The Inflammation Code: Using Ayurvedic Herbs and Superspices to Heal with Dr Shivani Gupta

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What RU VEDA knows about gut health, herbs and healing that Western medicine is just catching up to. And she has got the best selling book, the inflammation code. Unlock your true healing potential with the power of RU Vedic super spices and elemental design. Really great personalized approach to dealing with inflammation. So a little bit about Dr. Shivani. She is an RU Vedic practitioner, which we'll talk about what that means. Basically it's an ancient Indian form of natural medicine. We're going to talk about that in this episode. And she is also, she's got her PhD in studying turmeric, right? The super spice turmeric and its active compounds, including curcumin. And so she spent over 20 years bridging ancient RU Vedic medicine and cutting edge modern research. She's the author of the inflammation code. Again, we're talking about that today and that teaches people how to identify their personal inflammatory triggers and use super herbs, gut optimization, circadian alignment, stress management and DOSHA specific nutrition to reverse chronic inflammation at its root. You can check out her websites, the inflammation code.com and also Shivani Gupta.com. You guys are going to really enjoy this episode. Again, deep dive into inflammation and how to use RU Vedic medicine, RU Vedic natural approaches, including understand your DOSHA, your unique constitution, your body constitution. We're going to talk a lot about gut health. We're going to talk about mental inflammation, her super spice protocols and the importance of tea time, which we'll break down in this and how you can utilize tea time to get adaptogens into your system as well as really helping you relax and calm down and get stress under control. So with that said, you guys are in for a treat here. Of course, if you need health coaching, you can email us at info at DrJockers.com with whatever health questions you have. Or if you want to look at our functional nutrition health coaching program, we can get you information on that. Have you fill out a advanced functional nutrition questionnaire? Any labs that you're interested in, you can order labs from us, whether it is our comprehensive blood analysis that looks at insulin, all the different inflammatory biomarkers, looks at thyroid hormone. So if you want to look at hormones, inflammation, gut health, all that kind of stuff, email us info at DrJockers.com and we'll get you connected with the proper testing, the proper health coach to help guide you with that. So with that said, you guys are in for a treat here. Leave us five star review if you're enjoying this podcast and share it with somebody that you know and that you care about. God bless you guys. 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So I'm going to talk about the book, The Inflammation Code, which is fantastic. You guys should definitely check it out. And let's talk about why. What inspired you to write this book? So I have been living a life where all I see in my family is a lot of chronic disease and what that leads to. So growing up, I'd go to India every year and inevitably a grandparent would have a quadruple bypass leg amputation, heart attack, stroke. And it really led me on this path of wondering, is this inevitable for all of us? Is this just what we're signing up for in life? We work so hard for our financial stability to raise great families, but that last quarter of life is spent with so much suffering. And as a grandchild, as I sat there and watched that, I thought, we are not continuing this pattern. I have to find a way to break this pattern. I have to figure this out for my parent generation, for my generation. I have nine girl cousins and I thought that we better solve for this now because otherwise this is our inevitability. And so I went on the path of studying ancient Ayurvedic medicine. And it's a beautiful system of health and preventive health that shows us that inflammation is at the root cause of our health issues. Gut health is central for us to have the health that we want. And so as I sat in those temples and in those big detox centers in India at the feet of the gurus and I started applying all that wisdom to myself, all of a sudden I felt vibrant, energized, clear. All my symptoms went away. And I thought, I need to bring this wisdom west. I need to take it home. I need everyone to know this in all my worlds because once we understand this as the key to health, we won't continue our current patterns. We'll shift our patterns. We'll shift our lifestyle and then we'll win at this. And so that's been the body of my work for 20 years now is constantly finding ways to take this wisdom and teach it to us in modern day life in ways that we'll actually use. Yeah, that's so important. And so let's talk about inflammation. We know it's at the root of all chronic diseases. You've seen it affect your family. I've seen it affect my family. All of our listeners have seen it affect the people around us. And many people are struggling with this. And it's just a term that most people don't really understand. So let's break down what is inflammation and what are the signs and symptoms that people may be dealing with chronic inflammation? Sure. So chronic inflammation in the ancient Ayurvedic sense is really an interruption in the body. It's this level of disturbance in the system that's keeping the body from being in a healthy, like whole, like a very valid state. And so when we talk about it in the modern day science, we talk about the immune system reacting, the immune system going haywire. The fact that this inflammation is kind of like a forest fire going on underneath in our bodies, and we don't even see it, but the alarm bells are going off and we're just not hearing them. We're not paying attention enough. And so those symptoms that you're talking about oftentimes show up as joint pain, headaches, fatigue, waking up with aches and pains. Maybe it's like a hip pain, knee pain, back pain, and it's chronic now. It's just not going away. Maybe it's your gut having disturbances and things like that. And so it's very subtle signs sometimes. And the problem is when we start to feel those different symptoms, oftentimes we're like, I guess this is just aging. I guess that's just what this is. And whenever you hear that message in your mind or someone around you who you love says that, always