Why am I on the journey of “food as medicine”? 

Mamatha Shekar, Ph.D                                                  Nov 29, 2022
Proprietor of Maadhev Inc.

As my family and I went through the tough journey of my father’s cancer remission, I was exposed to alternative medicines through many of our well-wishers, most of which happened to be natural products. During this time in the last 2 years, my melasma got severe, maybe due to the stress of seeing my father suffer and then losing him.  Every dermatologist I consulted in the US and India prescribed topical treatments or applications with no guarantees and said the root cause of the disease is unknown. In the last 2 months, my family & friends said that the dark patches were lightening which meant substantial reduction for them to notice.

What has drastically changed in those two weeks is drinking of bull driven ghaana oil since Nov 10th, 2022. I had started consuming millet fermented porridge / ambali  on a daily basis since end of July 2022. I stress the word ambali because I have been using millets on a regular basis for the last 8-10 yrs removing gluten and white rice from my meal plan. Such meal plans along with intermittent fasting and exercises had helped in losing and managing weight but not so much for skin problems.

What triggered me to switch to fermented porridge/ambali is Dr. Khader’s talk in the Bay Area in the 1st week of July 2022. The information he shared resonated with my more than 25 years of work experience in precision medicine researching in genomics, gut microbiome and ancient methods of having left over cooked grains after fermentation. I decided to give it a try without any expectations and it seemed to have worked well. Few of my friends, on hearing my story, started on fermented porridge/ambali and have noticed positive changes in their health.

I couldn’t follow the decoction and bull driven ghaana oil protocol due to its unavailability in the US. In the 1st week of November I visited a few bull driven ghaanas and cold pressed ghaanas around Mysore. Desiri ghaana was the most impressive as they are passionate, scientific, knowledgeable, motivated by personal reasons and stand by the quality. I learnt a lot about the ghaana process fom them and this document is an attempt to share some of the critical knowledge. Now I know why Dr. Khader insists on bull driven ghaana oil.

After I returned from India on Nov 6th, 2022, I started drinking one tablespoon of bull driven oil on an empty stomach and noticed a huge difference in my skin - blemishes and bumps on facial skin reduced significantly. First week, I consumed sesame oil.  Second week, I started on Niger oil and the first day I had it, I was sleepy the whole day. When I googled, I read that it aids sleep and insomnia.
Third week I had safflower oil and fourth week flaxseed oil.  I started googling each oil. The table in this document is my notes from hundreds of google searches and sharing in the interest of your time and effort.
When I told my friends about the impact of Niger oil, many wanted it and it seemed to be next to impossible to get fresh bull driven Niger oil easily in the US. Hence this effort to bring such products.

It is my goal to make the above products accessible to all those interested in the US from the sources I have found for authentic sources I have found supply, If you are interested in learning more about oils, other natural products organically processed without chemicals join the Whatsapp group by clicking here. In this group, members also share their experiences and how it has cured their watery or dry eyes, bloating, dry skin, psoriasis using the natural products. We also have support group for thyroid, menopause, etc.

Oct 1, 2024
I am delighted to noted that the customer base has grown from 10 to 600 in less than two years (only through word of mouth and no marketing). The biggest testimony any company can provide is when customers buy for their parents which is the case here. Desiri's pan-India sale has significantly increased after Maadhev started selling in US.
I have expanded the products as digging deeper into food as medicine, i learnt of more ways of preparing food as per ancient food science that also matches the modern understanding. My take on bull driven oils is that it is natural supplement of macro (essential fatty acids) and micronutrients. As per the request of patrons who find it hard to find pure and good quality food items, I have expanded to have more than 40 products including the popular nut bar, nuts and immunity boosting products such as saffron, kawha tea and singled cloved garlic from Kashmir.

Another major factor contributing to many of the symptoms community is facing is snacking on food made from refined oil. I am planning to add snacks made in cold-pressed oils soon and also millet based granola, savory chivda, etc. If you are looking for the best quality fresh food, please browse through the products Maadhev carries.