Raw Food Diet: I Quit Cooking 16 Years Ago and completed 8 Marathons, Zero Medications, No Chronic Disease

What if everything you believed about cooking your food was wrong? In this episode, I sit down with Axay Shah, founder of Raw Foodiest, bestselling author of IN NATURE WE TRUST, and a man who at 67, has been 100% plant-based and raw for over 16 years, with 21 years of documented medical proof: zero medications, zero chronic disease, and 8 marathons completed. Axay isn't a doctor or a nutritionist. He's a businessman who ran an experiment on himself at age 50, and never looked back. In this conversation, we break down why cooked food is draining your energy, how your body is like a business running on a currency called energy, and why listening to your body might be the single most important health habit you're ignoring.

In this episode with Axay Shah:

🔷 Why humans are the only species that cook their food, and what that's costing us.

🔷 The evolutionary reason cooked food was once a blessing but is now a burden.

🔷 How raw food went from a 6-week experiment to a 16-year lifestyle.

🔷 What a full day of eating looks like at 67 with more energy than most 30-year-olds.

🔷 Energy as a currency: why low energy is like being financially bankrupt.

🔷 The five "poisons”, Axay says, are wrecking your body's factory.

🔷 How to transition into raw food without shocking your system.

🔷 Why self-experimentation and tracking beat any study funded by industry.

🔷 Supplements: what Axay actually takes and why he's not against them.

🔷 His one practical tip for every person on the planet: start listening to your body.

Connect with Axay Shah:
 Website: www.rawfoodiest.com
 Book (IN NATURE WE TRUST): https://a.co/d/0j5uR0Am
 Medical Proof: https://rawfoodiest.com/medical-proof/
 Author's Website: https://innaturewetrust.net/
 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawfoodiest/
 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@RawFoodiest
 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahaxay/

Want the quick takeaways? Read the blog post for a full breakdown of the episode. https://www.trueformpodcast.com/blog 

🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you listen to your podcasts.  

Watch me on YouTube

https://youtu.be/c1wyb-FE8yM

Transcript

Jack Graham 0:00

What is up everybody? Welcome back to the True Form Podcast. Quick heads up on the five first five to ten minutes of this episode, I had to make a few edits. The long-term listeners will know I never edit my podcasts, but we lost the audio a little bit in the recording and I just had to chop it here and there for it to make sense. But by the time we get into all the juicy parts about eating raw foods only, we're smooth sailing. So I hope you enjoy this episode. If you are a return listener and you are enjoying this content and it's helping you find your true form, please make sure you interact with this episode. Like, subscribe if you're listening on any of the podcast platforms. Make sure you give us a five-star review, positive comments. I appreciate it. And it helps this episode and all the other episodes reach more people to help them find their true form. So I appreciate you being here, listening to this episode, and I appreciate you interacting with this episode. Yeah. So I want to dive straight into raw foods. When you say you're the root raw food guy, what does that mean? Well for guru.

SPEAKER_03 1:12

Guru. Guru is is uh is uh Sanskrit name for you can say teacher. But teacher generally is is teaching you something which is already been in text, in in book, in something, in scripture. Some something is already there and uh from there uh giving you the knowledge, that's the teacher. But guru is something different. Guru goo means in Sanskrit is darkness and roo means brightness. I love that.

Jack Graham 1:53

And how does raw foods come into that?

SPEAKER_03 1:57

So raw raw food came in my life in 2000 I mean in 2009 at age fifty. I was age fifty, I was not uh I didn't had any medical problem. I was okay health-wise. That hey, you are aging, this is normal. But I took it as a challenge that no, I don't want to accept this. Let me see what what is going on, and then I turned to Mother Nature, and Mother Nature taught me that hey, all the species in this planet is eating raw food except humans. And humans is the only species is suffering so much with the health and all the other health-related issues, is not only the physical health, even the mental health. And those things I started churning that what we can do, what I can do, so that I don't have to go through the same issue what other people are going through.

Jack Graham 3:10

Yeah, that's that's like I'm excited to dive into this journey because like you said, a lot even you said 50s, 60s, 70s, but I'm noticing even for like 40s and 50s, some people are losing their energy and struggling to get through life and just not wanting to get up and be active and be a part of the community. And I love like I'm a big fan of obviously longevity, but a lot of the time people just think about living longer, but they don't think about the quality of the years that they're gonna be living in those later life. And obviously you want to live longer, but you want to be active, you want to be doing things, and you want to be a part of the community. So let's dive into it. So how why like why raw foods? I I I love the analogy that you just used that you know, we're the only species that cook our food. I've never heard that before. It makes total sense.

