“My obsession with eating right and working right continued… I would keep paper cuttings of any and every article that was published on health, nutrition and exercise.” For this week’s Women’s Health Wednesday, today’s woman dreamer, founder of SelfCare, Suman Agarwal, shares essentials of nutrition including the most important vitamins, nutraceuticals, and diabetes/insulin. A family-run business, Suman shares her exciting journey in creating Selfcare and how she treats her clients all over the world.

1. Tell us your story and how your childhood shaped your interest and curiosity in Food Science?
Growing up conversations at home, especially at the breakfast table, revolved around health and nutrition, as my father had a special interest in the subject. We’d discuss everything from the importance of different foods and the vitamins we needed to the reasons behind our illnesses (I was sick a lot as a child and forever on antibiotics). Regular exercise was encouraged—my father walked every single day, I guess because he was also a diabetic. In addition, he collected lots of books on health…I remember thoroughly enjoying reading a book on chronic illnesses when I was just around 13, although till I was 30 I didn’t realise this was a passion I needed to pursue.

Later in my 20s and even after I got married, my obsession with eating right and working right continued, so much so I always had people coming up to me, asking for advice and tips on how to stay slim. I would keep paper cuttings of any and every article that was published on health, nutrition and exercise. For 2-3 years I even followed this program called Fit For Life, which was essentially vegan and sadly, for me, lead to gut issues. That’s when I realised I needed to understand the science of nutrition better and get all my facts right. I signed up for the course in food and nutrition at the Oxford University, U.K (AFF). From falling sick every 3 months to rarely falling sick despite being genetically predisposed to various chronic diseases, I have come a long way, all thanks to my education, passion and awareness of this subject

2. You have researched and grown your passion tremendously and helped hundreds of people. What are some of the most common conditions and treatments that you see in your practice?
It has been almost 20 years since I started my practice and the one disease that I still see so prevalent in our country is diabetes, in addition to high cholesterol and thyroid issues. Diabetes, however, is the most rampant. I’ve discovered over the years it’s mainly due to untreated insulin resistance, which often leads to obesity. It’s a vicious cycle no doubt but one that can be dealt with. If you treat insulin resistance at an early stage, you can prevent or at least delay the onset of diabetes. I see many teens and young adults suffering from this too. We help treat or reverse this with proper diet and lifestyle guidance in conjunction with medical advice from our team of consulting doctors.

At SelfCare, my health design clinic, we strongly believe in the 4X diet. It’s essentially four broad guidelines all our clients have to follow…1. Have four meals a day—breakfast, lunch, evening snack and dinner. This will prevent you from bingeing at your next meal. 2. Ensure each meal is 4 hours apart as the body needs time to digest, assimilate and absorb all the nutrients from your meals, boosting your energy levels. If you eat before minimum 3 hours, you may end up experiencing digestive issues. 3. Your 3 major meals have to be well balanced with all the macronutrients, that is carbs, protein, fats and fibre. If any one is missing too often, it could lead to health implications. For example, if you skip protein, you sugar uptake will be high as protein delays that spike. If you skip fat, you will end up feeling hungry faster. Fats are also important for immunity, bone health, immunity etc. 4. Last, but definitely not the least, you should eat till you are 80 per cent full. This way you leave some gap for excretion of gastric juices and hydrochloric acid, which help you to digest your meal well. Your stomach keeps expanding with every meal if you don’t keep this gap, as a result of which you end up gaining weight on your belly. We also emphasise on lifestyle correction and the importance of medication under a doctor’s supervision of course as and when required.

3. What are nutraceuticals and how do you recommend incorporating them as part of one's daily life?
Nutraceuticals was the term coined in 1989 by Stephen De Felice. He defined them as “food, or parts of a food, that provides medical or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease”.
We live in a fast pace world where, I believe, nutraceuticals have become intrinsic to our daily lives, as it’s difficult to match requirements of all the nutrients that we need through food. In my practice I have seen many individuals who, due to their hectic lifestyles, are unable to maintain a right balance in their meals. Nutraceuticals supports better health and immunity, and also prevent ailments caused due to imbalance in lifestyle.

Currently I take multivitamin, Marine Collagen, Vitamin C, Ubiquinol, Omega 3 & Evening Primrose Oil. This, in addition to my well-balanced daily diet, supports healthy ageing and delays the onset of diseases that I am genetically predisposed to.

4. What are the top essential vitamins that everyone should take daily / have checked at their annual physical?
The number one vitamin that most of us, especially now in lockdown and in this pandemic, are deficient in, is vitamin D3. This deficiency can lead to early onset of diabetes, fluctuating blood pressure levels, osteoporosis, low immunity, depression and even cancer. One must get tested for this every year and take this vitamin under medical supervision if needed. B-12 is another important vitamin as a deficiency in this can lead to digestive issues, joint pain, irreversible nerve damage, fatigue, low haemoglobin, brain fog etc. The other vitamins we recommend are Omega 3 and Ubiquinol. The former is great for brain function, eye health, cholesterol etc., while the latter improves hearth health, improves metabolism and is anti-ageing. Many fertility clinics also recommend this to their patients. A vitamin C supplement and a good multivitamin packed with minerals are a must as well.

5. You treat people from all over the world. How do you adapt your treatments based on the country / climate etc.?
We have clients based in more than 50 countries, so yes we have to adapt and curate their diets according to the weather as well as cultural environment. If a client lives in a place that has sub-zero temperatures, we usually increase the fat percent to insulate his/her body against the cold. In warmer climates like India, the fat percent is obviously kept lower. We also research groceries available in those countries, local cuisine as well as restaurants so we can devise diets and guide our clients comprehensively.

6. What is your biggest dream?
SelfCare in now a family-run company. All my three daughters—Priyanka, Dr Juhi and Komal Agarwal have joined me. Our online presence has increased three-fold, we have 149 products and growing, and we will soon have a SelfCare App as well in addition to many other services we already provide to both our offline as well as online clients across the globe. I’m also in the process of releasing my fourth book (I already have three bestsellers out—The Don’t Diet Diet Book, Unjunked and Superkids). This fourth book will not just include recipes by me but also information on 10 common diseases including PCOS, diabetes, obesity etc, with case studies on clients who we’ve helped reverse or keep the disease under control. My goal is to see SelfCare as a health company on the front page of Business Standard. Our collective dream is to see SelfCare reach as many people as possible so we can help them improve their overall health in a holistic manner.