pause and say, you know what? It's not aging. It's inflaming. It's inflammation symptoms. Where can I pause and look and say, what have I been doing lately that's causing me to feel this way? And if we peel back those layers, oftentimes we'll see it's our diet. It's our stress levels. It could be travel, poor sleep. There's a lot of factors that add up to inflammation. The problem is in modern day life right now, the way we're living it, that stack up of issues that cause inflammation is pretty significant. It's toxins, environmental toxins, microplastics. There's a big piece around what we're environmentally putting onto and in the body that our body has to battle with. So that's always my category number one is where can we reduce the toxic burden that's affecting us? Then let's talk about our gut health because our gut health really has to process everything. And so that's why I wrote a whole chapter on it because in Ayurveda, we call the gut health Agni, the center of all health. That's our brain health, our mood, everything. And modern science has proven that to be true. And then we go further into your elemental design and all the other pieces. Yeah, for sure. And so the gut is so critical to overall health in general. And so what is science found when it comes to the gut, the intestinal lining, and the gut microbiome, how that all impacts inflammation in our body? Absolutely. So we know now through modern science, and it's beautiful to watch the science right now getting published and showing us what ancient Ayurveda really hinted to. So Ayurveda said, you have a digestive fire. It's the center of everything. When that fire is robust and healthy, you're going to process and assimilate and absorb all of your nutrition. And nowadays we talk about gut microbiome, diversity, eating a variety. We talk about prebiotics, probiotics. We talk about this intestinal lining and the level of intestinal permeability that we have right now in modern day society that's so problematic. We know through modern science that that immune system is right alongside that lining of the gut. And so when we have permeability, when we have leaky gut, all this food that's meant to stay in the digestive system is leaking out. And the body is like, what is that? That's not supposed to be here. And the body goes into high alert and is fighting every time you eat, every time you drink something because it's all leaking out. And so that's an interesting thing to understand is our gut health is actually meant to be honored and revered as our number one health practice. And modern day life in the West, we kind of have a tendency of drinking what we want, eating what we want. If it's sold in a grocery store, we think it's food. And that's a big pain point I have with modern day life. And I have a big problem with it just because it's sold in a grocery store does not make it food for your body. That stuff, I tell my own children, I'm like, you think Oreos are food? That is a chemical put together in a beaker to look and smell like food. And it should be sold in the toy store. It shouldn't even be sold in a grocery store. And I wonder as adults, how many foods we're eating that are so ultra processed that we're not even putting attention how shelf stable they are due to preservatives and chemicals. And then when the body receives it, the body is like, I have no idea what to do with that. You ate a toy for lunch. And now I'm going to park it in some fat until you make the space to detox. And that's why in ancient Ayurveda, we teach so much about detoxing on an annual and seasonal basis. We talk about gut health as a daily practice. What are your practices in the morning to open up gut digestive fire? So we teach simple practices like ginger, lemon tea in the morning. Let's get things turning and burning that ginger will turn on the fire. Let's use a copper tongue scraper. Gently scrape the tongue and activate the digestive fire. And so Ayurveda actually teaches a good amount of rituals and practices you can do even around how you when you eat, that can support building a healthy digestive fire, helping heal the gut. We have spices like tumeric that help with leaky gut and healing the gut. And then we have that robust digestion, which will help us to win an inflammation. Just want to take a moment and interrupt this podcast to tell you about one of my favorite podcasts I listened to. It's called the Dr. Josh Axe show hosted by my good friend, Dr. Josh Axe. Every week he shares how to balance your hormones, restore your gut, boost your energy and slow aging without relying on harsh medications or quick fixes. He shares both ancient biblical practices and the latest breakthroughs in nutrition, herbal remedies and lifestyle medicine. And he sits down with world renowned experts to have real unfiltered conversations you won't hear anywhere else. So if you're ready to take control of your health, renew your energy and transform your mind, body and spirit. Tune into the Dr. Josh Axe show every Monday and Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts. And so when you talk about that digestive fire, I think about good stomach acid production, digested enzymes, pancreatic enzymes, bile flow, right? So we need those digestive juices to really start that digestion, digestive process and also to help keep the microbiome under control, right? Some of the acid helps kill off certain bacteria that can't survive an acid. And then there's other bacteria that can, but they can't survive in a highly alkaline environment. So bile comes out, sodium bicarbonate comes out from the pancreas, right? And so when all of that's working well, it helps keep that microbiome in check. It helps break down and digest the food well. So key. Let's transition to the elemental design. We talked about that several times. And so are you VEDA breaks us down into different doshas? And can you give us really do a good job of that in the book of breaking that down and helping people understand which one of these unique doshas they tend to be, right? That could be a little crossover, I think, but for many people, they're like very specifically in one of these doshas patterns. Absolutely. And can you go through them in detail? Yeah, for sure. So in Ayurveda, we talked about how nature is king. Nature is what balances us. It keeps us our healthiest. And from nature, when you pull the five elements, air, ether, fire, water and earth, ether being spaced, and then you subdivide those five