Anshu Bahanda: Everyone’s chasing the secret to living longer, from biohacks and supplements to longevity labs. But Ayurveda has quietly been teaching us how to age gracefully for over 5,000 years, starting with one powerful truth. Your gut is the gateway to your health and your years. Today, we’re unlocking the timeless secrets, and I promise this conversation will change how you think about food, digestion and even ageing itself. This is Anshu Bahanda from Wellness Curated. Welcome back to the Wellness Algorithm, where science meets self care and where we go deeper than the latest wellness trends to uncover what really works. In 2025, longevity will be the hottest topic on the planet.
I went to a summit in LA and all people talked about was longevity. From Silicon Valley biohacks to blue zone diets, everyone is searching for ways to live longer, to live healthier and live better. But Ayurveda, India’s ancient system of medicine, has been guiding us for thousands of years on how to not just add years to your life, but how to add life to your years. And at the heart of it all, gut health. Ayurveda teaches us that how we digest, absorb and balance food, emotions and even daily rhythms determines how gracefully we age. To help us decode all this, I’m delighted to be joined by Dr. Uppoor. He’s an Ayurvedic doctor based in Goa and has dedicated his career to guiding people to balance vitality and graceful ageing using timeless Ayurvedic wisdom. I do want to say before we start that since we do not charge you for this, I’d be really grateful if you could subscribe to this page and if you could leave a comment at the end of this chat. Thank you. That will enable us to get you better speakers and deeper conversations. Do that right now. Thank you. So I just came off a panchkarma with Dr. Uppoor and. And I’m delighted and honoured that he’s here with us today to do this podcast. Thank you for doing this.
Dr. Sudhindra Uppoor: Thank you. Thank you for inviting me, Anshu ji.
AB: You’re welcome. Now, I want you to explain to people two things before we jump into specific questions about gut and longevity. I want you to explain to people what is good health in Ayurveda and what are the diagnostic tools that you use.
SU: Yes, it’s an amazing question to begin with. First of all, everybody should understand what is good health, what is health? What is the definition of health before thinking about the later questions, which can be on longevity, herbs, etc, etc, gut health, etc. But the first most important thing is, what is good health? So many definitions of good health. Oh, the body should be like this, you should look this way, that way. But finally, the World Health Organisation WHO has approved one definition of good health which is from ancient Ayurveda textbooks. So they thought this is the best definition of what is good health. And I would want to quote to your audience that so that they know what exactly means good health. This quote from Ayurveda is really amazing. The quote goes like this. Sama, dosha, sama agni, Samadhatu malakriya.
So this is the first line. The second line goes prasanna atmendriya manaha swastyam ithya bidiyate. So I know most, 99% didn’t understand anything. So I’ll break it for you. Sama, dosha. The word sama means balance. Sama means balance. So you’re getting three Sama’s in this first quote. Sama, dosha, Samadhatu, sama, agni, malk. Now sama means balance. You understood now Dosha. What is dosha? So a few of the audience, I think 50, 60% of the audience would be aware of these terms. They would have read the basic terms here or there. Vata, pitta and kapha. These are the doshas in the body. So briefly, vata, pitta and kapha which is air and space are equal to vata, Fire and water is pitta, earth and water in your body is kapha. So the three doshas, vata, pitta and kapha are the chief micro elements that govern your body. If they are in balance, it is good health. If they are imbalanced, the person is going to get a disease. So sama, dosha, your vata, pitta and kapha should be in Sama, which means it should be in balance. The second word was samma, Dhatu, Sama means balance. You know that already. Now Dhatu, what are Dhatus?
Dhatu is a Sanskrit term for seven tissues in your body. Okay, your body, the human body, is made up of seven tissues. What are the seven tissues? Again quick, seven Sanskrit names and they’re all translations. Rasa, Rakta, Mamsa, Meda, Asthi, Asti maja and Shukra. These are the seven. Okay, now again, what is this? Fastly he told seven different names. What are these? Rasa, your lymphatic system, Rakta, your circulation, blood circulation, Mamsa, your muscle system, muscular system, Asthi, your skeletal system, your bones, Asti maja, your bone marrow. We forgot Meda in between which is your fat tissue and the last one is your shukra. Shukra is the semen in men and the menstrual fluid in women. Okay. These are the seven Dhatus. They also need to be in sama the balance. You should have a good circulation. You should have a good, good amount of fat tissue in the body. Good muscle, good bones, good bone marrow and a good testosterone. So Sama Dhatu was the second word.
Sama dosha, Sama Dhatu and Sama Agni. This is the most important. What is agni? Agni, literal Sanskrit translation means fire. Here the agni in this context is your digestive fire. Sama agni, a well balanced digestive fire is most important. So sama dosha samadhatu samma agni mal kriya mal means excretions of the body. What are they? There are three excretions. The urine, the faecal matter and the sweat. These three also must be well in balance. So now the first line says okay sama, dosha samma, Dhatu, sama agni and sama malkriya. All these are good but okay now wow. All these are good. You are having good health. No, the second line says prasanna atma indriya manah. What is this? What is the meaning of prasanna happy prasanna atma happy soul.
AB: Yeah.
