About Me
Hi! I’m Pooja, the founder of Honey, Ghee, and Tea. I am so excited that you’re here and that our paths have crossed. I am looking forward to sharing the beauty of Ayurveda and my Ayurvedic journey with you.
A little bit about me. I was born and raised in central New Jersey and continue to live here today with my husband, Param, and my two kids (V and D). Professionally, I am a licensed Physician Assistant with a Masters in Health Administration. I am also an Ayurvedic Health Counselor pursuing further certification as an Ayurvedic Practitioner.
Having a profession that involves interacting with patients from all different ages, body types, backgrounds, and cultures is incredibly rewarding, but also very puzzling. If there is one thing I have learned, it’s that there is no “one size fits all” approach to health and well-being. I spent much of my career attempting to coach my patients through diet plans and strategies that would eventually fail, simply because I had not yet discovered the beauty of Ayurvedic Medicine.
I named this blog Honey, Ghee, and Tea as a reminder of how we should embrace goodness in life on a daily basis despite our challenges.
Honey: Always starting the day off with something sweet. Whether it be a simple, sweet thought, or honey n’ oats, embracing mindfulness by allowing positivity to flow through us sets us up for a great day ahead.
Ghee: Ghee, or clarified butter, is pure butterfat, minus the water and milk proteins found in normal butter. It represents the essence of purity and wholeness that we strive to incorporate into our life throughout the day. Our body is a temple, ghee is a reminder to treat it as such.
Tea: As the day comes to a close, it is wise to sit with a cup of tea and allow ourselves to be still and reflect on our day. Perhaps a nice fennel tea before bed, or maybe even a simple cup of hot water with lemon. Despite the challenges or difficulties faced in the day, using tea as a reminder to always bask in the beauty of the present moment will provide restful sleep for the night.
Although work, school, and family keep me extremely busy, cooking has always been a passion of mine which is why I was initially drawn to Ayurveda and its emphasis on maintaining optimal health through foods as a way to prevent disease.
Through this blog and through my Ayurvedic offerings, I hope to influence you to be your best self, every day.
My Ayurvedic Journey
My relationship with Ayurveda began without me even realizing – and it may be the same for you! I was raised in a South Asian household where my parents would repeatedly tell me that I can’t eat this with that or drink milk along with orange juice like all of my friends would, that I should wake up at the crack of dawn, and takes herbs that I couldn’t pronounce. I’d annoyingly do some of it just to make them happy but did I believe in it? No! I didn’t pay any mind to it until I went away to school at 18 and my digestion went all sorts of out of whack. I would find myself bloated one day, then constipated another, then with diarrhea the next. Being in the health care field, I self –diagnosed myself with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and day in and day out, just learned to live with it.
Little did I know, I was doing it all wrong! I had let go of something that was at my fingertips all my life. I was eating the wrong foods, I wasn’t taking care of my mental health, and I definitely wasn’t giving my body what it needed. I gained about 20 lbs in those 4 years and then I went on one binge diet to the next – everything from juice cleanses to the cabbage soup diet to a raw food cleanse to lose the weight only to have it come right back.
Then, when I was at an absolute loss, about 5 years ago, I discovered hot yoga at a local studio. I started going to classes daily and my body felt like it was getting what it needed. It’s hard to explain the feeling, but the feeling was almost instantaneous! My digestion improved, the weight started coming off, the body aches and pains practically disappeared, and even my IBS symptoms showed improvement. I need to look into this further, I thought!
So I started researching, meditation popped up on google searches so I thought why not? I downloaded an app on my phone and started using it every morning to do a 5 minute guided meditation. And within a couple of weeks, I felt like this was something else my body was missing out on, no need for coffee in the morning, I had mental clarity and increased energy just by meditating for 5 minutes. It can’t get better than that!
Over time, my daily routine just fell in to place and I experienced the immense benefits of a consistent Ayurvedic lifestyle. Thanks to my added passion for healthy cooking and sharing my recipes, this is when I truly unlocked the beauty of Ayurveda, began my Ayurvedic training, and how Honey, Ghee, and Tea was created.
