The Golden Root: How Turmeric and Ayurveda Can Transform Your Well-being

Turmeric Absorption and Brain Health 0:00

Absolutely. So turmeric is actually not very well absorbed by the body. I do consider it one of those miracle, incredible plants that Mother Nature gave us, but the body doesn't absorb it easily. So we need to have it with either black pepper or a healthy fat. And I worked in the lab in Houston where the scientists discovered that it's black pepper that can increase that curcumin absorption by 2000%. And then we know that it's lipophilic. And so to add that healthy fat in there will increase that absorption.

It can cross the blood-brain barrier. And we know turmeric has such great benefits for dementia and brain health and neurocognitive as well. So when it comes to turmeric, when you're cooking, make sure you don't forget black pepper or healthy fat. Welcome to Doctor Talks, the podcast where every episode leads to a healthier you. Join us as we navigate the world of optimal health, uncovering groundbreaking strategies to conquer chronic disease. In each episode, we'll bring you the latest insights from leading health experts, medical innovators, and wellness warriors.

If you're seeking to transform your health journey, or if you're looking for answers to burning questions, you've come to the right place. Get ready to unlock the secrets of lifelong health and vitality.

Introduction to Doctor Talks and Ayurveda 1:12

This is Doctor Talks, real talk from real doctors on the issues that matter to you most. Hi, this is Ray Solano with another edition of Healthy Choices podcast. And we have a Dr. Siobhan, I spelled your first name there. Siobhani Gupta. Siobhani. Siobhani. And pronounce your last name again. Gupta or I think. Gupta, Siobhani Gupta. Well, thank you, Dr. Shivani Gupta. We appreciate you being on our podcast today because we are dedicated to explain and educate our listeners on the choices they have in healthcare.

That's what we're all about. I'm a board certified clinical nutritionist and pharmacist, compounding pharmacist. And we are constantly, patients are asking us for choices in their healthcare. And that's what we want. Our mission is to be able to explain. There's many different types of natural medicines out there today. And maybe you can maybe help us in that your specialty is Arvedic medicine, which is probably the most popular in the world. It's been around for longer than even Chinese medicine, I think.

you know, give or take a couple thousand years, right? So maybe you can explain to us about Ayurvedic medicine and some of the key products that come out of Ayurvedic medicine are really revolutionizing pain. Absolutely. So Ayurveda is this ancient science of healing and health and medicine from India that's over 5,000 years old. And some do say that it's more ancient than Chinese medicine and that these two medicines developed together. And it's so interesting because Ayurveda's whole goal is to bring body, mind, and spirit into alignment.

And my dream is for everyone in the world to have heard about Ayurveda and then to use its very simplistic lifestyle practices that are simple but have a big impact when it comes to our health. And so on my own health journey, I had a lot of health struggles growing up, overused antibiotics and ended up really needing a solution to heal my gut. And when I discovered Ayurveda, because I was in India growing up, visiting my grandparents all the time, I thought, why is this incredible system not known?

How in the West are we not reaching into this toolkit that we all need? So IRB that teaches a number of concepts that are pretty big in terms of our lifestyle. One is a concept called the DOSHA or the mind body constitution. So we really customize body types to help explain the different health struggles that we have. So knowing your type can be pretty important. Then we talk about circadian rhythm and how the circadian clock is the key to building vibrant health. So once you understand your circadian clock, you can live in rhythm with nature and harmony instead of disharmony.

Then we talk a lot about the gut health and how we have a gut digestive fire. And that gut health is the key to having immunity, mental health, our brain fungal, our mood, everything. So modern science is proving now in such a beautiful way what Ayurveda said for 5,000 years, which is we've got to focus on the gut.

Simple Ayurvedic Daily Rituals 4:18

And then we talk a lot about self-care rituals that support detoxification. So daily self-care, different rituals, different tools we can use that will support quarterly and annual detoxes that we recommend everyone do. We have an entire diet and nutrition plan around eating plant-based, healthy, organic, fresh, It's called the Sattvic diet. It's like a yogic diet to bring the body into harmony, but it's pretty flexible. So it works with all diet types. It's just an overarching philosophy of how to eat and when to eat.

And then finally, we have the super herbs and super spices. And that's one of my favorite categories because I've studied the spices the most. And I love teaching that we can reach into the natural remedies of Ayurveda and into different herbs and spices. to create teas, to create different elixirs or reach into the supplement world of Ayurveda to help benefit our health. Well, that's a great explanation. And you know, it's probably, doctor, you may struggle as we look into the sad diet, the Americans, and how unhealthy everybody is.

