Munmun Ganeriwal is a National best-selling author, award-winning nutritionist, and celebrated lifestyle consultant based in Mumbai. She is the only gut microbiome specialist in the world who combines traditional Indian foods, ancient Indian yogic practices, and Ayurveda principles with gut microbiota study to understand and fight obesity and other diseases.
Over the last 20 years, Munmun Ganeriwal has worked as a Nutrition and Exercise Consultant with a diverse set of clients from all walks of life, of all age groups, varying fitness levels, and varying medical histories and it constitutes corporate houses, media houses, business leaders, actors and celebrities, sports icons, professionals, students and homemakers across the globe.
Women Fitness President, Namita Nayyar got a chance to get in touch with Munmun Ganeriwal on gut microbiome, Ayurveda, and fitness.
Namita Nayyar:
You are the only gut microbiome specialist in the world who combines traditional Indian foods, ancient Indian yogic practices, and Ayurveda principles to help people understand and fight obesity and other diseases. Can you please elaborate on the same?
Munmun Ganeriwal
Gut Microbiome has been an area of interest for a long time now. I have been attending a lot of conferences abroad and found out that gut microbiome has been a heading everywhere, however, when I looked back in India it was not much talked about. Therefore I decided to write my first book on the same. Now what happens is that since it is such a researched topic and talked about in the western side, so whenever they come across any new study or research it is based around the food they eat. And hence it becomes less relatable for us.
I am a certified Yoga teacher, and also an ardent follower of Ayurveda, and what was shocking for me was that everything I got to know about the gut microbiome is what already Ayurveda has talked about. And Ayurveda has always said that all major problems that we suffer begin in the gut and if you set the gut right everything else will fall in place. Recently so many practices have started to set a good gut microbiome but if you go back there have been many yogi practices that already teach this and hence I made my study based on this and that is what is all about it.
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Namita Nayyar:
Can you highlight the role of Ayurveda food in reducing belly fat in women, especially in ’40s & late ’50s
Munmun Ganeriwal:
The 3 foods that I would like to highlight would be that Ayurveda emphasis as well, first would be Millets, which also our Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentions as “Shridhan”.
Firstly it is Prebiotic in nature which means they act as food for microbes in the gut, and if they are fed well they take care of us, besides that they have various benefits like they are really good for insulin sensitivity and diabetes. Also, they are good for high blood pressure and other metabolic diseases which can be taken care of without having to compromise on a good Indian meal that has carbohydrates, generally, women in this age group avoid carbs but if you eat the right amount of it in your diet you can have a balanced meal.
Also, it takes care of mensuration problems in women along with hormonal problems. Secondly, it would be buttermilk it really helps in improving digestion and aiding in weight loss. In Ayurveda people who are targeting weight loss are promoted in having buttermilk also it improves the metabolism which helps in weight loss and has a high in calcium content.
Namita Nayyar:
How can one identify the signs of inflammation in one’s body? Secondly, how can a woman go about managing it?
Munmun Ganeriwal:
The inflammation can be checked by the blood test to measure C-reactive protein or ESR, these parameters help know if they have inflammation in the body. But what happens is generally people suffer through low-grade inflammation generally informs of irregular sleep patterns, weight gain, and lethargy and this may be a sign of inflammation.
The way to manage is to not through a particular diet but to incorporate an anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle, which is based on four pillars that is diet, a movement that helps in detoxifying the lymphatic system and it is a natural system of cleansing our body, then what is important to have a proper sleep schedule and that should include staying away from gadgets at least an hour before sleeping, having a timely dinner and last one is to know how to manage stress be it mediation, yoga incorporating these lifestyle changes in your routine can do a major change in your wellbeing
Namita Nayyar:
How do you manage your daily routine? 5 Foods you must eat & foods to keep to a minimum?
Munmun Ganeriwal:
The food that you should keep to a minimum number one is alcohol. So alcohol is something that is very disruptive for your gut microbiome, for the gut barrier, which is the gut lining, which can result in leaky gut, which can result in SIBO, small intestinal bowel overgrowth, and many of the other diseases, because anything that can disrupt the gut microbiome simply means that it can disrupt any of your physical body function or even mental health. So alcohol ideally should not be consumed if you really want to live a very healthy and, good life. But if at all you do want to consume, you should take care to keep it to a bare minimum.
It could be once a week, once in 15 days, or once in a month. But yes, it should be kept to a minimum. Number two is red meat. So if you are a meat eater, a non-vegetarian, then just try to keep red meat to the bare minimum again once a week or once in 15 days, or once a month. And if at all you do want to have it, then cook it with a lot of spices like the ajwain, the cumin, which is jeera, and the coriander. Because all of these then help, to some extent nullify the ill effects of the red meat.
It helps in the digestion process once you’ve consumed it. Red meat has been shown time and again by research that it is pro-inflammatory in nature. So if you have signs of inflammation, which has been discussed in the earlier question, then do ensure that you eat a minimum of it or better not eat it at all.
The number three is not a food but worth mentioning and it is antibiotics. So antibiotics unfortunately are being overprescribed by doctors. When it’s not really needed and unfortunately it is also self-prescribed by most people. They just take it by themselves if they feel feverish or if they have any viral throat infection or any such thing.