SPEAKER_03 4:05

And that's that's true. Yeah. But the here, b before I I tell you, you know, uh why raw food, uh let me tell you what it why cooked food came into in our lifestyle. So if you see the human evolution, the cook food was blessing. It was the boon once. That let's say half half a million back, we started using fire. There was no fire before human was started using it. And then we s a human started using fire for cooking. Now, at that time it was good because food was in scarcity. And because our brain, even if a person don't do anything sitting on a couch, still consuming around 20 to 25 percent of the energy of our body. So having that extra calories, we had upper age, we had advantage than uh you know other other animals. And that allows us to become much more faster, you know, smart against smart but not that smart uh species. Now that like you said, smarter than other species. Um but it's it's like it was good our ancestor took the right decision to eat cooked food. It was blessing then, when there was food is in was in scarcity. In today's world, every most of the every house have f refrigerator filled with the f food. But we don't need now that much calorie, that much, you know, extra food, because food is not in scarcity. On the other hand, our brain is came to the saturation point, now it's not getting any any more smarter. Uh and and that's what my my uh calculation is. Uh I'm I I'm not a doctor, I don't have any medical degree, I I am I'm not even a nutritionist or anything, but as a businessman, as a common man, I'm seeing that any activity if you do, and it is not profitable, it is it's it's a it's a loss overall, why you do it? It's it's it's a stupidity to do any activity which is you know you're going into loss. So eating cooked food is we are going into energy bankruptcy. Now, we don't have enough energy. We are eating so much, so much, and it is all what we are eating is going out next day, even without digesting, without even extracting the you know, absorbing all the nutrients. So, and I was one of them. I was eating like a pig. Before age 50, I had no idea, no knowledge. I was eating mindlessly, you know, it's like whole pizza, come on, get out of it. And everything is like large portion. And lack of energy. Going, I mean, fast forward today, I'm eating maybe 25% of what I used to eat before, and I have 200% of energy. So that's the equation, it's a profitable equation, I found out, and it works well for me. And because it's working well for me, this is even though you know physically, mentally, I'm okay. But I have to go, I have to leave this planet once. Maybe 20 years, maybe 10 years, maybe 5 years, maybe 30 years, who knows? I'm not worried about it. And what you said, this that the lifespan is is is okay, is important, but more important is the health span. How many years you can stay healthy and active citizen of this world. That is something is important.

Jack Graham 8:35

You touched on a a really good point there in the health and fitness industry, whenever it comes to calories in, calories out. Like, you know, if you burn 2,000 calories, you've got to replace 2,000 calories, or if you want to lose weight, you eat less or gain weight, you eat more. But I've I've been doing this long enough to know that that's not actually the case. It's not about the calories you are consuming and you're tracking the calories because the food matters. I I am a big believer that the food that you eat matters because you can have 2,000 calories of processed foods, or you can have 2,000 calories of whole foods, and I guarantee you the results are going to be different. So I I'm glad you sort of brought that up. But let's go back. So you you said you were just eating like a normal per like probably 99% of the population eating too much food, not absorbing anything. So what happened? Like, why did you go into raw foods and what was that process like?

SPEAKER_03 9:34

I wanted to do experiment. I I was not knowing, I as I said, I am not a doctor, I don't have a medical background, but I have that curiosity, that the the child curiosity in my in myself. I did even when I was uh 15 years, 17 years uh age in my teenager's lifestyle, one whole month, nothing but salad. Just out of experiment, you know what happens, how how you feel it. And it is hard to eat one month just salad, nothing else. You need a lot of discipline and willpower. So I did that. I was in 2009, I just started eating raw food. I was not knowing how far I'm going to go, what is going to happen, whether one month, three months, six months, I was not knowing anything, but I I'm doing experiment on myself. So zero expectation. And let me see what happens. As a researcher, and that allowed me, that gave me the fantastic lifestyle. Till today, you know, now is 16 plus years, and I'm enjoying it. Yes.

Jack Graham 10:47

So over those 16 years, like let's start with what you started eating. Like what does what did you start eating as in raw food, like the actual foods, but then has that changed over those 16 years? Like what did you start eating and what are you eating now?