And it's, how do you break the code? How do you break into this? And it's so frustrating sometimes. And one of the things that we've tried to do is give people maybe something to get them started is the introduction because there's a couple words that we use if if we start with that language all of a sudden everybody tunes off and they go on to the next the next fad so to speak and so what we try to do is we want people to take a step, baby step, so that they can, on this journey to health, because, you know, it's unfortunate.

It's really an epidemic at this point. And so people looking for a five minute fix and they're looking for something that's inexpensive and it just doesn't exist. But maybe, maybe give our listeners, maybe just a, is something to get started to introduce to maybe the philosophy or our video, how it can really improve their health. Absolutely. You know, I agree with you. People do want quick. Nowadays in this modern day schedule that we all live in, I want quick results. I want fast results. I want it to be easy and fit into my life.

And so I talk a lot about the Ayurvedic rituals as habit stacks. How can we stack this habit on top of something else? All right. And so many of us have a morning routine. Maybe some of us, it's real simple. We just get up, brush our teeth, coffee, and run. It's simple. Or we make a little time, a little space in that morning. That sounds good. One simple ritual from Ayurveda that we teach that's so powerful is to use a copper tongue scraper. So if you go on Amazon or any health food store, they'll have tongue scrapers.

We like copper because it's an antibacterial metal. It's almost self-cleaning, but you should rinse it off. And they knew this thousands of years ago. And so the habit is every morning after you brush your teeth, gently scrape the tongue seven to 14 times. And when you do that, what Ayurveda teaches is all the organs of the body that are reflected on the feet in reflexology are also reflected on our tongue. And so you're gently massaging all the organs of the body. You're gently detoxing all the organs first thing.

We're clearing the taste buds so they're more active and able to taste what we taste and leave us more satisfied. And we're igniting that gut digestive fire. And so I have had people whose constipation has been cured using this habit. It's really interesting to hear the feedback, but thousands of people message me and they're like, I tongue scrape and I think of you every morning. And it's a simple tool. And once you buy one, I've had the same tongue scraper for 20 years now. Like, you don't change that device.

It's just a simple metal tool.

Super Spices and the Power of Turmeric 8:09

But it takes about 10 seconds, and you're doing it right on top of brushing your teeth, so it's not hard. And then another simple one, if you want to add on and get fancy, is oil pulling. So that's just taking any food grade organic oil, put it in your mouth for five to 20 minutes, a tablespoon or two, and swish it around. And the goal there is to pull all the bacteria, all the toxins out of our mouth. We don't recommend mouthwash, which is going to kill off your nitric oxide. We know in Ayurveda that oral microbiome is tied to gut microbiome.

And the better these receptors in the mouth can tell the gut what is coming. Hey, she's eating steak today. You know, bring the enzymes on. Or she's eating, you know, kale and broccoli. Bring those enzymes on. So oral health matters. And so you take that oil, swish it around five to 20 minutes while you're doing anything else. Shower, getting ready in the morning. 20 minutes, right? Is that what you said? Five to 20. Wow. Sometimes I have no patience and I'm the five minute person. It's the weekend.

Five leaves to 10. I agree. Exactly. And just make sure you spit it out in the trash, not your toilet sink or shower, because you can start to clog the pipes of your home. That's it. That's a very simple habit you can incorporate. Well, you know, we're, of course, we're, I'm Italian and our family's Italian and we'll reach for olive oil first. Do you have another choice for olive oil or does it matter? Yes, so in Ireland, we love sesame oil the most because it has antibacterial benefits, it has vitamin E, it just has a lot of benefits.

So it's our king of all the oils. A lot of people love the taste of coconut. So I say, just go for coconut oil if you love that flavor. But like you, I love an olive oil, I love almond oil, any oil. And then nowadays we know about seed oils. So if like in my household for cooking, I only use ghee or butter. And so then maybe when it comes to your oral health oil, It might lead you to an olive oil or coconut oil just to ensure you're keeping it really clean. That's great. Well, you know, that's a perfect tip.

