‘Let Food be thy Medicine & Medicine thy Food’ – Hippocrates
This is what forms the basis of SHARAN’s philosophy – Healing with Nature.
The food that we eat is the reason we fall sick with increasing frequency or easily put on weight. Once we start eating right, our body begins to heal. This online program is designed to introduce you to the right way of eating and the basics of cooking healthy whole plant based food.
Thousands have been able to drop their medications and even lose weight after adopting a whole plant based diet. The good news is that people have started recognising this with complete conviction as the best health insurance! For testimonials, please click here
This program is unique indeed with the SHARAN founder Dr Nandita Shah taking you through the workshop to achieve miraculous results. This diet is suitable for all. However, for serious medical cases, the diet may be tweaked to facilitate quicker healing. A consultation either with Dr Shah or a consultant from our panel of doctors who have been trained under her may also be recommended. Consultations will assist in weaning off medications. For details, please click here
Wishing you the very best for this Basic Cooking Class program and may you reach your highest health potential!
The whole plant based diet is the first step towards optimum health. We have been eating all sorts of foods till now that are not designed for us, hence we have developed so many diseases over time. On the contrary, animals don’t go to any hospitals as they eat what nature has designed for them to do so. The whole plant based diet introduces clean eating without compromising on taste or choices.
Watch this video to understand the basics of a whole plant based diet.
To know more about Vitamin B12, please click here
To know more about Vitamin D, please click here
1. Get your Kitchen Set
Watch Dr Shah explain what changes you need to make in your kitchen. Don’t think twice, get cracking. It’s less expensive to change your vessels rather than pay for medicines and hospitals!
2. Clean your kitchen.
a) If you all are doing it as a family, then get rid of all animal products including dairy. Give away or throw away all processed and refined foods such as oil, sugar, chips, noodles etc. If you are doing it only for yourself initially, then ensure you steer clear from all above.
b) Start sourcing organic produce. Start with your fruits and vegetables and once the spices, salt, dals, rice, flours etc. start getting over, ensure you start buying whole and organic. For ideas you can google or check our city directories https://sharan-india.org/resources/city-directories/
In Mumbai, we also have two SHARAN Organic stores and organic Farmers markets over the weekends.
3. Start learning the Cooking Techniques
This program contains a total of 11 recipes which will empower you with the basic techniques that you can use to make anything that you like. There are dairy alternative recipes too.
The recipes are shown in such a way that you get an idea of what to eat every meal.
May we suggest you take your time and start slow. Start with one recipe, master it, implement it and then move unto the next.
4. Some important notes
As we wish the best for our loved ones, it’s best not to tell them anything! For change is tough. Let’s make it easy for them.
Everyone wants delicious food and they don’t really care what’s added in as long as it’s tasty. So ensure you make delicious food and cook it with a lot of love.
Cook without oil and trust us they won’t know the difference. Give them dairy alternatives and shhhhhh……Have your green smoothies every morning and enjoy them, but don’t offer it to them. They will come and ask you for some themselves!
We generally tend to break our fast with teas, coffees and heavy breakfast foods including refined products and sugar laden cereals.
A) Let’s break our fast with a high quality drink made only from Nature’s goodness – A Green Smoothie.
Why is a Green Smoothie so important?
- Greens take care of your nutritional needs – calcium, protein, vitamins & more.
- Greens and fruits contain fibre, which cleanse your body from inside.
- Greens add enzymes to your body improving your digestion considerably.
- Greens coupled with a sweet fruit are energy boosters.
- Greens are great for your skin, so say good bye to all your facials!
- Greens are so full of nutrients that you will feel full for longer.
Suggested Greens
Every green has something to offer, so rotate your greens. You can mix greens too if you like. For instance amaranth leaves or beetroot leaves have no distinct taste of their own, so you can add in mint or spinach or basil with them and blend into a smoothie.