elements, you get the three body types. And ancient Ayurveda called it the doshas. And when I wrote my book, I tried to really start to simplify and not use a hundred Sanskrit words that would confuse us as the Western population that we are. So I simplified those shas into elemental design. And I took that translation of it and then applied it to all areas of our life, just to give us a framework that we could easily think of and apply. So you're either an air person, a fire person, or an earth with water person. In Ayurveda, we call those body constitutions vatha, pitta and kafa. And in the West, we pronounce them vatha, pitta and kafa. And so when you take those body types and you break them down, it illuminates and illustrates to you so much about yourself. And then you can better navigate your own body type, your own habits, your circadian clock, your diet, which is a big one. And then from there, put the body in this state of feeling balanced and whole and healthy again. And when we do that, everything starts to click. Everything starts to work better. So the first one, vatha, is typically someone who's taller or shorter than anyone in their demographic. This is someone who has a smaller frames. They're leaner. They tend to have small bones, maybe oval face. This is someone who physically is just lighter. And they're more of that air and ether element. So they can have the traits of, for example, a ceiling fan constantly in motion and never, ever stop. They could also be kind of like a tornado. So really out of balance, all over super high energy, but unable to settle down and be grounded. So the traits of a vatha person are they tend to be creative, joyful, vibrant. They're the energizer bunny. They're constantly moving. They're going to likely take a job where they don't have to sit still because sitting still is hard for the vatha bunny type. Mentally, this is someone who's out there creative, joyful, creating things. Some of their tendencies from imbalanced standpoint are they tend towards anxiety, tend towards constipation, dryness, tend towards insomnia, and then tend towards having this energy of like starting things, but not finishing. And so for the vatha body type, we always say, let's ground you feet in the grass, grounding practices, less of the endurance running and things that they get kind of addicted to and more of heavy foods, root vegetables, fall foods, and then healthy fats. And so my vatha crew when they come in are typically people who don't eat all day. They just have green juice and salad all day and then wonder why they're out of steam and out of gas by about five, six in the evening. And I always sit down with them and show them three square meals. We have quite a prescription for helping balance that vatha energy. And then the second one is called pitta. Pitta are fire people, fire with some water. And so the fire body type is reddish skin, reddish hair, medium body. Personality wise, this is your passionate, driven leader. They're very organized. When they're out of balance, they tend to be really perfectionist and controlling. They're very fiery. So if the world's not going their way, a fire person's kind of like a volcano. They erupt, they explode, they burn out, and the people closest to them can kind of beat collateral damage. And so my homework for my pitta crew is, and I'm a pitta, we get really hangry. Like pitta people have the strongest digest of fire. And so it's about timing. Like your meal times need to be planned. You need to hydrate well. You have to eat your proper meals that are balanced. Otherwise, you're voracious and it comes out in different ways. And then also a bit that we teach that summer is what imbalances us. Let's eat those cooling foods, electrolytes. Summer foods are very cooling to the system. And so treat yourself like a nuclear reactor and stay more calm and balanced. And then finally, you have gaffa. And the gaffa body type is so beautiful. It's earth with water. So this is someone who's strong, robust. They can be bigger boned. They're more sturdy. They can actually lift heavier than the rest of us. If you have a friend who's like lifting twice as heavy as you, it's typically the gaffa body type. And this person is loyal. They're steadfast. They're very one thing at a time, very earth energy. You can imagine how fast earth moves. It's slow and steady wins the race. From a health standpoint, they can struggle with sluggish metabolism, depression, low mood. Sometimes they don't want to start new things. They get a little stuck. So they need a friend to help them move. They also happen to get the deepest lumber of all the body types. So if you have that friend who can get 10 hours of sleep, it's usually a gaffa friend. And so what they need help with is moving their energy in the morning, eating a more cooked food diet. So a lot of times you eat a gaffa and when they're dieting or trying to cut weight, they're eating salads and cold foods. They actually don't have the digestifier for that. So really eating according to type is important with gaffa. And then also having a friend who pushes them to try new things and move more is important. And so those are the three constitutions. And what Iirvay that teaches is you're born with your what we call brecquery, your primary constitution. And then over time, life happens, traumas happen, you can have kids, like any big change to the body will lead to you having major imbalances. You might feel like you're completely outside of your body type and in this super imbalanced state, we call that buckery. And so our job as practitioners is to show you this was your original constitution. Let me help you balance back to yours. And so I have sat down with so many practitioners and I always say, you know what? I just feel like I'm so vata imbalanced. And they're like, shivani, you know, 90% of us in modern day times are vata imbalanced. We're on social media consuming the news, running at 100 miles an hour, driving all day while we're eating, like we're doing everything to cause a vata imbalance. But you're too dangerous with a kafa. You're all about fire and building cool things for the world. And you're devoted and nurturing and trying to caretake and feed everyone around you while you do it. And so that's just an example of self knowledge and self understanding that can lead to you really eating the right diet for your body type, the right circadian clock, the right detox, gut health practices. Each aspect of your life can