Quick Take
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Meghan Markle discussed Ayurveda during her pregnancies on her podcast.
She highlighted food as medicine and the benefits of using adaptogens.
Markle mentioned that some may view her approach as unconventional.
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, recently revealed that she turned to Ayurveda, an ancient Indian holistic medicine, during her pregnancies with Archie and Lilibet. In a recent episode of her podcast Confessions of a Female Founder, she discussed the benefits of seeing “food as medicine” and using “adaptogens” like mushrooms, despite some people viewing the approach as unconventional. The episode, released on Archie’s sixth birthday, featured a conversation with Hannah Mendoza, founder of Clevr Blends.
During the episode, Ms Markle discussed her interest in Ayurveda, which translates to “knowledge of life” in Sanskrit, and its focus on balancing the body. She credited an Ayurvedic practitioner for teaching her to view “food as medicine” and praised the benefits of adaptogens like mushrooms. However, she acknowledged that some people might find this approach unconventional, describing it as “a little psychedelic and super woo-woo.”
“So there are these items and ingredients that have been part of our natural ecosystem and dietary system for a long time, whether acknowledged or not, that somehow you say mushrooms, and now people have a connotation attached to it. But it’s just a food trend that I believe you were far ahead of in terms of saying, ‘Hold on, these have properties that can in some way make you feel differently in a safe way. During my pregnancies, I had an Ayurvedic doctor, and so much of it was about seeing food as medicine,” she said.
She added, “I think a lot of people, when they hear mushrooms, they go, ‘Okay, she’s talking about being hippie-dippy, grounded in all these things. If you aren’t familiar with adaptogens, you can go to this place of ‘Oh, it’s feeling a little psychedelic and super woo-woo.”
Interestingly, Prince Harry’s memoir Spare also mentions his own experience with psychedelics, including magic mushrooms in California in 2016. The couple also explored alternative approaches during Archie’s birth, using Sanskrit songs in the delivery room on the advice of an Ayurvedic doctor. The doctor also suggested they whisper words of love to him immediately after birth. This practice was based on the belief that babies absorb everything said to them in their first minute of life.