You can use any edible greens for the smoothie. Here is a list of a few examples:
1) Mint
2) Spinach
3) Basil
4) Fenugreek leaves (Methi)
5) Amaranth leaves
6) Pak Choy
7) Dill leaves (strong in favour so add less)
8) Betle Nut leaves (Paan)
9) Curry leaves (a few for flavour and great for hair too)
10) Drumstick leaves (very strong so add very few)
11) Microgreens (quantity according to flavour)
12) Kale
13) Beetroot leaves
14) Carrot leaves
15) Coriander leaves (strong in flavour so add less)
16) Parsley (strong in flavour so add less)
17) Lettuce
18) Celery
19) Lemon leaves / Kaffir leaves
20) Agathi leaves
Three rules to a Smoothie
- Have it only on an empty stomach, so it’s best had for breakfast. It’s the best thing to start your day with. It can be paired with other pulpy fruits too. You could also have it in the afternoon as a snack. In fact any meal can be replaced with green smoothies and fruit.
- Don’t overdo the spinach, as it has oxalates that prevent absorption of calcium. It’s best to rotate greens for the smoothie.
- Don’t mix melons with other fruits, as melons have a different digestive process. Mixing can result in gas formation.
Suggested Fruits
All organically grown local and seasonal fruits, especially the juicy pulpy fruits. Citrus fruits may be too fibrous so the smoothie may not end up creamy if they are used. They can certainly be eaten on the side.
Bananas are the best as they are filling and available throughout the year.
You can mix fruits also, except for melons which should be eaten separately from other fruits.
Don’t peel fruits where the peel can be eaten.
Freezing the fruit enhances the taste, however in case you forget you can also add ice if you like your smoothies cold.
To get more Smoothie Combination Ideas: Check out recipes on https://sharan-india.org/recipe/drinks/
B) Tea
If you are someone who is used to have something warm, then this is a lovely herbal tea recipe for you. So have this when you wake up or at break times.
Kindly note that some of you may experience withdrawal symptoms like headaches, vomiting, cough, cold etc because your body was so addicted to tea and coffee. This is a good sign, as the body is detoxifying. So please hang in there. It may take two to three days but then you will be liberated from this addiction for life. Trust us, its absolutely worth it.
Why we shouldn't have tea or coffee?
- Because they are both acidic. Our body is alkaline and adding acidic foods such as tea, coffee, sugar and dairy are harmful to our health. Other acidic foods include meat, fizzy drinks and alcohol too.
C) Milk
Nut milks are nutritious and delicious. They are easy to make too!
Check out this delicious Date, Nut & Seed shake
Remember 6 to 8 almonds/cashews make one cup of milk. To sweeten add dates.
Tip: In order to avoid soaking each day, soak nuts that you would need for a week overnight, and the next day, remove the water and store them, so that you can make instant milk whenever you need any.
How do I get my calcium then?
- Our body is alkaline and milk is acidic. When we add acid to our body, it wants to come back to its state of alkalinity and to do that, it leaches calcium from our bones!
- There are plenty of sources of calcium in the plant based diet. Green smoothies are one. Sesame seeds are high in calcium in addition to a lot of nuts, vegetables, beans and more. If you are not consuming acidic foods and having green smoothies and a variety of plant based foods in your diet, then you don’t need to worry about your calcium levels.
Must watch video
- This will help you understand further how milk comes to you. It`s important to watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxF2SYl9aU4&list=PLV2RDOhiGtcSLc7fSbP9Cp-2a05lFV0ci
D) Something to eat for breakfast?
Ideally it would be great to have only fruits and green smoothies for breakfast. Adding green leaves to fruit makes it surprisingly filling so two glasses of green smoothie may suffice. However if you are used to eating a cooked breakfast, then make it whole, organic and oil-free (oil-free techniques are shown in the Lunch section).
Example: For idlis or dosas, use brown rice or red rice and split or whole black udad dal with the skin. You can use millets too instead of rice.
Watch the video below to learn how to make Dosas / Chillas / Pancakes etc. without oil
For poha, use brown rice or red rice poha.
For upma, use millets as semolina is refined wheat.
For oats, use whole rolled oats or steel cut oats.
For parathas, use whole wheat flour or millet flours, and add nut butters (recipe below) in your flour so that the parathas are not dry.
For cereals, it’s best to make your own muesli.
For toasts, it’s best to make the bread at home, or if buying from outside, then do read the labels to know the ingredients. Most breads have plain flour, oil and even milk solids along with preservatives! You can make whole wheat wraps instead of bread wherever possible. For bread recipes, click here
E) Butter
Commercially bought peanut butters contain oil, salt, sugar and sometimes preservatives too. You can easily prepare healthy nut butters at home.