SPEAKER_03 11:02

I was at that time, even I I want to confess, it was not 100% raw food. I was eating some processed food. Like when in the morning I used to drink uh green tea, and with the green tea, I used to take a granola bar. Understanding that granola bar is a healthy food. So I was eating that. And I continued even after raw food in the morning, granola bar, but the rest of the thing was raw. It it's not even all everything was 100% raw. So that's the granola bar I I quit within year and a half. I I I don't I didn't keep the track, but it's around uh one and a half year. I then say, you know what, this is not good. But then I change it with the almond and walnut with the green tea. Similarly, in in uh in the dinner, I used to use uh to make uh vegetable little spicy and delicious, I used to add pasta sauce. So sauce which is processed from in a bottle, you know, I used to eat and uh mix it with the uh raw vegetable. But still that also, you know, I realized that now this is again process, you know. Why to eat even a little bit? It is even two teaspoons, but still it is so I eliminated that and uh I started making uh homemade salsa.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

Yeah.

Jack Graham 12:36

Um and I'm I'm glad you said that, like you grow into it. A lot of people might listen to this episode and go, you know what, I'm gonna give this a go, and then they just cut out everything and swap it all at once. Obviously, that's probably gonna be quite stressing on your bowels, but also like that's a lot of change, and to change so much is very hard. But you said like you grow into it, you change little things over a couple of years, and I think that's the best way to approach this. So, what does a day look like eating now for you?

SPEAKER_03 13:08

So it that's that's how you know, first you eat whatever you like, now then you are going to evolve. Hey, what is what I should eat more or better for the new from the nutritional point of view. So that's uh lunch. Then at evening and in afternoon, let's say four o'clock, something, if I'm hungry, I keep nuts in my car. So again, peace stock, cashew, uh whatever the the nuts, almond also, almond and walnut also. So those things is in the in the car. If you're hungry, snack it. That that's something which is going to even, but I I'm not taking that also nowadays. I used to eat before. Evening coming home, any vegetables, not just bland salad, not just cucumber and lettuce and stuff. No. I ate sweet potato, regular potato, avocado, broccoli, whatever one vegetable I select, chop it off, add some salsa, some chutney, black vinegar, yeast flax, some seeds now, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seed, whatever seeds you like, just you know, let throw a little bit. It it is so delicious now. It is not just bland salad. And you make it as much spicy as you want, or as little spicy as you want. It is is and it is you have to, this is not a punishment. This is that the the enjoyment you have to do. It is just a change a little bit. Now, you you know it is not warm, it is not hot, it is on room temperature, maybe it is cold on it from the refrigerator, bring it out a couple of hours before, so it stays in room temperature if you cannot handle in the beginning the cold one because you are so habitual, your tongue needs the hot, hot stuff. We are we are used this many years, so your brain is going to not accept everything earlier, but you have to have that strong willpower and understanding. Hey, this is I'm I'm not eating to please my tongue and my palate. I'm eating to please my tummy.

Jack Graham 15:31

You're talking about that it's nice and early here. I haven't had breakfast, and you're making me hungry. So I'm looking forward to breakfast already. Uh so what big I guess like transition, people transitioning in into this. Like what are the common mistakes or themes or issues you see people going to raw foods?

SPEAKER_03 15:57

Once you decide, then have to have discipline. That because you made this rule, nobody enforced this rule on you. Now, so at least you made the rule, respect yourself and follow the rule. Once you follow the rule and make a note. Now you monitor what is happening with your body and mind. Once you be make these notes, you know, you are now monitoring, then this is you are going, it is like this is you are running a business. You have to watch your bank balance, you have to watch your balance it. If you are not watching, you are going to be very soon bankrupt. So because you you don't know what is happening. So monitoring this is like, okay, you it's it's not something rocket science. You don't have to hire a CPA or chartered accounter or bookkeeper. You know, you do yourself a small thing. Hey, this is what happened. Now, earlier I used to sleep only six hours, now I'm sleeping eight hours or seven hours. Earlier, I used to get up, wake up at 3 or morning, now I am not waking up. Whatever that difference is, you are do she seeing it. Write it down. That is going to give you more enjoyment. Physically, mentally, you are going to become more free, no stress. You are not following anybody, you are following yourself because you made whatever the rule you made, 20% to and then keep increasing little by little. And see where you feel comfortable. I have people they they are comfortable at 60, 70 percent. Then still they are hooked up to the cook food. And I I don't blame them because I I tell cooked food is like is is the first of all is the dad food. And it is uh we uh all are addicted to the cook food, it is as bad as smoking cigarettes. So I know it is a bold statement, people are going to be very angry, but uh this is science says that, Mother Nature says that, I am the live example. In my book, I gave 21 years of my medical record, my blood reports, everything is up there. So it is not just a fluffy talk. Nobody wants to believe. I know that everybody is very skeptical. There are millions of people talking something different, and I am nothing against anybody, everybody is wonderful, but what I want to do, I want to tell the truth, back it up with the data. Now, this is the science, not just fluffy talk. If you have an issue, talk to me, call me, challenge me, tell me what is wrong. So far, I have not found a doctor who can say that, hey, actually, what you are doing is wrong.

