, you know, you wake up today and you say, I want to start living Ayurvedically. What does this mean? And I'd say, of course, like, it's a lifelong journey and it's a very fulfilling journey. It's not like, oh my God, this work never ends, you almost feel like, ah, I want more of this because it allows me to feel whole. But where would you start? And I think the first principle that you would start on is understanding the circadian rhythms. Like, circadian rhythms is a very new concept here in the West. But if you look at the Ayurvedic texts and the detail in which they explain it's not just day and night, it's six phases of the day. And if you want, we can go into the six phases, or I can just start by saying, keep your lunch heavy, keep your dinner light. Know that we are diurnal mammals, right? Which means that we are not tigers, we are not bats, we are not owls, we don't have nighttime vision. And before electricity came into our worlds, 1930s, that's so recent 1930s, we did not have these big time night dinners so much later than sunset because we were not lighting all these oil lamps and saying, oh, let's have dinner parties. Once in a while. You would have a midnight feast, but you rarely ever did that. So it's basically going back to understanding that our bodies have certain neurotransmitters that are very connected to the cycle of the sun. And so you want to eat your heaviest meal for lunch, lightest meal for dinner, as early as possible, and start honoring your sleep cycles. And if you've started doing that, you've already set a great baseline because that one rhythm will correct many other rhythms. Your bowel movements, your menstrual cycles. Many other rhythms will be corrected when you start doing that. But if you have to bring in a second tenet, you know, just going to start very simple and easy. The second tenet would be that you want to look back into the evolution of mankind and realize, I mean, you do some research just even on simple search function on your computer, you realize that when humans started, when we started using fire to cook our foods is when we became humans. And evolutionary biologists have actually studied that and they've realized that, oh, we were a different species. The reason why we became these. Standing on your legs, using our brain, intellectual species, is because when we started cooking our foods, our gut became smaller, our brain became bigger. So I would say you want to start cooking your foods using good fats and good spices. And if you just did, did these two things, that's it, you did nothing else. Cook your foods, good spices, good fats, heavy lunch, light dinner, and you did this for just three weeks, I can tell you for sure you will notice a drastic difference in how you sleep, how you wake up, how you feel, your energy levels, your skin and your bowel movements.
- [17:20]
Rachel Yukatel
Wow. Okay, wait, I have so many questions. So you talked about the sleep cycle. What is the right sleep cycle? Are there a certain amount of hours you're supposed to get? Or is it about the sun and what, like. Tell me about that.
- [17:32]
Nidhi Pandya
Yeah, So I will say that, that some people need sleep a little bit, a little more, a little less. Those who think that they need the most sleep, who feel very sluggish in the morning, they actually need the. They actually need lesser sleep because their body can get into a slug very, very quickly when they're sleeping. All their fluids in their body, their synovial fluids of their joints, their mucus lining, everything thickens very quickly. Okay, anyways, right, so Basically what happens two and a half hours after sunset? About two and a half, three hours after sunset. And given that sunset is at 6, 6:30, and I'll tell you how this looks different in the winter and how this looks different in the summer. But let's say you're living in a day, you're living in a place and time where days and nights are about equal. About two and a half, three hours after sunset, your neurotransmitters in your body start looking drastically different. Now in the daytime we have something called excitatory mediators, which means your serotonin, you're stimulated, you can have your more energy. And then over those two and a half, three hours, they kind of shift completely. So chemically, we're different beings. We have more melatonin. Our body is trying to produce GABA and other neurotransmitters which are to do with deep rest and repair. And now you want to be in bed as many nights as possible by 10 o' clock. Because between 10 and 2, and I rather understood this by the way, way before modern scientists said exactly these four hours, 10 to 2 is when magic happens in your body. You're basically sitting and you're basically chilling in your bed, like not giving a damn about the world. And your body is doing the deepest level of repair in your digestion, in your hormones. It's letting go of old cells that don't serve you anymore. It's regenerating new cells. Shortly after 2, your liver is doing its detox. But more than anything, thought generates debris. Even thinking generates debris in your nervous system that can actually be seen under a microscope. So the animals don't have that. They're not thinking. But human beings are thinking all the time. And your glymphatic, not your lymphatic, your glymphatic system activates during those four hours. So those four hours are critical for everybody. Now, very often, Rachel, I want to say this very often, you'll see people waking up to urinate or in a sweat around 2 o'. Clock. Always happens between 1:30 and 2:30, that usually is kind of the end of the cycle. It's not super healthy for that to happen. But if it does happen to you, it's kind of also a little bit of a signal that maybe your liver is too heavy. Like liver is too hot, not heavy. Liver is a little bit hot. But it usually is the end of the cycle. And your body really needs to actively detox. So you'll sweat, sweat out, or you'll need to urinate. After 2, between 2 and 6:30, between 2 and 4:30, more new cells start to regenerate. Your growth hormone has a surge. And like it's next level of creation, the building happens, repair is done. Building happens. After 4:30, people enter into a lighter realm of sleep. For women, they should ideally stay asleep during this time. Men can wake up for a spiritual practice after 5, 5, 30. Women should ideally sleep till they're, you know, till about 6. Now in the winter, we need a little bit more sleep because we are kind of hibernating, but we're not hibernating like bears do. We hibernate from like, you know, we sleep a little. We need a little bit extra sleep to preserve your energy. That's why you eat more fatty foods in the daytime in the winter months. And you would sleep a little bit earlier, not, not like at 3pm if you're in Iceland. Because your body also has an internal body clock that is built that is designed to adjust to these, these changing seasons. So the internal body clock, called the endogenous clock, actually remembers behavior and that allows you to still sleep at that later time, maybe 9, 30, 10. But you would sleep a little bit more in the winter. Now, if you're in a place which is really hot and like Morocco in the summer, really, really hot. And it's very, very dry. Hot and dry. You would ideally take a nap in the afternoon so that siesta is legit for those months only, not throughout the year for those really hot months. And then you could actually stay up till much a little bit later. So on set is at 9pm you can stay up for another two and a half, three hours after that.