Check the video below to know how to make Plant-Based Butters at Home
The same method can be used to make butter from almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, hazelnuts, macademia nuts etc. You can even make butters from seeds. Cashew butter can also be made from raw cashews without roasting.
Cashew butter is ideal for use in Indian sweets and desserts and as an alternative to milk and cream in North Indian recipes.
For coconut butter, use organic dessicated coconut and blend straight away. There is no need to roast the dessicated coconut as it’s already roasted. This looks like ghee and can be used on rotis and parathas.
Note : Nut butters stay for 3 months and should be stored outside at room temperature and not in the fridge,where they will solidify.
For more breakfast ideas, please click here.
Start your lunch with a salad always. Raw foods have more nutrients than cooked food so we want to make sure that we have some raw in every meal. Check out some amazing salad and dressing recipes on https://sharan-india.org/recipe/salads/
Cook your vegetables or temper your dals with no oil. Oil is a refined product and is pure fat without any fibre. When we eat coconuts, peanuts, mustard seeds, sunflower seeds etc. in the whole form, the fibre, coupled with the fat is protective and prevents a surge of fat in the blood stream.
Focus on the techniques of these recipes so that you can apply them to your own recipes
Doesn't our body need oil for lubrication?
- Yes. You are getting the oil when you have coconuts, peanuts, mustard seeds etc. but in the whole form. You do not need to refine the oil and have it!
Oil-free Tempering
Oil-free Vegetable
Paneer (Tofu) Makhanwala
It’s best to eat only one grain at a time – either rice or roti. Rice should be whole – so brown or red or even black rice. For rotis, you could use different flours each day like bajra, jowar, rice flour, rajgira, maize etc. It’s best to keep it to one flour at a time. In order to reduce the grain intake and increase the vegetable intake, grate a vegetable like beetroot, cucumber, spinach, bottle-gourd etc. into your flour so that no water is required to bind the dough. You can also use steamed vegetables like steamed spinach, sweet potatoes, potatoes, beetroot, carrot, etc. You’ll have colorful rotis this way and eat more vegetables too.
If you wish to have a raita or butter-milk or kadhi etc with your meal, then this is the yoghurt recipe. This curd can be used wherever dairy curd is generally used in recipes. It will not taste the same as dairy curd if eaten on its own but with added flavourings, you may not be able to tell the difference.
Yoghurt
One cup of peanuts makes 1 litre of curd.
If you would like your yoghurt to be sour, keep it outside for a longer time before you refrigerate it. You can even add lime to your yoghurt to make it sour later.
Cashew Curd
- We have recently discovered cashew curd which tastes very similar to normal dairy yoghurt and can be had directly. Other plant based yoghurts generally need some masking with spices, but not this one!
- Although about 75 gms cashews gives you about a litre of curd; we do not want to overeat cashews as they contain fats.
- So a suggestion - Whenever you wish to have plain yoghurt with your parathas, then make this curd. For all other recipes like buttermilk, raita, curry, dhoklas etc, where you will anyway be using spices and diluting the curd, then use peanut curd.
- Cashew curd video- http://tiny.cc/efrzhz
Please note that you may not relish this yoghurt directly. You need to mask it with spices to add flavour. If you find the peanut taste overwhelming, you can make the curd with half a cup of almonds and half a cup of peanuts or even 1 whole cup of only almonds. Remember, 1 cup makes 1 litre, and since you will be adding water to make most of your dishes, the amount of nuts you consume as an individual may be within the limit. Check out more lunch recipes by clicking on the links given below
For Indian meals – https://sharan-india.org/recipe/indian-main-dishes/
For Global meals – https://sharan-india.org/recipe/main-dishes/
Lunch in a nutshell
- Eat when hungry
- Use organic & whole ingredients
- Cook with zero oil
- Start with a salad
- Have only one grain at a time
If you are hungry and would like to have a snack before dinner, then here are the options:
Whip up another green smoothie – raw, nutritious and full of fibre.
Have fruits.
If you crave something spicy, then make a chaat. You could soak a different bean every night (rajma, chawli, brown channa etc.) or make sprouts and add different vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicums, steamed potatoes, corn etc and add different types of chutneys like garlic chutney, green chutney, tamarind chutney etc.
