Women's Health ft. Avantii Deshpande

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Breaking Barriers Podcast. I am Shubhi Agarwal, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Locobuzz, a leading SaaS platform for managing customer experience.

[00:00:17] I am your host for the day. Today we have the pleasure of welcoming Avanti Deshpande, a clinical nutritionist, certified Nutrigenomeric counsellor and sports nutritionist with over 20 years of experience in the field.

[00:00:35] She is also the author of Learn the Art to Eat Smart and the founder of a range of health foods under the name Avanti, Reconnect with your roots.

[00:00:46] Let's welcome Avanti Deshpande. Hi Avanti. Hi, happy to be here. Welcome to Breaking Barriers. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey in the field of nutrition and how it has led you to specialised in gut healing and PCOS, T-C-O-S.

[00:01:04] So, Shubhi, I have been a foodie writer. I have a love for cooking as well. This is what you know. This was a natural process that led me to food and I started my education in food right since the 11th grade out of school.

[00:01:20] Then I took up nutrition and this is very interesting. So, I kept on pursuing different things in the field of nutrition. I have been in this field for about 20 years now and it is an ever evolving field.

[00:01:33] So, you know, you need to be constantly learning, updating, knowing what is happening and the science, the roots, I mean the basics remain the same but the science just keeps on evolving and you should really know what is happening because you know, you have to give a 360 degree solution to a client's problem.

[00:01:54] What I studied first is how genetic makeup can and how the genetic makeup and nutrition are connected. Later, you know, I also studied about how the gut microbiome have a major role to play in any person's health.

[00:02:08] So, that leads to you know having a lot of hormonal balances and so on so forth with the help of gut microbiome study and then connecting it with gut healing as well as you know managing hormones better.

[00:02:23] And with that, lately I have done my sports nutrition. So, you know, it is an overall approach to nutrition. So, any client walking in with any requirement, there is a 360 degree solution to the problem that he has and the success rate is much better.

[00:02:38] So, this is what is with me and my field and because I am a food technologist, I have come up with a range of health food products.

[00:02:46] So, it's wonderful because what could be better if your food can help you treat these kind of lifestyle ailments than taking medicinal alternatives towards that.

[00:02:57] I really appreciate what kind of stuff that you bring to the table and making world a better place and a healthier place to be in.

[00:03:03] So, as an entrepreneur, you have broken barriers and you made a significant impact in the field of nutrition. Can you tell us some of your challenges you faced when you were starting your business and how did you overcome them?

[00:03:17] So, I would say, you know, my very old challenge was, you know, when I was in obesity that I would say was the biggest challenge which I ever had.

[00:03:28] No one will believe that.

[00:03:29] Nobody will believe that today. But you know, I was an obese kid and in my teenage also, you know, I was like overweight and obese and often got, you know, targeted for being overweight.

[00:03:42] That is one barrier which I really broke where I understood the science behind, you know, what exactly happens when a person is obese and how exactly food can treat it along with the right nutrition.

[00:03:53] It's just not, you know, a low calorie diet or a fat diet. But it is combining the right nutrition with right fitness and that is how, you know, you can make a major change in your lifestyle.

[00:04:05] So that was the biggest barrier which I came over. And that has also helped me to have a lot of empathy to people who are trying to lose weight.

[00:04:14] Every person who comes to me, every person is trying to lose weight is already, you know, on a brink where they need more motivation.

[00:04:23] But I could show a lot of compassion and empathy. And that is what works as a counselling more than just giving a diet.

[00:04:30] That's wonderful. But the only challenge I see is people maybe listen to half knowledge, you know, that is very, very scary.

[00:04:37] You know, you must be seeing it because people will know a little bit of information about how I go about doing the maths around my food and how I basically balance my plate.

[00:04:48] It's very important to be working with a nutritionist like yourself when you want to basically look at your food not just as simple maths, it's not as simple as well.

[00:04:59] I wanted to ask you what was the inspiration behind, you know, giving out your range of health food was somewhere this process of, you know, making it more available to people.

[00:05:11] Was that the inspiration or drive within that? And what kind of products do you offer currently? Where can people find them?

[00:05:18] So basically, as I told you, you know, I am a food technologist and I mean, I will. So, you know, before I started off with nutrition, I was working in food industry.

[00:05:29] And I was working in food industry for about 10 years before I started consulting. So, you know, food technology and you know, developing new products is always close to my heart.

[00:05:38] When I started giving advice to people, I realized that there is a gap between what is available in the market and what I'm prescribing.

[00:05:45] Though, yes, we try to make it accessible like you know, generally, now everybody can't make stuff at home. So they have to rely upon food which is available outside.

[00:05:55] So in order to make healthy food accessible to maximum people, I came up with a range of products.

[00:06:01] That's wonderful.

[00:06:03] Then, you know, a gluten-free multi-minute atta especially for the young generation where they cannot roll the jabari bajara roti, it's very tough for them to make it and roll it out like how our generation back would do it.

