And overcoming teenage issues like acne, pcos your niche area with a diet and lifestyle approach. Rohini, what would you say to anyone you know like having to reduce their sugar, oil and salt intake to, matter of fact, address any hormone related condition?

Yeah. So I would definitely suggest you know, focusing on, rather than what you're taking out, what you're bringing in, because we know that women with pcos have higher risks of disordered eating. So it's especially important to just be mindful of that. But things that you can do include things like, um, including more herbs and spices, lemon and lime vinegars rather than lots of salt and oil and sugar, and with sugar, it's a case of really looking at whole food sources. Can you use mashed banana or dates in your baking and things instead, or can you go for fresh fruit that satisfies your sweet tooth.

Cinnamon can really help with sugar cravings and I love having sweeter teas like licorice tea. That can really help with curving sugar cravings. But I don't completely. You know I never say something's completely off limits. If there's a delicious vegan donut and I really want to have it, I will enjoy every bite without guilt or shame. But it's just being mindful.

Generally, I really love my own food, so I make some amazing desserts and I found really great ways of even making and desserts like gargica halva using almond flour and not using and using raisins and dates rather than using lots of added sugar. So it really you can explore a variety of dishes um on this lifestyle, but definitely lifestyle is the first line of treatment and, regardless of everything else that you hear out there, even if you need medications, which is so important to take evidence based advice and take medications if you need them Remember that for PCOS, lifestyle is the first line of management. So don't neglect all of these aspects your stress management, your sleep, your movement, avoiding too much alcohol, obviously, avoiding, avoiding smoking, making sure you've got good relationships, a good support system and you're investing in your relationships with your friends and your family and, most importantly, of course, filling your plate with lots of wonderful whole plant foods very well said, and your eight-step plan to live pcos free.

I think whatever we have talked about applies to one cooking easy, eating healthy and living a great lifestyle in terms of you know all the lifestyle pillars that you have already addressed as well, so it's not just for PCOS or any other hormone based condition, it's for you know the whole spectrum out there. But specifically focusing on your beautiful book with your mom, the Eight Step Plan to Live PCOS Free and, yes, not doing like a yo-yo dieting, but eating meaningful. So what do you have to say to that? And I know you have beautifully outlined a 21-day meal and lifestyle plan there, including what one can drink. It's not just what can one eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner, but it also includes what one can make as a meaningful drink as well. So why don't you talk about all of that?

Oh, thank you, yes. So with regards to the book, my mother wants to write a general women's health book and she wants to cover every women's health condition and I said, mom, you're only going to be able to write two pages on every single topic. Why not write the book on PCOS? And you know they always. There's a saying you always write the book you wish you had, and this is a book I wish I had 10 years ago, and it's relevant for anyone living with hormonal issues, so anyone who's struggling with weight gain, maybe in perimenopause and menopause or anything, because about 70-80% of the advice in it is applicable to all people, all genders, all ages. It's really about reducing your risk of the most common chronic lifestyle diseases and we know that women with PCOS are at higher risk of things like type 2 diabetes Over half of all women with PCOS will develop type 2 diabetes by the time they're 40. And higher risk of things like pregnancy-related diabetes, cardiovascular disease, womb cancer. So it's a pretty difficult condition. So, remember, one in ten have pcos. In some studies, some south asian studies, they've shown that women in india have as much as one in four women have pcos and it's the most common hormonal condition to affect women and some of the common symptoms are things like acne, excess hair growth, irregular periods, excess weight gain, insulin resistance and diabetes, and obviously it's the leading cause of infertility as well.

You know the book. We include a lot of science. It's got over 500 recipes but we 500 references. It's got about 30 of my own recipes actually. But we try to make it as accessible as possible by breaking it into chapters and using examples of real life patients or using composite case studies to bring them to life so you can really imagine all the different people that can have PCOS and how it can present.