SU: Prasannatma prasanna indriya. Happy senses are gones. So you should have good senses. You should see good, you should talk good, you should hear good, you should touch good. The sense organs must be prasanna. Prasannatma prasann indriya prasanna manah. Peace of mind. Happy mind. Svasthyam ityabidiyate. Svasthya means good health. Svastyam ityabidiyate means that is the definition of good health. So it is not about having Doshas in balance. It is not just about having Dhatus in balance. It is not just having a good excretion in the body. It’s also about having a happy soul, happy mind and happy senses. Only then you can call yourself 100% healthy. The second line is missing in many people these days. They have a good six pack body, they are active, they go to the gym, they eat well. But the mind is not at peace, which is most important. So this is the definition of good health.
AB: Absolutely. And that’s what I think we’re all seeking is peace of mind.
SU: Peace of mind, stress free life, happiness. If that is not conquered so many diseases which we’ll discuss as the podcast progresses. So many diseases set in the body.
AB: Okay, thank you for that. I also want to ask you about the diagnostic tools, just because they’re so different from the Western tools.
SU: So, when we talk about the diagnostics tools, I’d like to refer, some Sanskrit words here. Why am I referring to Sanskrit words here and there? That gives the authenticity of the information. So now the books are there. So the authenticity of these books, we are quoting from those books so that it’s not just coming from my pocket. So the book uses a fantastic terminology called Dasha Vidha Pariksha. Dasha means 10. Vidha means types. Pariksha means examination. The 10 types of examinations. So these are the Ayurvedic tools. It all begins with the gate. Like, say, a wise Ayurvedic doctor has to. When the person, the patient is walking into your room, see his gait, you can find a limp, you can find a posture, you can find half known. Then, by touch, you can feel. By looking at his legs, you can feel. So there are 10 types of Ayurveda examinations. The most popular, not only popular, in my clinical experience, I find the best tools or two.
One is the Nadi Pariksha. Nadi, another Sanskrit word. Nadi means pulse. Pariksha means examination. The pulse diagnosis, pulse examination. So when you visit an Ayurveda doctor, he would touch your pulse like this, he would touch your pulse and he would examine your Nadi, he would examine your pulse. Here. He’s not counting the number. He’s not counting 60 per minute, 100 per minute. No, he’s looking at your balance and rhythm of vata, pitta and kapha in your body in alignment with the universe, how balanced your macro elements are. The macro elements are space, air, fire, water and earth. This subdivide into vata, pitta and kapha. How the vata, pitta, kapha are aligned in your body. That’s what he’s examining when he’s doing the nadi pariksha. So don’t expect him to count How much is my beat? Is it 60 per minute? No, I’m not counting that. After that, another super examination, super tool is your Jihva pariksha. Jihva means a tongue. Pariksha means examination. I find most of the Ayurveda doctors are practising the Nadi Pariksha, but I think they are lagging behind a little less on Jihva Pariksha, the tongue analysis. Tongue is an index of your digestive system. And the digestive system is everything. So that is what you are looking at on the tongue. And people who have half baked knowledge, who don’t know about it and still want to comment, how can he see the tongue? And it’s bullshit, it’s rubbish. But what the tongue is indicating is it’s a mirror of your digestive system and you are as good as your digestive system. So that’s what the tongue examination is all about. It shows volumes. It can read your liver, it can read your pancreas, it can read your kidneys, once you master that art. So these are the two excellent Ayurvedic tools which I use and I definitely don’t mind. Now the blood tests, these are technologies available. It’s nobody’s property. It doesn’t belong to allopathy, it doesn’t belong to Ayurveda. These are the tools available. I am always most welcome. I look at the blood work, I look at the other tests, I correlate my diagnosis with it. So why not? Right?
AB: So. But it’s not necessary. When someone comes to you, you’re saying it’s not necessary to come with medical reports.
SU: I’m a highly qualified and experienced Ayurvedic doctor. My job would never be to criticise the other signs. Allopathy is amazing. It’s excellent, especially when it comes to the diagnosing tools.
AB: Right.
SU: It’s a technology, as I did. It doesn’t belong to allopathy. It neither belongs to Ayurveda. It’s a technology. Yes, most welcome. One has to make use of those tools and cross check your diagnosis, then finally conclude and tell the patient.
AB: Okay, so now I’m going to go back to something that you said during, you know, when you were talking about the tongue. You said digestion is everything in Ayurveda. So in Ayurveda, digestion is very important for longevity as well. So will you explain that to us? Why, why is it considered to be the base of everything, especially for longevity?
SU: Exactly. So digestion or the agni we talked about the digestive fire is everything in the body. Like you are as good as your digestion. You just are as good as your digestion. So keep it intact, keep a good digestion. Now I’m using a Sanskrit word. Do not allow Ama to form in your digestive system. Right. Immediately your next question should be what is Ama? The audience can be national, international. It’s not even a Hindi word. What is ama? Yes, Ama is a metabolic toxin that builds up in your body when your digestive system goes weak. And this metabolic toxin is the root cause of all diseases.
AB: So when you do your Panchakarma, I know that the first thing you do is remove Ama.
