Did you know that cooked tomatoes are more nutritious than raw tomatoes? Or that you have been eating spinach wrong if you’ve been eating it raw? Well, Pariksha can tell you why.
Pariksha Rao, the Senior Clinical Nutritionist, can be your perfect companion in your journey to a healthy gut.
With her years of experience in the medical, technology, and research sector, she is an expert in her field. She’s certified in behaviour science and has created standardized training modules for medical officers and front-line health workers in 100 districts under the supervision of NPCDCS. Not only has she worked with well-known organizations like the AIIMS and ICMR but has also assisted various Key Opinion leaders, Cardiologists, and Diabetologists across the country. Besides being a nutritionist, she’s a mompreneur, balancing both her motherhood and entrepreneurship in the best possible way. However, the cherry on the cake is her art. As an artist, she is highly driven by her gut feeling, whether it’s about a market opportunity or the next brush stroke on her canvas.
Storiyaan interviewed her and she shared with us the secrets of such a productive life. Read on to know more.
Pariksha Rao: Some Fun-Food-Facts
Interview
Questions and answers
Tell us about your interest in studying nutrition and behavioural science?
I have been forever curious about how food makes us feel better and happy. Food and human behaviour are intertwined in a way that what we eat affects not only our bodies, but also our minds. This grew my interest in nutrition science in my early college years. I believe no two individuals have the same response to food and hence behavioural science demands an individualistic approach.
You have expertise in patient engagement programs. Could you share with us some of the ways you do so?
In-Patient engagement programs, the entire disease or the therapeutic area becomes powerful because we provide education awareness along with the prescribed medication or therapy. It is a holistic approach to managing a disease. Here not only the patient’s lifestyle is maintained, but also required changes and improvements are made to help them achieve their health goals.
How do you practice digital health and wellness?
There has been a dramatic increase in technology and health care has led us to take a look into digital practices. Digital wellness is nothing but technology-based tools to track their health, be it IOT enabled devices or simple applications where their health parameters are tracked. Their goals are set with the help of the data analytics and we help them accomplish their goals by understanding the analytics and motivating them to go for it.
How do you think behavioural science is important for achieving public health?
Behavioural science is important for achieving public health because no two individuals respond to a particular stimuli in the same way. It understands the knowledge, attitude, and practice of a person or a community and thus helps bring change.
You have designed standardized training modules and tools for medical officers. Could you share some information about it?
As a part of the digital wellness, setting up standardised patient support programs, we have come up with globally credited guidelines for medical nutrition therapies and structured training modules for medical officers in a particular domain for non-communicable diseases.
Tell me about a patient you had trouble dealing with.
I remember once there was a patient whose blood sugar level wasn’t coming in control despite trying various modifications to her lifestyle. While trying to build a rapport with her, I found out that her daughter moving abroad, and that stress was affecting her blood sugar. This was when I understood how our emotions can impact our blood sugar levels.
You have extensive experience in the prevention and lifestyle management of cardiovascular disease. Share with us some tips and advice for such preventions.
When it comes to lifestyle management of cardiovascular disease or any non-communicable disease there are 5 pillars.
1.Take care of your diet
2.Be physically active
3.Stress management on a day-to-day basis
4.Proper sleep
5.And take care of our medication regimen if any.
Eating a healthy diet which is free of preservatives and chemicals, low sodium levels from processed food, 6-7 hours of good sleep, walk for 30 minutes minimum, picking up a hobby are key to a healthy lifestyle.
You are still spreading awareness on gut health and physical nutrition, so how does it work?
We know every problem begins in the gut as it is the home of trillions of bacteria. Our gut controls both our behaviour and health. So, when we study gut microbiome, we understand how individualized nutrition plans can be put in place. Once gut microbiome has been studied for a particular individual, we can come up with a specific nutrition plan. This is called physical nutrition.
Share with us the mission of un-complicating nutrition that you are currently working upon and what is the aim behind this project?
There has been enough focus on nutrition during the pandemic times as people have understood that prevention is always better than cure. Now, everyone is approaching the concept of nutrition in their own ways which is complicating the subject. So, with the help of this project, I am trying to break the myths related to food, dietary supplements and fad diets. Any recommendation regarding nutrition needs to be scientifically checked and personalized first to keep nutrition un-complicated for all.
The lessons you learned while nurturing your child have guided you in the real business world, too. What are the things you have learned that would help our audience in their future endeavours?
You learn a lot when you become a mother. It not only teaches you patience, but also how you need to put effort and time into your child-like business. Nurture your business the same way you nurture your child. Remember, to grow anything, be it a person or a profession, you need to work hard.
Quick 5
1.Your proudest milestone – Giving birth to my daughter.
2.The person whom you look up to the most – Ms. Kiran Majumdar-Shaw.
3.Your pet peeve – Being late.
4.One thing you always dislike – Double-faced people.
5.The mantra you follow in life – Hard work and never giving up attitude.
If you want to know more about nutrition and diet or wish to book an appointment with Pariksha Rao, you can get in touch with her through the Instagram linked to the feature below.