But the reason we did you know plan and we devoted part four to nutrition is because it really is the cornerstone in PCOS and sometimes people with PCOS are just told by their doctor go away and come back when you want to have a baby and you're not given the tools to empower yourself and actually manage your condition. And that's often because of a variety of reasons. It can be the doctor just not having enough time to work with you. Sometimes it's actually a lack of knowledge of how to apply these lifestyle and exercise changes. Just telling someone to lose weight is not the most empowering message, because it's very difficult without knowing you know what to actually eat, how to move, all of these things. So we try not to make it prescriptive and say to people just do what you can. If you can do just 10 minutes, that's better than zero minutes, you know. Just building it up gradually, being more mindful of these things and, obviously, dealing with the emotional stress of living with conditions. So we include activities, whether it's skipping, walking in nature, colouring in yoga, meditation, breath work. All of this plays a huge role in managing your condition, and we created the plan to make it more easy for people to follow and also just to give people that hope that you can overcome this.

Do not let your PCOS define you, and I certainly didn't. I totally embrace the fact that I have PCOS. I don't believe that you can completely cure the condition and reverse it, but you can certainly see remission and you can manage your symptoms, and that's what living PCOS free means. And so, yeah, the book came out for sale in the UK in April and in the US in June, and it's available worldwide on things like the Book Depository. But if you enjoyed it, then definitely leave us a review, because it shows the book to people with PCOS who are on Amazon and other places and it can really help.

But's why we wrote it is because I don't. I think I benefited so much from having my mother. My mother helped me so much with. You know, once I got my official diagnosis in the pandemic, my mum helped me to apply everything I knew, support me, give me the support of having that gynecology and lifestyle medicine background, and I wanted to share her knowledge with everyone else and also share what I've learned, because no one should have to struggle for years not having answers and for many women that's the case the dots never get joined because it's such a complex diagnosis.

Beautiful and just some quick references for people. So what about you know, again emphasizing on the sources of iron and calcium in a plant-based diet? And if you can give us or walk us through like a quick three-day meal idea or breakfast, lunch, dinner, I think that'll be great for even college students or folks that are hard-pressed for time. Oh, totally yeah.

Yeah, okay, so great sources of iron. Great sources of iron include things like dark leafy greens, whole grains like quinoa and oats, tofu and tempeh beans of all kinds, particularly things like red kidney beans, and then blackstrap molasses is a great addition as well. Dried fruit, particularly things like apricots yeah, lentils are an amazing source of iron Dried apricots, cashew nuts. So, yeah, having a mixture of whole plant foods will definitely help. And with iron, the key thing is a few things. You don't want to be drinking large amounts of red wine or tea or coffee with iron-rich meals, so avoiding your chai with your chapati is a good rule to remember. And if you're having um too much, uh, if you're. So if you want to avoid that. And a good way to enhance iron in meals is to pair it with vitamin c rich foods, so pairing it with oranges and things like that. So, um, a good source of vitamin c are, for, for example, red bell peppers. So combining iron-rich foods, like maybe broccoli and greens in a stir-fry with red bell peppers is a great option. Or putting fresh berries, which are rich in vitamin C, on your iron-rich oats. These are just simple tips that make a huge difference.

You want to go for fortified plant milk, so soya milk which is fortified with calcium, or calcium set tofu. That's going to give you really good amounts of calcium. And there are also naturally occurring sources, so citrus fruits like oranges, things like dark leafy greens particularly low oxalate greens, like your kale is a great source. Rocket leaves are a good source of of calcium. And you also get calcium from other legumes and beans white beans like cannellini beans, and also grains. And also nuts and seeds, like almonds I already mentioned before. And and there are some other nutrients to pay attention to, like selenium, which is important for immune functioning. That's a great source of brazil nuts, so just having one or two brazil nuts a day will give you what you need.

And then zinc rich foods as well, and iodine as well can be found in some sea vegetables, but in the uk we don't iodize our salt. In the us I know that you do it, and so I take an iodine supplement as well. And then, with omega-3s, you want to be getting in black seed or chia seeds every day, or walnuts as well six walnut halves or a tablespoon of ground black seed one to two tablespoons, it depends on your needs and things. And that's really important If you're trying to get pregnant or you are pregnant or breastfeeding, you want to probably take an algae-derived omega-3 supplement, and that's something that you know. The data is still not 100% out on this, but if you can afford it and you want to take it and it can help with some things like inflammatory skin conditions, like acne, then it's worth exploring. And when it comes to a menu, I think my number one breakfast tip is to have a bowl of oatmeal. I'm saying oatmeal because I know that's what you call it in the US, but it's so versatile.

