Episodes
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Sangeetha and me met on Twitter and I decided to follow her. Let me say, I am one of her thousands of followers in twitter. I follow her for her insights for living a healthy life and have also consulted her. I requested her for a podcast show and we got talking !This episode has golden nuggets of insights on reclaiming back metabolic health and living a healthy life. A must watch!Sangeetha Aiyer embarked on her journey toward healthier living over 18 years ago, driven by a determination to reverse metabolic syndrome, shed weight, and boost self-esteem to regain her health. Today, she stands as a certified nutritionist and metabolic health practitioner, specializing in low carbohydrate, ketogenic, and carnivore nutrition.Aligned with her IKIGAI in nutrition, Sangeetha introduced her platform and nutrition service, "Rewrite Your Story," dedicated to healing metabolic syndrome through scientifically tested and proven approaches.Sangeetha firmly advocates for a comprehensive nutrition plan that goes beyond calorie quantity and metrics such as BMI and weight. She believes in a holistic approach that fosters metabolic fitness, mental well-being, and increased productivity in all aspects of life.With 18 years of study and four years of outcome-oriented health practice, Sangeetha has collaborated with over 2000 individuals across diverse backgrounds. Her expertise lies in addressing conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, NAFLD, PCOS, Hypertension, GERD/GOUT, Obesity, Dyslipidaemia, and Gestational Diabetes.In her personal life, Sangeetha is a mother to a teenager, making her relatable to many. Interacting with her for this show, I've found her to be grounded and approachable, aligning perfectly with her self-description as, "Think of me as that friend at a bar or coffee shop, sharing my stories in the hope that you find your answers in the same."
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Mugdha Pradhan, a Functional Nutritionist, TEDx speaker, and recipient of the 40 over 40 award, is the driving force behind iThrive. Despite holding a Master’s degree in Food Science and Nutrition, her health took a downturn in 2019. This challenging period led her to the world of Functional Medicine, marking a pivotal turning point in her life. Armed with a combination of modern functional medicine principles and ancient nutritional wisdom, Mugdha proactively addressed the root causes of her health issues, successfully overcoming a myriad of health challenges.
Having personally undergone a transformative journey with Functional Medicine, Mugdha is dedicated to assisting others in achieving optimal well-being. Grounded in an evidence-based approach, she has effectively guided individuals through even the most perplexing health cases. Beyond physical health, Mugdha extends her expertise to address complex mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. Her mission is to foster healthier, happier, and lifestyle-disease-free communities globally.
In our conversation through this podcast, Mugdha shared the fascinating details of her journey, recounting the pivotal moment in her life when she faced health and personal rock bottom. Her remarkable resilience and subsequent creation of a new, fulfilling life make for a captivating narrative. Join me in this episode to hear Mugdha's inspiring journey.
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Missing episodes?
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Ajay Naqvi and I date back to our days at graduation. Though we were in different courses and separate academic years, we connected well and kept in touch through the years.
Ajay is an Advertising Chief turned organic Blueberry farmer and is now based in Romania for the last few years. Having run a unique Pre-order, Direct-to-Home, Fresh organic blueberry business, his brand – the Blue Renaissance is now evolving into a house of brands. Having launched 100% blueberry juice that’s ready to drink, nothing added, not even water, and organic certified we are metamorph-ing into a Beverage company.
Prior to being a blueberry farmer and a business entrepreneur, Ajay led Creative Excellence for Coca-Cola India and South Asia and Marketing for Airbnb India in the recent past.
Ajay calls himself “a creative revolutionist” and has been more than 15 years of being in the journey, having worked across the most admired advertising agencies and iconic brands alike. You can also refer to Ajay as the “Keep it Simple” expert.
Through this Podcast, we cover different facets of Ajay – what drives him to chase his passion, what is Ajay’s definition of Fitness and what fitness really means to him; how he derives fitness at work (on the field) and what is fitness of the mind…..as you dive in, it's an intriguing conversation.
Here's a gentleman, who looks fitter and younger than his age, has done a complete DNA analysis to take care of his body from a fitness, diet, and grooming standpoint, and wants to continue enjoying life and live till the age of 100!