- [21:49]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay, so it's important that you're sleeping during those periods. Like just laying in bed from 10 until 2 is not going to do anything for you. You have to turn off your mind, Is that what you're saying?
- [21:58]
Nidhi Pandya
Yeah. So if you're not in a full sleep, right, but let's say you're meditating. Like, I have clients, Rachel, who are like, oh, I cannot fall asleep I'll say, okay, that's fine. You do something called a yoga nidra or do an active relaxation. So your conscious mind, your prefrontal cortex, and your frontal cortex is all shut down and into a deeper breath. As long as your body is in a parasympathetic state, it will activate some of that repair. So even if you're not sleepy, don't watch a crime thriller on Netflix.
- [22:27]
Rachel Yukatel
My favorite thing to do. So I'm probably not doing the right practices here. Wait, so why has it been so misunderstood or diluted in Western culture? The things that you're talking about? I mean, I've definitely heard of intermittent fasting. Fasting. I've definitely heard. I've been to spas where they do the dry brushing, but, you know, they kind of just say, oh, this is good to prepare your skin for a lotion, or, so you don't have cellulite. Or I don't even know what it's for. And I always end up buying it because it all sounds good, but I don't really feel like I see any results. So tell me about those things.
- [23:03]
Nidhi Pandya
Yeah, I love it. So I will say that the reason why. Rachel, These are so misunderstood because, you know, we are so hungry for information. We don't care about wisdom anymore. We don't care about knowledge anymore. Like, knowledge is annoying. Wisdom is a deeper knowing.
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Rachel Yukatel
But, like, give us information.
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Nidhi Pandya
Tell me what's good for me. When somebody asks me what's good for my digestion, my answer is, it depends on what. Where your digestion is. Like, somebody says, tell me what's good for the weather. I'm like, depends on what the weather is. You know, like, you can't wear a winter jacket to, like, summer weather. So similarly, our body has its climates, and. But we are so used to asking this question, like, give me anything that's good for me.
- [23:41]
Rachel Yukatel
We.
- [23:41]
Nidhi Pandya
We want a quick hack. We want a prescription. We don't want to go deeper. And one of the reasons why these are so misunderstood is because we are not asking the why. We are in. We are in this crazy rush to try the next trend and say, give it all to me. We are in this FOMO fear of missing out that, oh, if it's good for me, and if I don't do it, I'm going to die. But if you look at blue zones and you look at those places where people live for over a hundred years in a healthy manner, they actually had very few practices. They had limited foods. They didn't even what was happening in the world out there. Like, they just lived with their limited. And they had minimalist lifestyles. They lived so well, you know, so we are just. We become obsessed in the modern world of, you know, with prescriptions, with the next new thing and the next fad, and because we don't ask the question, and we adopt some of these practices in an extreme manner, and then we suffer. And then now, like, for example, intermittent fasting. Rachel, intermittent fasting was so good and now it's become so bad because we've not understood what it does, so we've not understood how to do it correctly. The truth is, intermittent fasting is brilliant for some people. The truth is, intermittent fasting, if it's done just like the day and the night cycles where you don't eat after dinner, is good for almost everybody. If you do an intermittent fast of 16 hours, not eating during the day, it can actually really damage some people. It can really affect your microbiome. So any of these practices, there needs to be a deep understanding of how they are to be practiced and only then taken up if you want to do it right and get the correct results out of them.
