For good health, one need not “stop enjoying food”

Manish Chourasia wanted to be a health partner to help his wife heal. As a result, he healed himself too…

My wife Richa was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) in May 2008. She has been under allopathic treatment since then. Despite a steady increase in medication, she would still have multiple RA attacks. In 2014, we tried naturopathy. In this treatment, there were several restrictions on her diet and she had to take 15-20 supplements per day. I took it upon myself to ensure that she followed her diet chart. Richa’s health did improve in one year and her medicines were reduced to half.

Yet, I always had the guilt that I was enjoying all the delicious food but forcing her to control all temptations. At that time, good health for me was more about protein shakes, multiple vitamin pills, fish and exercise, and less about a whole food plant-based diet.

However, over time it became difficult to follow the restrictive regimen and Richa would still have periodic attacks of RA, though less severe.

In 2017 we attended a session by Dr Nandita Shah and then Richa did the SHARAN 6-Week Basic Cooking Course. This is when our journey to good health started again. During the lockdown, I read and watched a lot of SHARAN talks, videos and recipes. I thought that instead of just acting as a partner, I must walk the talk and get involved in everything. 

Initially, things looked difficult but gradually I left all dairy and meat and significantly reduced processed sugar and oil. This has had a profound impact on my health – my weight reduced from 80 kg to 69 kg over the last 5 years, and my cholesterol came down from over 200 to 160. Tablet Telma 40 that I used to take for controlling BP was stopped, my fatty liver became normal and pimples on my face disappeared. My energy levels have gone up and in the last 3 years, I have run 4 half marathons!

Richa has also improved significantly but there are occasional flare-ups. Her gut health has improved, and we are confident that she will get fully cured of RA with some more effort.

The best thing I like about SHARAN is that they have demystified health in a very simple way and created a strong ecosystem for day-to-day support through periodic webinars, WhatsApp groups etc. which really helps in getting the right guidance. They have removed the misconception that one needs to “stop enjoying food” if one has to be on the path to good health. Instead, they have created wonderful cookbooks and they also conduct classes on whole food plant-based cooking without processed sugar and oil. 

All this and more at almost no cost, compared to what one spends while consulting dieticians/doctors.

Malai Kofta

Yes, you can eat Mughlai too, without any guilt when you follow our whole food plant-based diet. It’s just the cooking techniques and some ingredients that need to change. That’s it! The taste is even more delicious and you feel lighter after the meal too.

Ingredients

For the Gravy

• ¼ cup cashew nuts, rinsed and soaked in water for 1-2 hours
• ¼ cup watermelon or pumpkin seeds, rinsed and soaked in water for 1-2 hours
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds (khus khus)
• 2 medium-sized onions, roughly chopped
• 10 cloves garlic
• Unrefined salt as per taste
• 2-3 tsp garam masala (more if you like it spicy)
• Date paste (for sweet version) to taste

For the Koftas

• 2 small potatoes
• 1 tbsp arrowroot powder or breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp brown rice flour
• 2 green chillies, finely chopped
• Unrefined salt to taste
• 100 g tofu
• 10 almonds, finely powdered

Method

For Gravy

Drain and rinse the soaked cashew nuts and seeds. Make a fine paste of them along with the poppy seeds, in a blender.

Blend onions and garlic together in a blender. For the gravy, heat the pan and pour the onion-garlic paste into it. Add a pinch of salt and cook on low heat. Add a few drops of water, if you feel it sticking to the pan. Once cooked, add garam masala to it and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. Add cashew paste to the pan, with salt and date paste to taste. Add enough water if the gravy is too thick, and let it cook for 5-7 minutes.

(This gravy tends to thicken over time, so you may need to add more water later.)

For the Koftas

Steam the potatoes and mash them into a smooth paste. Add brown rice flour, arrowroot, chillies and salt to it and mix well.

Squeeze out all the water from the tofu and mash it well. Add the almond powder and a pinch of salt.

