One Twenty Over 80: Healthy Ayurvedic Chocolate

Introduction to Dr. Neha Sareen 0:00

Hi everyone. I'm Doctor Sanjeev Goyal, and today you're listening to the advanced Anti-Aging and Technology Summit, and I'll be interviewing Doctor Nasreen. Doctor Sareen is a medical professional, chiropractor and entrepreneur. She's been in practice for the last ten years. She's a huge advocate of health and wellness, running a successful weight loss and anti-aging clinic outside of Toronto. Her goal is to change the lives of as many people as possible with her innovative health measures that she implements in her daily practice needs since childhood has always been had a sweet obsession with the tantalizing treat we call chocolate.

Proclaiming as an absolute favorite food, she would indulge in it every day. Her love for it did not stop with snacking on the regular. As she got older, she realized that the vast variety of chocolate and not not just the candy bars, you get the corner store, but the delectable the delicacies born from the cocoa bean. Once she got a taste of her high quality artisanal chocolates, her world changed forever. Her passion grew. She gained interest in the process of making chocolates and combining flavors.

Her inspirations come from a diverse flavors of the world. After years of dedicating to her craft, she proudly calls herself a chocolatier. As health care practitioner, she has always been very health conscious, and with this she dreamt of joining her two worlds chocolate and health. She wanted to combine her first true love chocolate, with her true calling in life, helping others to formulate her current passion a healthy treat that would not only be pleasing to one's palate, but also to their heart, body and mind.

And it has taken her vast knowledge in health and wellness, incorporate into her expertise of flavors, foods, and, of course, chocolate to create a new brand of healthy chocolate called 120 over 80. You can find it at 120 over 80. Com. Welcome everyone! Today I have Doctor Neha Sareen who's going to be talking about our Vedic medicine and its influence on aging. So welcome Neha. How are you? I'm great. How are you? So maybe you want to talk a little bit about your journey of your health. Like how did you, get to where you are now with your interest in robotic medicine?

Yeah. So I've always been interested in health. I'm a chiropractor. I've been in practice now for, ten years.

Journey into Ayurveda and Natural Healing 2:23

And, so I've always been into, like, the natural healing type of thing. And then with Verba, it's funny. I'm of, like, East Indian descent. And I remember growing up, my grandparents would always kind of, like, have a remedy for us, like whatever was going on in our lives, like whether it's just like a cold or, you know, just anything. And they would always say, hey, why don't you take this or, you know, do this sort of thing. And we would always, like, argue with them and we'd say like, yeah, like, what are you talking about? You're not a doctor.

You shouldn't be taking things that you're, like, bringing from over there, over here. Because we're born and raised here. Right? And so they would be coming back and forth from like, living in India, living here sort of thing. And then like over the last few years, I started to kind of like hearing more about these herbs and these like ancient remedies from India. And I realized that they were the same things that my grandparents were trying to, like, get us to use. And they've been using them, and they had been using them for years, and it really worked for them.

So that's kind of like where it started. And I realized that, wow, there is actually a benefit of taking things that are not, you know, the standard of what we take here, like the medications that we take here and that sort of thing. So that really piqued my interest. And then I just from there I started like learning more about it. I'm also very much so into, like food and like healthy food. And I'm also a chocolatier, which, you know, so, I want to kind of try to incorporate all of that. Good, the good ingredients of the herbs into my into my work.

So it kind of just kind of snowballed into like this love for, learning about these, these natural things that are really, really good for us. So let's okay, let's take a step back for the listeners about to talk about our weather, what it is. I mean, I think people may have a sense that it's a type of, you know, traditional medicine from from India. But if you could kind of give what's the basis of it and, how does it work? So area Vedic medicine or area Veda is the world's oldest holistic healing system.

I mean, it was made error created in India over 5000 years ago and people in India have been using it, for, from time like from, from that time period. And basically Veda is a combination of two root words a new meaning life and Veda, meaning knowledge or wisdom. And when you bring those two things together, that gives you the wisdom of life. And that is essentially how like the premise of movie, that it's very different from conventional medicine, where our focus here is, disease. It's not disease focused at all.

It does treat disease, it does do preventative measures for certain diseases. But the premise is to treat or work with a healthy being and keeping them healthy and then getting them to their optimal. An example of it would be an argue Veda. They feel that, you know you are. If one can treat a disease or condition, diagnose and treat it, they would be, considered, you know, an inadequate doctor. If someone could, I would say, diagnose and treat a condition before it manifests. They would be a good doctor.