Jack Graham 18:57

Um well, I'll push back a little bit, but first back to what you're saying about the experiment and just taking note. I I love that approach. Like you should be experimenting with this sort of stuff, and like you said, doing it for yourself and just journaling on how you feel or just jotting down how those changes, because a lot of people will, you know, go to raw food, but then they don't actually pay attention to what is happening in their body or in their life, and it's like, well, is it working? You don't know. So like I said, just having that approach of just small little experiments, you can just swap, like you said, 25%, see what happens, then go to 50% and just keep increasing from there. Yeah, I love that. And then like touching on the I guess science-backed world, like everybody likes to be backed by science, but you just have to be so careful, especially when it comes to nutrition. A lot of the studies are funded by a company that wants a certain result from that study. And like if you act like I think everybody should take the time to learn how to read like studies, right? Because a lot of the time there might be a study done, but it's on 10 people. And like changing you might get a positive result from 10 people, but there's billions of people on planet Earth. So that's such a small percentage of the population that it's worked for, it's not really going to work for everybody. So like experiences like yours where you've got the blood work to show, like, this is what I've done, this is how it worked, I feel great, this is the blood work, it shows that it I'm healthy. I think more ex examples like that over a longer period as well, like you said, 16 years is a long period to be doing something like this, which is awesome because like I said, most of the studies are maybe a couple of weeks, a couple of months at the most. So this is sort of long-term change. So a couple of pushback sort of questions towards like the raw foods. A big one is uh a lot of people will want to cook food because it kills all the germs or bacteria or whatever you need to to actually digest the food safely.

SPEAKER_03 21:19

Do you you fell uh sick? I said no. Nobody have the first hand experience. I said, okay, let me try. If I fall sick, I will quit. I'm I'm not doing anything okay, I'm going to do even if if I fall sick. Let me see, you know what what I can do. And uh that's something which is uh uh kept me going, that that experiment. At the same time, in 2009, my nephew, he was a valedictorian coming out of the school, seven years of medical scholarship, he sent me so many articles. Articles. Uncle, don't eat, cook food. He's a brilliant guy. Seven years scholarship must be the brilliant, right? So out of love, affection, concern, he sent so many articles. I read, but I said, you know what, this is all again, as you said, this all who who is writing and why and how what what is the the real science behind it? And I I didn't so I wanted to try on myself. So the same nephew now today is an oncologist, and he says, Uncle, keep doing what you're doing. My sister says, I wish I can do what you are doing. So they're very happy. They change their song. Now, but the the what I'm it's like the it's a myth that cooked food kills all the jumps. Of course, you know, you have to be little carefully when you bring the fruits and vegetables from the market, you wash it well. And even some pesticide and this, that okay, you put some white vinegar and kill it, or so keep it in the water for a while, they'll die. And warm water you use. See, if there is a problem, there is a solution. If you run away from the problem, it's not going to solve the problem. So, okay, because there is a pesticide and jumps and this, that okay, I don't want to eat, and you are not eating that, and you are eating more junk food, which is more harmful than this pesticide and and all jumps and whatever. I am eating that same food 16 years. No sickness. Never went to doctor out of food poisoning. I never I saw the lot of people they are eating cook food and they have to go to the doctor for food poisoning. I never and I've I'm I'm traveling a lot. It's not that only in Los Angeles. I went to Bahamas, I went to Punta Ganas, I went to India, one month remote place. I mean it's what people say that you are going to die. I said, okay. Let happen, whatever happened. I never fell sick, I never went to doctor for any any stomach issue. You have to be vigilant, you have to be a little careful. You you are not just blindly putting anything in the mouth. When you you start, see, when you are you have awareness, you know actually what you are talking even. People even talk rubbish, don't know because it's just coming at no no awareness. They know what they are wearing, they know what is the environment. They should know what they are putting in their mouth. This is so important, you don't just put anything in your mouth somebody is offering you. If it is clean, yeah, you can eat. But if it's not clean, politely wash it, clean it. So, and if you don't feel comfortable, don't eat. I mean, it's this sometimes you have to be a little selective and no offense to anybody. This is your body. You are taking care of your body without offending. If I go somewhere and it is the the food is filthy, you know, it's not good, not hygienic way they they handled it, I will not touch that food. Period. And no offense to them. Maybe it is good for them, but it is not good for me, I'm not going to eat. So I I'm I'm a very selfish person. I want to take care of myself first. And only way I can take care of myself, I have to stick to my rules. That hey, this is what I like, I'm going to eat this way. If you want to like you eating the other way, it's fine. I'm not telling you what you should do, but don't tell me what I should do.