So antibiotics, firstly, can be helpful only if you have a bacterial infection common cold fever, flu, or even diarrhea. Most of the time these are all viral in nature and antibiotics do nothing to resolve a viral infection. So what you are taking antibiotics is basically of zero use, but what it does is that it kills away all the good bugs in your intestines. So all the good microbes, the helpful friendly microbes that we have, antibiotics come into your system and they kill it, making your colon, your intestine very barren. And that is how a lot of people put on weight after eating antibiotics.
Many people have many health issues that come up because they have had multiple courses of antibiotics in the recent past. So be very mindful of consuming and popping them. And the fourth thing would be raw food. So please stay away from raw foods. I mean, the health industry in the name of health has really advocated and promoted raw food there are people who feel that just eating salads or any kind of veggies and green leaves and everything raw is going to give them great health. But, um, you know, raw food is something very hard to digest. Cooking is an art. It’s a science, it’s
Namita Nayyar:
What type of workout routine is idle for weight loss? Duration & intensity one should strike for?
Munmun Ganeriwal:
I really believe that it is never about a workout routine. It is never about intensity. The most important factor when it comes to working out and getting any kind of result, whether it’s weight loss or whether it’s any kind of change in health. For example, somebody is recovering from, say, a cardiac attack. So a person is going to do some rehabilitation exercise program, there’s a different goal.
So no matter what your goal is, exercise and its effect really depend on only one factor, which is not the kind of routine you follow or the intensity. But most important of everything, is consistency. You can do the most wonderful workout routine with the most expensive celebrity trainer, and you can just do it one day and forget about it and never do it again. That one session is not going to give you any kind of results unless you make that session a habit and you do it consistently for three months, six months, one year, and then eventually make it a part of your life, only then you are going to see results.
So honestly, it’s never about intensity or the workout routine. It’s only and only about consistency. I’ll give you an example. If somebody is doing like two hours of intense workout in the gym, but the person does it sporadically, which means that the person is going to do it today and then not do it for another 20 days and then maybe after three months again comes to the gym.
It’s very random if the person is going to do like that, the person is only going to end up injured because the person is not doing it in the correct manner. More so there will be no result or no positive effect out of the intense workout that person is doing versus somebody who is just doing ten minutes of activity but doing it every single day. At the end of two months, the person is still going to see very tangible results in his body, not only just a physical transformation, but the person is going to feel and start feeling good and better and lighter as well.
Namita Nayyar:
5 yoga postures to practice for a healthy spine and posture?
Munmun Ganeriwal
I will talk about some basic asanas, first is the cobra pose very good for back stretch, followed by the camel pose again very good for back stretch and helps with shoulder stretch which comes from all slouching we end up doing all day while working.
Then there is the cat and cow pose which helps in opening the chest and relieving the lower back pain and also helps in stretching the upper body. Then there is the downward dog which is an inverted asana it helps in strengthening the deep abdominal muscles and helps build strength. And lastly, it is the bow pose again it’s a full body stretch and it also stretches the chest muscle which might become strained while sitting for long hours.
Namita Nayyar:
Food combinations for vegetarians & non-vegetarians idle for muscle growth & maintenance? Especially with so many supplements being talked about.
Munmun Ganeriwal:
The food which we need for muscle growth and maintenance, though I know that what we really hear from mainstream media or from even professionals in my industry is all about protein, protein, protein, but it’s not like that. What you really need is a balanced meal. Though it sounds very boring, this is the truth. You need carbs as well so that you can have muscle growth and maintenance.
And I’ll explain how because though protein is specifically used for muscle building or muscle growth or muscle maintenance if you don’t eat carbs, then your body is eventually going to start using proteins for the purpose of energy, which obviously we don’t want. We don’t want proteins to be used as energy. We want proteins to be used for muscle building. And therefore, in your meal, what you need to eat is also carbs, because then your body loves to use the energy or glucose in carbs. So it will use carbs for the purpose of energy and it will spare the protein so that proteins can only be used for muscle building. Therefore, a balanced meal is required which has carbs also, which has proteins also, which has fiber also.
When we were working on Taapsee’s six-pack abs transformation recently, one of the very important things was to ensure that there was enough fiber in her meal because if she’s not clearing her stomach well, it adds to the bloating and doesn’t give that aesthetic effect to the abs which we wanted.
So even for a good body aesthetically, you need fiber so that until and unless you clear up your bowels efficiently, which fiber helps a lot, you’re not even going to feel lighter and healthier. So keeping that aside, if you’re just going to talk about aesthetic body transformation, even for that, you need all sorts of things in your meal. You need carbs, fats, proteins, fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants. All of these are required because even if you’re working out for that recovery to happen, you need a good amount of vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, you need antioxidants, all of these things along with protein
So if you want that your body’s immunity doesn’t drop down and your body able to up performance in the gym after every session, you need to ensure that you’re eating a good, proper, balanced meal and also drinking enough water because hydration is again very important. Muscle holds a lot of water and a muscle aesthetically also looks good if it’s hydrated. Otherwise, the body looks very wasted and dehydrated, and dry.
A normal simple ghar ka khana can provide that. So you don’t have to go out of the way and do something very outrageous or something very strange or something very expensive in order to have a good body or have a good health
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This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar, President of Women Fitness