align around your primary constitution and then body, mind and spirit can come into alignment so much more easily because we're really personalizing it to ourselves. Yeah, that's really interesting. And do you find that people tend to have like a secondary, like they have a strong primary and then maybe like a more minor secondary or is it? Yeah. So rather than just fit exactly into one category. Correct. So when people take the quiz, usually you have a big primary and you have a secondary. Some people happen to be balanced in all three. We call that three, those shik. Those are harder to work with because it's like body, mind, spirit in three different ways. But it's important to know that because let's say for example, you are pizza, like I am all fire and you're not eating for your type. You're not eating well. You're eating all hot. Like it does have certain things. We like to eat fried food, hot sauce and everything with chili. So we always tend to do the thing that imbalances us the most and then having the awareness really helps because you could be going through a season of burnout and all those things. But if you understand how to quickly balance it and calibrate to it in any given moment, then you can stay more balanced overall. Hmm. That's interesting. I would think that I'm a pizza, but I don't crave the hot stuff, but actually I do crave, especially like when I'm getting a lot of sun, which I try to, more of the cucumbers, tomatoes, right? Fruit, right? Things like that, like those cooling foods I do well with. Typically every podcaster I've met is a pizza. It's like a personality type to do this work. A vata couldn't sit still long enough. A kafa might not want to be out there in public in this way. The pitas are like, let's do everything we want to do and create in the world. We can sit still for just long enough. But yes, if you're going out in the sun and it's heating you up and your body knows automatically the foods it needs to cool down, that's a pretty good sign that you're a pitha. Because a lot of the other elemental designs could tolerate it better than the pitas can. Now, you've heard me talk about the importance of red light therapy. 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Let's talk about the best foods for each of these constitutions. Perfect. So a Vata person, it's air and ether. And so their season on the circadian clock is actually fall. Fall season is when post summer the winds come out and start to blow and it creates that Vata wind energy to become so much more imbalanced. And so mother nature in all her beautiful intelligence gives us exactly the antidote we need in the season we're in. So a Vata person is actually meant to eat all the fall foods. So we have cinnamon, nutmeg, root vegetables, pumpkin, squash, beets, everything that's growing in the ground is grounding and thus will support you as a Vata. And so it's just important to look at what are you eating that's warming, nourishing, satiating. Maybe it's a latte with nut milk in it once a day to settle you down. Maybe it's avocado three times a day, half an avocado, maybe three times a day or adding ghee into your life. A lot of my Vata clients, I'm like, take a tablespoon of ghee and put it on top for you in your dish so that you are getting enough healthy fat and you're getting its effects that are so balancing to the body. And so that's a Vata homework is root vegetables, warming, nourishing, like really grounding them into the earth from being up in the sky and that high level energy. And the pitas, pitas are all fire. So when pitas hit summer and it's burning hot outside, that's the time to stay indoors, kind of be like a lazy lion or a lazy mountain tiger, like stay in the shade, stay inside. Don't run at your top line intensity in terms of work. And so as a bit that I've actually restructured my life where I do slow down now for the summer, because if we don't, if we function at top full throttle all year, that's a recipe for now. And look at what foods grow in the summer, watermelon, peaches, plums, nectarines, everything's so sweet, the cucumbers, coconut, coconut water, all of these things are hydrating. And so when I meet people any time of year who have a pitaya imbalance, I automatically start recommending those foods. And we know from IRV that that anything sweet is going to have a cooling effect on the inside. So that could even be foods like rice. It could be any dairy. Dairy can have a very cooling effect inside. Modern day dairy is a whole different ball game. We might not want to recommend dairy to most people nowadays, but that awareness of what is sweet and cooling inside is very important as well. And then finally you get to guffa. Guffa, earth energy, earth with water. And the water piece is actually important. Guffas tend to get congested and struggle with dairy and things like this sluggishness in the system. So we take all dairy out for the guffas. We recommend warm cooked foods that are easy to digest. Guffas can actually handle much bigger intermittent fast. They have so much resilience in the system. And so we recommend bigger intermittent fast. They can probably do more keto and cleaner, tighter eating than the rest of us. Just watching out for that digestive fire, though, making sure we don't give them very old, raw, hard to digest foods. And that's what balances guffa energy. Yeah, that's really good. And you can kind of see signals in your body where you may need to, you may be moving in a certain direction. You know, as we're talking here and as I was reading your book, I can definitely tell I'm a pita vata, right? Like, so I actually do great, you know, getting out in the sun and things like that, you know, getting, getting that warmth. I think winter, the cold weather, which is why I live in the south. It is, I don't do as well with that, but I'm a very, very driven, you know, insomnia before the call, like I'm a gas pedal type person. So very driven. So, but, you know, I am the lean, narrow body type, right? So I think it's kind of that vata pita. So it's always interesting kind of figuring out, figuring out yourself, right? Yeah. And we evolve over time. And so when we look at the circadian clock and tie that to nature, a big piece of my research right now is why in pari menopause and menopause are we as women struggling so much? Like, Ayurveda must have the answers to this. And as I dig deeper and deeper, I think a big piece of it is vata season of life is the last third of our