[00:06:15] And they don't have to really press it out with a hand. So that's a convenient thing.

[00:06:20] Then the next product I have is, you know, roti atta which is for diabetes and it has got ingredients which will help to get diabetes in check and it is making a lot of difference to people who are having diabetes.

[00:06:32] So apart from that now, you know, people want healthy namkeen. So that is the next range of products that I've come up with.

[00:06:38] So something which is like a snack option. So it's in a pipeline and there's one product which is a major hit, which is almond truffle.

[00:06:46] So people on a diet should not feel like they are devoid of having any desserts and sweets.

[00:06:52] So this is the dessert which I offer to people. It's an almond truffle which is made with natural sugar and coated with chocolate and it does not spike sugar.

[00:07:00] I mean we have checked everything. It does not spike your sugar. You can happily, it's a guilt-free enjoyment of your dessert.

[00:07:05] So these are the range of products that I've come up with. Thinking that you know, everywhere there is a need for this product because people are not getting the right choice in the market.

[00:07:16] So this is what I've come up with.

[00:07:18] And where can people find these? I think for the larger benefit.

[00:07:21] So these products are available on Amazon and you can easily access it from there.

[00:07:28] Wonderful. You're also an expert in Nutrigenomics and gut microbiomes.

[00:07:33] Can you explain how do you use this knowledge to develop personalised nutrition plans for your clients?

[00:07:40] Suppose if I am going, what other kind of tests you would prescribe me before we actually get into some kind of regime which is personalised to myself.

[00:07:50] Yeah. So the thing is apart from doing this masters in nutrition, but I kept on learning about these Nutrigenomics

[00:07:58] and how your genetic setup makes a lot of difference in the nutrition choices that you'll have.

[00:08:05] Because ultimately your genes might be certain food that you consume does not get converted in the right nutrients

[00:08:12] and that is determined through this Nutrigenomic testing.

[00:08:16] Not that you need to use Nutrigenomic to all people because it's a little expensive site.

[00:08:20] There are certain people who could have predisposed heredity-wise to cancer or to diabetes.

[00:08:29] For them this Nutrigenomic testing makes a lot of difference because we understand whether those genes are present in them

[00:08:35] and how we can, there is a possibility that you change the diet so that you can modify these genes

[00:08:42] and then later on it's going to make a lot of difference in the way their life will go about

[00:08:47] because we have identified the problem at a very early stage and we've done a nutrition intervention for that.

[00:08:53] As far as the gut microbiome is concerned, today it's the most nascent science which exists

[00:08:59] where all your health issues are related to your gut.

[00:09:02] So your mental issues like Alzheimer's or you know your mood, your anxiety, mood swings maybe

[00:09:08] or you know your metabolic disorders like diabetes and PCOS, hypothyroidism.

[00:09:12] These all are even like gut issues like IVS or acidity, simple things are all connected to your gut health.

[00:09:19] I know exactly what are the set of questions I need to ask a person and by simply making small tweaks in their diet

[00:09:26] we are able to bring about reduction in acidity maybe 15 days time.

[00:09:31] Weight loss is of course you know a lot of people come for weight loss but they don't understand that

[00:09:35] we need to change the chemistry and we need to biohack a lot of things and not just giving you a weight loss.

[00:09:43] So once you are able to change the way your hormones are in the body, the way you know your sugar is utilized

[00:09:50] the way you're building up muscles you'll automatically start losing weight.

[00:09:54] So for me losing weight is not the first priority definitely.

[00:09:58] For some people it is as a client who will walk in but I give them that

[00:10:02] but when we are doing that we are changing this automatically where they do not realize that this is getting changed

[00:10:09] because of which I am seeing a result and it's a happy, happy situation for them as well as for me.

[00:10:14] Yeah, actually most of the times weight is just kind of like a side effect of lot of things which are happening in the life, main life.

[00:10:23] So I think rather than looking at weight as the problem it is just a side effect

[00:10:28] and the problem needs to be addressed and that's what I have learned from your conversation today.

[00:10:33] I had no idea gut my arm can be you know leading to so many lifestyle diseases it's unbelievable.

[00:10:40] So that brings me to another question, you have also written the book Learn the Art to Eat Smart

[00:10:46] which provides practical advice for people who are looking to make healthy changes in their diet.

[00:10:51] So what are some of the tips or the key points that you may want to share with everybody today

[00:10:58] so that we can make sustainable changes in eating habits especially for people who have busy lifestyles who are working forever.

[00:11:06] What can they do and if you can just share some of those points that would be great.

[00:11:11] Definitely, so you know one thing which I really advocate is to make changes in your lifestyle which are sustainable

[00:11:17] because when you're trying to look at nutrition if you're going to follow any fancy diet or something is going to be just short list

[00:11:24] because you cannot stick to that for a long period of time.

[00:11:27] So the whole idea is make changes which are small doable in your existing lifestyle so that you will be able to adapt to it

[00:11:35] no matter what, no matter where you are.

[00:11:37] So keeping that in mind you know I advocate a lot of eating by the healthy plate method which is given by the Harvard University.