But if you can, you know, preserve health and eliminate all disease causing factors, then you're an excellent doctor. And that's how, like the Vedic practice is. But they're not trying to, you know, just focus on you once you have this, this condition, they want to look at your whole body and they want to look at your, you know, they look at the mind, the body, the soul and kind of from there, figure out what you need to kind of be at your optimal, maintain your optimal and then for sure, like, not get a disease and, fight whatever you know is currently going on in your life that may not be of benefit to you in terms of your health.

And and yeah, it's really important to understand that it's you know, even with prevention like prevention, like these preventative techniques that we do here, they are again, are usually centered on disease and an area that that's like not the first name. Again, first name is preserve health. And then second treat assets.

Understanding Ayurveda and Its Holistic Approach 7:00

So let's let's try to dive that dive into that a little bit. So it's more than just the potentially herbs. It sounds like it's like giving herbs or these medicines are one aspect, but then it's potentially like a bodywork or could be energy like it is. Or is it. How would you classify that? I know there's these three, doses that, our bodies built on. So, if you want to maybe talk about what's your thoughts about that? So basically when treating with that there's so many different techniques. Again, everything is more nature based and natural based.

So the techniques you have dietary changes for sure is one. And that's where the herbs come in. And yes, that's where my interests lie. However, there is more of a physical aspect to, physical therapy, which is very different from the physical therapy that we do here, which is more like modality based and exercise based and that sort of thing. It's more like they do massage there and they do acupuncture. And then a lot of their therapy has to do with meditation, yoga, breathwork. So all stuff that is, one can kind of do on their own sort of thing, you don't need, you know, guidance is great and you can get that guidance because there's professionals in this domain.

However, it's also the natural type of types of things that you can kind of take into your control and, and you can handle on your own sort of thing. But yeah, my interest more so lies, with the herbs, just because I've seen that, you know, now there is more and more research on the herbs and it's being backed by science. So it's something like living in the Western world. I can really appreciate I'm in medicine, I'm in this field, and I kind of do feel like I need that to kind of say, okay, like I think, you know, this works and you should do it. Or even for myself.

And there's so much more research now on this topic, of these herbs that are treating all sorts of conditions and, you know, I'm talking, things from mood and sleep disorders and that sort of thing all the way to actual conditions. There's research out there on things like blood pressure. So maybe let's, let's take let's go by one by one. Maybe we can start with the what are the what are the top herbs and, and your, and where people you would see benefit from taking them. Okay. So, the top herbs would be the ones that we are now seeing in our health food stores here.

And those are also the top herbs and herbs that are obviously used over there. And, they're making their way over here quite quickly. The top three, I would say, are probably ashwagandha, turmeric and tulsi, which is also known as holy basil. So it's probably like it's probably it's probably advertised here. I still see, and or holy basil, it's nothing like the basil that we're used to, which is, you know, what we'll find in our marinara sauce or something? It's quite different. Right? I understand it's related.

Like they're related, like some type of the same, family. And so, like, these herbs, would be the top herbs I would say that we're seeing we're probably see a lot more coming up, like there's, which is Indian gooseberry. All these herbs have these amazing benefits. And actually they are categorized as adaptogens in modern science. They're technically like herbal, pharmaceuticals, I would say. So, like, nontoxic to the body. Of course, you know, you don't want to take on be like, a heap of them, but, they regulate stress, they rejuvenate the body.

They normalize, you know, our bodily functions, they provide a amazing immune, immune support against diseases. So they have so many, so many benefits. But, you know, the going back to the core principles every day that, excuse me, that is a natural way of healing. And it believes in nature. So it treats with nature. So again, these herbs come from the ground. They use them. And if you if you think back to like, you know, when we see movies or films from the past, like how were we treating, you know, how are we treating people?

They were like they had their mortar and pestle and they were grinding away and applying these herbs, you know, making little concoctions and cocktails, using these herbs. So, yeah, I would say there's a vast array of them, but, ashwagandha would probably be my number one. If you want to get into talking about. Yeah, ashwagandha is like an adaptogen. I know I've seen some research that potentially could help increase testosterone levels, but, you know, how should how should one take ashwagandha?

You know, you know, I'm it's it's pretty bitter. Yeah. It's it it's so. I mean, how would you recommend.

Top Ayurvedic Herbs: Ashwagandha, Turmeric, and Tulsi 12:00

Yeah. So first of all, yeah, ashwagandha is honestly, I would say it is, you know, it's known as the grandfather of herbs. In the area of the world, it's the top tonic. It's an energizer of the body. And yes, it definitely works on testosterone and that sort of thing, but it is the ultimate like adaptogen. It, it promotes healthy response to stress in the body. So it's one of the most popular herbs. And when I think of ashwagandha, I more so think about its response on the brain and all of the, the benefits that we can get from it because it has these great effects on the nervous system, brain cell function, it can relieve, physical fatigue, nervous exhaustion.

