'“Food as Medicine”.. Today’s woman dreamer, Sneh Jaisingh, has a passion for helping people build their dream, healthy lifestyle. Looking at food as medicine, Sneh is the founder of NutriAge, an online nutrition platform providing consultations, blog posts, nutrition calculators and more. Her fascination for food and nutrition stems from childhood, watching her mom put together different treatments in her kitchen pantry. Sneh shares her simple and effective guide to clean living for all age groups, from her perspective as a nutritionist and certified Lifestyle Coach. She also shares secrets to living and eating clean during Covid-19, her thoughts on the everchanging fitness trends, and her next big dream. Check out her story and guide to clean living below.

1) Why are nutrition, health, and fitness so important to you?

Health and fitness are important to all; to be able to live life to its fullest and achieve all the things one wants to achieve.

The role of nutrition in managing/improving one’s health has gained more importance over time, especially as science has caught up with the age-old philosophy that “you are what you eat”.

My interest in Nutrition started very early in life as I would observe my dad, a physician, who while prescribing medications would stress eating right and exercising as his treatment plan.

And my mom, who firmly believes that food can be your medicine and always turned to her kitchen pantry for treating her ailments. This further intrigued my fascination with food & nutrition. I started viewing food as beyond just providing fuel for your body to healing ailments and nourishing the mind and soul.

My parents saw this and encouraged me to pursue my passion and even extend it to become my profession. I consider myself lucky to have been able to create a career living my passion.

2) When and how did you form the concept of "Nutriage"?  What were some challenges you faced along the way?

My journey in the field of nutrition advanced after I got married, as my husband shared similar interests and values.

In 2001, we came up with a concept to create an online platform to share our knowledge and also provide diet and nutrition consultation.

It was first named PDC, Personal Diet Consultant, which in 2004 was rebranded to ‘NutriAge~ Nutrition for all ages”.

For a number of years, the NutriAge website served the community via blog posts, Nutrition calculators, one on one consultations, and more.

My personal journey shaped the evolution of NutriAge, motherhood being one of the biggest influencers. I started creating and sharing ‘SEAN’ (Simple Easy And Nutritious) recipes that I would design for my family, especially for my son.

With the advent of social platforms, like Facebook, instagram, etc. it greatly increased not only my ability to interact with people but also my outreach and with that, the website got repurposed to be my profile and portal to connect for consultations.

Facebook allowed us to conduct virtual wellness workshops, which started out as simple group challenges and activities, to more intense detox workshops. That has also evolved with time and we now provide hybrid (virtual and in-person)  integrative workshops involving Nutrition, Yoga & Meditation.

The biggest challenge of the 21st century is to have enough time to be able to do all that you have to and all that you want to. And that has been our biggest challenge as well, to be able to balance our duties with our passions :-)

3) As research continues, the nutrition industry is always changing and growing.  How do you adjust what you tell your clients, based on these changes in the industry?

The field of Nutrition sees new findings and discoveries almost on a daily basis. There are superfoods, fad diets that crop up almost on a daily basis. Some fade away as quickly as they had gained popularity. And then there are companies marketing their “health” products and superfoods leaving people overwhelmed and sometimes confused.

My job as a nutrition and wellness expert is to not only  keep abreast with the latest trends/data but to filter out the noise and keep the small fraction that is actually useful. 

While evidence based scientific research does contribute in improving nutrition plan of care on a day to day basis, when it comes to managing overall health the following basic framework applies to all:

• Eat Local - food that is grown locally vs. that is shipped from halfway across the world.

• Eat with the season - being in sync with Mother Nature’s seasonal cycles.

• Eat in accordance with your physical activity.

4) How has the pandemic impacted you and how do you continue to motivate clients to take care of their health?

The pandemic spared no one. It ended up not only changing everyone's lifestyles but also brought up a lot of emotions like anxiety, fear, etc. It threw everyone’s life off course and it took awhile for everyone to adjust to the “new normal” . I was no exception to this. I found myself being constantly worried about the wellbeing of family and friends. Social isolation, increased work and family being home all the time :-), took a toll on my physical & emotional wellbeing and I sought food and Netflix for comfort. 

It took me sometime to get a grip on my life. One of the motivators was people reaching out to me for professional help to try and find balance in their own lives, coz “If I can't fix my life, how can I help anybody else”. So I became my own first COVID client and as I regained my balance, I was able to motivate, encourage and support my clients to find the same. 

The first step was to help shift their mental framework that allowed them to focus on what is within their control and work on solutions instead of being stuck in a downward spiral. 