Now, who can argue with that? A straight tongue scraper, because you're right, you can look at their tongue and see the morphology of it and also the indentations are linked to B vitamin deficiencies and also digestive dysfunction. So it's unfortunate because some of the patients that we see in our pharmacy We sit there and we stare at their oral mouth and we get a lot of clues and they'll sit there and go, how'd you know that? But that's great tips. And it doesn't cost any money. I mean, what you're talking about is inexpensive.

That's the perfect solution. Well, thanks. We're going to put that on our website and we're going to get the, your special, do you have your special tongue scrapers? Well, we're going to put it in our pharmacy. How's that? Perfect. And then when we look at your super spices, I think the most important thing for people to do is introduce themselves to the kitchen and maybe take a tour of that. And because the only way to overcome The cost of living is to have to be able to cook yourself, but it's a twofer.

Not only is it less costly, but it also is the only way to really get control of your health, control the foods that you're eating. But also the spices you use can also be used almost as nutrients. So maybe you could go through that list for us. That would be great. Absolutely. You know, in the West, oftentimes we don't reach into the plethora of spices that we can reach into. I have gone to my friends' homes and they'll have basil, oregano, and onion. And I'll look at them like, Are you kidding me?

In my house, we have a spice cabinet, a spice drawer, a backup spice cabinet, a pantry full of spices. The Indian household and the different ethnic households really reach into the spice and herb kingdom for our flavor and our layerings of flavor. But what's really cool is Ayurveda, for thousands of years, has been part of the Indian culture. So just by being Indian, I was raised eating turmeric, coriander, which is cilantro. red chili pepper. We have a spice called garam masala, which is just a mixture of spices that has black pepper and cinnamon and all these spices in there.

In an Indian household, you're going to use fenugreek, fennel, cumin. All these different spices are incredible and have great benefits. And so when I was sitting in herbology class, I was doing my master's in Ayurvedic sciences, and they started naming all the benefits. I'm born in Houston, Texas. And I thought, okay, you're telling me my Western superfoods that are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and do so much for me. So I'm trying to stuff my face with blueberries and spinach and goji berries and all these things over here.

You're telling me my spice cabinet has all those same benefits that makes those super spices. So I can just eat a little more turmeric and cumin and these things and I will get those benefits. And that just fascinated me because like you said, We want those quicker solutions. We want to know what works so we're not wasting our time, money, or energy. And so in our own households, we can cook more. We can bring more flavor to it. Why are we eating out so much? Because we love that flavor punch. And so my invitation to everyone is look up some recipes to cook your chicken and to cook your different meals, but incorporate turmeric, incorporate black pepper.

And so I learned about all those super spices, and I ended up doing my PhD dissertation on turmeric, the spice. And it took years. It was rough because there's a lot of science. Back then, there were 10,000 published scientific studies and papers on turmeric, and now there's 17,000 published papers. And that just shows you over a less than 10-year period, this explosion and exponential growth in studying this one spice because it is so powerful for us. And so as I've been studying turmeric and working with it over the last 10 years now and putting it into practices, turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-fungal, anti-H.

pylori, anti-candida. It's anti-obesity. It kills off cells that don't belong in the body. So whenever we have these zombie cells that form, that start running into everything and causing damage, turmeric is like this ultimate janitor that just

Choosing Quality Turmeric Supplements 14:33

comes through and cleans house. I love the immune modulating benefits because typically I have a tendency my whole life to get sick. And so I thought, oh, this is my immune defense shield that I need. So when people are having their viral bacterial, whatever they're carrying, I am not going to have to suffer from it because I've got that wall in place. Go ahead. That's music to our ears because we exactly follow that same philosophy. Unfortunately, as we get into It gets into these terminology. There's so many imposters out there for this because we all know that just because it has the name on it, it doesn't have those healing properties because we look at those herbs as drugs.

And so the quality of drugs is important for us because they have to meet certain levels. And so maybe you can kind of school us on what to look for, for turmeric, either in supplements or maybe to look for it as a, as if you're cooking with it, what to use for that. Absolutely. So turmeric is actually not very well absorbed by the body. I do consider it one of those miracle, incredible plants that Mother Nature gave us, but the body doesn't absorb it easily. So we need to have it with either black pepper or a healthy fat.

And I worked in the lab in Houston where the scientists discovered that it's black pepper that can increase that curcumin absorption by 2000%. And then we know that it's lipophilic. And so to add that healthy fat in there will increase that absorption. It can cross the blood-brain barrier. And we know turmeric has such great benefits for dementia and brain health and neurocognitive as well. So when it comes to turmeric, when you're cooking, make sure you don't forget black pepper or healthy fat.