SU: Yes, Nice word for that is Ama Pachan. Ama pachan, pachan means to digest the metabolic toxin called Ama. Let me take one more minute. So this Ama, the metabolic toxin, if ignored, if neglected, goes and takes its seat in different parts of the body and causes different diseases. Of course, different diseases will reduce your longevity. So now Ama goes, sits in your joints, for example. It’s called Amavata, rheumatoid arthritis. So whatever diseases in the body, the root cause of the diseases is ama. Therefore, the digestive system or agni, which controls this. Ama is everything.
AB: So is there, how would we explain it to a global audience? Ama, is there an English word for it or there isn’t.
SU: The rough translation is metabolic toxin.
AB: Okay.
SU: So once when I’m looking at the tongue, the first thing I’m looking at is how scary is the Ama in your digestive system.
AB: Right.
SU: The worst scenario of Ama in the digestive system is the worst case scenario of health. So that, and apart from that, there are so many other indicators on the tongue. So to understand what Ama will look like in the digestive system, it looks like a sticky rotten cheese. That’s the word I would want to use for ama.
AB: Okay.
SU; In the digestive system is a wide, sticky, rotten, smelly cheese. One who takes the AMA to different parts of the body, Vata.
AB: Right.
SU: Air vata carries this ama. Say it puts it in your weak link, say your joints, arthritis. So, say it takes it and puts it on your liver. Sheath of fat on your liver, which makes it fatty liver, cholesterol, triglycerides.
AB: So AMA is a physical thing because you’re saying it’s like rotten cheese. It’s actually a physical thing that forms.
SU: It takes a seat in your Amashay. Amashay means your stomach. So it accumulates on the sides of the stomach. I’m not talking about the gut. Stomach is different. Gut is different. Always remember, the body is self excusing. It gives, oh, she’ll take out this Ama one day. Oh, she will eat better. Oh, she will exercise. But you’re not doing it. Now the body gets into an autoimmune mode. It starts asking questions, where should I put this ama? So it carries it and puts it in the weak link of your body, which can be any particular organ.
AB: Okay. You know, when people talk about anti-aging in the western sense. How does that correlate to something like Ayurveda?
SU: So there are two terminologies in Ayurveda, for the so-called anti ageing, right? One is Rasayana and another word is Vajikarna. Okay, so Rasayana, what is Rasayana? Generally Indian Hindi audience. The word Rasayan, for them, means chemical. Not at all here. Rasayana here means rejuvenators. Ayurveda has boasted about different types of rejuvenators for anti-aging, right? Longevity, good health. Right. And second is Vajikarna. Vaji rough. The Sanskrit meaning of Vaji means horse. So Vajikaran means to get the horsepower, to get the Vaigar, to get the stamina, like a horse that is Vajikaran. So Rasayana and Vajikarana are two Ayurvedic terms with respect to anti-aging. Even for example, all the audience, 90%, 99% of the audience would be familiar with something with a word called Chavanprash. Chavanprash is prepared by a muni by a sage, Maharshi Sage called Chavan. The name of this sage is Chavan. The story goes like he wants to become young because he has a young wife. So he starts preparing this and starts consuming it to become young and vital. And longevity. Longevity, whatever the words, right? So that’s how the Chavanprash comes.
AB: So that’s how the Chavan. And now all over the world, they’re saying that amla, which is gooseberry, they’re saying it’s the highest thing that exists with vitamin C. There’s nothing higher in vitamin C. I don’t know. Is that true?
SU: Vitamin C is a small word for amla. Amla is a rejuvenator, which is 90% of the Chavanprash. It is, anti ageing. It is everything. It’s not just vitamin C.
AB: Oh, interesting. Okay. Because that’s what people talk about, a lot about the gooseberry.
SU: The gooseberry. The Indian gooseberry.
AB: The Indian gooseberry. Yeah. Interesting. Yes. So sorry.
SU: So these are the two words, Rasayan and Vajikaran. So one has to classify. And Vajikaran. Now Vajikaran means the amount of testosterone, the amount of stamina, the amount of Ojas is the word. Ojas means your vitality, right? One has to retain the vitality for long in order to have longevity. What is vitality? Is it about sexual appetite or something? Not at all. It is much more than that. A girl looks as good as her oestrogen progesterone. That’s why teenage girls, young girls look amazing because they have good oestrogen progesterone. Young boys have good muscles and all that because they have good testosterone. So the more and more you retain your vitality, the root chakra, the more and more you have longevity. As simple as that.
AB: So you, you’re relating the chakras to longevity here?
SU: Not really. I’m relating vitality to longevity.
AB: Okay, okay. And in terms of the comment you made that you are what you digest. Right. How would you relate that to longevity?
SU: I think I’ve already answered this question. Because the more you digest, the more your food properly, no Ama formation automatically, no disease, no disease is equal to longevity.
AB: So what I’m understanding from you and from what we did in the last two weeks is that the western sense of longevity is different from the Ayurvedic sense. The western sense of longevity is almost like don’t age while, or let’s try and stop the ageing or let’s try and reverse the ageing. While the Ayurvedic sense of longevity seems to be let’s age gracefully. Am I right?
