'We humans are instinctively attracted to plant-based food'

Meet Dr Nandita Shah, 65, a homoeopath based at Auroville, Puducherry, who through her organisation SHARAN is trying to cure illnesses without medicine.

- Dr Nandita Shah

She says through the right food and lifestyle many ailments can be cured. Excerpts from an interview with S Balakrishnan.

Q. When and why did you form SHARAN?

A. SHARAN is an acronym for Sanctuary for Health and Re-connection to Animals and Nature. When I moved to Auroville from Mumbai, I took a small house on the beach, and the cat moved in with me the very same day. We co-existed, and I realised that animals and nature know how to be well. The cat knew exactly what to do if she was unwell. I thought why is it that animals know this, and we don't?

I realised that we are sick because we are eating and living the way we have been taught to eat and live by our society, culture and advertisements. But we should really eat and live the way we have been designed to eat and live by God or nature. Eating food that was not designed for us is a little bit like putting diesel in a car that runs on petrol. It doesn't work very long.