Celebrity Bites

Bindu Sthalekar

Over authentic Indian vegetarian dishes like panki and dhebra, Dr Bindu Sthalekar, clinical & aesthetic dermatologist, speaks about herself and shares her expertise on skin and hair care during a pandemic

Text & Photographs: Farzana Contractor
Location: Soam, Mumbai

With the hectic schedule that you keep between running two extremely active clinics, do you manage to eat at all?
Don’t ask! It’s crazy busy, but yes, I do manage.

What’s your food choices?
I like my food to be light and lightly spiced. Not over-doused in masala. Bad for the skin!

Vegetarian, are you?
Since the day I was born! I don’t eat anything that walks, crawls or flies.

So you eat eggs, then?
No, eggs hatch and that is just as bad. There is potential for life there.

Are you a vegan?
No, I am not that boring. And guess what, I love to go eating out.

That’s good, helps the slow economy. Your favourite cuisine?
Has to be Chinese. Ate a lot of it in Hong Kong when Sudhir, my husband, was based there for years.

In Bombay, you like the food at…
Golden Dragon, Royal China and China Garden, in that order.

Do you cook?
Used to when I was less busy, which means newly married… And, believe it or not, I cooked the most amazing crab, fish, prawns, chicken and mutton dishes, without ever tasting a thing! Sudhir is a hardcore carnivore.

Hmmm… So what would you say is your passion in life?
It is to heal people. Make them look more beautiful, I love to bring out the best in people with whatever ability God has bestowed me with.

Did you always wish to be a dermatologist?
I always wanted to be a doctor. I am a people’s person and I am most interested in their health, both body and mind. At one point I wanted to be a psychiatrist, but that didn’t happen. Through dermatology, I was able to reach out and touch the lives of so many women, particularly, whose lives seemed so affected due to various skin conditions. Believe me, people can hit rock bottom in such situations, their confidence goes down to zero. I have managed to do good and feel good in my chosen profession.

That’s wonderful. Tell me, if I asked you to give advice to our readers about maintaining good skin, what would you say?
I’d say, follow the four pillars, that is follow a proper diet, sleep sufficiently, exercise well and keep stress at bay. And follow Dr Sthalekar’s super skin juice recipe!

What’s that?
Half a beetroot, one tomato, one amla, one carrot, a few sprigs of coriander and mint and some spinach leaves. Blend all this well, don’t strain it, (the pulp mops up all the toxins), add a bit of water and drink it up at breakfast. And watch how your skin will glow.

Hair also gets taken care of with this?
Absolutely.

Has the COVID had a damaging effect on people’s skin and hair?
Majorly. Especially hair loss. Any illness has that effect. But with the lockdown, stress levels zoomed, uncertainty about everything was a big trigger for hair fall. Your hormones get into a mess. I have actually witnessed an epidemic of hair fall during this entire span of time.

Any advice there…
Yes, please calm down, this is self-limiting, lockdowns are over, uncertainty will end too, soon. Make sure you control your mind, meditate, practise yoga, eat a lot of legumes and beans, nuts like almonds and walnuts, seeds like pumpkin, flax… maintain a good balance of protein, iron and zinc.

I think travel is a good stress-buster, will help?
Of course! Don’t remind me about it. I can cry! I am missing it so much myself.

What was your beat?
USA. I am embarrassed to say, I have seen more of the US than my own country. Which we are about to change. Now I plan to travel mainly in India. It’s the only country that has it all – from the Himalayas to the seas and the rivers, including the fact that, barring Africa, it’s the only country that has elephants, tigers, lions and rhinos roaming its lands!

Bajra Methi na Dhebra

Dr Bindu Sthalekar

Soam's Panki