Hey there! 👋 Welcome to the Anushtaana WhatsApp community.
Anushtaana is for people who take their health seriously.
Not as a trend to follow, but as the foundation of a good life.
Most health content just gives you information and then leaves you to figure out the rest.
We all have books on health and recipes that have never been opened more than once.
Instagram inspires too for a few minutes, but nothing sticks with you when things get tough.
Anushtaana is different.
Our motto:
Doing the right thing at the right moment, the right way.
We don’t hand you a list and vanish; not everything at once either. Backed by centuries-old authentic Ayurvedic practices, our Vaidyaas help you seamlessly integrate and firmly establish one Anushtaana (practice) at time for holistic well-being.
Join us to achieve your body-mind-spirit’s highest potential. 🌱
Ayurveda Challenges done so far:
CHALLENGE #13:
🪷 Vyayama in Vasanta (Feb 9 – March 1)
🥅 Our goal is to build Bala without depleting Ojas though daily Vyayama.
Here is the checklist:
✅ Early morning hours, bowel emptied, empty stomach (no tea, coffee, water before exercise)
✅ Synchronize your exercise with breath.
✅ Include regular internal and external lubrication in the form of good fats and abhyanga.
❌ Don’t do during periods, indigestion or when you are unwell
🛑 STOP when you start sweeting in your underarms or forehead. More sweat is not equal to better exercise.
CHALLENGE #12:
🌼 🥄 ‘The Ghṛta Anuṣṭhāna’ (Jan 1 – 21, 2026)
✅ 1 tsp of melted cow ghee along with fresh, hot meals
✅ When digestive agni is strong.
✅ Sip hot water on the side
❌ Avoid during indigestion, weak appetite, fever, heaviness
❌ Avoid with curd, stale processed/reheated foods, cold water/drinks/refrigerated food items, viruddha-aahara (incompatible food combinations)
CHALLENGE #11:
🌼 21 day 3 meals, 0 snacks challenge (Nov 27 – Dec 19, 2025)
✅ Building awareness about when and why we eat what we eat
✅ Narrowing our food consumption to three Aaharakalas per day.
❌ Random cups of coffee, tea, biscuits, light snacks, fruit bowls, smoothie, nuts
CHALLENGE #9:
🌼 21 day Shatapadam challenge (Sep17 – Oct 7, 2025)
Take 100 mindful slow steps after every meal to balance your sugar levels, aid digestion and maintain metabolic rhythm.
- ✅ Post meal walk 5-8 minutes after the pressure in the abdomen settles down.
- Indoors/ shades areas after lunch.
- Outdoors after dinner.
- ✅ Elderly and weak – Do only 30-40 steps.
- ❌ Don’t lie down after a meal.
CHALLENGE #7:
🌼 28 day Kitchen-sadhana: No Fridge Edition (June 20th– July 18th):
- Freshly cooked meals with non-refridgerated ingredients.
- Mindful planning, buying and usage of groceries.
- Traditional storage wisdom (in FAQs below).
- Better digestion and deeper connection with food.
FAQ's
1. Our family is big and our needs vary every day. This makes it very hard for our kitchen-help to make the right quantity of food. So instead of throwing the leftovers, we have gotten into the habit of stashing it in the fridge. How to cook the right quantity?
The best way to not cook in excess is to have some rule of thumb.
The quantities below work for our household and give us satiety. Observe your family’s needs and scale accordingly.
- 1 full cup of atta makes 5-6 rotis.
- 1 cup of aged sona masoori rice is good for two adults for dinner. For lunch, we use 1.5 cups.
- ⅓ cup of moong dal for two adults for lunch.
- 1 cup poha for 2 people.
Observe and figure out how much your family needs for two children, two adults, 3 senior citizens and scale accordingly.
Keep one size cup measure for all measurements! You are not bound to go wrong.
2. I work the whole day and I feel like having a meal as soon as I reach home. 20 minutes is all I got before I start to feel famished. What do you suggest?
- Simplify your meal-plan. Place all the veggies and vessels ready on the counter before you leave for work.
- Invest in the right-sized cookware. Often people cook in vessels that are much bigger than they need. This increases both the cooking time and the fuel consumption.
- Learn to use shad-rasas effectively by learning your way around the spices and various cooking techniques. This skill ensures that you keep the habit since what can be a greater motivation that satiety, great taste and good health 😊
- Level up by learning some knife-skills! Finely chopped veggies cook faster. Your veggies also taste better when they are all of the same size because they have cooked evenly!
- Soak lentils or work with easy-to-cook ones like split moong dal.
- Find the right order to do things in the kitchen to reduce your wait-time. My favourite order: Turn the cooker on, knead the dough, then start cooking the veggies, rotis and finally, finish doing the dal tadka in the same roti pan.