You can also have oil-free farsans, khakras, makhanas etc to it.
If a snack with cheese is what you feel like having, then here is the cheese recipe
What's wrong with store brought cheese?
- Dairy of course. However even purchasing packaged vegan cheese will bring along oil and preservatives which are chemicals and not good for our health. So always read labels before buying any packaged product.
The cheese lasts in your fridge for ten days.
For more snack recipes please click here
It’s always best to start your dinner with a salad. This way you ensure you are having more raw foods which are great for our health.
Salads with mayonnaise, especially coleslaw are delicious. Store-brought mayonnaise usually contains oil, eggs, sugar and preservatives.
Watch this simple home-made mayo recipe:
A warm soup is also wonderful to add in. Please make the broth at home and instead of corn flour to thicken your soups, use brown rice flour.
For more soup recipes, please click here
If you still would like to have another dish, then ensure it’s whole, organic and oil-free.
It’s ideal to have dinner as early as possible, so that you have enough time for the food to digest before you go to bed.
Dinner in a nutshell
- Eat when hungry
- Use organic & whole ingredients
- Cook with zero oil
- Start with a salad or maybe make a salad as a meal and have some soup
- Have only one grain at a time
- Have dinner as early as possible, and definitely before 8pm. It’s good to eat at least 2 hours before bed, and a gap of 3 hours is better. For optimum healing it’s best to go to bed by 10
If dessert is on your menu, then use only natural sugars like fresh and dry dates, raisins and figs.
We don’t recommend jaggery, especially if you are on a reversal plan, as it’s not a whole food. The fibre has been removed.
We also don’t recommend stevia as it doesn’t help reduce your sugar craving.
Chemical sweeteners are never recommended
If you love to have something sweet, then pop in a date or a fig whenever you feel like having something sweet. Green smoothies help reduce sugar cravings.
Check out this delicious Kheer recipe
For more dessert recipes, please click here
Remember
The 3 F’s to Health
1) FATS – Remove them! All animal products including dairy are full of fats. Oil too is pure fat. We get our good fats from nuts and seeds. Do remember we don’t need to eat nuts every day, but whenever you do, not more than 10 per day! (peanuts are not nuts, but rather legumes and can be had in a little higher quantity).
2) FIBRE – Fibre cleanses our body from within, including removing the toxins and fats already present in our bodies. So ensure that this internal cleansing happens every day with whole foods.
3) FITNESS – Physical fitness is key to good health, so do get moving every single day. Mental fitness is optimum, as our thoughts play a major role in our health. So indulge in a mental gym by reading or listening to people or teachers that inspire and motivate you to be positive and happy in life.
So now you know everything that you need to know about eating right with the whole plant based diet. This is just the first step to health, but before you want to know what’s next, master this first. You will automatically graduate to the next step on your own. Your body will guide you. Trust us.
Some important notes
To stay on the path, keep reading about related topics. Do join our facebook page Sharan India and instagram handle sharan india. Plus get some interesting reading material ideas on https://sharan-india.org/resources/. You can also download some of our publications for free or buy them from https://sharan-india.org/publications/
We also send out informative newsletters every fortnight by email, which you should be already receiving. If not then please check your spam or email to us on info@sharan-india.org.
You should also be receiving our WhatsApp broadcast messages, where we send out health tips, recipes and more. If not, please send a WhatsApp stating SUBSCRIBE with your full name, email id and city name to 99674 25200.
Watch films that educate and inspire. Some films that we highly recommend are (may be on youtube or netflix)
- GameChangers
- Forks over Knives
- What the Health
- Cowspiracy
- Hungry for Change
- You can Heal your Life
- Earthlings
Also always remember that once you have implemented this diet, then not only is it good for your health and for the animals, it’s great for the environment too.
If you are having any difficulties then read our frequently asked questions on staying on track – https://sharan-india.org/faq/.
If we are active in your city, then do join our events which can range from cooking sessions to workshops to talks, movie screenings, potlucks, farmers markets & more.
If you feel you have benefitted tremendously and would like to share this with others, then join us or even get trained by us and start on your own too! Check out our training program details on our website.
Wishing you and your loved ones great health always.
Thank you
Team SHARAN