SU: If the western way of longevity is what you said, it is impossible because it is the thumb rule of nature that an old leaf, the dried leaf, has to fall in order for the fresh leaf to come. So don’t even expect to be here forever. Nobody on this planet except money making can say longevity, I can keep you here forever. Maybe these famous Ayurvedic books. The second one there, Charak Samhita, is written by a famous sage called Charak. Is he present in this world now? No, but these people exit the world gracefully. The thumb rule of the world is you are not permanent here. You have to, but your job is. Then, somebody asked me one day, oh, if you have to go anyway, go, then I’ll eat, drink and do everything. No, the thing is, you are sick and live for 100 years, no point.
AB: What’s the point of being bedridden?
SU: Bedridden for 90 years, 100 years, no point.
AB: So I’m going to send you a link. There’s a gentleman in the US called Brian Johnson, and his motto is don’t die. So he’s trying to reverse his age. He’s about in his 50s and he spends about a fortune every year, in trying to reverse his age. And he’s now his biological age. He says with all these tests it is about 20 years or something like that. And he’s trying to use himself as a human experiment to show the world that you can live forever.
SU: I don’t know about this gentleman. Good for him. He’s researching, he’s spending a fortune and everything. But I believe, I believe one thing mother nature will never reveal to you is death. It will never. It keeps death in its control. It will not give you how much ever fortune you spend on it. I don’t know this gentleman, but this is the truth. I hope he succeeds.
AB: Wow. I found it fascinating. I heard a talk with him at this longevity summit I went to. I thought it was fascinating. But I want to ask you another thing. So we’re talking about trying to be as healthy as possible, while we’re alive, right? What signs should people look for when they feel like, okay, now this is affecting my digestion. So this could potentially affect my longevity. What signs? And what age do you think people start seeing those signs?
SU: So the first part of the question is, what are the things? So let me talk about the three pillars of longevity again from those lovely textbooks. The three pillars of longevity, like Sthambha. Sthambha means pillar. What are the three pillars of longevity? The book. The name in the book is Trayo Upasthamba. The three pillars. Traya means three three pillars of longevity. Very interesting for your audience. These three words they have used. Ahar. Sanskrit word Ahar. Ahar means the food you eat. Number one for longevity. Second one, Nidra. The amount of sleep you do. Without Nidra, nothing is. You have whatever but you don’t have good sleep, you don’t have anything. Then the third one is Abrahmacharya, which means non celibacy. So now these are the three pillars of longevity. The first one, Ahar. Fine, you understood, Nidra, you understood. When I told Abrahmacharya non celibacy, you had an exclamation on your face.
AB: Yeah, no, because I was thinking of all the sages and all the monks.
SU: It is not Brahmacharya, by the way. It’s Abrahmacharya, non celibacy. It’s not.
AB: Yeah, that’s why I was confused.
SU: Because if everyone becomes a sage, how is the progeny? How is the next generation going to come? So what Abrahmacharya does is how to judiciously use your Ojas for prochani. That is Abrahmacharya. So for example, to be brief here, the book says, too much sexual activity in summers will deplete your Ojas, like how much quantum of sexual activity has to happen in the rainy season. How much sexual activity has to happen in winters. All these are explained in the books. What are the herbs to take to retain your Ojas? All these are explained in the book so that you are practising a specific type of celibacy which is non celibacy. Abrahmacharya only then. Otherwise, now I may be 80 or 90 years old. And if there is no progeny, where to pass this knowledge of Ayurveda, if not my kid, any other kid how to do celibacy everyone becomes a sage. It’s going to be very difficult. Humankind is going to end here.
AB: Right.
SU: So it is Ahar, Nidra and Abrahmacharya, so that the vitality is still retained, the sexual activity still happens. The pleasure from the sexual activity still remains intact.
AB: So you’re talking about sort of working with nature here, right? Working with the rhythms of nature. And that’s obviously like you’re saying, very important for longevity.
SU: Very. As per Ayurveda, there may be different opinions. For example, allopathy, which modern science considers semen is like saliva. You, you split it. New saliva generates nothing. It can be the point of view. I don’t want to tell them they are wrong. I am right. I’m quoting what my book says and I follow it.
AB: So what about people like us who travel so much? So. So sleep gets disrupted, food, you know, gets disrupted. When you’re travelling, you’re eating different foods from different parts of the world. How do we get our lives into balance?
SU: Yeah. So I think the major challenge, because I attend, is to treat all those types of people who travel a lot of different time zones. Even yesterday I had a consultation with a guy who is always in different time zones and as of today doesn’t sleep at all. He needs not even 35, 40. I need a big amount of sleeping pills to sleep. So apart from Ayurveda textbooks, forget the Ayurveda in Hindu, thing in Brahmins thing. Those who practise these religious things in Brahminism, they have to their culture, their books tell them that if you travel overseas, if you Sapta samundar, seven oceans. If you cross the seven seas, you need to come back and purify yourself through some rituals. Maybe it is because of that to avoid you or dissuade you from travelling so much.
AB: Right.