life. So we start in gaffa. We start by growing, nurturing, building the whole middle of spitta when we are working and driving and building our lives. But then that last piece of vata, we're meant to be lighter. We're meant to retire and pursue joy and and our spiritual purpose and all of that. So if we're meant to do that for the last season of life, but we're running into it at full throttle and many of us, like it might be, is my kids are now teens. So I actually have space to work more at write books. So some of us are entering up that last season and instead of slowing down for vata, we're going harder. And so it's so important to pause and look at it and say, OK, well, I might want to do what I'm going to do, regardless of the season. How can I really support and nourish the body? And we know the vata imbalances are dryness. It's going to cause brain fog, joint pain. Every symptom of perimenopause, menopause is a vata season of life imbalance. I'm actually calling it vata syndrome of menopause because I really do think it's it's such a serious thing to pay attention to. And so if we can learn to balance vata, which so many of us struggle with from an imbalance standpoint, then we can really stay nourished. Our tissues are nourished. Our body is nourished. We have more resilience that we build in there. And then we can have that result that we want is to be vibrant and healthy. Yeah, for sure. And speaking of that, you talk about mental inflammation in the book and how important that is to address. So in the book, I talked about my six pillars of IRVVV. I went over the things we've talked about, elemental design and gut health and the self care rituals that are detoxing. And and these are the six pillars I've used in my group programs and with clients for the last 10 plus years. And so I'm so excited to put in a book form in one place. And as I wrapped up writing the book, I realized, you know what? We in the health and wellness space kind of drive people crazy. We have so many tools for them, right? We want them to infrared sauna and blue light blockers. And right now the biohacking space has so many fun tools for us that apply modern technology to what ancient wisdom already said. And we're into it because we want those faster results. I do too. I love the tools. I buy many of them. But when we talk about the stress that they can put on us and the time frames we need to do that level of self care and health, I thought, I wonder if I'm going to cause mental inflammation that does thus causes the physical inflammation. And let's say you're not a total health nut who's health obsessed and putting health first and trying to do everything for your health all day. That's one archetype of people. There's another whole category called I'm just trying to get through life with its crazy stressors and stay healthy, just decently healthy. And so a lot of women who find me are like, look, I'm doing my best single mom working trying to raise these kids. This is a lot of stress. Here's my symptoms. And I always say, look, that's mental inflammation that caused physical inflammation. So we're going to have to find ways to decompress that stress so that we're not stuck in that feedback loop. And then when I work with teams and CEOs and peak performers, I have a whole conversation around if we allow mental inflammation to it will cause physical inflammation. And then it doesn't matter what you do from a health standpoint, because you're always chasing and trying to bring down inflammation, but you're causing it in equal proportion. And so that's where mental inflammation to me is so key. It's that awareness of, you know what? Yes, I opened this piece of email and it caused me stress. I'm not going to let it stress me out. I'm not going to allow it to cause that physical reaction of stress. I'm going to in the same moment say, I'm safe. I'm fine. This is just an email. It is not a bear chasing me. And just have that awareness that our nervous system needs our protection. It needs our awareness. We can't allow all this mental inflammation to cause so much physical inflammation. Yeah, that's so important. So many people are getting stressed out and stress is a huge factor in driving inflammation. If you're busy with work, family and activities like I am, you're probably using up your electrolytes, leaving you wired, tired and depleted. You see, what most people don't realize is that if you're under stress or doing intermittent fasting, eating a low carb diet, training hard, or even just living an active, busy life, you're losing more electrolytes like sodium, potassium and magnesium than you probably realize. And most electrolyte drinks don't come close to replacing them. That's one of the reasons I use relight from Redmond every day. It's made with Redmond's real salt, an ancient unrefined sea salt from Utah that naturally contains trace minerals. And it contains two types of magnesium for better absorption. There's no sugar, no artificial ingredients, just a clean formula that actually works. And it has unique trace minerals that improve cellular hydration better than any other electrolyte formula on the market. I drink these electrolytes every day because I can feel the energy boost. I have better mental clarity while I'm working and greater strength gains in the gym. And they've even improved my sleep quality. My routine is simple. I use the unflavored relight while fasting in the morning. Then a flavored version, my favorites would be strawberry and lemon lime. I use those around workouts. If you want to try it for yourself, go to Redmond.life. forward slash dr. Jockers. That's Redmond. R-E-D-M-O-N-D. Life forward slash Dr. Jockers. Use the code Jockers at checkout for 15% off today. Now, in the book, you also talk about strachadian rhythm, how important it is for good strachadian rhythm and how to set yourself up for good sleep. And you also talk about tea time. So maybe two different topics, but but all kinds of all kind of ties in together. For sure. So I talked about circadian rhythm because I have that came up with the circadian clock. And I wanted to highlight that and say the circadian clock is such a big part of the wellness longevity conversation right now. But we can actually take that circadian clock and further subdivide it into your elemental design phases of the day. And so to do that, bring such powerful awareness as to when to do certain things. I RV that wants you to wake up first thing in the morning and make