Jack Graham 25:53

I'm laughing because I'm the same. Like when it comes to going out or eating out, going out with friends to eat somewhere, they're always like, Oh, will Jack be happy with this? Because I'm so picky on like the food that is given to me. Like, and like you said, I've only got one body, and I know I've been in around food and this industry for long enough. I know that you know, one bad meal not handled well can really ruin your life. So it's pay it it's just pays to pay attention to it. Like I said, asking why. Like, why is this study being done, or why is this person telling me this, or why is this person giving me this food? Like just stop, ask why. Like you said, a lot of people just accept and then just not even ask why. And then you become more aware. You're aware of the food and how what it's doing to your body and where it's coming from, and then like you said, you have a more appreciation for your body and how it feels and how you feel and the impact on your world. So yeah. Your book. What will people learn from reading through your book?

SPEAKER_03 27:06

So anything is uh if you want to learn, you have to understand first. If you are if you want to learn piano, the day one you are not going to learn piano or any any instrument, any musical instrument or anything else. So you have to understand first. So what I'm giving is a guardrail to the people who want to at least understand, forget about doing it. But once you understand, then there is a kind of uh you get some kind of confidence to to do it, at least a little bit. And that's what I'm giving. I I'm not giving recipes, how what you should eat. No. Okay, first of all, why we are eating. So we are eating, and people generally say, oh, because we get hungry and we have to survive, and this and that, all those reason, and all okay, it's okay reason. But the bottom line is we are eating to produce energy. Energy is everything. That day we born and day we die, with between that period we are creating energy for our body. We start making energy at the birth, and at the end we stop making energy, and that's the end of the story. We are gone out of this planet. So energy is so important, how to create better energy? How if you don't have understanding, you're never going to create better energy. But once you know, you know, this is how you can create not only better energy, enough energy, and I consider energy as a currency. So whether you are using your Australian dollar and I'm using my US dollar, but that dollar is a currency, it gives us power to handle our life. If person has enough money, they they do everything wonderful. They eat well, they dress well, the shoes is good, the car is good, the house is good, they take vacation, they they enjoy the life to the fullest because they have enough, enough, enough money. The people who do not have enough money barely do pay the mortgage, struggling to make car payment, cannot go vacation, they have to work hard, food, this, that, school, college, da-da-da-da, whatever everything. Now, exactly the same way our body functions. If you have enough energy, it means you have enough currency. Now you're not only the maintaining the body, but you are actually doing over and above. Now you can do, you play music. Now you have enough time because you are not tired, your brain is not fogged, and at the 6 o'clock after coming from the work, you have enough energy to do music. You do want to do painting, uh you want to go running, whatever you want to do, you you have now extra energy, so now you can do whatever extra thing you can do, and the the the reason is because our body producing energy, the first preference goes to the brain, because brain is consuming 20 to 25 percent of the energy, so energy goes there first, the second preference is to our heart. So, second, you know, without this tool, our body is not going to function. So they get the priority. Now, if you have not enough energy, everything is now rationing. Now, instead 100% going to the brain, it is going 80%. So your brain barely functioning, that's it, is not smart enough and cannot do any creativity. Now it is fogged because of lack of energy. Your heart is also functioning just enough to keep you breathing. But if you want to run, it is going to collapse. Exactly. So, see, all these other organs are not even getting enough energy. So, my equation is if you have enough energy, so now everything, your kidney, your lung, your liver, everything is maintained properly, cleaning properly, and every day our millions of cells are dying. We have to recoup, regenerate those cells. Now it won't come from thin air, it requires energy. So this this Mother Nature made this factory so good, but this factory needs enough energy to function. And if we take the poison, phi poison we are I'm saying in I wrote this in the book, is the refined sugar, refined salt, refined oil, any kind of oil, um, dairy and grains. This phi poison, if we take, it is screwing up our factory, and now the the malfunction of the energy, now energy is not enough, and whole life is now is is malfunction. So that is the whole thing in the book. And I I spelled it out nicely, as much as possible nicely, you know. I have to tell the truth. I know a lot of people get upset, but well, I have to, I'm not just uh writing for to write a book. I'm not just an author, you know. It's like I I'm I'm writing this to tell the truth, to distribute the truth. And fortunately, this book has been accepted by Library of Congress, permanent place it got. They accepted it. Being a as I said again, being a businessman, being a non-medical person to write the book on health and wellness is like uh more than qu climbing uh rest. And but I did it and uh thank God, you know, so far it's so good. Yeah.