3. Can you give us simple ways to cut down cooking time?
Three techniques to cut down your cooking time: break, soak and chart, or simply, BSC.
Break it up
All tasks don’t have to be done in one go. Every time you go take a stroll/drink a glass of water because you are thirsty, pair it up with a two minute task. My dinner prep starts at 5pm. It involves a few 2 minute tasks.
- break a coconut
- wash the veggies
- atta + salt in the mixing bowl
- load your mixer jar with what needs to be ground
- fill your cooker with water
Soak it in
Soaked dals are much easier on the stomach and take much less time to cook. Soak up to 4 hours in advance and add a dash of oil and hing before cooking, Dr. Sadhana says.
Chart it out
In a world where 30,000 decisions per day are causing decision fatigue, simplify and automate you choices.
Good food can be simple and easy; simple meals also come together faster. Please don’t complicate a meal and confuse your body at the end of the day.
4. Can you please summarize the ancient storage systems discussed in the group?
Here is a summary from Dr. Pragna.
1. Hang vegetables in baskets or net bags
✨ The good air circulation slows decay and prevents mold.
🧄Can use this for onions, garlic, ginger, turmeric ,potatoes
2. Use clay pots for coolings
✨ Clay is naturally porous and keeps the contents cool and fresh.
Pro tip: wrap the greens in a damp cloth/banana leaf, place inside the pot and cover with a lid or damp cloth
🍅 Best for leafy green vegetables, tomatoes , cucumbers
3. Use a cool, dark cupboard for storage
✨ Minimal lighting and heat exposure slows ripening and spoilage
🍆 Best for pumpkins, gourds, capsicum, eggplants
4. Dip stems in water
✨ Keeps the veggies hydrated and fresh
🥦Best for coriander, mint,spring onions, basil
5. Only store what you can use in 2-3 days
✨ Always prefer fresh , seasonal, satvik food for healthier gut and metabolism.
Shop more often 🤩, in smaller quantity.
We can do better! Here is your checklist!
Do try to check as many options as possible 😊
✅ Question yourself before dumping food stuff in the refrigerator
✅ Half-cut veggies on display in the fridge a thing of the past.
✅ Need based fresh food with fresh ingredients is a priority in your household.
✅ Dark cool storage for root vegetables, gourds, pumpkins, capsicum, eggplant, grains and bulk items.
✅ Husk/sand/ash layers for storing turmeric, ginger and sweet potato.
✅ Using oil and ghee as a preservative for pickles and chutneys instead of using the refrigerator.
✅ Hang vegetables like onion, garlic, potatoes, turmeric, ginger in baskets or net bags, allowing air circulation
✅ Buttermilk/ veggies stored in clay vessels.
✅ Buy veggies every other day or once every 3 days.
✅ Greens, cucumber, tomatoes wrapped in a damp cloth/banana leaf and placed inside a pot.
✅ Stems of mint, coriander, spring onions dipped in water.
✅ Small batches of idli/dosa batter.
✅ Simplifying your meals
CHALLENGE #6:
🌼 21 day Fruits-first challenge (May 11th – May 31st, 2025):
When you have good digestion and evacuation, include a small bowl of one type of fruit at the beginning of breakfast or lunch.
- Choose a fresh, seasonal, ripe fruit at room temperature. Raisins, pomegranate and gooseberry are everyday consumables. Do remember to soak your raisins, though.
- Begin your meal with a portion of the fruit.
- Reduce the portion size of your regularly cooked meal to accommodate this fruit-first practice.
Read about it here.
CHALLENGE #5, #10:
🌼 14 day Paada Abhyanga challenge (April 14th – April 27th, 2025) (Oct 19- Nov 9, 2025):
Get a good night’s sleep by massaging your feet just before sleeping!
What you will need:
- One small bottle of cold pressed oil (Coconut oil/ sesame oil).
- 5 minutes of your time before sleeping.
What to do in this challenge?
- Before going to bed at night, wash your feet well and dry them with a cloth.
- Take a few drops of oil to your palm, rub it well and apply to the sole of the feet. Massage well.
- Go to bed immediately. No loitering about. No screens.
Read about it here.
✖️ Never skip washing your feet before starting!
Clean feet = happy massage 🙂↕
Avoid Padabhyanga in these situations:
✖️ Open wounds
✖️ Infections on the feet
✖️ Recent injuries or surgeries on the feet
✖️ Skin conditions like eczema or severe rashes
✖️ Blood or lymphatic infections
✖️ General illnesses like fever
✖️ Skin eruptions
Testimonials
CHALLENGE #4:
🌼 21 day sleep-well challenge (March 15th – April 5th, 2025):
Get a good night’s sleep from 10pm-5am
Checklist:
- A quiet, dark, well-ventilated room with clean sheets.