Now, when you go to buy a supplement, it gets interesting. When I finished my PhD, I became this evangelist of turmeric. So if someone said, my knee hurts, I would say, take turmeric. They'd say, my throat hurts. I'm like, just take some turmeric. I was that girl who they call me the turmeric girl because I just love turmeric. love this spice, but I discovered people started sending me every picture of every supplement they were taking. And I kept thinking, well, who's the best? I don't even understand.

I go to Whole Foods and I buy supplements. I go to Sprouts. I go online. I really love going to doctor's offices who actually know which supplements work in our body. And so what I learned is there's drugstore brands, there's health food store brands, then there's the doctor level supplements that have been built for functional medicine, chiropractic, all the integrated functional medicine spaces. And those supplements have typically been built kind of like what you're talking about, medical grade with a lot of conscientiousness.

And so at that time, a friend, a family member of mine actually said, why don't you make a tuber that can actually work, that can actually make a difference? And I thought, I have no experience in this. I have no idea how to do this. Luckily, I had a family friend who owned a factory and we got to sit down and really dig into How would we do this? And we found an ingredient out of India that is so well studied and so well built and so well extracted that when they standardize for that 95% that we're looking for out of the curcuminoids, they reach 98% great.

So they're going above and beyond the standardization because their goal was to create the best that they could. And so when you're looking at a turmeric supplement, make sure it doesn't say curcuma longa is the primary ingredient. Curcuma longa is the plant name. That's regular turmeric. You could buy turmeric at the grocery store for $3. You don't need to put just turmeric in a pill. Because out of all of turmeric, only 3% of it is the curcuminoids. That 3% to 5% is what we know drives the most impact when it comes to inflammation in the body.

And so when we're all reaching out and taking turmeric as a superfood, we don't need to take the whole 100% if what we're seeking is at 3% to really move the needle. And a lot of people ask me, do I have to take turmeric? I'm like, well, we're all inflamed. So yes, in my opinion, if we want to prevent chronic metabolic disease, or if we want to reduce our inflammation and win in our health, then yes, we have to take things, whether it's super foods or super spices, to significantly reduce that inflammation.

So it has to be linked with curcumin along with black pepper? Or is there a different strain of curcumin along? So out of curcuma longa, curcuma longa is just the plant name. And then because out of that turmeric, there's the curcuminoids, all three curcuminoids, a lot of people just give you all three and don't take those three curcuminoids and pull that extraction at the right proportion to mimic nature. So that's where it gets really confusing because all of a sudden you're looking at supplements and they'll say turmeric 1500 milligrams.

No, don't give me regular tumor. I want the extract. Then they'll say standardized 95% and they'll say different brands that exist have that have been invested in for studies. You have to be careful and take it and try it for yourself and see does it work. In my case, I invested in this one ingredient, sourced it, built it with black pepper, built it in the United States, had it third-party tested, pre-mid, and post-production. So I would know with 100% certainty that we don't have heavy metals, no microbes, no issues in this product as we build it, and then built it for doctor's offices.

And I actually built mine for orthopedics, because I thought, well, that person is the toughest person to prove to. They've got the real pain in their office. People have that chronic joint pain. They're preoperative, postoperative. And so for 10 years, I've worked alongside orthopedics and proven that they can reduce their opioid use. Their patients who are in chronic pain can take this and stay out of pain. And that's been really exciting to me. So once I realized, OK, what I built really works, Then I took it out to functional medicine, rheumatology, and everyone because I just wanted to prove this one spice can do what we're saying.

You just have to build it with love and integrity to drive a result like that. What a great solution because, you know, we work with regenerative medicine practitioners all the time. And the one, the single number one rule after you've done a injections of PRP or prolotherapy or stem cells is you cannot take non-steroidal anti-inflammatories because it stops the healing process. And I had somebody come to me and say, why don't we get this straight? All the non-steroidals we've been given for pain that stops the healing, how come nobody told me this before?

So, but you can do curcuminoids, we use the tetrahydrocucuminoids as an example, as to relieve the pain and also help the allow the body to heal itself. But unfortunately, it's not first choice, but it should be first choice as well. And one of the things that also works very well is IB curcumin. However, IV curcumin is very difficult to make because of the insolubility of it as well. But the ones that have successfully been able to do it in different countries, it works tremendous for cancer patients.

