Gaurav put on weight after eating out a lot. After a health checkup revealed high blood sugar levels, he was put on multiple medicines. A further diagnosis of thyroid brought his morale down. Struggling with 8 pills a day at a young age of 40, he was desperate for a way out. Moving towards a natural lifestyle helped him reclaim his health. Here is his story.

Gaurav Malhotra

44 years, Businessman

Faridabad

I piled on the kilos due to constant eating out

Till the age of 30 I was quite lean. As it usually happens, I started eating out a lot from my 20s at newly opened restaurants, which was at least 3-4 times a week. Not surprisingly, all the greasy food, led to weight gain from a trim weight of 55-56 kg to 80-82 kg over a decade.

Paradoxically, I also started losing weight

My body took the beating of this lifestyle for a few years. I was a pure non-vegetarian but there were periods when I would shift to only a vegetarian diet. I had started to lose weight and attributed it to this shift. I was pretty happy about it.

However the weight just kept dropping and I had lost almost 8 – 10 kg. People had started to notice and asked me to get a health check-up done. I too felt something was amiss. Though I had reduced non-veg, my veg intake was still not very healthy and I could not explain the weight loss. I decided to get myself tested.

The diagnosis of diabetes

My test reports showed that my sugar levels were high – around 360. It came as a shock to me. I had no clue that I had developed diabetes. I was just 30 and couldn’t accept why this had happened to me.

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I visited a diabetologist. Since there were many fluctuations in my blood report he prescribed medicines not just for diabetes but also for high blood pressure and blood thinning. I was still shocked and confused and I just began having them without any questions.

As is usually the norm, I would get myself checked every 3 to 6 months and the dosage would be adjusted but medicines continued.

More pills for more ills

Having all these medicines was giving me acidity. The doctor diagnosed me as having GERD (gastroesophageal refluxdisease) and added one more pill. So I was on almost 7 pills a day. I used to have so many thoughts – why was all this happening to me. Sometimes I would break out into a sweat due to fluctuating sugar levels. I became a hypochondriac, always anxious about my health.

This continued for the next 10 years. I was feeling really low and frustrated with all these medicines. There would be stages when I thought let me not have any medicines and I would stop them. Then upon testing, the test parameters would be all over the place and I would start medicines again. Overall those days pulled me down pretty badly.

Once when I went for my annual health checkup, I got to know that I was hypothyroid too. This was at the age of 40, so I had another tablet added.

I was desperately looking for alternative options

I was really worried about what my health state would be a decade later as I was already having so many medicines. I started looking for alternate options. My drive for better health was so strong and I believe the universe was listening to me. Three different people from different walks of life recommended me a naturopath by the name of Dr Salila Tiwari.

Experiencing the body’s natural healing powers

In the first meeting, Dr Salila spoke to me emphatically. She said ‘You are literate, so you should understand that you are having a lot of chemicals and they are creating havoc in your body’. She told me that the body has its own power to heal itself, all that you need to do is give it time and the right environment. The way she explained things, it made a lot of sense. She said it was possible to be off medicines if a few things are followed.

I believe that if you wish to achieve something you just need to be really inspired or be really afraid and I was really afraid. I just trusted her and followed whatever she said. With her advice, I stopped all my medicines. Since it was all natural and not any jadibutis or anything suspicious which can have a side effect, I decided to go full steam.

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So I started off with a strict diet which was primarily raw, only raw fruits, veggie salads, juices and soups, no fried, no non-veg, no sugar, no salt. Raw food being full of natural enzymes can be easily assimilated by the body and reduces digestive load. In the morning I would take karela juice or sprouted methi dana.

I kept checking my sugar levels at home also every day with a glucometer. My sugar levels improved day by day and that re-assured me that the path I had taken was right.

I followed this for 15 days and lost 4-5 kgs. Dr Salila asked me to continue this even after 15 days since my tongue was still white which meant my digestive system still needed cleaning.

All my parameters were back to normal

This kind of diet regimen was cleaning and detoxing my system. Soon the acidity issues disappeared. When I got tested after a month, all the parameters were normal! My thyroid became ok. My sugar levels had dropped. My HbA1c was around 6.2 which is close to normal. I showed this to my doctor. He was surprised that my readings were good even without medicines, he asked me to continue on this path.

Some slippages and getting back on track

After a month, slowly I moved to the normal diet comprising cooked foods. I would eat raw food once a week. I kept up this lifestyle for a year but then slippages started happening. I started eating out and partying more often. I began gymming and following commonly advocated food practices to bulk up. Not surprisingly, after 2 years, my sugar levels went up again.

I understood that if you do not respect nature and eat so much artificial food, things are going to rebound.

Conclusion

I am working on getting things back. Right now also, as I share my journey, I’m on the 12th day of a completely raw diet. This time I know what needs to be done and how it needs to be done. I would like anybody who reads this article to understand that as long as you respect nature and follow its principles, you are fit and fine. If you deviate, the body might support you for a while but soon there will be repercussions. In the long run, it is always better to align and live a lifestyle in tune with nature.

About Gaurav Malhotra: A graduate, Gaurav is a 44 year old businessman based out of Faridabad. He loves to paint, practice martial arts and play football in his spare time.