- [25:19]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay, so, and while we have you on that subject, what would you suggest for people? Because I've had people on the show that have said when they wake up, they only drink coffee, they try and go as long as they can to not eat, then they have one meal, then they don't eat again. It sounds like that's very harsh on the body, but what do I know? So tell me what the right way to intermittent fast is.
- [25:41]
Nidhi Pandya
Yeah. So as human beings, we are intermittent fasters to begin with, right? Because, I mean, our ancestors, like I say in the 1800s, they didn't really eat after dark, right. Like, they didn't really do much after dark because they really didn't light oil lamps and say, hey, let's do this all over again. So that period, right, where you kind of stop eating a few hours after sunset or like really at sunset, depending on when sunset is for you. And then you start eating again after sunset? Yeah, ideally 48 minutes after sunset. So after sunrise you should wait 48 minutes because that's when the microbiome adjusts itself. That's when your neurotransmitters have changed hands and, you know, the morning daytime neurotransmitters. So your body is not working on this, changing, you know, changing guards. Think about it as changing guards. So, right. The change of guard has happened in those 48 minutes, and then you start to eat. Great. If that is the intermittent fasting you're doing. Everyone can do it. I feel like you have a question. I'm gonna.
- [26:34]
Rachel Yukatel
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say. So, essentially, intermittent fasting sounds like work to me. But if you say, okay, no snacking after you eat dinner until you wake up the next morning, essentially, that's what we're talking about. But are you talking about eating earlier, like, close to when the sun sets, as opposed to having these nine o' clock dinners? Eat earlier, do not snack after. Make that your lighter meal, as you already said, and then you go until the sun rises 48 minutes after you have breakfast. So you are of the belief that breakfast is important? There's a lot of people that say, do not eat breakfast. Breakfast. What are your thoughts there?
- [27:06]
Nidhi Pandya
I will tell you what is important. Right? Breakfast is not your biggest meal. That's for sure. Right. Because if you are diurnal mammals, the. The sun is just coming out and so are gastric juices. They're just about. The body is just preparing for digestion. It's not fully ripe for digestion.
- [27:22]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay.
- [27:23]
Nidhi Pandya
Now, that does not mean you don't stoke your fire. You know, if you're making a bonfire, you would, like, start it slow. You would stoke your fire. And there are a few ways to do it. Like, there's a body oiling practice that, Rachel, you're going to hear one day. Somebody's going to be on your podcast talking about this body oiling pract, because it's going to be like the next biohack, you know? So you oil your body in the morning and that kind of really helps your microbiome, promotes lymphatic drainage, regulates their nervous system, promotes the synthesis of vitamin D. I mean, it does a lot of things. Forget that, but I'll say. So that is breakfast. That is your first breakfast is oil. Skin is a channel of consumption.
- [28:02]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay, wait, before you go further, is there a certain kind of oil? And what do you mean you just rub oil on your body like it's lotion?
- [28:08]
Nidhi Pandya
Yeah. So I'll say what the practice is called. It's called abhyanga. Now, it's okay. You never have to know the name of the practice because, of course, abhyanga, it's a complicated name, but it's an. It's an ayurvedic body oiling practice. And what it means is before you exercise or even before you shower, if that's uncomfortable for you to exercise with some oil on your body. I get it. Before you shower. Yeah, I. I know, I know. I see that look because it is, it can feel like that. But if you see wrestlers in India, you'd see they have all oil on their body. It protects your joints. It really gives, helps you for to recover after you've exercised really, really well. Great recovery tool. But so as, as just as you would put moisturizer on your body, you would take sesame oil. And if sesame oil is not for you, take any body oil as long as it's a clean oil and it does not have anything added, no added fragrances, no. No other palates, nothing. You massage your body with it. Whether you're doing it for five minutes or 15 minutes, it does not. It matters, but it's not that important. But do it even for five. Then you can wipe down your body with a towel, with a dirty towel, a towel that you can use for this. Put on your workout clothes, go work out and then come back and shower. Now your body will be nourished and detoxed and you'll have quicker recovery. And that also becomes the first way to kind of give your body strength. Skin is a channel of consumption. It's your first, it's your pre breakfast, right. Still you shower. It is important to do. It's a warm. My recommendation is a small warm beverage, but something really little. Like for me my breakfast every day is a hot cup of milk, spiced milk with 20 soaked. I soak my almonds overnight and I peel them in the morning and I have my 20 almonds.
- [29:49]
Rachel Yukatel
Do you have regular milk or you have almond milk?
- [29:52]
Nidhi Pandya
I have regular A2 organic grass fed milk.
- [29:56]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay.
- [29:57]
Nidhi Pandya
That's what I have. And I know that's a whole other like misunderstood, understood conversation, but that's what I have personally.