Jack Graham 33:26

Yeah, well, congratulations. Thank you. And like I said, more people sharing their stories like you that are just an everyday person that don't, you know, like I was saying before, if somebody's doing a study, they sort of need to get a result and to get enhance their career or get to the next level, whatever they're trying to do. So I won't go into that too much more, but yeah. But the energy as a currency, that is probably the biggest takeaway of the month of this year. That that is a great analogy. Like a lot of the time on this podcast, I have people come on and talk about passion and drive and trying to live a better life and find a life that is true to them. That's what this podcast is all about, like living your true life. And money obviously always comes up. And I do believe you can like I'm not saying money's good or bad, but you can have a good life without money. Like you need to love yourself first, and then money is just uh an extension of that, and you can have a good life, but you need to have that good life first. But energy, you need that energy. Like you can't that there's an there's no, you know, way of you know improving your life without that energy. And like you said, you need that energy, you need to have energy so then your brain functions properly. If your brain isn't functioning properly, you're not gonna want to get up in the morning, you're not gonna want to exercise, you're not gonna want to start a business, go to work, work hard, provide for your family, whatever you want to do, because it all starts with that energy. So it is so important, and I think a lot of people skip that, and it is a currency, but more energy you have, the better life you're gonna have like you're gonna live, and the people around you will notice as well. So I'm I'm I'm excited about that, obviously excited about that topic. But that's just yeah, that's a really good takeaway. And I think it's a lot of things uh people just skip over it. Like they'll go to the the self-improvement, they'll do all the self-work and all this other stuff, like the internal mind, but they just forget about the energy, and it all starts there. If you haven't got that, nothing is going to improve.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

Absolutely, yeah. And this is not I I I wrote this mantra many times in this book. Life is energy, energy is life.

Jack Graham 35:48

100%.

SPEAKER_03 35:50

And this is if you even if you go and Google and find out who coined this sentence they are attributing to me. This is this is uh the old thing, even Socrates and Aristotle and everybody says that. And but the thing is is is saying so everything is there, but why nobody is following it? Why people are not understanding it. So it is is uh I'm not trying to say that okay, I I coined this, but I'm using this more often, and I want to make sure this goes into the people's mind in in a plain and simple language, not a very scientific jargon. There is no uh you know omega-3 and blah blah blah and all those stuff is is like people get confused. And that is if you if you notice in in the whole planet, human is the only confused animal don't know what to eat and don't know what not to eat. All others have a hardwired intelligence. You go to any animal, any insect, any bird, any fish, they know exactly what to eat, and they know exactly what not to eat. And our babies and our forget our babies, even adults, they don't know what to eat, and they they go with uh all those stuff and whatever our ancestor and whatever is the habit and culture and now TV and advertisement and magazines, whatever they say, and some tug, you know, they they say, oh, use this, this bar is so good for protein. What I hide and gullible people, they buy and they eat. I was one of them, so I'm not blaming anybody. I was one of them and I I didn't add that awareness. Nobody told me, but thank God, as I said, this book, Mother when I surrendered to Mother Nature, Mother Nature becomes such a kind teacher, Guru, gave me all the information. This is not something I created, this is all already there. Mother Nature is telling us so so many years, but we are not following it. And so it gave me, it is like a Mother Nature's call to me, today you are now doing it, you're capable, write it down and tell you this what you say is the energy. Just because this book is getting popularity, now many people are asking, hey, where is what about the audiobook? I never thought I'm gonna make an audiobook, but now I'm I'm uh uh going into that direction, and today I decided to go for it. And the thing is, audiobook, I can have it, somebody can narrate, but they say it's not the author read the book is more effective way. Your voice, your thoughts, your you are saying. And it requires a lot of work. I said, okay, I'm I'm going to go for it, and I'm going to go for now audiobook also. Maybe I don't know, four months, six months, but it will come out.