SU: Nowadays the, But I, I’m not telling you need not. You should not travel and all that. It’s one part of. See, these are different schools of thoughts. Who is right, who is wrong. It’s for the audience to judge. It’s their body, their wish. Follow, don’t follow. We are telling what the Brahmin thinks is this sage. There is a mat called Krishna Mat in Udupi. If he travels overseas, he needs to come purify. Otherwise not allowed inside the temple. I think this is a major challenge people are facing. One ahar, now Ahar has become food so easily available. I think when my grandmother’s time, when there was a financial constraint, you just cook at home, eat only whatever that kanji
AB: And you’d eat simple Homemade.
SU: They were so healthy. Now there is an availability. You can buy a McDonald’s, you can buy a Domino’s pizza, then you are eating all that stuff because you can afford it. So I think sometimes, too much wealth is also a spoiler.
AB: Absolutely, absolutely.
SU: This I think, even with the sleep, one has to follow a rhythm. Otherwise without sleep, let me tell you, there is nothing. Your body has to rejuvenate, it has to revitalise. That can happen only with a good 7 hours of sound sleep.
AB: Okay, so on that, that’s a very, very, very important point you’ve just made because today I think one of the biggest issues in the world is sleeping.
SU: Yeah. As a doctor, I agree to this.
AB: How are you? How does Ayurveda help people with sleep? So it’ll help them with their longevity and vitality.
SU: Here again, I always, I also already told in this podcast that no science is bad. No science is to be hated. Oh, Ayurveda is super and allopathy is bad. There’s no bigger fool than me. So there is a huge amount of research happening in allopathy, science. There’s fantastic research. So the Ayurvedic people did what they could. 400 years of amazing work. And now these generations are taking it forward. Fantastic. So they have analysed how important is Tryptophan for sleep. So Tryptophan is not produced by the body. It’s present again in certain types of food right now. How Nidra and Ahar have become interconnected. Right, right. So Tryptophan is present in certain types of food. Say for example cheese at night. So bad. But mozzarella cheese has the biggest amount of Tryptophan. Fish have fantastic Tryptophan. So eat some food in the night which has Tryptophan in it. Okay. That will really aid you to sleep much better. Now in Ayurvedic context, back to Ayurvedic context. They have talked about having half a teaspoon of nutmeg powder in a glass of hot water. In fact, they talked about milk. Nowadays, milk has become a bad word. But yeah, I don’t believe in it. Put half a teaspoon of nutmeg powder in a glass of hot milk. Bedtime, you’ll sleep like a baby.
AB: Or hot water. If people don’t have,
SU: Milk or doctor I don’t have milk, then go for it.
AB: Plant based milk. Plant based milk.
SU: So nutmeg, Charak is the author of the book Hope. Charak knew there existed some plant based milk. He didn’t know that.
AB: The other thing that you talked about for longevity is Ahaar, which is food. Right? So can you give people an idea about. Because not everyone has access to Ayurvedic doctors, people are going to be listening to this podcast all over the world. Can you give them an idea what foods, how should they go about food for longevity?
SU: First thing you need to understand with food is from again, Charak Samhita. He has quoted a fantastic word which translates as nothing is non medicinal. So the plant you see there, if it is original, I don’t know, I should ask. But if it is, it has some medicinal value. So nothing in this world is non medicinal. So every food, oh, wheat is bad, Gluten is bad. No, no, no, no. There are body types for whom wheat is most essential. There are certain body types who should consume milk provided the quality of the milk is good. There are people who need to have millets. So you must understand what your body constitution is. Know your diet, what you can eat based on your body constitution, then decide your ahar. Note, we have three, four people sitting here. None of us have a similar diet. For example, for them, gluten seems to be most important. For somebody, millets are good, gluten is bad. So know what is good for you. And of course the processed stuff, forget bad for everybody. Now gluten means not Maida. I’m talking about whole wheat. I’m not talking about refined flour, I’m talking about whole wheat. There are body constitutions for whom whole wheat is the most important. So they need to know their body constitution and eat as per their body constitution.
AB: And for people who don’t have access to knowing their body constitution, institution, you’re saying just try and figure out what works for you, what doesn’t not.
SU: Nowadays the world has become small with this social media online and, so many things. So always it’s. I think now, if you’re talking about today’s scenario, it’s very easy to access an Ayurveda doctor online. There are so many video calls, zoom calls happening. So I think it’s better to access an Ayurveda doctor and know your body constitution and eat as per your body constitution.
AB: Wonderful. And also I’d had a lot of blood tests done, Kinesiology tests done on what doesn’t suit me, and it was broadly in line with what you told me based on my body constitution.
SU: That’s the beauty of it.
AB: Yeah. So there’s, you know, even from different points of view, we’ve converged at the same things to avoid.
SU: It also matched my concepts very interestingly to my concepts to Ayurveda. Concepts really matched. So I think, audience can also look at that book. Eat as per your blood group.
AB: And are there any foods or even tonics like we were talking about? Chavanprash? Anything that you would recommend to people which everyone can have, which you would say is very good for you? Have this first thing in the morning, have this last thing at night, like a lot of people have ghee, you know, mustard seeds. Is there anything you can recommend to people who, without checking they can just have that?
