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Indian nutrition expert urges diaspora to eat traditionally
Shah emphasised that immigrant families should prioritize traditional eating habit.
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Ankita Baidya - Thu, 02, Jul 2026
- 04:59 EDT
- 25
Neha Shah, founder of Diaspora Nutrition, speaks about traditional Indian nutrition / X/@hinduparenting
Neha Shah, founder of Diaspora Nutrition, said calorie counting after the birth of her second child in the United States was "harming her mental health" and led her to rethink her approach to food and nutrition.
Speaking on episode 65 of the Hindu Parenting Podcast hosted by Rekha, Shah said tracking calories and food portions made her realize that conventional diet advice did not fit Indian eating habits or the realities of raising children in the United States.
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Shah said she had never dieted before but turned to online weight-loss advice after experiencing weakness and pain following her second pregnancy.
“The first thing that they tell is to count the calories,” she said. “I had this MyFitnessPal app downloaded... there is a food weighing machine... It was harming my mental health.”
She said Indian foods did not fit neatly into calorie and macronutrient categories.
“Dal is both protein and carbs. Milk has all the three- protein, carbs and fats,” she said.
The turning point came when she noticed her older daughter watching her measure and log every meal.
“There was this aha moment,” Shah said. “I said, ‘What am I doing? Am I supposed to teach my kids this?’ Kids don't learn when we speak. They learn by observing.”
She said the experience reminded her of growing up in India, where her mother raised four children without tracking calories.
“Our source of knowledge is also wrong,” Shah said. “We are looking for our solution from the people who don't understand our culture, who don't understand our history.”
Shah said she later studied nutrition to find alternatives to calorie-focused approaches and instead began emphasizing digestion.
“Your digestive fire, your digestive power,” she said. “You don't have to fixate on the numbers or on the labels at all.”
Addressing Indian families living in the United States, Shah also urged consumers to pay closer attention to where staple foods are sourced.
https://t.co/JlD1oDTwmt
— Hindu Parenting (@hinduparenting) July 1, 2026
How do you raise healthy, culturally rooted children in USA? (or urban India, for that matter!) Neha Shah of Diaspora Nutrition shares Ayurvedic food wisdom every Hindu family needs.
Discover why the Indian thali is a complete superfood system. Learn how…
“Even though there is an Indian name, you need to know who owns it,” she said, referring to Indian-branded grocery products sold in the U.S. She recommended buying staples such as atta, ghee, cooking oils and dairy from local farmers where possible instead of relying solely on large retailers.
On the growing popularity of A2 milk, Shah said the label alone was not enough.
“A2 milk coming from the cows living in unhygienic conditions, crammed up, eating genetically modified corn and soy feed is useless,” she said, adding that farming practices and grass-fed conditions matter more than branding.
Shah also encouraged Indian American parents to use food as a way to preserve cultural identity.
“If you just say that you are eating this because it's healthy, they are not going to accept it,” she said. Instead, she recommended preparing one traditional family meal together every weekend and sharing stories about the history and cultural significance of Indian ingredients and dishes.
“We every Saturday, Sunday, we have our cultural meals,” Shah said. “The whole family should come together and cook one cultural meal and share the story behind it.”
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