It actually, and research has shown that it can help with depression and anxiety because it, increases, the Gaba receptors and serotonin or enhances Gaba receptors and serotonin in our body. And then that means that Gaba can connect more easily to the Gaba receptor, and in turn, that decreases and decreases our anxiety. And that has been backed by research like there are there's a lot of research on ashwagandha now, and it's showing that it actually has effects in the brain. They have also done actually a lot of research on ashwagandha and its effects on, patients that have, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and they're using it as a treatment mechanism now because they're finding that, what what it does is it improves acetylcholine levels in the brain, because it's, I believe it inhibits the enzyme responsible for breaking down a set of choline.

And that, in turn, that improves our brain function and our memory. So we're seeing now that these supplements are being used probably in conjunction with, you know, medicine. But it's having a great effect, on patients that have a lot of, you know, different neurological issues, and issues to do with the brain. So when I think about sugar, that's my first thing that comes is I think this is a great thing to have clarity of mind and all that sort of thing. But again, it's it's an amazing urban it and it does so many more things.

It's an antioxidant. It like seeks out and destroys, free radicals. And we know that free radicals are very much so related to, you know, these age related diseases. So that's one thing. It also helps to kind of normalize our entire metabolism. It helps with hypothyroidism. It helps with balancing blood pressure, blood sugars your hormone levels like all these metabolic functions. So it's really great. How you would take it. Different forms. Definitely. The easiest way is it comes in capsule form and that's what you'll see on the market.

But then you see powder form. I really like the powder form. And, you know, you can mix it into anything. You can mix into your coffee. That's what I do. I mix mine into my coffee every morning. It gives a little bit of, a little bit of a bitter taste to it. But I mean, it's quite nice. You can mix it into, you know, your, your, your smoothie, whatever it is like. It's so easy to use. And it's not like you're taking, like the dosage is quite small itself. I think it's about like I do about half a teaspoon twice a day sort of thing.

So I, I do it with my morning coffee, but then it's also very calming and relaxing. So I also do in the evening with, with my tea. And it helps to put you to bed and relax you. So it's a it's a really good one. You know. Okay. And and let's talk about tumeric then, which I think it's also curcumin. Right. It's the same. Yeah. So curcumin is the active ingredient. In, in, in turmeric and turmeric is if African does not number one then it's turmeric for sure. And turmeric is probably the one that we hear more of.

Right. So turmeric is Starbucks. Every Starbucks latte is now. Exactly. And that's a great way to take turmeric. It's the it's probably one of the easiest ways of taking it. So turmeric is really amazing because the effects of turmeric it's it's an anti-inflammatory. That's essentially what it is. And it's one of the most popular herbs, from the east, that's made its way to the west. It's very, very popular in like, our Indian cooking. But again, it also comes in supplement form. So it's super easy to use, tumor capsules with essentially all they are is just turmeric.

But you will find that when you look at these supplements on the market, you'll often find it's turmeric plus something. And that something is usually black pepper. And the reason, why you'll find that when you are shopping for turmeric, you want that because as I said, the bioactive compound, the main ingredient in turmeric is the curcumin. And so curcumin, it's the active ingredient, but it's and it's great because it works on a cellular level. However, the problem with it is it's not it's it's a by the biotin.

Any of it doesn't work as well. It doesn't get absorbed in our body. And so it requires another ingredient to kind of help it absorb more. And so, the black pepper has an active ingredient in it called tapering and tapering. When it combines with the curcumin, it increases the bioavailability of the pure came in the turmeric by 20%. So the body absorbs it better. And that's when you get all of the benefits of turmeric. So reduces inflammation. That is the main one right. Like we've always worked I'm jumping ahead to the to the chocolate.

Have you added black pepper with the turmeric and the chocolate. Yeah. That you're doing. Yes. Yes. It has to be like so. And the levels have to be, you know, the abundance of the, the black pepper has to of course, correspond with the amount of turmeric you're putting in. But absolutely, if you want the benefits, if you want the benefits of, turmeric and you have must put black pepper to kind of get that because that curcumin is is the main component of the of the turmeric and makes you think that it gives it all that anti-inflammatory effect.

