Welcome to another session of DocScopy, where we'll take a look at the lives and professional journeys of Ms. Khushi Goyal and Ms. Astha Agarwal (Co-Founders of Vegan Ladder), brought to you by MedBound Times, a health journalism platform by MedBound. Ms. Gunjan Sooden from MedBound Times was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to have a candid conversation with Ms. Khushi Goyal (Co-founder of Vegan Ladder). Both of them are vegan hospitality consultants and vegan educators. Both are trained in high-impact hospitality consulting from Vegan Hospitality and in plant-based culinary from The Vegan School, Goa.
In this interview, they have discussed how going vegan altered their perspective of the world and how they found delight in being vegan by making simple dietary modifications while also sharing their own experiences with the transformation. Additionally, they clarified several widespread misconceptions regarding veganism.
Ms. Gunjan Sooden: I welcome you both to this DocScopy session, Ms. Khushi and Ms. Astha. Thank you so much for joining in and giving us your valuable time. Could you please give a brief introduction of yourself to our readers?
Ms. Khushi Goyal: Thank you so much for having us. I will just start with a quick introduction of mine and an interesting story about how I and my father turned vegan.
One remarkable story that Ms. Khushi Goyal shared during the interview was about her father's journey towards veganism and how it transformed his health.
To help them mentally prepare for it, I informed my family that I'm considering going vegan in a month. My father was the first to caution me against doing this, as far as I can recall. But since he had diabetes and obesity, I later spoke with him about being vegan and its health advantages. So when I explained to him the health benefits of becoming vegan, he became incredibly interested and joined me in making the switch. My father has drastically reduced his weight since that time. His diabetes level is also reduced, and I believe he may have lost around 10 kg's of weight. Also, we have seen a drastic improvement in his HbA1c levels.
I think it was around 10 or 11 then, and now it's around six or seven. He is still taking his medications, but the doses have been reduced. We are slowly incorporating a plant-based diet because a vegan diet is very different from a whole-food plant-based diet. It includes oil and vegan junk food as well. And my father is a foodie. So he eats vegan ice cream and everything else. Slowly and steadily, we also want to improve and incorporate a more whole-food, plant-based diet so that he doesn’t have to take his medications anymore.
Ms. Gunjan Sooden: Have you ever wondered what would happen if we created an animal-friendly farm where animals are not subjected to any form of harm or cruelty and milk is obtained from them in a natural and humane way? According to you, do you think it is still a wrong practice?
Ms. Khushi Goyal talks about how unnatural it is to drink milk from other species.
We should not be idly consuming milk from any other species because our bodies cannot digest it. And this is why, because of milk, there are so many health issues linked to the consumption of milk, be it obesity, diabetes, other chronic health diseases, prostate cancer, breast cancer, or acne.
Ms. Khushi Goyal talks about how cows are being ill-treated with an infusion of chemicals for more milk production.
We need to understand that milking is a natural process. Since humans also give milk when they give birth to babies, the body automatically knows how much it needs to give and when to stop. The body also knows when to reduce the quantity on its own. But since the current demand for milk is so high, what we do is give injections to the cows. They produce larger quantities of milk. And if larger quantities of milk are produced, obviously, the cow cannot hold it because it's not natural to hold that much milk. So obviously, it will turn toxic. But all of this is not even natural; it shouldn't happen in the first place, and we are talking about milk that comes from an animal-friendly farm. It's not practically possible in this commercialized generation.
Ms. Khushi Goyal talks about how plant-based nutrition is slowly gaining awareness.
And since plant-based nutrition is not yet mainstream, there are very few nutritional courses that talk about plant-based nutrition. Otherwise, every traditional nutrition course discusses the benefits of meat and other such cases.
Ms. Gunjan Sooden: In a balanced diet, milk plays a crucial role. As a dietician and a nutritionist, we study milk as a food group. What is your take on that?
Ms. Khushi Goyal talks about how we consider milk a food group, but on the contrary, we should not.
It's very interesting that you consider milk a food group because it's not even considered food. So food groups are things like any shakuhachi, vegetarian food, which comes from branches, and Bossa Hari, which comes from animals, and milk is something that is not a food; it's just a baby food, because the baby needs to get that nutrition from the mother. But after a certain age, no other species consumed that food group. So for us, this is not even a food group.