space for yourself. Your self care, tuning into your prayers, your day, what you're meant to do with your life, your intention setting, depending on your own practice. And so making space for meditation, deep breathing, journaling, getting your feet in the grass and seeing the sunlight. All of these are part of a circadian lifestyle. Then we teach lunch is the biggest meal of the day, which is counterintuitive to modern day life. A lot of us sit down and think dinners are a big comforting meal. But I RV though wanted us to put lunch at 12 to two, 10 to two, actually, when the sun is highest in the sky. Then we talk about sleep and how we must sleep 10 to two on the clock again, because that time of day is when we're going to have a melatonin release. And when that time of day happens, and bit does when the fires are going to come out and clear out lymphatic and inflammation and all the different systems and lymphatic system of the brain. So there is a lot there. But the summary of it is, if you understand circadian rhythm with your elemental design, you can actually design a new rhythm to your day that's custom to you that supports you better. So you're not just trying to fire on all cylinders all 24 hours. You're leveraging your high energy times, you're decompressing in the right windows and the guffa times of day so that your body recharges and then comes back at full energy. So that's the goal there. And tea time is me time is actually a simple habit I created years ago as a way to pause in our day. Just pause, sip a cup of tea could be coffee if you're a big coffee lover. But just the habit of drinking a warm beverage, putting the phone down, putting down the news or any other outside factors and tuning into yourself can be a perfect mindful moment or a sacred moment where you tune in and ask your own intuition. Some powerful questions like how am I doing today? What do I need to do for today to be better? What do I need to change this week for this week to be better? And your own intuition will give you answers. Mine always says, take your supplements, you forgot them. You need to say no to that person. You say yes to everybody, but you need to say no, that's not going to be good for you in the end. And also when we look at it from the science standpoint, when we want vagal nerve toning, we want our nervous system to drop into parasympathetic out of fight or flight. Having a hot beverage that's comforting is the perfect way to do it. And so that's why I love teaching this habit, because whether you're on the road, whether you are in a corporation, you can pause, whether you're in a conference. Everywhere I go, I just stop at a Starbucks, ask for hot water and have a mindful moment with a cup of tea. And that's my way to drop in and tune in. And honestly, I think that's one of the most powerful self-care tools we can use. Because if we're consistent with it, then we've given our body at least five or six times a day where we paused and we allowed ourselves to drop out of fight or flight, build back that nervous system, having the ability to even have that flexibility. So we're not in fight or flight 24 hours a day, and then everything will improve. The body will heal and regenerate itself. And so I like to teach those simple bite-size self-care activities we can do that are tiny, but they actually give us really big leveraged results. I know in the book, you talk about like a nighttime routine to help set people up for really good sleep. I think my listeners would like to know some of these nighttime routine strategies. For sure. So in ancient Ayurveda, they talked about how sleep is the most important thing. But you look at modern day life and what are our activities? I know for me, when I was in book launch mode, I was on my computer till 9.45 and then I'd slam the laptop shut and say, OK, bedtime, brush your teeth, run for bed. Right? A lot of us are doing that. We're working until the end, trying to manage house, home, kids, food, sports, getting home from sports late, eating late. And so Ayurveda did say, if you want high quality sleep, you have to stop your dinner three hours before. And so if you're going to bed at 10, dinner must stop by seven. Then your work activities have to stop by about eight o'clock, wrapping up house responsibilities and such by nine o'clock. And then we have this golden hour where we've quite an opportunity for self care. And so for me, I have a deep passion for Ayurvedic herbs. My PhD was on turmeric. So I do talk a lot on turmeric, but I'm also very passionate about ashwagandha, Brahmi, Tulsi. I mean, all these adaptogenic plants exist from mother nature that when we take them, they calm down our nervous system. We know ashwagandha. We pronounce it ashwagandha here in the West. Ashwagandha is like a perfect thermostat. If you're stressed and anxious, it calms you down. If you're depressed and feeling the blues that lifts you up, it has this thermostat natural ability with your body. So my first ritual for bedtime is deep sleep tea. Because again, I have tea time as me time many times a day. So I pause and have a cup of tea. And that's my first self hygiene ritual to my own mind that says, hey, we're preparing for bedtime. No more work, no more responsibility. We are angling towards one goal. And I always think of when we have little kids, when you have a baby, I don't know if everyone who's listening did this, but we'd get these books that would say, do a whole song and dance routine to train the mind that it's bedtime. So we would close the blinds, give a bath, do a massage, diffuse essential oils. Maybe you had a white noise or lullaby machine, right? We had a whole series of steps we did that told the mind we are going to bed at that specific time. And so why is adults? Do we not do that for ourselves? Why are we just falling into bed with our iPhones in our workout clothes, straight from work and not thinking about high quality sleep? And so that's my invitation to the listener today is finding a sleep hygiene routine that reminds you, okay, it's a hot shower. He needs a heating pad in bed. So many of us have aches and pains and that's a comforting moment. Maybe it's a few stretches before bed so that we're not so tight in our muscles and then wake up tight. That's why yoga is a sister science to Ayurveda. So maybe it's a few stretches, maybe it's legs up the wall, maybe it's a few breaths. Just to calm the nervous system before bedtime or doing your gratitude journal. So all