Photo by Jessica Chen
Sapna Punjabi-Gupta, a nutritionist with a passion for healthy, vegetarian Indian cuisine, leads a variety of health-centered classes, including wellness lectures and cooking workshops. She also offers online webinars and personalized wellness consultations.
Ayurveda, the thousands-of-years-old Hindu system of health and wellbeing, is centered on the notion of balancing elements in the body—air, fire, water, earth, ether, according to ancient Vedic tradition—in order to achieve wellness. Integrating nutrition, meditation, and exercise are part of a vegetarian lifestyle. Spices aid digestion and a balanced system promotes immunity. One eats according to the seasons, but also with mindfulness to one’s dominant dosha: vata (wind), pitta (fire), or kapha (water). All of this Punjabi-Gupta blends into her multi-faceted work.