Jack Graham 39:09

Well, as we've been talking about, things that take a lot of hard work are definitely worth it. So I hope you do do it.

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Yes.

Jack Graham 39:17

Uh I wanted to talk about supplements because a lot of the time that's where people go. Like taking it back to the very start when we started talking about humans and are we the smartest species, we might be the smartest, but we're easily gullible and we're easily confused. And you combine those two and you can be sold anything, unfortunately. And a lot of the time, especially with me, like when I start working on nutrition with clients, it's like, well, what supplements do I need? And I'm like, well, let's just figure out what you need to eat first and then supplements come into it later. But people just love to jump to the end and get those supplements. Like I think I before we started recording, I was like, you look like you're about 50, like you're looking great, you obviously have a lot of energy, you're absolutely smashing it, and creating all these new things, like business, book, audiobook, and you have all this energy to go out and do things. Do you take supplements? Like what are you taking, if anything?

SPEAKER_03 40:17

So I am not against supplements. If a person is um needs something, everybody's different. So uh I used to take supplements when I used to run marathons. So during marathons, my my joints need extra, my knee needs. I'm not 20 now. I'm 66, 65, 67. So I have to recoup. After running 10 miles, 20 miles, if I'm I don't recoup, then I'm going to hurt myself. So taking that supplement is is is like a beneficial for that particular reason. I'm not taking supplements like people are eating supplements like popcorn. They love it. It it is free, it is somebody said it is good, okay. Take, take, take from Monday to Sunday every day, you know. Eating the I'm against that. Don't it it is not going to do any any benefit to you. Only thing is you are making your pee and poop very expensive. So that that that yeah, but again, on the flip side, I just lost my blood work, and when I did, I went to the doctor. I said, you know what, doctor, you never checked my B12 and D3. Now, being a vegetarian, people have B12 deficiency. And the doctor says, Yeah, you're right, you know. So I pushed him and he did it. And I had D3 also is depends, you know, if you're not going too much in a sun or sun is not there all the season. In Europe, most of a lot of people are are facing D3. So if you it it again, if you go for that and if doctor prescribed, take it. But don't just go because it's is cheap. Don't go because it's some you saw some advertisement on the TV and because somebody said it's good. No, that that is nonsense. That is doesn't it doesn't make sure I'm not against it, but I'm I want to be I want to tell your listeners and everybody that hey, you know, this is your body. Don't put anything anybody says, have a rational mind. Think about it. You are not only spending your hard earned money and giving it to those mafia, but you are hurting yourself. This is two-way you are in loss loss. Be have some rational mind and and do something which is helpful to you. So as I said, running and if you need, take it. There's nothing wrong about it, and you take the highest quality, don't take garbage. Don't go to go and they buy the cheapest one. No, then you do the research. Which one is is the the highest quality and which one is not. And you are going to people, if somebody wants to drink a wine, they go and find, oh this wine is so good and this. So why? Because they they they are into that subject. So once you are in there, you are going to find some real uh a good one, whatever the you you are taking supplement, but take the the the best quality.