Let's dive in and learn more….Tune into the 11th episode …..
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Dr Usha Sachdeva started her career as a demonstrator in Physiology at AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) in the year 1969. Only involvedin teaching and research, she continued there as faculty since 1971 and took a premature retirement in 2003. She completed her MD in 1971 and her Ph.D in1985 and embarked on the next phase of her professional life shifting to Bahrain after retiring from AIIMS, as a Professor of Physiology at Arabian Gulf University in 1998. Today, since 2017, she works as a Part-time faculty at the same University, which makes 52 years of teaching!
At an age nearing 80 years, she leads a healthy lifestyle and is also a Yoga Expert/trainer and a Golf enthusiast.
She has always been a guarding light for me and our family with her positivity and warm nature, coupled with the extensive knowledge that she has in the field of Medicine.
I am sure you would enjoy these golden nuggets of wisdom from Dr Usha Sacheva in this podcast episode and assimilate the fact that maintaining good health is not complex - it's a way of life. Happy listening!
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A Thought Leader, AI and Digital Revolutionary, Entrepreneurial Visionary, Inspirational Leader and Sustainability Evangelist.
Introducing Rohit Adlakha, ex-Chief Digital and Information Officer at Wipro Limited and Business Head at HOLMES™️ (Wipro's Artificial Intelligence platform). With over 15 years of leadership experience, he is a Board member at the School of Inspired Leadership, a vanguard of change in shaping the future of India through education. Rohit has also pioneered CXO as a Service; he is a trusted advisor to Vector Center, a company that harnesses the power of AI to deliver real-time, decision-grade water intelligence where he serves as an environmental, social and governance champion through technology. For Data Neuron, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) learning platform, he is focusing on Go-To-Market and business acceleration strategies. At Vaasara, the number 1 Beauty Marketplace in the UAE, he is driving business acceleration strategies.
Today, Rohit follows his calling and takes out time for interests like cricket, fitness and playing the Carnatic Flute!
I have known Rohit from my school days to working with him as a prospective customer in my last stint. I've seen him through the years from being an exceptionally brilliant student at school to a poised tech executive with a very high degree of intellect. In this podcast episode, let us traverse through his journey of fitness playing the infinite game of mind, body, soul, and wellness within! I am sure there are immense learnings in these 40 minutes of interaction.
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Ritu is a 2x tech entrepreneur…Formerly the Founder & CEO of a digital healthcare start-up called Obino, a fitness junkie, and a person, who like most of us, loves junk food, especially Pringles!
Ritu has chased corporate dreams, branched off, and decided to bloom & grow in the start-up world.
She successfully exited her first start-up and is now driving her 2nd dream, an Emotion Ai initiative called TheLightbulb.ai…all this along with being a fitness junkie and a food freak like many of us.
I got to know Ritu during my days with a leading Telecom operator in India where she was a colleague.
Ritu started her career in IT Sales, switched to being a Radio Jockey & then moved on to a Telco Product role, after which she decided to start up in healthcare - with a digital weight-loss coaching app she called ObiNo (Say No to Obesity). She successfully exited that venture to US-based investors and has now started her new venture called TheLightbulb.AI – a unique full-stack Emotion Ai platform that uses visual & conversational ai to gauge user emotion & engagement in real-time for any digital interaction.
Ritu is active on social media, especially in sharing her fitness journey, an online fitness journal so to speak. She also gives back to the startup ecosystem and extensively features in startup workshops and talks.
On her path to fitness, she has found balance & joy! She indulges regularly and then sweats it out to earn that indulgence.
There are no free lunches, my friends, and that's what I learned with a laugh and cheer with Ritu in this episode.
Meet her in this podcast to learn how to love to live and live to love a life of health and joy!
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Anuradha Rohit or Anu as we can call her is the girl next door – well that’s exactly what she is! She’s been my neighbor in the same condominium for the last few years and that’s how I got acquainted with her and witnessed her journey of transformation. She is someone who you would find running day after day and lifting weights at the gym. Her commitment to herself is commendable.
For me, each one of us who has had an inflection point and achieved what made us transform as individuals is a winner in the true spirit. And that’s what makes Anuradha a winner…There is a winner in each one of us, sometimes just waiting to be unleashed. Like in the case of this girl next door....
