Sometimes, the simplest solutions are at our fingertips; we just need to see them. For Dr Nandita Shah, 58, the answers to healthy living are contained in a glass—provided it is brimming with a concoction of raw spinach, bananas and other fruits blended together.

 
But this is no detox concoction you can get in a trendy juice bar. It means raising a glass to a holistic lifestyle choice. “We take better care of our cars than we do of our body. We invest in good fuel to keep our car in great shape and run without trouble. But we neglect our body. Remember, the car is replaceable but not the body,” remarks Dr Shah, who was recently conferred the Nari Shakti Puraskar 2016 by the Government of India for her work in health and nutrition. Dr Shah, who founded SHARAN (Sanctuary for Health and Reconnection to Animals and Nature) in 2005, has been based in Auroville in Tamil Nadu for the past 18 years. Through her work, which involves conducting workshops, lectures and seminars in India and overseas, she has been helping people connect with animals, plants and nature in general, to heal themselves and the planet.

While still a student, Shah had got admission to a medical college but chose to pursue homeopathy; she joined CMP Homeopathic Medical College, Mumbai, in 1976. For the next 20 years, she practised homeopathy in Mumbai and taught advanced homeopathy all over the world, before moving to Auroville in 1999.

“As a doctor, it pains me to see more and more people getting lifestyle diseases at a young age,” she says. “Teenage girls are troubled with premature puberty, polycystic ovarian disease, hypothyroid and even diabetes. Young men are obese and sick all the time. Young married couples suffer from diabetes, hypertension and infertility. Breast cancer is no longer rare in women in their 30s and 40s.”

A holistic lifestyle means turning vegan and Dr Shah rues that large-scale industrial production units, especially poultry, are on the rise in India. “What humans do to animals to get what they want eventually comes back to humans. When you put an animal through pain and stress, its adrenaline comes back to us through their body fluids or flesh.” She says she gave up milk after learning that cows as young as two years old are artificially inseminated and calves are separated from their mothers so the mother’s milk can be sold to humans. “Have you ever heard the loud cries of a cow when their calves are separated from them? How can we do this to any mother on the planet?”

As baffling as it may sound, Dr Shah says a healthy lifestyle arises from a sense of compassion. She explains, “After turning vegan, I made the connection that we are all connected. I believe I can inspire many more to get on this journey and help people, animals and the environment. Could there be a better way to live?”

—Jayanthi Somasundaram

Photo courtesy: Dr Nandita Shah
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
June 2017