SU: And I’ll give your audience two fantastic, simple, very effective secrets. But the secret means no Rare Himalayan herb that’s just in your kitchen, but you should know how to use it for longevity. The number one is fenugreek seeds. Okay. Indian audience, Methi dhana.
AB: Methi dhana.
SU: Yes. So the methi seeds, you take them at night, count them as per your age. Say, for example, if you’re 50, count 50 methi seeds, soak them in a bowl of boiling hot water. Hot, hot water. Morning. Drink that water and chew, chew, chew and eat those seeds. Superb remedy for longevity. Number two. People know again this herb Triphala, but they know triphala as a herb for bowel movements. Constipation. Triphala is much, much bigger than that. But there is a specific way to make this triphala for longevity. It’s amazing. Consume triphala every day. Your sense organs, your skin, your hair, your nails, your collagen. You name it remains young. So today’s two tips here are methi seeds and triphala.
AB: Okay. And also in terms of giving people tips, are there any rituals that you would recommend that you know? I mean, it could be something as simple as just before you eat, just close your eyes for two minutes, do a prayer or do focus on mindfulness, anything. Are there any rituals that you would recommend? Wake up in the morning and do five minutes of something that grounds you in Ayurveda. Is that for longevity?
SU: So I’m not a spiritual expert, so I would not talk about meditation or pray the food before you eat because my books never talked about that. So let me tell you three tips here, two for longevity and three for the question you asked. The rituals, the daily things which are scientific and from the book. Number one, chew your food very, very well. Chew your food 32 times. Number two, don’t drink water with your food. Stop drinking water 45 minutes before and start drinking water 45 minutes after. Second and third, soon after eating. Soon after, immediately after eating, stand up and walk for 100 steps. Shata Padam. Shata means 100. Padam means steps. Walk 100 steps soon after you finish eating. So as soon as you finish. So you finish and you walk and walk for 100 steps.
AB: You didn’t tell me this in my, look, he says you saved this for the podcast.
SU: The more and more you speak to me, you learn more. Today’s one hour podcast with your audience, they know 1% of it.
AB: That’s true. That’s so true. I mean your knowledge is just huge.
SU: I think it’s the knowledge of Ayurveda, not mine.
AB: So you’re saying as soon as you finish your food, walk 100 steps, chew your food, don’t have water 45 minutes before or 45 minutes after.
SU: Half the, half the challenges with your digestive system are already taken care of.
AB: Okay, what about something like Vajrasana? A lot of people say that, oh, does Ayurveda talk about Vajrasana at all? That immediately after you eat, when you sit on your haunches.
SU: So the books of Ayurveda which you see there, few of them, do not talk anything anywhere about yoga. It’s a completely different philosophy, it’s a completely different branch, but I should say Ayurveda, Yoga, all these are sister concerns, but they are not the same. So yoga is something written by a famous sage, called Patanjali. And Patanjali, Yoga Sutra, is very famous. I think I’m not the right person to talk about it.
AB: Okay, Okay. I just thought maybe because they’re so related and they work so well with each other,
SU: They are sisters.
AB: I thought maybe there is,
SU: In this context I came up with the mind that I would say only those things which are from my books.
AB: Okay. Okay. So anything else that you want to tell people before we start wrapping up about Ayurveda and longevity and of course the gut.
SU: Yeah. So again longevity. I made it very clear about Ahar, Nidra and Abrahmacharya, the food, the sleep and the non-celibacy. Now in Ahar I would like to get them three more words. So you said oh, if you don’t have access to an Ayurvedic doctor, how would you manage your food? So for them the chewing thing, then they don’t need an Ayurveda doctor. Whatever you eat based on your country, eat but chew your food very well. We talked about not drinking water. Whichever country they can do that. They can walk a hundred steps. They can do that. Now three more I would give it to. I’m a general. Not for anybody who doesn’t have access but three Ayurvedic words here is Hita bhook. Bhook means eating. Mitha bhook and Kshuta bhook. Hita bhook means eat as per your body constitution.
AB: Okay.
SU: Mitha bhook
AB: Okay.
SU: It’s as per your body constitution but do not overeat. Eat in moderation.
AB: Okay.
SU: And third is Kshuta bhook. Eat only when you are hungry. It’s not that it’s one o’ clock in the afternoon and you’re eating. Eat only when you’re hungry. So eat the food of your body constitution. The food of your body constitution. You would know from your Ayurvedic doctor. Second, oh, your Ayurvedic doctor has told you almonds are good for you and you ate 100 a day. Not good. Mitha bhook. Eat in moderation. Then eat only when you are hungry. These are the very very fundamentals. One should get it right. The big big diets later. First, chew the food well. Don’t drink water with food. Eat in moderation. Get these right, half your problems are solved. Sleep on time, wake up on time. For Nidra the second one was Nidra. Nidra sleeps. Most of the girls today sleep at 2am in the morning. And how can they expect their hormones to be in balance and so many come hormonal disbalance. I have a cyst in my uterus, in my ovaries. I have that. I have this PCOD and endometriosis has become so common. Yes, I would suggest that a major part of these women issues, girls issues are related to sleeping habits. And second I would relate it with their lack of physical activity. So physically one needs to be very active. In olden days they would do all the household work they should. They could go to the well and pull up the water. They grind their masalas. I’m not asking these girls to do all that, but do something similar to burn and keep yourself fit. Right? So then most of this woman’s body needs a lot of physical activity.