- [30:06]
Rachel Yukatel
But some people could have hot tea with lemon or are you saying it just needs to be something warm? Or do you believe that milk is the thing they should start the day with?
- [30:15]
Nidhi Pandya
The thing is that, that you have high cortisol in the morning, right? We like, we wake up with high cortisol and you know, a little bit of higher sugar. Because you of course like your body use this cortisol adrenaline sugar to keep you awake. Otherwise you'd be sleeping, all of us wouldn't be inspired for life. So your body needs to inspire you for life and you want to bring that down, you want to settle that in the morning and magnesium is known to do that. I mean Ayurveda knew a long time ago that the best foods in the morning are milk and almonds and certain other foods. So you definitely, if you're not doing dairy. You want to do some kind of food which has magnesium, which is warm. You want it always warm because your body's metabolic activity is warm. Right. Nothing can be metabolized unless it's warm. Unless. How can it transform? You don't want to refrigerate your gut in the morning. You put things in the refrigerator only when you want it to not break down. Right? Right, Right.
- [31:05]
Rachel Yukatel
A lot of people will say, oh, I start the day with coffee. Is that good enough?
- [31:09]
Nidhi Pandya
I would say that coffee can feel like a little bit of a nuclear storm if it's a black coffee to your system. Right. I mean, we feel it right away. You feel the nuclear storm. Don't believe me. I tell people, don't believe me. Use your logical brain. Like, never, ever believe me. But just when you think about black coffee, for example, right. It feels. It's hot in your system. System. What is a stimulating? It's dehydrating. And the word dehydrating is hot and dry. And here you are trying to warm it up, give it some fuel, hold your fire. And here you're like. It's like a matchstick, you know, it goes on, the fire comes on and it goes off. And that stimulates you. And then you're like completely. You've lost it. You're so tired that you need another boost of caffeine. If you want to do coffee in the morning, I'd say make it a cappuccino. Know bullet. Your bullet it. So give it some dairy, give it some butter, give it some ghee, give it some coconut oil, but have a bullet coffee in the morning. So you're bracing for that impact. You know, you're okay. So I personally tell people, listen, for the most part, I like to work with what people want to do. But just say, how do I balance this in the morning? Okay, so it's not the biggest meal for sure. Like breakfast. Like a King was a 19th century nutritionist who said that it's not an old concept. Our ancestors didn't have the biggest breakfasts.
- [32:22]
Rachel Yukatel
Got it? And then do you. Then from there, your biggest meal becomes lunch. Or you have something else in between.
- [32:30]
Nidhi Pandya
So if it's fruit season, I'll pick up fruit every now and then. If I've had a good workout, then I'll have something again. It'll always be warm, but I'll have like a warm moong lentil, you know, moong lentils. I'll have a warm moong lentil crepe. Sometimes I'll have, like a little bowl of oatmeal or another type of porridge.
- [32:50]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay.
- [32:50]
Nidhi Pandya
And it'll be very little. And then I will, you know, everything in your body is set up for a bigger lunch because your ghrelin, which is your hunger hormone, has risen. Your body is insulin. It's very sensitive to insulin, which means, like, you're like, breaking sugars down like anything.
- [33:06]
Rachel Yukatel
Yeah.
- [33:07]
Nidhi Pandya
Gastrin, which is, you know, one of the key players for digestion, is high. And this happens literally only in that afternoon period. Like, all of this comes together. Like, it's perfectly designed for digestion. So your biggest meal between anything I want to eat, anything I've dreamt about, fantasized about, for food, is always for lunch.
- [33:28]
Rachel Yukatel
So do you have a belief of what people. Of diets for people. I mean, I know you studied a lot about nutrition, as you said. So do you believe in this keto only or high protein or no carbohydrates or what. What is good for us?
- [33:41]
Nidhi Pandya
Rachel, I. 100%, and I can say I believe, but I actually know, right? I've studied so many diets all over the world, and I'll say every macronutrient is important in your body, right? Like, carbohydrates are important, proteins are important, fats are important. Every micronutrient, which our ancestors did by fermenting their foods, by adding seeds and spices, every traditional culture, you go back, did all of this. Like, they fermented a few things, they like added spices, they added, added seeds. All of those, they gave us our micronutrients, and they kept our foods whole. And our body is whole and it responds to whole foods, especially when consumed together. It's not enough to say, I'm going to add carbs, I'm going to eat my proteins, and I'm going to eat you do it whole. And your body knows that system so well. So when people I have dealt with, people who said, edit keto, I have many clients, right? Rachel, for example, they said they will confess that, listen, I felt really good when I was doing keto for, like, I recently I worked with somebody who did keto for 10 years, years. And then I said, so why are you coming to me if you felt good? She says, because after those first five, six years, I had severe dysbiosis of the gut. And now for the last four years, I just. Nothing is working for me, right? Because eventually, right. I say the first function of food is not to nourish you. The first function of food is not even to give you nutrients. The first function of food is to protect the environment of your guest gut. You may say this is the biggest superfood in the world, but if it is going to hurt the climate of your gut, nothing else can actually thrive in there. So it's like this. If you think of a backyard, right, and you say, I'm going to plant this seed which is actually going to lay, you know, this, this tree is going to actually have gold coins on the tree. But if it's going to damage the entire soil, it's only a matter of time that that very tree that you've planted is also not going to be able to lay live, right? So the soil, the flora and fauna, the microbiome of your gut is the most important. So the first function of food is to protect the environment of the gut so that you can get the most out of the subsequent foods you eat. And doing these harsh diets may. May give you support, like weight loss sometimes or muscle building at some point, but they're absolutely going to hurt the environment of the gut, right?