So it's really great. Turmeric. You know, there's they're we're using it on osteoarthritis patients, rheumatoid arthritis patients. It's helping with pain. It's it's helping with inflammation. So yeah anti-inflammatory effects are probably number one. But I mean turmeric to it. It helps with your mood memory learning. You know all these herbs to just do so much, which it's quite interesting. It prevents cell damage, reduces the free radicals as well. Oxidative stress. So it's really something. And turmeric is probably the easiest thing to implement because, you know, you can add it to your cooking.

You know, if you add it, if it's like one of your main spices, the way you, we add, you know, salt and pepper and then then you're solid. You don't have to take any supplement form. Okay. And then what's the what's the third one you mentioned. You mentioned a third romantic herb. So I would say, you know one of the most important herbs that we should really, really. And now's the time for this herb because it's all about immunity. And, you know, the, the climate of the world right now with Covid and all.

Tulsi. So Tulsi is, only basil, and it is probably the best herb in terms of immune response because it has broad spectrum antimicrobial activity. And that's what really interests me with Tulsi, because, again, Tulsi is one of those herbs that, you know, growing up in an Indian household, we we hear about because in sorry my, my, internet use going off, but, so basically with Tulsi, you'll find in India and whatnot that it is considered like the queen herb. It is actually, you know, holy basil is a holy herb.

It's in all Hindu households will either be growing it inside or they'll be growing it, you know, outside of their house, have the plant. We just a plant to eat a leaf of that plant not. And you know what you can you can just totally take a leaf off of it. And actually with Tulsi you can use every part of it like the stem, the leaf. And they have different effects and whatnot. But the leaf for sure is probably the most, you know, the most used. And it's so versatile because again, you can grind it down.

You can just believe you can put it in your tea and make it, you know, make whatever you want. But it really is great because it can work against a range of human and animal pathogens. It's considered to be antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory as well. And and analgesic painkiller. You'll see is also extremely high in vitamin C and zinc. And therefore it's acts as a natural immunity booster. In fact, the extracts that are made of the leaf, they say, you know, they increase your T helper cell and natural killer cell activity.

So it really boosts our immune system.

Emerging Herbs and Amla's Benefits 21:00

So, you know, they're using tulsi and you know, and hand sanitizer and like antiseptic like mouthwashes. There was a study that showed, you know, taking tulsi I think twice, twice a week or so would help you to fight, like, tooth decay and like, plaque buildup and whatnot. It helps with. And really. Yeah, it's amazing because it helps with infections and wounds. So really healing like ulcers and, skin conditions like acne, keloids scars. So that's where I really think back to, like, you know, these of these, these herbs that are grinded down and use as a topical agent.

And that's what they did back in the day. And we can use these herbs to kind of help with our healing, and speed up healing. They say that we'll see, like, well, when there's a wound, it will really, like, speed up the healing. And the strength of, you know, the breaking strength, you know, so it's, it's it's really amazing. And I think those is probably now's the time for those two to shine if, like, you know, ashwagandha and turmeric are, are really popular. But I think we will be hearing more of those and it's gonna start showing up in a lot more supplements that we've been seeing now, you know, in the West, what do you think are the next in upcoming year?

What are the ones that you're going to be focusing? Other diabetic herbs that you'd like to, you think are becoming and have benefit? Okay. So there's there's tons, but the one that I think is really, really great, it's called Gilroy. And there's another one which is or which is Indian Gooseberry. Now, these two are, you know, I think that they're really even, like, just even more standout superstars when it comes to these herbs. Because they the benefits that those two herbs have, they're like a universal, you know, they're both seen as like a universal type of herb, because they can help with high blood pressure.

They can help with, you know, energy stimulation, that sort of thing. So naturally, you know, functioning better sort of thing, high cholesterol, all sorts of types of, you know, again, preventative types of things or, you know, if you're on, like the borderline type of thing, like, you know, take this and, you know, it will kind of help you without having to go the route of medicine, that sort of thing. So those two are really great. I've, I've already started working with them. Amla actually is it's not an herb, but it is a, it's a fruit.

The fruits. Yeah. I've had it. Very tasty. It's a tasty, tasty fruit. Yeah. Yeah, it's a very it's sour. It's a sour fruit. Sour. But it has, it's very interesting. Like, I think you get, like, all of the, the senses in there in terms of, like, taste. Sorry. So, like, it's a little bitter. That is sour. And then the aftertaste of. It's very sweet. So that's an easy, you know, they dry it up, it's very easy to eat. And I think that's something that we're going to kind of see a lot of, Will actually has eight times the amount of vitamin C than an orange.

