Bio
Sapna Punjabi, MS, RDN, AP is a Culinary Wellness Expert, Registered Dietitian, Ayurvedic Practitioner and the creative force of beSPICED. Her work has been featured in both national and international print media. Sapna's wellness workshops and cooking classes are hugely popular along with her vibrant YouTube channel that celebrates food, life and all things spice.
Sapna’s one of a kind energy, her strong eastern roots and western dietetics expertise enables her to connect to her audience both in person and through a growing organic following on multiple social platforms.
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My Story
Namaste, I am Sapna and I am so happy and grateful that you’re here sharing your time and energy with me along with a community of like-minded individuals believing in the power of everyday foods and spices for our daily well-being.
As a Registered Dietitian trained in Neonatal Nutrition with more than a decade long experience in clinical setting, I was able to facilitate nutritional care for critically ill patients. Even though my prime focus of expertise was nutritional care for premature infants along with high risk antenatal and post-partum women, I was involved in nutritional interventions for patients in other high-risk areas of trauma, cardiology, cancer, diabetes and transplant care, to name a few. In my years of practice, I firsthand witnessed the critical role of our everyday food and lifestyle choices have on our overall health.
Born and lived in Mumbai, India until my early adult life, I was fortunate to be raised as a vegetarian by parents that chose to abstain from meat in their meals. Surrounded by my mom’s joy of cooking and feeding anyone that entered our home, I learnt my first lessons in creating mindful meals using the right intention and love instead of just measuring ingredients. My mom, to this day, cooks without measuring cups or spoons and never uses microwave or an oven to prepare food. Her favorite tools are her hands and she has taught me the craft of using one’s five senses to lead the way both in the kitchen and in life.
Indian food remains an enigma for many. Contrary to popular belief, Indian food is not just curry and spicy food. The foundations of Indian cuisine is based on the Ayurvedic principles and thus has a deep connection to seasons. Ayurveda, which dates back more than 5000 years ago, is the oldest holistic and traditional medicine with its roots in Vedic traditions of India. The knowledge of Ayurveda is well documented in classical texts and practiced in every kitchen that prepares traditional Indian meals. Therefore, all moms and grand moms using traditional Indian methods of cooking are true custodians of Ayurvedic wisdom that is being passed on by generations.
I took a huge leap of faith in 2012 when I decided to quit my job as a clinical dietitian and created my own company to spread awareness about culinary wellness. I shifted my work from an intensive care unit in a hospital setting to my home kitchen. I am grateful for all opportunities that have come in my path thus far and I am excited for what the future holds for me.
My philosophy has been ‘Food not only provides nutrition, it nourishes our body, mind and soul’. As a registered dietitian, I value the quantitative aspect of nutrition and what science is unfolding each day about the powers of food. At the same time, I am humbled by my Indian roots and the eastern wisdom of Ayurveda that makes us appreciate the qualitative aspects of food and lifestyle choices.
I juggle multiple roles in a day from playing mommy to two sweet kids, to enjoying the life of a solopreneur and all the craziness that comes along with it. There are days I work in my pajamas answering emails and attending phone calls and on other days I sit down with individuals to create a personalized food and lifestyle plan to help them on their path of personal health and well-being.
Whether I travel to speak at professional conferences or speak in a public setting spreading awareness about Ayurveda and culinary wellness, conducting custom wellness workshops to teaching cooking classes, creating new spiced products for beSPICED retail line or standing in front of the camera to create new content for my YouTube channel or social media platforms, I am most comfortable if I am holding my masala dabba or Indian spice box in my hands.
" The world is a better place if spiced just right!"
beSPICED allows me to combine my Indian roots and western training to demystify the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda along with science based nutritional knowledge to teach practical ways to find culinary wellness through seasonal cooking using everyday food and spices. It allows me opportunities every single day to make ancient wisdom deliciously modern.