Sourcing, Testing, and Closing Remarks 22:00

MD Anderson, I know you're from Houston, have done a lot of work in 25 grams of a special form of 98% purity of curcuminoids for cancer patients in high doses and super fine. So there is lots of literature, like you said, thousands of articles published on the anti-inflammatory parts of this amazing molecule. But is only all the turmeric, is it all sourced out of India or is any of it here? There are turmeric farms in the US. I'm in South Florida and we have some here. And I one day wish to own my own turmeric farm so I can fully control from plant all the way to construction.

That's my dream. So yes, most turmeric though comes out of India because India is the largest consumer of turmeric. It's grown there for all of us. But it'll be interesting to see as the whole planet understands, as the world understands how much we are inflamed and how much we can use this plant amongst others. I love ginger too. I love ashwagandha and other super spices too. But it'll be interesting to see how can India keep up with the turmeric we all want. And so that we always looking for sourcing.

So this is why it's important for people like yourself or sourcing, because the naysayers say that it is filled with a lot of these root beverages or root herbs have contaminants of heavy metals and mold. And that's something that, you know, as a specialty compounding pharmacy, we're always have to use a certain grade that's used for, we call it a USP grade. that and has a certificate of origination that has, it's tested for endotoxins, heavy metals, a fungus, all of the above. So it's really important to know the source, right?

It was, you know, I was in India this year, actually now we're in 2025. So in 2024, I was in India and it's incredible to see because most pharmaceuticals are also made in India, large pharmaceuticals in the world are made there. So it's not like India doesn't have the standards for creating very pure, very, very pure, clean things. But when you visit Botanical, supplement suppliers right now, or ingredient suppliers, they're like pharma in the sense that they took all the rules, all the testing, all the understandings, and applied it to botanicals.

So they have control over the farms. They're investing in only using the strains of plants that'll give them the most yield of the curcuminoids. They're teaching the farmers exactly how to farm to get the cleanest and best results. So they're really controlling the foundation, which is the plants, Then their processing plants, which I got to visit, are very much reaching those standardizations that we need to know. Then they invest in all the third-party testing there on the India side. Then they're sourcing it to people like me who build products and formulate.

And then in the United States, we pay to get all that testing again, because our job is not to trust anyone until we know for sure that what we're about to build is pure and potent and perfect, the way you just said. So it's just a cool moment where botanicals out of Ayurveda finally are going to have their moment to have the clinical trials and published studies that are needed for the world to trust them. Well, that's great news. We really appreciate Dr. Gupta, your work, because you're passionate about it.

You could just see it. And we're going to have you back on again as our podcast. We're going to have your link to your website on our website. You can check out our website. It's PDLabsRx.com and our clinic, LavalPerformance.com. And maybe let's give out your contact information for your website so that we can get the word out. Perfect. Yes, my website is my name, ShivaniGupta.com, S-H-I-V-A-N-I-G-U-P-T-A. And my website for my supplements is FusionaryFormulas.com, F-U-S-I-O-N-A-R-Y, formulas.com.

And I made a special code for your audience. It's P-D Labs. We'll give them 15% off to try my tumor. Well, that's great. You know, we can't get enough sources of turmeric and it's people just to be able to get that habit. So we talked about today, at least they start out in the morning with the scraping. Well, we have to have a cool name for a tongue scraper. Maybe we can come up with something, something different because something that's cool. So we can come up and we'll tag yours. So we can go to your website and get these scrapers as well.

That's great. So we're going to have samples of these products that we like to show off to people as choices. So, well, thanks again for your time today. And you're welcome to come visit us. We're out in Cedar Park, Texas, anytime. And we practice what we preach and it builds on your philosophy as well. Awesome. Thank you. All right. Well, thanks again. You're listening to Dr. Talks, Healthy Choices, another edition. Check out our website for more podcasts under Dr. Talks, Healthy Choices. Again, we want to make sure everybody has a great day.

And remember, you still have a choice in your healthcare. Thanks again. Thank you. Thank you for tuning into Dr. Talks. We hope today's episode has enlightened and inspired you on your path to optimal health. Each day is a new opportunity to make choices that empower your well-being. For more insights and strategies, subscribe to our podcast and visit our website, www.doctortalks.com. Stay connected, stay healthy, and join us next time on Doctor Talks, Real Talks from Real Doctors, on the issues that matter to you most.