He is also a Kapha type, so such foods were fermented and heavy for him. But after doing such demanding work on so many levels, he craved those crunchy, munchy fried foods. After one year of doing this all the time, his weight skyrocketed.

Then Pankaj started giving me the challenge. He said, “Smita, I know you are a very good cook. I need to munch. Please invent recipes which will satisfy and be healthy for me.” So I started working on making crunchy things without frying them, making all the foods that he liked so they were more digestible, less heavy, and very satisfying emotionally to the tongue and heart. Once I did this, Pankaj started losing weight. He lost thirty pounds in six months.

Many of those same recipes are what we now stock in our Swadshakti Café for everyone who visits or stays at our Centre. These snacks and foods were created because they are delicious, nutritious, digestible, and balancing to all the doshas.”
--Dr. Smita Naram

City now has complete ayurvedic centre - THE TIMES OF INDIA, Mumbai, Tuesday, June 22 1999

By Rohit Chandavarkar

Mumbai now has it's first ayurvedic restaurant and complete ayurvedic treatment centre, both together in one place. So if you are planning a naturopathy vacation to Kerala this monsoon, think again. Maybe you could get better treatment right here in Mumbai.

Ayushakti, an organisation working in the area of medical research, especially ayurveda, has built a complete health care and medical treatment centre at Malad in north Mumbai. The centre is attracting patients from not only all over India, but also from Europe and the US.

The most attractive part of the centre is the ayurvedic restaurant located on the ground floor. Patients and visitors can have several mouthwatering dishes such as ragada pattice and bhel-puri that are prepared in such a way that they have a high nutrition value. This first ever ayurvedic restaurant in the city has become an instant hit in the surrounding area. Not only patients visiting the centre. but those living in the area also have become frequent visitors here."

The diagnostic and treatment services are run by Or Panka| Naram, an expert in pulse diagnosis and ayurveda. The centre receives hundreds of patients every day and many of them have been cured of chronic illnesses," claims Hema Raney. CEO at Ayushakli.

Some patients'have witnessed these magic remedies. Sixty-three year old R.G Saxena a former employee of All India Radio, was suffering trom chronic throat pain. "It was discovered that I had "developed a lump in the throat- Three years of allopathic treatment didn't give me any positive results but regular ayurvedic treatment at Ayushakti centre has almost totally cured me', says Mr Saxena.

"Illness has to be cured not just through treatment for the body but also for the mind - that's what ayurveda is all about", says Dr Pankaj Naram - The centre provides complete body and mind-care therapy.

Though a hundred per cent curu can't be assured in ayurveda. the method is becoming popular. because it has no side effects and is regarded safe.

It may take some time for a person receiving this treatment to recover from the illness but the cure is permanent in most cases.

Experts feel that India can give the world some fantastic remedies, if enough funds and efforts are put into ayurveda. Dr Naram has also visited Nepal several times from where he has brought ancient scriptures with information on ayurvedic remedies.