- [35:59]
Rachel Yukatel
It's interesting. When I wake up, I don't really. I'm not really a big breakfast person. And maybe at like 10, 30, 11, I might have like an egg or something. But there, there will come a point that if I don't eat, I'm super nauseous. Out of nowhere, I get, like, overwhelmingly nauseous. And I have to stick something in my mouth, which obviously makes it difficult because then I haven't like, planned for this. And so it's like a piece of string cheese or a nectarine. And I'm. I don't know anything about nutrition, so I don't know how one thing is affecting me versus the other. All I know is it takes away my nausea. So to me, I feel like that makes me healthier, better, whatever the word is. Although maybe that's not doing the right thing. It's just taking away the nausea. But it's changing my gut around and not preparing me for whatever is healthy going forward in the day. Do you know what I mean? Like, the point is, is I feel like the more knowledge you have and what you put in your body probably sets me up for a better day than just sticking something in my body so I'm not gagging.
- [36:59]
Nidhi Pandya
I love that. Right, Rachel? So well said. Because what you're doing is treating a symptom, and now your symptom is treated and you're feeling like, hey, now I feel balanced. And that's good for me because I'm balanced, right? But the truth is that the symptom did arise that the body gave you a reaction that the acids came up because when your fire was starting and burning out in the day, like I said, it's a fire starting time and, and it had nothing to eat. You didn't give it any food to eat. So when it didn't have anything to eat, it's like, you know, it's like, it's like this asking for help. But if you had eaten before that, right, and that it wouldn't, it would not have, it would, it wouldn't be aggravated.
- [37:35]
Rachel Yukatel
Yeah, yeah. I also think Americans especially have a very distorted sense of healthy. They think thin is healthy, they think overly thin is even more healthy. You know, and I think that's a, A, a really terrible way to have our minds wrap around what we're eating because all we're looking at is how thin we are on the scales. And that doesn't probably ring true for what you're talking about as healthy.
- [38:02]
Nidhi Pandya
You know, that is so true. We've only used, we've started using our eyes as like this primary sense. Right. But the truth is like all our ancestors and the reason why they were more intuitive, more connected, more fertile, more, you know, even more sexy in like the literal sense was because they were using their, the sense of their nose and their ears and touch so much more. They gave, they gave those senses which are basically more feminine senses. The year is a more feminine sense. The touches are more feminine sense. And here we've become obsessed with just what we see, visuals, aesthetics. And being thin is actually very drying inside the body. Being extra excessively skinny, right. When you like, look, some people, unfortunately they have a problem putting on weight. And you know, I personally, we work with oily and crack practices, etc, but otherwise to do it, you know, to actually drive yourself to that place because we think it's aesthetically appealing is very dangerous for the body. And in fact, even like biology, like, like, even, even when you look at like attraction, male, female attraction, like they've done studies to prove that men are not attracted to that, right? Like, because, because really what, what, what we did as the reason why we hurt on the planet is to for life to exceed on the planet for procreation. And evolution happened that way. But the more voluptuous you are, the more flesh you have, you know, the better your body is designed. In fact, the better your fertility is. And it doesn't mean that you have to have excessive tissue that doesn't suit you. That doesn't. But there's a moderate somewhere in between. And that moderate actually even makes you more fertile. Because we need those excessive, like those good fluids in the body for the sperm to survive and for the egg to do what it needs to do.
- [39:43]
Rachel Yukatel
Right? Right. Okay, let's get to your book. Your book is called your body already knows. What does that mean to you?
