Shikha suffered from hypothyroidism since the age of 9 years! Weight gain was a challenge all through her teenage years. A casual conversation with a friend introduced her to the world of Natural Living. She adopted a whole plant based lifestyle & soon all her issues were a thing of the past. She became more aware of her body & how she can support it. She felt empowered to make conscious choices for her health. She became medicine-free & fearless. Here is her story.

Shikha Data
34 years, Homemaker
Alwar, Rajasthan

Hypothyroidism & perennial weight gain problem

I had hypothyroidism since I was nine years old. The steroidal medicines that are given to cure it, has side effects like weight gain. This became a huge challenge for me especially during my teenage years as I kept on gaining weight. Few years ago, in 2014, when i had gone for a spiritual retreat, I happened to discuss this issue with a dear friend, Nithya Shanti. He recommended I get in touch with his friend Nandini Gulati, who was associated with Sharan (Sanctuary for Health & Reconnection to Animals & Nature). He told me her story of adopting a whole plant based dairy free lifestyle and losing a lot of weight.

So after returning from the retreat, I got in touch with her & started eating whole plant based foods. I began losing weight and felt a great amount of difference in my energy levels.

Leaving medicine successfully

Subsequently, I attended Sharan’s 3-week retreat in Gokarna. During the retreat, we were primarily served raw, whole plant based food. This experience was absolutely amazing. Dr Nandita Shah, the founder of Sharan, made me get my blood test done in the beginning & then again in the end of the retreat. There was a lot of improvement in the thyroid levels & she reduced my hypothyroidism medications by half.

After I came back from the retreat, I continued to follow this lifestyle, focusing on a lot of raw & whole plant based diet. I kept checking my thyroxine levels through regular blood tests. Gradually, the thyroid test results started normalising and by August 2014, I stopped taking my thyroid medication. Since then I have been completely medicine free.

Moving from fear to faith

I came to know about The Health Awareness Centre, Mumbai (THAC) through some friends and in September 2014, I attended their three-day workshop. That I must say completely changed my perspective about body, health & diseases. It was a journey of moving from fear to faith.

I grew up in an environment which was heavily dependent on medicines. For anything and everything, one would quickly pop a pill. So it was a fear based upbringing that I got. As my earlier experiment with Sharan was successful and tests were supportive, I had taken this bold decision of quitting medicine. But somewhere I lived in this constant fear that I am not taking medicine and it should not create some other major issue.

Through the THAC workshop I understood how the body works and how it has the capacity to heal itself if given the right environment. I learnt that if the body has a problem or is not producing enough of something, leading to a deficiency, then by taking medicine you are suppressing the symptom and not really curing the ailment. This made complete sense to me. Somehow I could relate to it and this was so reassuring. My conviction got even stronger, and I was no more fearful about my decision of quitting medicines.

I haven’t taken a blood test or even taken a single crocin or any homeopathic medicine for any ailment in years. I know whatever my body is doing, it is doing it for my betterment.

Ups & downs

I must say that in this journey, there have been many ups and downs, in terms of adoption of a whole plant based lifestyle. May be it was because I thought I was not suffering from a major problem that would push me to be 100% committed. At the same time, I knew if I had to ever deal with a health challenge in my life, I would be able to do so naturally.

Making conscious choices

I now feel empowered to make conscious choices for my health. However, I wanted to continue my learning further. And hence I have recently started following NDS, which is “New Diet System” by BV Chauhan from Gujarat. I’m doing their 3 months program which has a lot of emphasis on raw food & detoxification.

I rest a lot these days, may be 14 hours a day, because my body needs it for detox. I have stopped eating cooked food as I figured that raw works well for me vs a cooked meal. I have lost a lot of weight through this program. I don’t do strenuous exercises, but enjoy my light walks.

The New Empowered Me

While all this may not be easy for everyone to follow, I do it as much as i can because I can see it’s long term benefits. My health journey has empowered me in more ways than one -

1. I now know that my body is capable of taking care of anything. You just have to give it the right environment to heal. Therefore now, I am not popping a pill for every issue. I am more empowered in terms of what I need to do to support my body.
2. I have cured my thyroid, which i had from the age of 9 years till I was 30. I have quit not just thyroid medicines, but all types of medicines.
3. My energy levels are at a new high & I have lost a lot of weight.
4. Today I can make conscious choices for my good health.

Moving ahead naturally

Through all of this, my connection with nature has enhanced, because by adopting a more nature oriented lifestyle, we understand that we are not different from nature. Adopting a natural lifestyle is not just for the body, but also for the overall well-being of mankind and environment.

With the adoption of this lifestyle, connnection to nature and soil came naturally and simultaneously to me. Today I am an organic farmer & love growing my own food. I have a lovely kitchen garden that is completely natural and organic. I can spend hours just tending to and nurturing my plants. Most diseases occur today because we have lost touch with our roots, with nature, with soil. Once this is reversed, when we make an effort to re-establish this connection, the diseases begin to reverse too. It’s no rocket science, just going back to the basics.

(About Shikha Data: A B.Sc graduate by qualification, Shikha worked at National Oilwell Varco in USA & also worked at her father’s paper manufacturing plant in India. She is currently a housewife & in her free time, she loves gardening, listening to devotional music, reading spiritual books, healthy cooking, travelling, yoga and meditation).

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