Can spices make you healthy?

Can spices reduce you weight?

Can spices help you control your ailments like Diabetes, Thyroid, Blood Pressure etc? "Yes!" says the Spice Queen - nutrition and wellness adviser (nutritionist), yoga professional, and health enthusiast, Mrs. Riitu Kashyap.

Riitu Kashyap was a healthy 50 kilos when she got married. At 28, she became pregnant and started eating for TWO. On a steady inflow of ghee-laden goodies this Chandigarh Beauty Pageant winner zoomed to 98 kilos in 9 months, but post-delivery, she couldn't bounce back to her original frame again. Worse, Riitu's joys of new motherhood were dimmed by her inability to cope with her duties.

She says, "I fatigued easily, I had Asthma, post pregnancy diabetes, low energy and low B.P. Even my complexion suffered and my tummy stuck out a mile making it impossible to carry my baby comfortably. I yearned fruitlessly to fit into the designer outfits." She couldn't do much about exercise due to bad knee. By the time she turned 30, Riitu was pregnant again, and her weight hit 102 kilos! And this time weight gain caused more problems like lack of sleep, knee and back pain.

In March 2005, during a holiday in her hometown Yamunagar, Riitu's father was shocked to see the transformation in her daughter. "He dragged me to my former Yoga Guru, Rajesh Solanki,"recalls Riitu. Mr. Solanki started Riitu off on basic Yogasans and meditation. Within 6 weeks, breathing exercises like Prayanam and Kapalbhati helped manage her asthma. An hour daily of Suryanamaskars and other aasanas got Riitu's body back into exercise mode.

"It was a painful beginning. I was working out after a gap of almost five years," says Riitu. Soon Riitu became so adept at Yoga that she was offering classes to other out-of-shape mothers. Her own routine now includes one and half hours of yoga, Pilates and weight training. "My husband used to drive me to Ahmedabad, 300 km from Gandhidham with my tiny daughter to allow me to attend Nutrition Advisory Course classes while my parents looked after my son. I had to get into the mindset that sweets should be rare treats, stop the mindless munching, and absently polishing off my son's leftovers," recollects Riitu.

She is grateful. Due to yoga and Pilates she dropped weight slowly and steadily which allowed her body to return to shape without any ugly stretch marks. The streamlined diet got her rid of her post-pregnancy diabetes. She has gotten back to her first love - dancing, and dressing up and socializing. She has also got her husband (who was out of shape) to follow her lead. Even her kids have learned to enjoy the healthy dishes she makes for them. She strongly believes that the spices can really help you as it has helped her in the past years.

She creates a Plan based on one's Blood Group, Ailments, and Hereditary. She is actively involved in Dietary Counseling, where she deals with a wide range of nutrition related health problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, gastrointestinal problems, allergies, thyroid, pregnancy - lactating, meal planning etc. She also provides services for Detoxification. Passionate about nutrition and a strong believer in the power of food, she endorses many of the Indian spices that can heal a person completely.
As a part of her commitment towards community nutrition and public health, Ms. Riittu Kashyap founded YUJ to spread awareness on healthy lifestyle through healing power of Yoga. She holds a degree in Nutrition & wellness adviser (nutritionist) from California University. She holds a degree in PG - Food & Nutrition. She's a Specialist in Thyroid and Weight reduction. In the past two years, she had clients from worldwide who were benefited from her advices. Most of them were Thyroid clients who were benefited the most. She has also treated some clients with following ailments; Skin Problems, Diabetic, Epilepsy and Thyroid. She has a saying that goes like this- "Spice up your life with spices."

Thank you so much mam for sharing these wonderful life experiences with our IU e-magazine readers. I hope they will also never lose hope. If they want to change, you will be out-sourced as our fitness inspiration.