- [39:50]
Nidhi Pandya
What does that mean to me? That you're that deer know that they need to wake up in the morning, no alarm clock needed. They go and they graze on the same patch of grass without complaining, with perfect joy. Tigers are nocturnal. They will never get carried away. To wake up at 5am and practice yoga and nursing. Mammals will select certain plants, they will sniff and select certain foods and plants that are galactagogues so that they can nurse better. And if you ever have a pet or a dog, and if they're wounded in the wild, they will go and find the sulfur rich soil and they'll roll their bodies in the sulfur rich soil. Every species on the planet knows what they need to live and thrive as babies. We were born using our mouth, which we had never used before. We didn't know what this organ was, but we knew that this is what we use to get nourishment from our mother's breast. We already knew that, that we never seen a breast before, never used our mouth before, but we need to do that. Somewhere along the way we've become so overly intellectual that we've lost our instinct. We've had so much information that we've lost our insight. So my book is a framework to take you back. Right. It's not enough for me to say, oh, your body already knows. Listen, listen to your body. Because that would mean I'd be like, oh, my body wants three bags of chips or my body wants to eat like this big ice cream. No, because we're so far away from the intelligence of the body that we need a framework to get, get back into it. And the book your body already knows is the promise that your body knows. Because every species knows. But it's a framework that will allow you to go back into that deep intelligence.
- [41:21]
Rachel Yukatel
It's so interesting that you say it and you put it that way because you're right, animals do know all this stuff. And if you dropped me naked in Ghana and I had to figure out something, how to save myself, I would have no clue, you know what I mean? But these animals that, that have far less intelligence than we do to figure things out, seem to figure it out, seem to get through life in a healthy way. And manage aches and pains and all sorts of things. And it's. It's astounding how they do that and how they know and. And there's so much instinct. We have forgotten instinct in modern day completely. And we're just fascinated with what, you know, science tells us and what TikTok tells us. And so it. In you saying that I've. I've forgotten that that is true. Like we do off of instinct at all. The only thing I can think of is, you're right. When you're a baby, there's instinctual things. Or like when you're pregnant and this baby's coming no matter what you're trying to do, and your body knows how to have that baby. You probably don't even need the doctors there. It would happen with or without them. But that's the only thing I can really think of. And death, I guess it's these natural things that happen. Otherwise our minds get involved and we take over and probably ruin it all.
- [42:35]
Nidhi Pandya
That is so correct. Our mind, which made us human, our intellect is what is. What is making us subhuman today. It's really what. What got us is also what's causing our peril.
- [42:45]
Rachel Yukatel
Right.
- [42:46]
Nidhi Pandya
All right.
- [42:46]
Rachel Yukatel
You talk about a 21 day plan. Can you talk about, can you give us a little bit of the. The hacks or whatever? Do people actually follow a 21 day plan while reading your book?
- [42:56]
Nidhi Pandya
Yes, Rachel and I also teach the 21 day program. And I cannot even tell you, it's my deep, my most satisfying work of my life is doing this. The 21 days are very simply, simple, doable actions you take, keep stacking them one after the other. Like, for example, I said, one day, you know, I. I take you to this place where you kind of eat a heavier lunch light at dinner, but I teach you how to do it. I teach you what problems you might face. I teach you that, hey, this is how you might feel in the evening. So it's really. It really sets you up for success day by day. By day just reconfigures. I don't need you to add extra hours to your day. I don't need you to kind of move to the Himalayas. I live in New York City with two teenage daughters, and I can do it, and I can work with hundreds and hundreds of clients to do the same. So those 21 days allow you to make sustainable shifts in a manner that's going to change and transform your life. What we found, ritual, we've gotten. I cannot tell you the number of Emails and letters and messages that I get on a daily basis of people telling me that so many treatments they tried, you know, but that was a full panchakarma ayurvedic experience in India or like a full allopathic treatment going to modern medicine, doctors doing acupuncture. But what they found doing this 21 days, the baseline shift that happened, one of the few things you notice is that your weight will become more optimum. So you know, you will never. If you're. If you think you have excess tissue and you're not trying to get it off, it'll just get off. It's not, you know, it's not your choice. You're going to come back to an optimum weight. You are going to notice better sleep, better skin, better menstrual cycles, better bowel movements. And some point somewhere in your. Like when you're in your 21 day, somebody in your ecosystem or even sooner will tell you that you're looking different, like something's going on with you. And. And like, this is what I even tell my clients. I said, don't tell anybody that you're doing a program. Like, just keep it to yourself and see the feedback that you get because the changes are so internalized and sustainable that you don't really feel like you've shifted anything. It has to feel natural.
- [44:53]
Rachel Yukatel
Wow.
- [44:54]
Nidhi Pandya
So people are like, yeah. So they don't feel like they've done a lot. It's not a lot of effort. But once they get the feedback, they realize the big shift that they made.
- [45:02]
Rachel Yukatel
So it's a lot that has to do with nutrition. It sounds like are there there. Tell me more of are there. By the way, whenever I go to a spa, there's always like an Ayurvedic side to it or some. Some different things you can do. Is lymphatic massage part of that?
