Kavita Devgan: People want to boost their immunity, by hook or by crook

Immunity, infection, wellness, mindfulness — these words have never been weightier than in the post-pandemic world. The significance of strong immunity has taken centrestage, with people trying anything and everything to boost their systems against infections of the Covid-19 kind and otherwise. This has led to a lot of information floating out there — a lot of it incorrect, some probably also dangerous. This was exactly what motivated nutritionist and author Kavita Devgan to pen her latest book, The Immunity Diet: Fight Off Infections and Live Your Best Life. “People want a lot of information, they want to know how to boost their immunity, by hook or by crook. I began writing the book to get the correct counsel out there, help people strengthen their immunity the right way and bust the myths that are likely detrimental to our health,” she says.

What’s most interesting is how she breaks down information and concepts — the whats, whys and hows — into bite-sized, easy to digest nuggets, just how she suggests our meals should be. This is because she doesn’t believe in instructing people with a follow blindly approach. She elaborates, “When explained with logic, the information sticks with people far better than when it is passed on in a dos-and-don’ts prescriptive manner. That is why there is well rounded information in the book, with practical to-do hacks to match. ”

In the same vein, she does a good job of not demonising food groups, instead explaining their impact on health. From different food groups, immunity boosters and downers to mindfulness, the book offers easy-to-read chapters on everything that can impact your body’s ability to protect itself. There’s an entire section on the power of the mind, with chapters like Cook mindfully, Put a lid on stress, Breathe right, Eat stress-free, Become an optimist. “Mind is a very important yet often overlooked factor when it comes to our health, and especially its impact on immunity,” she shares. The author also points out that chasing the perfect weight is not the right way to go about achieving fitness. The more crucial factor, she says, is our body composition — our fat vs protein percentage is far more important in determining just how healthy we actually are.

One can’t help but notice that a lot of her advice resembles the traditional Indian way of eating and living. That’s certainly intentional on the author’s part, as she notes how the pandemic has taught us that we need to find solutions from the past, and merge it with whatever good the future can offer us. That’s also evident in how amla, ashwagandha, turmeric, moringa, tulsi, etc. have again become household names for wellness. “Similarly, the importance of breathing right, slow living have all become important factors again. These are all traditional, and now even scientifically proven, immunity boosting ways of living,” says Devgan, adding that we might be looking westwards so much that we will soon find all our traditional good habits unfamiliar, and that would be a huge loss. 

Author tweets at @TheMissCurious

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