And I'm very glad that people all over the world are realizing this day by day—that this is not even part of the food group. For example, I remember reading in that Canadian title, "The Association," that they completely removed dairy from their food pyramid; they excluded it from their food pyramid because they no longer consider it a food group that is necessary for humans. It's not necessarily for humans, and it is not natural for humans to consume that.
Myth/Fact Debusted:
Does milk contain a significant amount of calcium, which is beneficial for bone health?
Ms. Khushi Goyal talks about how people think milk is good for bones, but on the contrary, it's not.
Doctors and dietitians will tell you that milk is beneficial for the bones since it contains calcium and has numerous other advantages.
But happily, there are also many doctors in India who have now realized that all of this is a myth and nothing more than just a dairy business propaganda. They are gradually converting to plant-based diets, and they are also encouraging others to do the same.
Is it true that adopting a vegan lifestyle is more expensive in comparison to other dietary choices?
Ms. Khushi Goyal discusses how she is living a vegan lifestyle while cutting costs and experimenting with new foods and recipes.
Nothing changed in what we were eating. So we are still eating the same roti, baji, different types of dal, chawal, pulao, etc. Everything is the same; it is just that ghee is replaced by vegan ghee and butter is replaced by vegan butter.
Ms. Khushi Goyal talks about vegan ghee and how it's being made.
It's made with oils, it's made with coconut oil, it's made with sunflower oil, different types of oils together in such a way that it gives the feel of ghee. So, these simple swaps, or, you know, they helped us to shift from a vegetarian to a plant-based diet, and it really doesn't feel, at least at home, as if we have made a big change because everything that we used to eat before we eat now as well, like nothing has changed. My father eats the same thing that he used to do before. So it's not even about vegan diets being expensive; I think we are saving a lot by shifting to a plant-based diet because we no longer buy any unnecessary things.
We used to buy a lot without even thinking, like chocolates unnecessarily; we used to buy, or even when we used to go out, we just randomly used to drink coffee or anything like that, so initially, our bills reduced because we were not spending much.
Ms. Gunjan Sooden: Do you think it is an easy choice to be vegan in India?
Ms. Khushi Goyal talks about how easy it is to be vegan in India (Conclusion)
It's very easy to be vegan, especially in India, because vegetarian options are everywhere, you can easily recognize them, and so many vegetarian options are already vegan. For example, poha upma, idli sambar, chaat, panipuri, lentils and beans, Indian-Chinese Manchurian fried rice noodles, etc. They are leaking. If you want to begin an Italian meal, then you can order red sauce pasta. If you want to eat pizza, you can just ask them to remove the cheese. You can have pizza with just veggies, and it tastes really good. So it's very easy, and I don't think it's expensive. It becomes expensive only when you want a substitute for something like ice cream or cheese. If you stick to the traditional Indian diet, it's as pocket-friendly as the vegetarian diet, and the non vegetarian diet is even more expensive.
During the interview, Ms. Khushi Goyal recommended several websites and information pages to support a smooth transition to veganism. Some of the resources she mentioned were:
eCornell University, Online: Plant-based Nutrition Certificate Program
https://ecornell.cornell.edu/certificates/nutrition/plant-based-nutrition/#_
Kerala Ayurveda Academy, Online: Ayurvedic Nutrition
https://keralaayurvedaacademy.in/ayurvedic-nutrition/
Centre for Excellence, Online: Raw Food Nutritionist Diploma Course
https://www.centreofexcellence.com/shop/raw-food-nutritionist-diploma-course-parts-1-and-2/
SHARAN India, Online: Whole Food Plant Based Nutrition Facilitator Training Program
https://sharan-india.org/events/whole-food-plant-based-nutrition-facilitator-training-program-online/
These resources can help individuals seeking to transition into a vegan lifestyle by providing information, recipes, and support throughout their journey.
Along with this, she suggested one video for all of us to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5Y5sMz3RHU&ab_channel=MaaKaDoodh
This documentary will clear all your doubts. It is not graphical, but very informative!
Do watch!
With this, Part 1 of this session was successfully completed.
Stay tuned for part two of this insightful conversation with Ms. Astha Agarwal, Co-founder of Vegan Ladder.