- Early dinner. Meal 2-3 hours before bed time. Indigestion causes disturbed sleep.
- To avoid the night-entertainment- indulgence, schedule “Me-time” during the day.
- No electronics one hour before bed time. Preferably, turn off by 9pm.
- A relaxing wind-down routine for the night without electronics like music (a radio with SD card), books (non-screen), doodling, story telling, drawing, writing, family games, meditation, etc.
- A 5-minute padabhyanga (foot massage) with the right oils, just before lying down. No walking about, no drinking water and no electronics after the massage.
- Developing the ability to call it a day. Let go of all your worries (factors beyond your control), to-do lists and conversation replays when you start winding down.
Read about it here.
CHALLENGE #3:
🌼 48 day water-wise challenge (Jan 5th- Feb 21th, 2025):
Experience better health by drinking boiled water along with your meals.
- Learn how to make hot water the right way
- Right thing: Boiled water (water boiled in an open container until it comes to a roaring boil)
- Right time: Alongside your meals (not before, not after)
- Right way: Sip, not gulp.
Prepare for the challenge: Invest in some good thermal flask and learn how to make boiled water the right way first thing in the morning.
- Make fresh water at the beginning of every day. Discard the remaining at the end of the day.
- How to consume it throughout the year
- Summers – cool it down and sip it
- Winter – enjoy it lukewarm
✅ In all seasons, have a glass of warm water along with your meals for improving your digestion.
❌ Do not have water before or after your meals.
CHALLENGE #2, #8:
🌼 21 day buttermilk challenge (Monday 9th- 29th December, 2024) (Aug 1st – Aug 21, 2025):
Experience the cleansing properties of buttermilk. The process of churning the curd with water introduces astringent quality in the buttermilk, making it a great cleanser.
Making buttermilk the right way:
🌟 Step 1: Setting curd the right way
1. Bring the milk to a boil. Let it cool down to a temperature where it is comfortable to immerse your pinky for 10 seconds. (See the video)
2. Add two tablespoons of starter sweet curd for half a litre of milk.
3. Let it sit in a warm environment and do its thing! I keep mine on top of my fridge!
— If the milk is too hot, you will end up with mushy paneer.
— If the milk is too cold, you will keep waiting for it to set and yet, it never will 🙂
🌟 Step 2: Making buttermilk the right way.
1. For every litre of room temperature curd, add half a litre of boiled and cooked water.
2. Churn until your buttermilk is frothy and homogeneous all the way through.
3. Temper with a tadka of oil, mustard seeds, hing, and curry leaves for added benefit and taste. Or, use it directly in dishes!
Learn to consume it the right way
Substitute the dahi in your meals with buttermilk.
Room temperature buttermilk.
Buttermilk should be sweet and not sour.
✅ Buttermilk with butter is nourishing and best consumed in winters
✅ Buttermilk without butter is light and digestive, best consumed during summers.
✅ Ayurveda advises boiling milk only after adding some water because it makes milk lighter and easier to digest.
❌ Curd at night aggravates kapha and clogs channels triggering allergy, skin problems respiratory issues and more.
✅ Astringent taste introduced by churning makes buttermilk a perfect gut cleanser when consumed at the end of meals.
❌ Curd with milk, curd/milk with salt, curd/milk with fruits
❌ Heating/ boiling curd — Curd + {hot rice, Adding curd to biryani, gravies, Rava dosa and rava idli batter, Marinating paneer for tikka, kadi / majjige huli, Baking in cakes/cookies, Dhokla/ handvo/ khandvi, hung curd sandwiches}
⚠️When we drink buttermilk directly, especially by chugging it down:
It increases phlegm and secretions in the upper part of the body – head, throat, and chest.
So, if you are prone to runny nose, cough, sore throat, nasal blockage or heaviness in the head, drinking buttermilk after meals or at night can aggravate the condition.
Also, when we drink unconsciously, we often consume more than needed and that’s when its unpleasant properties bother us more.
✅ The safest and healthiest way to enjoy buttermilk is by mixing it with rice or food, chewing well, and swallowing mindfully.
CHALLENGE #1:
🌼 3 day Challenge (Wed 4th – Fri 6th Dec, 2024):
Reacquaint the senses to real food
- Light, warm and freshly prepared food that makes you feel fresh.
- Eat only food cooked with ingredients that come directly from the soil.
Prepare for the challenge:
- Check your pantry and toss all the items that no longer fits the conditions above.
- *Read* the ingredients when you go grocery shopping.
- Find three snacks that you really love which
- can be put together in under 5 minutes
- is made natural ingredients (no additives or preservatives)
- is seasonal and local (no kiwis from Australia)