For example, “Gyms are closed and I can't exercise” shifted to “I can find creative ways to stay active indoors via zoom workout sessions, youtube videos, etc”. 

“Restaurants are closed and groceries are limited” shifted to cooking SEAN (Simple Easy And Nutritious) recipes at home with limited supplies and enjoying those with loved ones.

In conclusion, once your mental framework shifts, working on your wellness goals and finding that motivation to stay on course becomes easier.

4) Most of us are talking about those "quarantine pounds" that we have gained.  Please share some "pearls of wisdom" that you follow in your daily life to help drop those extra pounds and regain better health

Honestly there is no silver bullet, you have to put in the daily work to keep your mind and body conditioned and this is what works for me and for most of my clients who now understand that there are no shortcuts and weight loss should always be the by-product and not your focus. Once we work towards creating a healthier lifestyle, weight loss will follow naturally. 

Just as Rancho said in the movie “3 Idiots”- “Success ke peeche mat bhaago, excellence ka peecha karo, success jhak maar ke peeche aayegi” Similarly, “ Weight loss ke peeche mat bahaago, healthy lifestyle pe kaam karo, weight loss jhak maar ke peeche aayega” LOL.. You can tell I am a movie buff :)

On a serious note, sharing my approach to creating a healthy lifestyle:

1. Planning and Prepping: These are my 2 important tools. I pick one weekend day to create a menu for the upcoming week (sometimes its 2 weeks to avoid frequent trips to the groceries), once the list is ready and pantry is stocked, I spend 2-3 addition hours on that weekend day to do some prep work- making the sauces, gravies, making almond milk, soaking for sprouts, grinding idli/dosa batter, chopping vegetables, etc.

2. Set a positive tone to your day: Every morning I start my day by drinking 1 cup of lukewarm lemon water and  spend 15-30 mins to do some stretching and some mindfulness exercise like; journaling, meditating, reading or listening to a motivational podcast or even listening to my favourite music. 

3. Being consistent and following a routine: Our body likes a routine and I try to stick to a routine with meal time, sleep and exercise. I follow a 80-20 rule. 80% being wholesome, real and nutritious meals (SEAN recipes are my go-to) and 20% being (indulgent foods). Similarly, getting to bed early during weekdays (80%) and staying up late over the weekend (I love to binge watch).

4. Hydration: Never underestimate the power of staying well hydrated. What works best for me is to keep 2 big bottles on my desk with the goal of finishing it before dinner.

5. Eat meals without distraction: Whenever possible, I try to sit down and eat my meal/s without any distractions involving all 5 senses (sight, touch, smell, taste, hearing)

6. Watch your portions: Adjusting your portions based on your activity is important. What works for me is to use smaller plates and bowls to serve my meals and also asking myself the question “are you hungry for more food” before I reach for second helping.

7. Quality vs Quantity: It helps to be mindful of the quality of food we consume instead of just watching on our calorie budget. Keeping food simple and nutrient dense instead of calorie dense will keep you full longer- eg: veggies, fruits, wholegrain and lean proteins.

8. Exercise: Staying active keeps those pounds at bay. A 20-30 minute of moderate exercise 5x/wk combining some strength training exercise. 

9. Self-care: Take time out for yourself often to indulge into activities that uplift your spirits. 

50 What is next on the horizon in  Sneh Jaisingh’s health and wellness journey ?

My journey in the field of health and wellness has evolved with my personal evolution. From prescribing a diet to adopting a holistic approach in dealing with health conditions has been quite a journey. With a keen interest to learn how our mind and emotions affect our physical well being my focus shifted more towards addressing health conditions through behavioural and lifestyle changes. Recently I got an opportunity to venture into another dimension of well being which is pain neuroscience (PNS), with the focus on Musculoskeletal care  where the mantra is “Movement is Medicine”. The goal is to either prevent/prolong surgery or offer post surgery care with a holistic approach. I am so looking forward to this chapter in my life and being able to incorporate holistic pain management in my practice. 

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Sneh Bio: Sneh Jaisingh, MS, CNC, INHC is an inspiring educator, innovator and practitioner in the field of integrative and holistic nutrition and a certified lifestyle coach. With nearly 20 years of clinical experience, she has been an advocate for science-based mind and body wellness at conferences, seminars, workshops and through her writing.

 Sneh is a part of the “Food as Medicine” nutrition movement and is passionate about raising awareness and understanding, to use this knowledge in preventing/reducing risk of chronic diseases or simply general wellbeing.

Ways to connect with Sneh:

 Website: www.snehjaisingh.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/nutriage ; Instagram: sneh_nutriage