Jack Graham 43:34

Yeah, 100% agree, and I always say that quality matters, right? And even when it comes to food, quality matters as well. And I I think a lot of people will just take a supplement, like you said, they be because they heard it's good for them, and it it might be good for them, but do you actually know that you need it? Like getting your bloods done, like you said, like test these things. And for those That aren't really into blood test like or don't want to get regular blood tests, like we've said before, track. Like, are you tracking? Like, are you just taking this supplement thinking that it's going to change? Like, are you documenting anything? Like you said, it could be a good supplement, but it could just be making your poop and your wee expensive. And what's the point of doing it if it's not working? So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

I just started taking D3 and B12. Just started. Uh two months, one month back, yeah. It's like, and that is also, I'm not going to continue. I'm going to go after 90 days again or six months and ask the doctor, hey, you know, what do you see? Because it it is sometimes the D3 you need to boost, and then you have to stop, or maybe you have to continue, or now your body is started producing, and maybe you are going more in a sun, then you you can have the D3 and stuff. But it again all depends. You is if you don't monitor, uh it is all doesn't make any sense. So it's like if you are if you monitoring it, then it's like okay. It's like this. If you don't know your your you know your goal, any path will take you there. Any you just keep going and yeah. So if and once you know your destination, then you you have to decide where to from where to go there. So yeah, it it is little mindfulness, a little awareness, little consciousness, something you need, you do something which is fruitful for you and your body and your family.

Jack Graham 45:37

Well, actually, I I finish off with one question for all my guests. And it's a practical tip that you can leave all the listeners with. So if you could get every single person on planet Earth listening today to do one practical thing to help them live a long, healthy, happy life, what would that one thing be? Start listening to your body. So most of the time people get some signals.

SPEAKER_03 46:11

Our body has a lot of sensors, it gives you signal. But our we are habitual to neglect it. We are habitual to avoid it. It's okay, you know, headache is a headache. No, it's not just headache is not headache. Headache tells you something is wrong. Now, so listening body means just not just just if you contemplate what happened, why I have headache. Means do maybe the water is the dehydration is is the cause. Maybe I lack of food, maybe is this is suffocating, I'm not getting enough oxygen, or maybe my tummy is bad, you know, is producing so much gas, and now because of that it is a headache. Why is the headache? Or maybe I have too much stress, or maybe I didn't slept well. There can be many, many reasons. But when you listen to your body means, now you you have to, because this is your body and only you know. If you go to doctor, they are going to give you the painkiller. Hey, you have a headache, have painkiller and get out. That's not the remedy. When you listen to your body means now you have to figure out what was the reason I had headache. And because if you are not getting headache every day and once in a year you got it, and so then it is a matter of concern. Don't neglect it. Take it seriously, even that small matter like headache, this is you are listening to your body. That body is giving you signal, and now you get you are getting the clue. But you if you don't uh take that clue as a clue, that you are wasting uh the the whole intelligence of your body, and and it's like if body wants to tell you even more, but is you you are not listening even the small signal, body says, you know what, I don't want to waste my time. Body is very, very it it is it's like uh your dog. If you don't treat your dog well, your dog is not going to treat you well. It is it is that that simple. So, you know, you have to treat your body good, your body is going to treat you good. It is it's a two-way, it is not a one-way love, you know, it's it has to be two-way affair, and this is how you you are going to get benefit. Once you do that, okay, now your body says, okay, he understood because of maybe hydration, you know, this dehydration is the was and he drank water, now he's good, or food, or whatever it is. This is how you you harness the the body, mind, intelligence, and put everything on the track. This is what I mean. Listen to your body.

Jack Graham 49:14

I love that. So many good takeaways in this episode. Aksha, I appreciate you coming on and sharing your wisdom and all those insights. Like I said, that energy analogy. I I'm gonna take that and run with that. Life is energy and energy is life. 100%. I'll link everything in the show notes, but is there any particular place you want to send anybody, uh the listeners to connect with you?

SPEAKER_03 49:37

So I don't I'm not selling anything. I have no particular agenda. I'm not doing this for name, fame, money, popularity, nothing. It is I'm I want to distribute the truth. If anybody wants the truth, buy the book, read it, understand it, question me, have a dialogue, let's see, you know, and so that that's the only way you you we can go forward and we can have some constructive uh the environment where everybody can get benefits.

Jack Graham 50:10

100% agree and I appreciate that. Thanks again for coming on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 50:15

Thank you, Jack. Thank you very much for inviting.

Jack Graham 50:18

Thank you for being here at the end of the episode. Obviously, you've enjoyed it and it's helped you find your true form. Before you go, if you do one thing, interact with this episode. Five-star review, positive comments, like, subscribe, however you can. Even copy the show link and send it to one friend or family member that you know will benefit from this episode as well. It really does help this podcast grow, helps me find more people, and helps them find their true form. So I appreciate you doing that, appreciate your time and listening to this episode. I will catch you in the next one.