Happy Listening! -
The 6th episode of the Reverse and Onward - the Satya-Su episode, brings together two different perspectives - On one end there is Satya Puppala, a Tech Executive and an ace marathoner who works for a global Tech Giant and is based out of Dallas in the United States of America. He shares his experience resorting to fitness for tackling depression. On the other hand, we have Suvarchala Vardhan - a Clinical Embryologist. Trained and qualified from Monash University, Australia and Leeds University, UK; has had a career both demanding and fruitful and shares her views on what drives her to be fit including the fact that she needs to be fit herself to influence her customers - the parents to be fit to have healthy babies...the circle of life.
The common thread here - the three of us are classmates from school and bonded at a reunion a few years back. Tune into this episode for shades of laughter, reality-check, introspection, and priceless inputs on perspectives to lead a happy and healthy life. Happy Listening! -
I chanced upon getting to know Colonel Gautam Guha a few years back in 2020 when he was at his best sharing his learnings and impacting lives.
Col Gautam Guha is an Infantry Officer from the Indian Army of the 1990 NDA batch. Like any other military man, Gautam had served in varied operational locations throughout his service including the lofty heights of Siachen Glacier, and also served on deputation with the elite NSG (Black Cats). His health deteriorated after a spinal injury in 2013. He started to put on weight after that and was diagnosed with Diabetes (T2) in Dec 2015 at Military Hospital Trivandrum. As part of the Army's routine medical procedures, he later became a permanent medical category (P3) for Metabolic Syndrome in 2016 with ailments like Hypertension, Dyslipidemia, early onset of Hypothyroidism and Obesity (besides Diabetes T2).
In the year 2018, the officer reversed his Diabetes and other ailments with diet, exercise and lifestyle corrections and officially got upgraded in his medical board in 2019. Besides getting rid of all his medications, he also lost 37 kg in this process. For the past two years, after his story was made public by ADGPI ( Additional Directorate General of Public Information), Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (IHQ of MoD) on its social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, because of which more people started approaching him, Colonel Gautam Guha embarked upon a journey with a social cause to spread the awareness of ‘Diabetes & Obesity Reversal’ and has helped hundreds of people from all walks of life reverse their lifestyle diseases including Hypertension, Dyslipidemia, Hypothyroidism and PCOS besides Diabetes.
Colonel Guha is a living example that Diabetes can be reversed and this podcast captures his experience and views in his own words!
He is a motivational health speaker and has spoken at numerous forums including platforms like Health Care Product Summit (HCPS) 2020 at Hyderabad in Jan 2020. He has his own YouTube channel and also made health groups on WhatsApp and telegram app where he guides people through their reversal journey and helps them to lead a medicine-free life.
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I have known Sandeep since my college days, and we have been close friends for close to three decades now! Sandeep, who is a fitness enthusiast, was instrumental in inspiring me to write this book. I decided to launch a podcast first and the book is in the baking! Over the years, I have always seen Sandeep follow a very disciplined life and fitness has always been an integral part of it. He is a marathoner & an ultra-runner and running is now a part of his daily routine. This is something that inspired me when I embarked on my own transformational journey and prompted me to get him to share his experiences.
Sandeep is an alumnus of The Bhopal School of Social sciences and NMIMS, Mumbai, and is an international aviation veteran. He works with a reputed international airline as the Head of Finance for Asia-Pacific & the Middle East, based in Gurgaon.
While Sandeep was always a sportsperson, his fitness journey actually started in 2014. Since then, he has run several Half & Full Marathons and Ultra Runs. Sandeep has this dream to accomplish the Ironman challenge someday and had started his preparations to run his first Triathlon until he was plagued with a heel injury towards the end of 2021. He has, however, kept his dream alive and continues to train. It is his indomitable spirit, his will to keep fighting against all odds & positivity that prompted me to share his journey with listeners.