- [45:17]
Nidhi Pandya
So it's not something part of the 21 days. I've only taken the biggest battles. I am definitely Rachel for anti gimmicks, like no marketing gimmicks. Right. Everything that you see in the commercial world out there is how is those things from Ayurveda that can be packaged and sold. But there's the biggest battles don't need to be packaged and sold. They can happen for a very reasonable amount in your kitchen and you can live a really long, healthy life and enjoy everything that a human being should enjoy. And I'm very much about that. The Ayurveda that we see outside, like I said, it's very. It's very prescriptive. So dry. You know, the massage, the dry scrubbing is not a bad thing, but it's not one of the biggest battles you want to fight.
- [45:54]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay. Okay.
- [45:57]
Nidhi Pandya
It's also not all nutrition. Yes, there are rituals. Yes, there's a way to exercise and I change that around as well. For there's a lot of big mental component, mental emotional component that comes into play because your mind is your driver. Your body is just your car. If your driver is not doing good, matter of time he'll crash the car into something. Right.
- [46:14]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay. So I'll let people read the book and not give away too many of your secrets so that they can get that and start that. It sounds really interesting. I want to try it. Are there things because you said that a lot of this stuff is packaged up and gimmicky. Are there things that you are like, oh, that's a good thing you should do. Like, is there a certain facial or is there a certain kind of oil that you. You really like for your skin? Or I don't know. I always see these things where they're dropping oil on your forehead. I mean, I don't know. What. What should we. Like and not like.
- [46:43]
Nidhi Pandya
I think if there's four things that you've seen on TikTok or any of your social media channels that I think you should. Everybody should try. And there are very few instructions around is one is tongue. Tongue scraping.
- [46:54]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay.
- [46:55]
Nidhi Pandya
Oil cleansing. So don't you soap on your face, Especially if you're a woman after 30 cleanse with oil. So oil cleansing is a big trend again from aura that. So wait, wait, wait.
- [47:05]
Rachel Yukatel
I don't get that. I've seen that. And to me, that looks gross. Why don't you need to close cleanse your face.
- [47:10]
Nidhi Pandya
You will see the difference it makes. You use oil to take off your makeup and cleanse your face. Oil is the only substance which enters into your pores, pulls grime out. Right. For example, like Rachel, if you dropped a little bit of oil on your table, right? After some time you come back, you'll see, like, it almost looks dirty because what it's done, it's picked up all the grime and the dirt. It's detoxified that pores place. And like, how did this oil become dirty? Because it really does that. But also it goes into your skin and it nourishes. It nourishes the pores and it takes. It detoxes you.
- [47:42]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay.
- [47:42]
Nidhi Pandya
Like, I cannot tell you. I've started like doing more because I myself was like, Oh, I should probably use soap. And a couple of years when I started using like doing just oil cleansing, I've not had one thing. I mean, I. That's my, that's my main maintenance for my skin.
- [47:56]
Rachel Yukatel
Oh, I love it. Okay, so it's not going to make you break, break out this.
- [48:00]
Nidhi Pandya
You tried like try for yourself. Like it's like after 30s, right? If you're a woman who's 17 years old, like, even though my 17 year old daughter does it and she loves it. But I'm saying if you're 17, it's not for every. It's not, it's not for every 17 year old, but any, anybody who's above 30, I would give this a shot. Oil pulling, which is oil pulling for your teeth and your gums, for your cavities. I mean, if you don't like to visit the dentist, then you better. Oil pull.
- [48:24]
Rachel Yukatel
What is oil pulling? I don't even know what that is.
- [48:26]
Nidhi Pandya
Oh, I love. You're probably not on like you.
- [48:28]
Rachel Yukatel
I, I can tell Rachel clearly I'm not on TikTok. If I asked my daughter, she'd be like, duh. Okay, what is it?
- [48:35]
Nidhi Pandya
Which I love. Really? You're like, you're saving your brain, Rachel. So you basically take a, a spoonful or a mouthful. Look, the traditional way is a mouthful of sesame oil. The modern way is a spoonful of coconut oil. Okay, I'll be honest, but you can take whatever, just start somewhere. But the traditional way is a mouthful of sesame oil. And you take it like this. What I do, I take it into the shower with me and I'm swishing it. You swish it around and then you'll see that the consistency of the oil has changed and it's become a little bit watery. And then you spit it in the trash can.
- [49:06]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay.
- [49:08]
Nidhi Pandya
And then at your next visit to the, the dentist, the dentist will ask you, are you cheating on me? Like, do you have a new dentist? Right, because you'll have less plaque. Your cavities, like, no cavities. If you have gum issues, you'll see a lot of them gets resolved dissolved. It's just.
