At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Aditi Kulshrestha for an exclusive interview with us. She is a Nutritionist and Influencer. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, background and advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Aditi:
We are aware of your contributions to the ecosystem; talk us through your background and your journey, please;
First of all, I’m very happy to be ‘talking’ to everyone reading this. My parents are Doctors, my maternal grandfather is a retired Colonel and my maternal grandmother is a teacher of Social Studies whereas my paternal grandfather was a Dermatologist and my paternal grandmother a homemaker.
I wanted to do a lot of things as a kid – had a whole list as I was good at and interested in multiple things. One thing I didn’t want to become was a doctor! Despite scoring a 10 CGPA in class 10 at the Amity International School, Noida, I took up humanities and everyone around was surprised but my family was supportive. I scored well in the boards of class 12 and got into the Lady Shri Ram College for Women, a dream for many.
I chose B.A. Hons. history, also as it was a subject over which my nani and I bonded. My minor subject was psychology. I went on to take the entrance exam of DU for MA. In Psychology and got All India Rank 7 in the exam for M.A. in Applied Psychology.
It is what I completed in 2022. So far, nutrition was not in the picture as a profession even though I had always been interested in food, health and fitness! It came into the picture in 2022. And I’m very happy that I could do a lot of work in this field to educate people in this year itself and have come quite far!
How did you discover your passion as a ‘Nutritionist’?
As I said, I had always been interested in health, fitness and food! The keenness to know more about these things increased as I developed lactose intolerance in my adolescent years and celiac disease (gluten intolerance) in early adulthood.
This lead to reading food labels of everything to find the best ‘food products’ when we went out. Menus were also completely scanned! I tried to meet my nutrient requirements with the relatively limited foods that I could eat by researching a lot and my knowledge increased a lot through my own research – it was even related to very minute things that people generally don’t talk about!
I also got to learn from my mother especially as well as my father about health, wellness and nutritious foods. After my M.A. in Psychology, I thought I must focus on health in a HOLISTIC manner.
I started ‘nutrilove_aditi’ on Instagram to share what I know about nutrition, diet, food and health and sometimes would content on general motivation as well. The page started doing well and I started getting good feedback! I did a certificate course in Ayurvedic Nutrition and became a certified nutritionist.
Currently, I’m doing a P.G. Diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics. With the knowledge, I make simple and relatable videos. Focus is on sharing correct information. Very importantly, I share recommendations on vegan, gluten-free, lactose-free and dairy-free food, especially while going out, as they are hard to find. I hope to serve the world even better than I am doing right now!
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
What I have started believing is that one is exactly where ‘they’ (gender-neutral terms are important) are meant to be! We have to give our best but beyond that, we must leave everything in the hands of God, the universe or whatever you believe in.
Many things are beyond us. We can’t control everything. So, one needn’t be disappointed. Having said that, a lot is in our control and for that like I said, we must give our best. We will be where we are supposed to be.
What drives me is my passion to do well in life, do good things for the benefit of humankind and serve people in the best way that I can, my family (especially) and friends drive me a lot as well as talking to people and knowing them better and being a positive source of motivation in their lives.
Basically, I want to do well for myself, my family, friends, as many people as I can influence and the humanity in general as well as all living beings if possible!
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My mother has been the greatest source of motivation in my life. She is a doctor who works really hard each day. All Saturdays are working and some Sundays too.
She studied and qualified for M.D. when I was very young and then studied even harder while caring for me with the constant support of my nani and nanaji as they were always there for me and her physically, mentally and emotionally.
She looks after the home despite having a very hectic schedule. She is intelligent and caring at the same time. She also takes out time to focus on her health usually, though of course more time can be taken out. She is truly an inspiration!
My biggest source of motivation is also my maternal grandparents who have given their unconditional support throughout life! Nani (who is no more) – taking care of all the little details personally as well as professionally and nanaji – helping me set big goals and have high aspirations.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
The things that helped me grow as a person are having faith in God, myself and surrounding myself with family members and friends who want the best for me and I for them.
I put in efforts to keep good bonds with as many people as I can around me and give my best to accept them as they are without judging them. I want to contribute as much as I can to the society.
I always try to remain grateful. I am determined and give my best to achieve excellent results along with living a well-balanced life.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
The keys to success are:
> Determination (to achieve what one wants to)
> Clear goal and good intentions
> Respect (for everyone around – all living beings – first and foremost, one’s own self)
> Desire to work hard and smart
> Goodwill (of many people around)
> Desire to improve (and correct mistakes)
> Among others as everyone has their own definition for everything subjective!
What advice would you give to our readers?
My advice to all our readers would be related to overall health as our body is a temple. I have also given this advice on ‘nutrilove_aditi’.
I said overall health as according to WHO, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Thus, do the following and it will be great for your mental, emotional and physical health –
(1) Eat nutritious food (a balanced diet; identify intolerances and allergies).
(2) Sleep well (sleep around 10p.m. each night preferably and for about 8hrs per night).
(3) Exercise and get movement (at least 30 minutes, 5 times a week or 150 minutes in a week) even if it’s simply walking.
(4) I’m also trying to do this without always succeeding (have to own up to mistakes, isn’t it? Improving is the most important)- keep away digital devices at least 1 hour before sleeping and 1 hour after waking up (it is mental daily mental detox).
(5) Engage in positive self-talk while accepting your mistakes and giving your best to improve yourself while understanding that there can be low days too.
(6) Surround yourself with positive people who bring out the best in you (as you are the sum of the five people you spend your time with most) and try to accept people as they are (everyone is fighting a hard battle that you don’t know of).
(7)Do something that you are passionate about at least weekly, even if you can’t make it your job.
Do these seven things and you’ll see major improvements in your overall health very very soon!
Thank you for the interview!
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