Yeah, porridge it's like cheap and plentiful. You can put some plant milk like soy milk in there, and berries like blueberries, cinnamon, which again helps with blood glucose control, and you can top it with all kinds of delicious things, whether it's goji berries or flax, or chopped date or banana kiwi so many different options. So that's my number one porridge tip, and you can make it as cheap as you want. If you're a student, you can just have regular oats with banana. It doesn't have to be fancy, but it was going to give you slow release energy. And then for lunch I love things like baked potatoes with a salad and homemade hummus. I make my own hummus. I use tahini instead of using loads of oil. A lot of the shop-bought ones are not as nutritious. And things like curry. I love a warming curry. I try to eat more of my energy intake earlier in the day, so front-loading your calories, so having a bigger lunch and dinner. And then the evening meal is a bit lighter and smaller, but again, this varies day to day.

I have a very active life here in London, so I sometimes socialize. I go out for dinner with my friends, so this is remember. All of this stuff has to fit into a healthy mindset. If you don't have a good relationship with food, the rest of this stuff is just not, you know, not important. You need to first work on your relationship with yourself and having a good relationship with food. If you're fearing food and you're frightened that's going to be detrimental to your health.

And for an evening meal, I love things like soups. I love a big salad where I put avocado and cucumber, fennel, radish, beetroot peppers, rocket or arugula you know all different things and that's really nice. Sometimes I make homemade veggie burgers. I love wraps and I put tempeh pieces and sauteed vegetables. I love stir fries because you can get a real diversity of plants and the American Gut Project showed we need to try to get at least 30 different plants a week.

So I love things like that and I love cooking Indian food as well. So I love just simple, hearty things like khichdi or chole or rajma. I love that kind of thing. So bean based dishes are amazing. So really I try and mix it up. I don't tend to eat the same food every day, but I do suggest trying some of these dishes because they are so cheap and plentiful and I share a lot of recipes and tips on Instagram at Rahimi Bajaykul, just my name on Instagram and my mum is also at Dr Neethi Bajaykul. We both love sharing what we're cooking and what we're eating on there and just inspiring others, because I think once we see how much there is to enjoy and explore with plant-based food, honestly it's there's no going back that's just fascinating I will also mention.

So I do love having things like um, a warming, warming drink. So I love having red bush tea or robust tea with a splash of oat milk or I you know you can have different things like coffee, matcha, whatever you're having, and sometimes I'll make a turmeric and ginger tea and for sometimes, for dessert, I'll bake something at home so I'll make like muffins made out of mashed bananas and buckwheat flour and walnuts, because I have a really big sweet tooth. So I usually do have something sweet every day. It might just be a square of dark chocolate, but I it makes my soul happy. I would feel very sad if I didn't have anything to enjoy at the end of the day.

Well, a well-deserved. You know small indulgence right, and I guess you have also emphasized enough on the role of exercise for better mental health. You know, though one may be in a rush, you know getting back in right. You know, like every small movement counts, right, just make it five minutes, ten minutes, whatever that is possible for sure so, whether it's need-based or whether it's you know, inspiration, just like from this conversation.

I just hope that several more folks would, you know, just include it. You said it very beautifully you know, like, think about what you can include more rather than taking out whatever you know you need to. I mean. So I guess that's when you know it becomes like a preventive mindset versus, you know, like an opportunity to do more right? So, just always see the positive rather than, you know, focusing on, you know, what you shouldn't do, because I guess the minute you tell someone, hey, don't do this, I think that becomes a barrier to whatever progress they can make right?

So such a fascinating conversation and thank you so much for joining us here on the show and taking time to highlight how easy living healthy can become. As a lifestyle medicine professional and as a nutritionist, I think you have just sent the message loud and clear. Rohini, thank you so much, and your Instagram handle at Rohini Bajekal and your website. I'll be sure to include all of that in the show notes and, with your permission, if I can just put out there on the show notes, like the three-day meal plan that we talked about from your 21-day stuff, from your book, you know I'll be happy to include that as well.

Sure, absolutely. Just what I mentioned is fine. If you want to include that or put one recipe from the book, that would be fine. I don't know if I think I have a link, so I'll send you that okay, awesome.

and to listeners, as always, follow me on instagram at vaipkumar and follow the podcast, rate the podcast, leave a review from your podcast app of choice and I'll be sure to bring yet another interesting guest and talk about yet another interesting topic on this show. Until next time, it's me Vai saying so long.