Make a small ball of the potato mixture in your palms and press it in the middle to make a small hole. Fill it with tofu mixture, close the hole and make a smooth ball with your palms. Prepare as many such balls as possible. Bake these koftas at 170 °C in a pre-heated oven for approx. 8-10 minutes, or until they turn a light brown. Let the koftas cool for a while in a bowl. Then, pour the hot gravy over them and serve.

Serves 2

Food For The Mind

FACEBOOK SUPPORT GROUP

If you love Facebook, then join us to be supported on your plant based journey. We are offering two possibilitie

1. SHARAN India is SHARAN’s main Facebook page which you can like and follow for getting useful daily updates and news from the plant based health world. You will also get news about the latest SHARAN events, see testimonials, and more.

2. SHARAN’s Vegan Support Group is an open support group to know more about vegan/plant-based lifestyle. Here you can ask questions and share inspiring stories, tips, recipes, etc.

All our doctors and presenters will be here to answer your questions and give you tips. If you have attended our events join this group to be a part of our family.

Please like the main SHARAN page and join the group(s) applicable to you.

How can I take charge of my health?

If you have a question about the lifestyle changes that you need to make in order to get well, you also have the answer within you. All you need to ask yourself is “what did nature intend for me?”. Here are some questions and answers that will help you understand what this means so that you can start getting answers yourself.

1. How will I get enough protein in this lifestyle? Every single cell contains protein. And plants are the sole manufacturers of protein. Just like all the other herbivores – horses, elephants and cows – we too can get all the protein we need just from plants. We don’t even need specific high-protein foods like soy. Just fruits, vegetables, beans and seeds will do it.

2. Should I eat honey?  If you see a beehive, the chances are that you would want to run away instead of exploring it. This means honey is not our food. Honey is the food that bees make for themselves, and it may be appropriate for some animals that are not afraid of being stung by angry bees, such as grizzly bears.

3. How much water should I drink and when? Ideally, you should drink whenever you’re thirsty. Even though we’ve been told that we should not eat and drink at the same time, it may not be true. In nature, animals often drink soon after eating or even while they’re eating. We should learn to listen to our bodies when it comes to health, rather than believing what we are told or have read.

4. Is wheat good for me? When we see fields of wheat growing in the village it’s a beautiful sight, but it’s not something we’re tempted to pick and eat because we can’t eat it raw – it’s not our food. Many people have gluten intolerance because this was not designed by nature for us to eat. (Wheat is used widely so we do not restrict wheat for everyone, however, those with intolerance should definitely avoid it)

5. Is milk a complete food?  Every mother’s milk is a complete food for her infant, but since we are not calves, cow’s milk is not for us. In nature, no animal drinks the milk of another species. Nor should we. (This means we should not consume anything made of dairy – milk, cheese, butter, cream, curds, buttermilk, ghee etc)

6. Is it totally necessary to have organic food? We are the only species that sprays our food with poison so that other animals avoid it. And then we eat it! We should never consume something that has been sprayed with poison.

7. Why does SHARAN recommend only 10 nuts a day?  Have you noticed that it’s very difficult for humans to get the nut out of its hard shell? Squirrels and other animals may be able to do it but we cannot, without tools. This means this has not been designed for us, so if we do eat it, it should be minimal.

8. Are supplements necessary? Nature has not designed itself in a way that we would need any man-made supplement, and truly if we were living in nature, as naturally as possible, we would not need any supplement. Today, because of our modern lifestyles, vitamin B12 and vitamin D supplementation has become necessary for most people whether vegan or not. Ideally, never take a supplement, unless you are low in that substance and cannot easily raise the levels with food.

9. Is intermittent fasting good? If we were living in nature it would be impossible to forage for food before sunrise and impossible to eat after sunset. This means that we would be eating only 8 to 10 hours a day. Eating only during these hours is a healthy way of doing intermittent fasting without even thinking about it.