these practices we talk about in the modern wellness sense are actually deeply rooted in that science of understanding that whatever you do before bedtime is going to be what your mind has to choose on through the night. And then in the morning, that's why we get to come up with all these profound answers because we really let the mind wander and think through those things overnight. And so that's the habits I like to teach is self care rituals. Maybe it's 10 minutes, maybe it's 30 minutes, maybe it's an hour. But do those self care rituals that tell your mind it's bedtime. One of the things we talk a lot about on this show is what you're putting into your body. Most of us think carefully about our food, our supplements and our sleep. But your tap water might be working against all of that. And that's why my family uses Cove Pure to purify our water at home. Over 176 million Americans are drinking tap water with PFA's in it. They're man made chemicals used in food packaging, non stick cookware, firefighting foam and so much more. Scientists call them forever chemicals because once they're in your body, they stay there. They don't break down and they're linked to hormone disruption, immune damage and increased cancer risk. But here's the part that stopped me cold. The EPA set legal limits for PFA's and drinking water back in 2024. But water systems have until 2031 to comply. That's five whole years from now. Until that deadline arrives, a utility can be operating above the legal limit right now. And it isn't required to notify you. You're just drinking it. The EPA knows these chemicals are harmful enough to regulate. They're just not making anyone act on it yet, which means this one is on you. Cove Pure was engineered exactly for this. Unlike the normal pitcher filters you get at the store, their ClearWave Reverse Osmosis technology is certified to remove up to 99.9% of contaminants. PFA's heavy metals fluoride, pharmaceuticals, filtering particles hundreds of thousands of times smaller than a single human hair. It sounds like a small thing, but when you're drinking something that actually tastes clean, you genuinely drink more of it. And for something that affects every other system in your body, that matters. And the best part about Cove Pure is they make it so easy. It sits right on your countertop. You don't have to drill any holes or call a plumber. You just plug it in. Don't wait for 2031. Take control of your water quality right now. Head to CovePure.com forward slash Dr. Jockers and you'll get $250 off for a limited time. That's C-O-V-E-P-U-R-E dot com slash Dr. Jockers, D-R-J-O-C-K-E-R-S. Thanks to Cove Pure for sponsoring this episode. Yeah, that's good. Now you mentioned the deep sleep tea. Does that have the ashwagandha? Because you had mentioned the ashwagandha. What are some of the herbs that you use in that? It has brummi, ashwagandha. It has cardamom. Cardamom has a lot of benefits for sleep. So in ancient India, we would take milk and add turmeric and cardamom to it for bedtime because it has these different ingredients for sleep. That tea has osmanthus flower and it's on a roibo space, so there's no caffeine in it. But so many people tell me, they're like, I got better sleep just on the tea. I didn't need your sleep gummies or anything else on earth. The tea did it. And I'm like, that's perfect. I reviewed that in tea form. Was the original form that we would dispense herbs in? So I love it. Yeah, that's great. And you also have your super spice protocols. Obviously your expertise is in turmeric, but you have your whole super spice protocols. What, can you break those down some of those protocols for us? For sure. So my first formula that I made was turmeric gold. And I made that because I thought, what if all of Western medicine, when we go to the doctor and they say you have something based on inflammation, everything ending in it is inflammation. And when we go there and we're like, we have this problem and they always end in it is I felt, why can't they just give us turmeric? Because I myself am not a good patient for NSAIDs, for any drugs. Unfortunately, I'm one of the people who always gets the adverse effects. I once took an opioid after surgery, my husband was like, never do that again. You are not built for these high dose things. And so I built tumor gold and inflammation relief for orthopedics and to put it in the hands of doctors so that when all of us go to the doctor, they have a natural option and they all say you can take turmeric for that. And then I also made it for all of us who struggle with pain, inflammation and want natural tools. So that's a very potent curcumin combination and tens of thousands of people have taken it and felt the benefits. And then I made teas because in IRV, that this adaptogenic solutions can be so powerful. So the menopause support tea has three types of thulsi and shatavari. We pronounce it shatavari here in the West. But that's a queen of adaptogenic herbs to support female and male reproductive organs. And so a lot of these herbs are rejuvenative. So menopause tea, everyone says they have no more hot flashes and night sweats. I'm like, great, whatever it takes for you to have better sleep and be more calm is perfect. Then I made unwind tea because not everyone loves deep sleep tea. They don't want sleep support, but they do want to get home from work and unwind without reaching for the wine and the chocolate. So a lot of us are reaching for like the snacks. And then there's a whole category reaching for wine to really wine to support them unwinding. And so I made that tea for that crew too. So these are just the different ways I put herbs together from ancient IRV to solve each problem that I see people struggling with. I feel like in women's health right now, we need more solutions and perimenopause menopause for our high stress days and for our sleep. As a society, we're struggling with inflammation at such a profound level. And if simple plants like turmeric, ginger, baswalia, amla combined together can work like a synergy against that inflammation. Then why not take that support? So that's the work I've been doing for the last 10 years is combining herbs at a potent level to deliver that result. Yeah, that's so good. And people can find your products as well. Just on your website, right? shamanigupta.com. Correct. So I find it on my website. I made a special code for your audience. Dr. Jockers will give him 15% off. Great. 