AB: Interesting. Because you know, they say at menopause the most important thing is weight training and all that. You’re talking about pulling things from the well. They automatically carry things. They would automatically do the use the weight
SU: And pound those masalas. You know how Indian women pound the masalas in olden days, like big, like they would crush those. If you’re not doing all that, do something else similar.
AB: I also want to ask you about some terms which are so popular at the moment in the whole world of longevity. Intermittent fasting, biohacking supplements. Everyone is taking supplements every day. Is it because our food is not providing us all the nutrition? Give me an Ayurvedic point of view for all these.
SU: First question is, forget intermittent. I would pick up only half the word from there. Fasting. So intermittent is one of the many types of fastings available in the market. So fasting, I’ll quote an Ayurvedic quote here. Langhanam Paramaushadham. Langhanam means fasting. Param means best. Aushadam means medicine. Medicine. Fasting is the best medicine. But you should know who should fast. How much should you fast? Is it ideal for you? It’s not. All the cattle do the same. This is number one. Number two, let us consider Ekadashi. Hinduism promotes ekadashi. Ekadashi means the 11th day of the moon. You fast have amazing health benefits. Christianity promotes Lent.
AB: Lent.
SU: Wonderful. You give a break from all that high protein, non veg food for 40 days plus amazing health benefits. Islam promotes Ramadan which is again fasting for a month in a year. But what we miss is say a guy who is doing Ekadashi fasting breaks. It is waiting, waiting for that 6 o’ clock or 9 o’ clock to happen.
AB: And then quickly eats lots of food,
SU: Eat so much oily food and a lot of food. Not chewing it well, literally, like, like jumping on the food. This is causing a reverse action. If you follow those principles which your religion has given you wisely, it’s really going to help with fasting. But who should fast? How much should fast? Intermittent huge research is happening. On Autophagy, which is you fast for 16 hours in a day. From the 15th hour your body gets into Autophagy. So which is, which is your, your own good cells eat up your retired or damaged cells which helps in weight loss, cancers, everything again. Now with social media, the world is so fast you have access to everything. This is causing a big confusion to the audience. Somebody says intermittent fasting is super good. Immediately you listen to another, maybe an allopath or somebody else. No, no, no, no, that’s the worst thing. Now the audience is damn confused about what is right, what is wrong. I think that’s the problem today’s world is facing.
AB: It’s overwhelming. Too much information.
SU: Too much information. Now even a simple turmeric, you say, oh turmeric is amazing. Suddenly you find an article published somewhere in some western European country. Turmeric damages the liver and it runs in primetime. 8 o’ clock news. Now we were eating turmeric the day we were born. Generations together. My grandmother lived for a hundred years. What did turmeric do to her? What did coconut oil do to her? I think it’s also a part of the game. I don’t want to talk much more than that.
AB: But also the one thing that’s so clear from our conversation, just based even on our conversation today, not even previous Ayurvedic experiences that I’ve had, is that it’s incredibly personalised.
SU: That’s the word.
AB: And people, you know today everyone’s talking about personalised medicine and you need to do all these tests but we’ve, you know, I guess Ayurveda for 5000 years has been doing these tests they’ve been doing using these diagnostic tools and it’s about you and what works for your body and it may not work for someone else’s body.
SU: Very well said. Very, very well said. If you and your husband come to the clinic with fever, same viral fever, your medicine and his medicine will be different.
AB: So Dr. Uppoor, I have some a quick rapid fire round for you but before that anything you want to say to the audience listening in,
SU: I would want to bring them up which was not a part of your questions but I would want to bring them up a simple thing called the Ayurveda clock.
AB: Okay.
SU: Beautiful Ayurveda clock. So let us divide the day into six. Yeah, six fours are 24 hours. Okay so 10 in the night. Listen very carefully to the audience. 10 in the night to 2 in the morning is Pitta time. Pitta clock. 10 in the night to 2am in the morning. This is the time you must at any cost be sleeping for your liver to be super good. Now you would see even in my childhood hearing liver stories was very rare. Now every second guy, third guy, fatty liver, liver problems. Fatty liver is a small thing. Big huge liver issues these days. For that one must be sleeping. From 10 to 2am you must be in your deep sleep. 2 to 6am is the time of Vata. So this is the time where you are in a partial sleep. You are still sleeping but you know you are there. The 10 to 2 you are knocked out and then by 3:30 wake up the second half of the Vata time. Use it for meditation, yoga, breathing, pranayama. Assemble yourself if you want to study now this is the advice for students. Don’t keep awake. Late night steady in the early morning hours. Amazing time to study. So 2am to 6am is the Vata time.