- [49:24]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay. And this is something you're supposed to do every time you get in the shower. Every day or.
- [49:28]
Nidhi Pandya
I don't do it every day. Look, it's a, it's a daily practice. I'll be honest, Rachel. I don't do it every day, okay? I do it three times a week and it matters.
- [49:35]
Rachel Yukatel
What kind of oil? You said sesame or coconut.
- [49:38]
Nidhi Pandya
Coconut. Sesame or coconut. But I would Try both. See which one works for you better. So I said, I said the, I said the oil cleansing, the oil pulling the tongue, scraping. Yeah. Seen the stung scrapers. It takes like five seconds. Everybody can do it. It stimulates your tongue, your taste buds, cleans up. You know, it's like gunk that comes as a residue of digestion.
- [49:59]
Rachel Yukatel
Yeah.
- [50:00]
Nidhi Pandya
Then the last practice that I would say you want to try is, is using face oils. You know, like instead of moisturizer, if you can switch to a face oil, which is a lot of face oils right now. Because oils replenish the microbiome, they balance the PH on the face.
- [50:14]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay. I think growing up we always thought you should never put oil on because it'll make you break out. But I mean, I've been seeing oils be sold everywhere. Everywhere. Like that's the new thing for sure.
- [50:25]
Nidhi Pandya
Ayurveda loves oils. For the last like 5,000 years. We love oil. It's just like we don't have. There's no, there's nothing. Second that comes to oil. Look, oily skin. Right. And the reason I understand why people associate oils with breaking out, because when you're breaking out as a young teenager, you have oily skin. Yes, you're breaking out. But the truth is even that oil accumulation is helped when you use another oil that you help that can pull out excessive grime to the surface and then you wash it off with water.
- [50:51]
Rachel Yukatel
Right. Okay. Lastly, to wrap up here, what do you hope this book gives people that no other wellness book can?
- [50:59]
Nidhi Pandya
And I absolutely feel the book is very, very different. It gives you the power back. It gives you access to your cellular intelligence and allows you to live with ease, not fearing your wellness, just enjoying being well. Got it.
- [51:14]
Rachel Yukatel
And here is just like three rapid fire questions. What is the most misunderstood Ayurvedic practice?
- [51:22]
Nidhi Pandya
I would say consuming turmeric shots. Turmeric is never meant to be a shot that's going to burn your mucosal lining. Don't do it. Put it in your foods. Do it with dairy. Not. Not as a shot.
- [51:34]
Rachel Yukatel
Okay, Good to know. One thing you would never do based on your training.
- [51:38]
Nidhi Pandya
Morning. Wake up and drink a cold smoothie. Protein smoothie.
- [51:44]
Rachel Yukatel
Interesting. Okay. And what is on your nightstand?
- [51:47]
Nidhi Pandya
A lot of oils. It has my nose drops, it has my face oil, it has my magnesium. Topical magnesium, probably five other types of oils.
- [51:57]
Rachel Yukatel
I love it. Okay. All right. Your body already knows is out. Now you can find it. Tell people where they can find it.
- [52:03]
Nidhi Pandya
What bookstores, Anywhere that you can find books. Barnes and Nobles Amazon hopefully any other bookstore that carries books should carry your body already knows.
- [52:13]
Rachel Yukatel
Amazing. Where can people find you? Follow your work, all that stuff.
- [52:17]
Nidhi Pandya
People can find me on my website which is Nidhi and my last name pandya.com nidipandia.com they can also find me on Instagram my underscore Ayurvedic underscore Life. That's a really long name. But if you just look for Nidhi Pandya or you go on my website first, you'll find my Instagram from the there and I am offering an Ayurvedic nutrition course that starts in October 2025. In case this podcast is released before that. And if you're interested, check it out.
- [52:44]
Rachel Yukatel
Amazing. We will put something in the show notes so people know that. Nidhi, thank you so much. This has been so interesting, so informative. I'm definitely going to get your book. I'm going to try it and I'm going to keep in touch with you and let you know how it goes for me. But I appreciate all of your advice. I think it's amazing and I'm so excited to hear the feedback from our listeners. So thank you.
- [53:02]
Nidhi Pandya
Thank you so much for having me. Foreign.
- [53:10]
Rachel Yukatel
Thank you so much for listening to Misunderstood. I'm your host Rachel Yukatel. Please be sure to subscribe to the show and give us a five star rating and review. You can support the show by joining Our Patreon@patreon.com Misunderstood with Rachel Ukitel do you have ideas for the show or want to reach out? Email us@infomisunderstoodpodcastmail.com com that's spelled M I S S. Understood. Thank you so much and I'll see you next.