Kartika Dubey was born into a vegetarian family that depended a lot on milk, much like most vegetarian families in India. “We couldn’t go outside without drinking milk first thing in the morning”, she says. She always felt a deep sense of responsibility towards our earth and the animals right from childhood. Blissfully unaware of the pain the animals were going through in the dairy industry, she was only made aware of it during an internship in the second year of her MBA by her colleague Vishnu. She immediately turned vegan. “Initially I thought that it’s okay if I taste a piece of vegetarian food if my friend offered me something like a chocolate since I am not creating any demand for the food”, she adds.
“Turning into a vegan was easy and very heart-warming. To choose justice for every meal is rewarding. It also makes sense since I love mother earth.”
She moved to Hanoi, Vietnam and continued to enjoy the vegan spread that Vietnam had to offer. “I was eating from all wonderful vegan buffets with all kinds of processed soy and fake meats because it was so easily available and tasted delicious at that time.”
But a health setback changed the course of her life in some ways. She developed two abscesses in her left hip. “I dint know it could be a big deal, but around a month later I woke up with chest pain and weakness. When I went to the hospital, they told me the infection had spread”, she says. For someone who was used to being healthy for the most part, she did not take well to being told she was ill. She was hospitalised and subsequently discharged. But the abscess came back.
“I was freaking out a little for my health”
Her friend Vishnu, who introduced her to the idea of veganism, urged her to go on a water fast. She followed his advice and the abscess never came back. That was the turning point for Kartika. “This is when I realised the importance of naturopathy.”
Her friend Justas, a raw vegan himself, introduced her to the idea of raw food and health. “In a few months, I did a juice fast with him for 60 days. I felt high on life, very clear mind and started my YouTube channel Expand Love – www.youtube.com/expandlove”, says Kartika.
“In my research and experience we are frugivorous, and fruits give us the highest health.”
Turning into a raw vegan was not easy for Kartika. She had to deal with detox, cravings and addictions. “But it has been deeply rewarding”, she says.
“When I turned into a raw vegan my life exceptionally scaled up. I feel very happy and calm almost all the time. I usually am exploding with love; my vibrations are high. My spiritual practices are deeper, mental clarity and physical health phenomenal. I healed all my health problems from skin issues to inflammation. I have been creative and full of faith. I am following my passions and living a life full of purpose. I live off the grid, doing permaculture, nurturing mother earth, and growing a fruit forest. I am becoming self-sustainable for all my energy needs, water, food and electricity,” explains Kartika.
RETREAT INTO THE FOREST
Her friend Vishnu, a spiritual and financial coach, who is also co-founder of Gaia- Expanding Consciousness Community along with her, suggested that they should do a forest retreat after he went for a Vipassana meditation camp. This led to their endeavour called ‘Full Power’ through which they organise forest retreats, body cleanses sessions, juice feasting sessions and have done online classes as well for body and mental fitness.
“I started coaching because I want to bring all the benefits that I have received in my journey to other people. There is nothing more beautiful than having a positive impact on someone else’s life.”
ROUTINES FILLED WITH GRATITUDE
Kartika’s starts her day with gratitude and followed by breathing exercises, dancing, meditation, visualization, audiobooks, journaling and also learning a new skill. Between 11 am and 5 pm she works on her ‘get to do’ list which includes business and personal work. She also makes sure to spend time with her family and pets every day. In the evenings she likes to wind down by watching a documentary by a bonfire and is off to bed by 9.30pm.
As for her food routine, Kartika says it changes according to signals from her body but on an average, her routine includes intermittent fasting for 16 hours and eating 3 meals a day. She starts her day with 2 liters of fruit juice at 10 am. Her second mono-fruit meal is usually watermelon or any other watery fruit around 2 pm. Around 6 pm she eats a third fruit meal of either 3 bananas with 1 papaya or just 2-3 pineapples. She eats very little green leafy vegetables and has avoided nuts after realizing they are acidic.
“A cleaner body is more sensitive to different kinds of food, just like a non-smoker would be to smoking for the first time.”
IN THE FUTURE
Kartika is a big proponent of self-love along with raw food. She wishes to highlight them along with the importance of mental health and nurturing mother earth through her ventures Expand love and Amma Zeme.
“Amma Zeme is my off the grid permaculture farm where we are creating self-sustainability for all our energy needs and creating a food forest. We are off the grid on solar power, growing our food and nurturing mother earth,” she adds.
She wishes to create more community spaces and experiences for people to experience holistic health. This would include raw food, cleanses, fasting, learning how to live with nature, how to create financial & other kinds of abundance along with spiritual and mental growth.