Now 6am for the next four hours. 7, 8, 9, 10 is the Kapha time. Kapha Kal. During the kapha time, bowel evacuations. You take your bath. You slowly relax. Get on to your work mode. These are the hours. Now the west here says have a heavy breakfast. And even in your schools you would have a heavy breakfast prepared. Have a heavy breakfast. Ayurveda says the breakfast must be very, very, very light. Very light. So have a light breakfast. Assemble your energies. Best time to exercise. Kapha. So it is the best time to exercise and burn the Kapha out. So this is the exercise time. This is the time to have a light breakfast. Assimilate your energy, evacuations, bowel movements and get on to the work mode 10 o’ clock 10 to 2 is the Pitta Kaala Pitta time. Pitt kaal 10 to 2 when your Pitta is at its peak. Listen very carefully. This is the time where you should have your biggest meal
AB: Which is lunch?
SU: Lunch should be your biggest, biggest, heaviest. If you want to consume any carbs, this is the time and this is the time of preparations, getting into work and all that. But very interestingly 2 to 6pm I’m talking about the afternoon 2pm to 6pm again back to Vata. Vata time. So the clock is the clock. Three starts again started again at 10 for Pitta. 10pm was Pitta and now 10am to 2pm was again Pitta. The second time Pitta came. Now Vata is coming from 2 to 6pm. This is the time the Ayurveda book says is the most productive time for your mind for work. Most Productive time. This is when most of the people are taking a nap and wasting their time. So you need to be very active. You gather some nice fantastic thoughts during this time. Six to ten again is kapha, the unwinding time, the relaxing time, yourself. Your time, me time again in the Kapha, one should eat very light, right? We are going to these dinners, buffets and having a heavy dinner, which is again, the main reason for a lot of health issues. So heavy lunch, very light dinner and very light breakfast. Breakfast is what that
AB: The middle meal is heavy. So any kind of sugar you want to eat, eat in the. Yeah, 100%.
SU: Though when the books were written, there was no white sugar. But any carbohydrate, your jaggery, your, your maple syrup, your date, you want to eat dates, whatever. This type of carbohydrates and sugars, eat them between 10am to 2pm
AB: So that was a very interesting point again that you’re making. The whole world is saying, give up sugar, have any sugar. They’re talking about all sugars. That it’s the worst thing to give up sugar. Ayurveda says that it has a little bit of natural sugars. Correct.
SU: Totally disagreed with the concept of giving up sugars. You’ll go crazy. You’ll not sleep. You may have a thin, lean body, but mentally you will be at absolute no peace. But what is the problem is white sugar, right? But a sugar in moderation, that is coming from a date, that coming from a fruit that is coming from jaggery. Most welcome is most welcome in moderation.
AB: That’s why I stick to Ayurveda. I like that. So I’m going to ask you some questions. One Ayurvedic herb everyone should know about for longevity.
SU: I think we have covered it a little bit. Let us talk about Methi.
AB: So you’re saying fenugreek seeds. Okay. The biggest myth about Ayurveda and ageing.
SU: Ayurveda is a slow medicine. Ayurveda is all about popping pills. This is the biggest myth. Ayurveda is a lifestyle
AB: One morning ritual that you never skip.
SU: Having my Methi seeds in the morning.
AB: Fantastic.
SU: Without that, all our family don’t skip.
AB: A food that surprisingly accelerates ageing.
SU: Accelerates ageing. The food that is inflammatory for your body type. And it’s a wonderful statement. The food that is inflammatory for your body type accelerates your ageing process. So it could be any food. It could be different for different reasons. It can be gluten for you, dairy for Somebody or millet for somebody.
AB: So personalised medicine, again. One Ayurvedic principle you wish the whole world would follow.
SU: Dinacharya. The daily routine.
AB: Before we go, you want to. The daily routine is this. When you talk about these, there are so many cycles.
SU: You follow the clock.
AB: Cycles the clock. Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you for this. Thanks. Amazing chat.
SU: Thank you. It was amazing. And your questions were very, very good. I really enjoyed being here. The questions were so good for one reason, because you yourself experienced Ayurveda.
AB: I did. These 12 days have been incredible. I’m coming back. But I think after doing Ayurveda now I realise that this actually is so healing. It’s not something that’s temporary.
SU: Exactly. And not something which is an immediate fix. I don’t have a magic injection that can help you tomorrow. It’s like, change your lifestyle, get there slowly, have patience. It’s like any relationship, you need to work on it, otherwise it doesn’t work.
AB: Thank you. Thank you so much.
SU: Amazing. Thanks a lot. God bless.
AB: Thank you and thank you for managing to do this today, even though you have a journey to make. What I love about today’s conversation was that Ayurveda is so personalised that it teaches you how to age gracefully. And there is a system for everything. But it’s very simple. It’s actually a way of life. It’s not simple if you’re staying up and partying all night, but if you go back to a simple lifestyle, then you can accommodate it very easily into your life. There’s lots of different schools of thought, there’s lots of different philosophies all over the world and you choose what works best for you. What I love about Ayurveda is that when you follow it, it’s actually a very healing system and it heals you inside out. And the promise is that as long as you live, you’re going to be healthy. Thank you for being part of this conversation. If you enjoyed it, please share it with someone who needs it. Please subscribe to this page and leave us a comment so that we can get you better and better speakers and have deeper conversations. This is Anshu Bahanda, from Wellness Curated and you were listening to the Wellness Algorithm.
