As part of our ongoing quest to get you meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world, we invited yet another Leader and Coach – Smriti Kochar for an exclusive interview with BrilliantRead Media. She is a Leader, Coach, Functional Nutrition Expert and Integrative Health and Lifestyle Coach. Let’s read more about her inspiring journey and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Smriti:
We are aware of your contributions to the health industry. Talk us through your background and your journey as a coach, please.
I have been part of the corporate sector for many years now. I am still working and I am at the helm of a consulting firm. The field of nutrition and functional medicine was something I had never thought of, until I discovered the ‘power of food’ in healing my own chronic health issues.
I was a chronic case of PCOD (since teenage) which later turned into Amerrohea. Because of this condition, I gained a lot of weight over the years, and later developed gut issues too. Rashes, itching, bloating, stomach aches were a constant in my life.”
However, intuitively I was never a believer of being dependent on medicines for my problems. For me, pills were never an option. I was willing to live with my health issues, but not have medicines. My father was in the pharma industry for many years, so I knew about the side effects. Medicines suppress the symptoms, but they can’t treat the root cause. I understood this early on.
When I adopted a cleaner way of eating later in life, I saw very quick results in not just how I looked, but how I felt, and this piqued my interest and got me very excited about pursuing this as a passion. I got deep into the biochemistry of the human body and took this on as something, which is my way of giving back to society. It is now my personal mission to create awareness about how diseases start, and what people can do about them.
I was able to reverse my chronic health conditions 100%, in the most natural possible ways, and everyone else can do it too. Diabetes, Thyroid, Hormonal Issues, Obesity, Digestive issues, Sinus, Migraines, Autoimmune diseases, Sleep disorders, Depression and Anxiety and many more such diseases, are all treatable and reversible. And most of these start in the GUT.”
What different things are you working on currently?
Honestly, I have limited time because I pursue this as my passion, and not as a full-time occupation or career. However, I have quite a few things I am working on, slowly but surely.
I educate through my social media channels – this was the quickest and most effective way to begin. I believe social media has the power today to transform perceptions, and health is one area which needs a major perception change!”
I plan to take a few educational workshops in colleges this year because the awareness needs to be built in when you are still young. And our youth today is very smart and forward-looking.
On weekends, I see clients. I work with people with chronic health issues and help them reverse their health conditions through food and lifestyle changes. It’s very much possible, if we support our body, and do the right things.
Please share with us a unique challenge you face being in this industry.
The only challenge I see is that people believe that health means weight loss. People are so stuck on their weight issues, and they see themselves a certain way, which is really taking them away from what should be their main objective i.e., building health.
And health is something you work on every single day. It doesn’t come with crash diets or spending many hours in the gym. There are a lot of people who gym every day and get thin but are battling with so many health issues internally.
Fad diets lead to hormonal imbalances, insulin resistance, thyroid issues, hair fall, acne, low immunity and loss of muscles, but no one thinks about these things. Most people just want to lose weight, and lose weight very fast! It scares me to think what it would do to their health.
How did you discover your passion?
I discovered it by accident while I was battling my own health issues, and decided to pursue it formally as an education, when I didn’t find answers with doctors or dieticians I consulted.”
I decided to study the field of health and nutrition, and get into the depths of it, so that I can be the force who brings authentic information to the forefront, and help people like me, who are looking for someone to tell them how ailments are caused, and how they can be corrected without overdosing on medicines. Our body is a super machine which we have abused for years, and it knows how to correct itself, if we give it half a chance!
Can you talk a bit about what is Functional Nutrition?
Functional nutrition is nutrition which supports optimal functioning of your body systems. It is part of the Functional Medicine field, where people like me use knowledge of the body, and interconnectedness of various systems within the body, to find out the root cause of the disease. It is treatment of the root cause, and not just the symptom.
If you understand the root causes and drivers of chronic disease, reversing the diseases become easy. I work with people and make them understand how our body systems are integrated, in creating their chronic conditions. Understanding and tying up their symptoms together, is what helps in identifying the root cause, and that’s why every case for me is unique.
Most chronic ailments result from food and lifestyle related disorders, and that’s why the healing also happens mainly through food and lifestyle changes. Our body systems communicate through the food we eat.”
That’s our fuel! Our body doesn’t really need chemicals and synthetics in the form of drugs. Drugs are lifesaving, but should be used only in acute health conditions like cancer, heart attack, stroke etc. You don’t need to become dependent on them for chronic health conditions.
With so much going on, how do you start the day to keep your passion alive?
I don’t think you keep the passion alive. Instead, the passion keeps you alive! 😊
What are your views on weight loss and diets?
The body holds on to weight (read: as fat) for certain reasons. Weight or fat gain is entirely a hormones-driven phenomenon, and not calories driven. It is a hormonal disorder.
You change how you feed yourself, and you will see your body responding differently, because our hormones respond to what we eat, and not how much we eat.
As for diets, I don’t believe in them. I find the entire concept negative and limiting. Starving yourself or cutting out certain food groups from your meals, only cause harm in the long run. It harms the body, as well as the spirit. Nutrition is very bio-individual. One person’s food could be other person’s poison. Everyone needs to see what works for them, and eat accordingly.
What advice would you give the young generation on health matters?
Firstly, it takes a lot of years for chronic ailments to develop, but the seed is sown very early. Young adults should focus on eating healthy, and not fall prey to fad diets. Also, exercising or movement every day, in some form, is really important. It helps keeps your body, as well as the brain active.
Secondly, young people should form a healthy relationship with food. A lot of teenagers struggle these days with relationship issues, either with parents or boyfriend/ girlfriend, and end up in emotional situations. When the stress is high, it’s very important to not fall prey to emotional eating, and abuse your body with junk.
Third, I would also add that shop for your own food. Buy your vegetables and fruits, and if possible, learn how to cook, so that early on you get used to making food your priority. And if possible, grow some of your own food. Nothing can be more fulfilling that being in touch with your food and the soil that grows it!
Fourth, reduce the amount of toxins you use. There are multiple chemicals in all personal care products these days. Some of these toxins are eliminated by our body, but over the years, there is a huge toxin overload and these toxins get trapped in our body and are a big contributor to diseases. The more natural you go, the better it is for your health.
And lastly, don’t take sleep for granted. If food is crucial for building health, so is sleep. Our body uses sleep time to restore itself. If you don’t rest and sleep enough, you are stressing out your body physically, which will harm you in many ways. All of it builds up slowly.
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