In the podcast, apart from his fitness philosophy, Sandeep also speaks about his diet, how his better half motivated him to embark on this journey, and the key role a group of his ‘special’ friends & co-runners played in inspiring him to deliver his best. -
Deepa D’Souza is a certified Hatha and Yin yoga teacher whose unique perspective has been shaped by her incredibly diverse background. She comes from a multi-faith family and has been exposed to diverse cultures through her extensive travels and her time living in India, Singapore, and London. These experiences have helped mould her thinking and have taught her valuable lessons in the importance of understanding, accepting and celebrating cultural differences. Although she initially trained as a Chartered Accountant, she found her calling much later in life through Yoga, which she has used to help better herself and now uses to help many others.
Deepa has completed her Hatha Yoga teacher's training at the Arsha Yoga Ashram in Kerala, India and her Yin Yoga teacher’s training in Singapore. She has also lived in a Buddhist monastery for a silent meditation retreat. She has taught yoga at various venues in Singapore, including AWWA, Buddhist Fellowship, Brahm Centre & National University Hospital. She now continues her practice in London, where she relocated to in 2021 and regularly conducts both online and in-person wellness workshops for corporates, young adults and social organizations. She believes in personalized care and hence designs and conducts customized Yoga classes for individuals and groups depending on their need, aspiration and level of fitness. She has also developed ‘A Beginners Guide to Meditation’- a program that introduces various techniques of meditation, from which participants can choose and apply the ones that best resonate with them.
Before she found yoga, Deepa had a 12-year stint in the corporate world, making her fully aware of and sensitive to the challenges and stresses it poses. Her own journey and training coupled with her extraordinary passion, has led her to teach yoga and meditation with the sole purpose of uplifting people's wellbeing and bettering their physical and mental health. Deepa continues to build upon her learning everyday through self-practice, self-reflection, observation of her students and also keeps upskilling herself by attending various training programs, workshops, retreats, and immersions.
Here’s a link to her meditation tracks: https://on.soundcloud.com/fdVmAs3ScNmHyG8R8 -
Unraveling an Iron Man...When I first talked to Hetal for this podcast, he was already a Half-IronMan. As he had promised me then, he completed the FULL IRONMAN in August 2022 and now adorns the title for life. He plans to climb Mount Everest among many other audacious dreams.....
Hetal is someone I have always admired for his passion for achieving a never-ending list of milestones in life.
Since we were colleagues at a tech MNC, I have seen him grow from strength to strength in living his dreams. An IronMan, Marathoner, Technology Strategist, Author, Angel Investor, avid reader, Motivational speaker, and now a PhD scholar, whatever role Hetal embraces, he does it with perfection and passion.
Hetal Sonpal has over 23 years of experience in the Tech industry. An alumnus of the NMIMS, Mumbai, Hetal has worked in Senior Management roles across Asia for Wipro, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Intel.
Hetal is currently a Startup Evangelist and helps startups in sales, marketing, strategy, and growth. He is among only 54 "Regional Mentors of Change" for Niti Ayog and mentors school children in Innovation programs. Apart from being a TEDx speaker, Hetal has given motivational talks at many prominent B Schools and colleges across India.
Hetal is a published author: his first book, Against All Odds, was released on Aug 21, 2021. He regularly blogs on LinkedIn and other online channels.
Hetal’s running journey started in Oct 2013, and since then, he has run 18 full, 21 half marathons, and Malnad 50K ultra. Apart from this episode which covers Hetal's health and fitness journey, I hope to cover Hetal's complete IRONMAN Journey, the preparation, the toil, and the experience very soon! Stay tuned ...
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Shivnath or Shiv as we call him is in a Sales and GTM leadership role at Deloitte. I had interacted for this episode with Shiv when he was leading Partnerships for Persistent for Asia Pacific previously. He lives with a condition called spondylitis and he's really been inspirational in finding a balance on how to live with it and get better with the passage of time and that's exactly what interested me to speak to Shivnath and find out more about how he balances his life and his profession.
Shiv and I were colleagues in the previous company. I always admired him for his confidence and approach to business and we struck a good cord together. I happened to speak to him and learned of how he juggles his life despite his condition and that prompted me to seek him to tell his story through this podcast episode and also in much greater detail in the chapter you would read in the book - Reverse and Onward, which is slated to be published in early 2023.