So, you know, we think vitamin C, we think oranges. So I mean, I think it's, it's it's much more of a superfood, than a fruit even, you know, so maybe just that I know. So you've tried it. How do you how do you marry? You've married chocolate now and I robotic herbs. If you want to tell our listeners about that. And, you know, be great. Yeah. Okay. Great. So, yeah. So I, started making chocolate, I want to say 8 or 9 years ago. And it started off just because it's my favorite food in the whole world.

Willy Wonka is like my my dream to be like him. And so I started off making, you know, just typical, just very tasty.

Healthy Chocolate Brand and Product Line 24:50

Rich, sweet, good flavored, like, delicious chocolate, you know, and then over the years, I kind of, you know, realized that, hey, like, maybe I should tie in my love for, like, health and chocolate together. And that's kind of where it started. And then my interest peaked because I was working with a manufacturer in India, and I would travel to India a lot like I would prior to this pandemic. I would go every single year and my, my uncle, there is also a pharmacist. And it's funny because he's full out a pharmacist.

They work with all the medications that we have here that our doctors prescribe us, but at the same time, at his pharmacy, he had all these herbs. But this is the first time I got my hands on ashwagandha was from his pharmacy. And then I had gone back to the factory where we were starting to produce our chocolates, and I said, hey, listen, like I want to implement the stuff from here. Like my chocolates are being made here. I want to implement all the goods that you guys have. And then we started kind of working away on, on these, these ingredients, like I'm into my chocolate recipes.

And then it kind of snowballed into where I want to take this, this snack that everybody here like, you know, it's one of I think it is the the world's most popular snack. They say that 50% of the population eat it every single day. Like, that's it's one of the most popular foods. And I wanted it to be where, you know, it can have, you know, it can be a positive thing. You know what I mean? Like eating chocolates always seen as, okay, it's unhealthy and doesn't it? But chocolate itself is very healthy.

You know, if you get the right chocolate, if you get, you know, a dark chocolate, it has health benefits itself. So I said, hey, we're going to take this healthy version of chocolate. We're going to mix in these herbs and we're going to target specific, conditions or types of, you know, moods. We want to, you know, we want to work on the brain. You want to work on giving you energy. And I'm going to take the best ingredients for each of those purposes and put them together. And and here we are, and we're ready to kind of get this healthy chocolate that I haven't really see on the market out there.

So that's awesome. So you have four different types of chocolates I understand. Right. Range is helping people through it. And what site what's website can they go to? To my website is 120 over 80.com. So that is 80 and digits. But 120 over is written out. And yes, we have four flavors. We have vitality, power, clarity. And so these are all targeted using these amazing ingredients that I spoke on. We have turmeric in there. We have ashwagandha. We have the Gilroy and the amla and the tulsi. And then we have all, all sorts of other beautiful ingredients like coconut.

And we have, goji berries, and we have strawberries and blueberries and, and just really I it's some of the ingredients. You think these don't really go together, but they really do. So it's giving you like some of that bitter flavor of the, some that the herb gives you. But we're combining it with really tasty, ingredients, sweeter ingredients that really just give you that little kick, that kind of, melt in the mouth type of thing. And they really comes together nicely. So and then you get all these health benefits by eating them.

So it's really great. And is dark chocolate as well. And it's dark chocolate. Yes. It's absolutely dark chocolate. You got to go dark. If we're talking health you know it's got to be dark. And you know it's also the quality of the bean that is used. So we're using a very, very high quality bean. So it is that, that texture really that mouthfeel really helps. And, it it's delicious. I mean, I think that everyone's really going to like it. Okay. I'm a big fan myself. I have my bag as well. Okay. Perfect.

Whenever you feel that, okay, I think I think that's that's awesome. Anything else you want to end off with?

Closing Remarks and Future Plans 28:50

Like, any. What's the next, what are the next chocolates coming or anything or anything? So. Yeah. So we're launching next week. There. The chocolates are available on our website. We also are. What we've done is we bottled up the herbs that we're using. So, you can actually just purchase those as well. So ashwagandha, turmeric, we also have bottles up which our next line of chocolates is also going to work on. Adaptogenic. Mushrooms. So we have some reishi mushroom. And that's what our next phase of chocolate is looking like.

We're adding in all those amazing mushrooms as well. They have great properties. So I think that's, something that we need to get out there. So yeah, everything is going to be available on the website. The supplements are easy to use. Powder form, mix them in. We have some great recipes on the website and that's pretty much it. And yeah, I'm just excited about these herbs because honestly, like, we're just like we're at the tip of it. It's starting to be a big thing in the Western world. But I think in the next years it's really going to blow up.

And I think that, everyone really needs to start learning about these because the benefits that we can get from them, it's unbelievable. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Now, I really appreciate your time today. Okay. Great. Thank you. For.