15% off. Use that code Dr. Jockers. So you've got some of these great products. You said you've got a menopause tea and you've also got the turmeric gold. Yes, turmeric gold inflammation relief. That's our combo for the chronic joint pain. We've got the unwind tea, sleep tea, menopause tea. So just different creations that show people that you can use tea to heal like simple herbs, simple plants. Let's keep it clean and easy to drive those results. And they're from Mother Nature. So tying back into everything, it's lifestyle. Lifestyle is actually where we're going to win. And these are those additional supports that can help us get there faster. Yeah, for sure. At some point, I realized I turned my protein shake routine into a part-time job. College in here, protein there, a greens powder, a probiotic, fish oil. And I still wasn't sure any of it was actually doing anything. Sound familiar? You're doing everything right and it's becoming overwhelming. You're using every type of supplement, protein powder and probiotic. And you're still not sure it's working. That's the problem momentum solves. It stops the guesswork. It has the right ingredients, right dose, right form, not a performance shake. This is about how you feel in 10, 20 years and longer. Simplicity is the point. One thing every day replaces 20 plus supplements in a single scoop. And 80 plus precursors support cellular energy, addressing the kind of fatigue that sleep doesn't fix. Collagen plus hyaluronic acid for joint skin and connective tissue. 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So when it comes to turmeric, we know that curcumin that extract from turmeric is doing the heavy lifting when it comes to winning it inflammation. And yes, turmeric is better absorbed with black pepper or a healthy fat. So it's a good way to get your body healthy. So I'm going to go ahead and get my hands on it. I'm going to go ahead and get my hands on it. Turmeric is better absorbed with black pepper or a healthy fat. And so I use black pepper. I'm a big team black pepper person because we know it increases that absorption by 2000%. But I also say that taking that turmeric with a meal with your healthy fat will increase its absorption even further. It'll help it cross the blood-brain barrier. So as we're having so many conversations right now around neurocognitive support, we know that turmeric creates neurogenesis, new brain cells, mitogenesis, new mitochondria. We know it's a very powerful anti-inflammatory antioxidant. What I love most about turmeric is those things. Plus it's antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal. It gets rid of the bad bacteria, but keeps the good when we go back to gut health and leaky gut. And so to me, it's this powerhouse that does so much. It's kind of like a Swiss Army knife. It can do everything for us. Yeah. And also, you know, going back to the gut, it actually activates intestinal alkaline phosphatase, which breaks down endotoxin, LPS lipopolysaccharide, which is a major driver of inflammation in the body. And so when the LPS gets elevated in the bloodstream, it really triggers whole body inflammation. And to America is one of the best things for basically activating this enzyme in the gut that breaks down the LPS. So so many, so many great systemic benefits of turmeric. So really, really good one to have and everybody should have it in their arsenal. Do you find that it's best for people to take it like on a daily basis or to cycle it? What do you what do you find on a, you know, on a regular basis with that? With any supplement that's strong in the body, we're going to ask people to cycle it because daily use of anything strong is not ideal. It is a strong supplement. It has a pretty profound impact in the system. So whether people go six days on one day off, two months on one week off, like everyone should have a good cadence with coming on and off any supplement. The herbal supplements that we create in IRVEDA, we always say, look, these are natural tools at a potent level to support you. If you need it every day forever, we really need to have the lifestyle conversation. And so when I built the turmeric formula as everyone's like, great, you solved my problem. I don't have pain. I'm good. And I was like, no, no, no, let's have a conversation around sleep, gut health, lifestyle. You shouldn't need to take it every single day. And so that's the whole point of my book and what I teach is let's have both. But let's really know where and when to use the tools and what not to. The problem is now we're living in modern day times and the toxin burden is so big and our bodies are typically so chronically inflamed. We kind of do have to reach into these tools more than ever. But yes, I agree with you. Daily is not the ideal. Yeah, for sure. Take it till you get the symptoms under control and then have some sort of a cycling regimen. And that can be that can make it more potent when you do take it. Correct. So really good stuff. Well, Dr. Shivani Gupta has been a great interview, really enjoyed it. Guys, check out her book, The Inflammation Code. You can find that bookstores everywhere and on Amazon.com as well. And also her website, theinflammationcode.com. And to put her products on ShivaniGupta.com as well. And Dr. Shivani, any last words, inspiration here for our audience? For sure. We all have the power to be sovereign in our health. It just takes advocating for ourselves, having awareness of our body type, what we are, who we are and what our body needs to stay balanced through each season of life. And so I encourage all of you know your body type, live according to your circadian rhythm so you can thrive and have the vitality and the vibrancy that you deserve. Wonderful. Always enjoy our conversations. God bless you, Dr. Shivani. And we'll see all of my listeners on our next podcast. Be blessed, everybody. Well, that's all for this show. And I want to thank you again for spending your valuable time with me today. And if there was something you heard in this interview that you have questions on or you want to dive into deeper, then DrJockers.com is the best place to go. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider taking just a quick moment and giving us a great review. Your reviews help us influence more people and transform more lives. And if you took something valuable away from this episode, then please share it with someone in your life. You know it can help. We'll see you soon on our future podcast. Be blessed, everybody.