[00:11:43] It's a very very simple technique which means that you know you need to include like a salad portion

[00:11:49] a sabzi portion of protein portion of car portion and you know if you check my Instagram

[00:11:54] so there will be so many you know meals which I have made just demonstrating different different foods

[00:12:00] and how you can arrange it in this combination and if you make a simple change is by eating

[00:12:06] by this healthy plate method you will see that your weight is not only just weight

[00:12:10] you're going to start feeling more happy just going to start feeling more fresh and energetic

[00:12:15] as well as you're going to see the weight loss yeah weight loss what you're looking at.

[00:12:19] So you know this is what I really advocate make small doable changes

[00:12:23] do not go in for a real fat diet it's not at all required do exercise which is within your frame

[00:12:30] so even if you are able to take out say 20 minutes 4 times in a week do that but do it consistently that is more important.

[00:12:36] Yeah I think discipline and consistency counts for more than one of two hours.

[00:12:42] Yes yes and you know when I studied nutritionomics is where I realized that it's better to eat what you have been eating over a long period of time

[00:12:50] so when you're making changes in your existing routine it is like bio hacking your system

[00:12:55] and you know making your body adjusting to these small small changes which are going to be much more acceptable to the body.

[00:13:01] That's really amazing I have one more question since you have done so much in a short period of time and you are very multifaceted

[00:13:11] you know aspects when it comes to writing a book launching products giving consultation it's a lot.

[00:13:17] So somebody who's starting out in a field like yours what would be the word of wisdom you would like to give to them

[00:13:24] for anybody who's trying to get into this profession.

[00:13:26] One word of wisdom would be take experience don't just you know most of the nutrition is these days even the ones who have done like a formal education

[00:13:35] start off by themselves immediately. The first thing I would like to suggest to these people is take some good experience

[00:13:42] work somewhere get about you know two three years of experience that will help you to just understand cases much better

[00:13:48] rather than you know you will start off immediately I mean you will start off eventually in your life on your by yourself

[00:13:56] but then initially it's better that you know you take an experience somewhere and spread credible nutrition knowledge

[00:14:04] so don't go by what you know the world has to say if you don't believe in that concept please don't advocate that concept

[00:14:09] so you need to understand whether that concept that has just been floated is the right one supported by science

[00:14:17] or is it just a fact and going to remain for some period of time it's very important.

[00:14:21] Yes there is absolutely no alternative to big knowledge and of course I agree with you because you need some experience before you find your feet

[00:14:30] and you put your feet on the ground and start running you don't start running immediately so it's better to start

[00:14:35] learn from somebody and then go ahead and make your own mistakes and make your own career. True that true that

[00:14:42] so how do you please approach failure what was your biggest failure in this journey and what have you learnt from that

[00:14:49] so never recognize failure is something which I had learnt when I was like since a very long time back you know

[00:14:56] so I always pivot okay and you always need to evolve that is what is the thing about entrepreneurship

[00:15:04] so you know maybe you start off somewhere and you need to just keep on pivoting your journey otherwise it starts getting very obsolete

[00:15:14] so expanding boundaries is important pivoting at the right time is very important so if you know there is a failure

[00:15:20] where you see that a particular thing does not really work out there will be learnings out of that

[00:15:26] I think you apply it to the next thing that you pick up so with my products initially it so happened

[00:15:33] like it just took me a lot of time to establish my products I thought it would be an easy journey

[00:15:38] but it wasn't as easy as I had thought because there is so much happening in the FMCT space

[00:15:43] so yes eventually I am learning how to go about it offline sales was you know I would say like a failure

[00:15:51] where I trusted more on that and I moved to online sales I think that's working very good for me

[00:15:56] what was the biggest risk that you've taken and how did it pay off

[00:16:00] so I feel the biggest risk that I had taken was starting my own products line what I would say was the biggest risk

[00:16:08] and if you ask me I never recognize failure you know like there is never a complete failure

[00:16:16] you always learn something out of that failure and then you apply it to something and then you get better with that

[00:16:22] so you need to pivot the business and you need to expand the business that is extremely important

[00:16:27] and that is where you know in my product line initially I had started these online sales

[00:16:31] it was doing much better helping me reach a larger crowd then what it would have been with the offline sales

[00:16:38] which would have been very restricted to a particular area but yes that was one learning and that is where I pivoted

[00:16:45] and it helped me a lot

[00:16:47] so every challenge has its own opportunity associated with it and I think that is the true spirit of an entrepreneur

[00:16:54] so thank you so much for leaving us with such a wonderful thought

[00:16:57] it was a pleasure having you here as a guest and thank you to our listeners for tuning into the Breaking Barriers podcast

[00:17:05] join us next time for more insightful conversations with trail-based women who are making a difference in their respective fields

[00:17:13] until then keep breaking barriers and empower yourself and those around you

[00:17:17] thank you very much Avanti it was really a pleasure speaking with you

[00:17:21] pleasure is all mine