Plant-based cook, recipe developer and mission-driven entrepreneur Radhi Devlukia wears quite a few hats. With her background as a dietitian and and her studies in , Devlukia shares everything from her recipes, health tips, wellness videos, natural skin care and beauty with a global audience of millions of followers. As of today, she also has her debut cookbook, JOYFULL, to add to the resume. We recently chatted with Devlukia to hear how she got pen to paper for this project and her best tips for living a conscious lifestyle.
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The cookbook looks beautiful. Congrats. What was the hardest part about getting it to press and completing the project?
My gosh, different things at different stages, honestly. The first part was, “Okay, how am I going to pack everything that I want to into this one book?” By the way, I ended up creating 190 for this cookbook! Then I was like, “It’s fine, we’ll include them all.” My publishers were like, “We are not including them all. We can’t include them all.”
The hard part there was trying to figure out what actually gets into the book. Which recipes do I want in there? I really had to break down what is my intention with the book. With each category, how do I want to create that one section? Everything was going from sweet and savory and different spices being used throughout the book. Really making sure there’s variation so that every craving and every person has something that they would want within each section.
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The first I had to figure out was what recipes go in there. Then, honestly, nothing felt difficult! But it did feel new because I’ve never done this before. I didn’t realize that everything takes such a long time to do. By the way, I finished writing these recipes more than two years now ago, or at least a year and a half. That feeling of putting something away for that long and then having to come back to it now. I’m like, “Oh my gosh, I’m scared to even open the book!” because I felt like everything has changed so much since. It’s actually been a beautiful process. I wouldn’t say difficult, but new. Everything felt really new for me.
How did you feel when it finally was in your hands—when you felt the finished product?
I was like, “Oh my gosh, people are actually going to read this. Oh my goodness, this is actually going to go to people in their homes.” It was a surreal moment because, there’s one thing about pouring everything that I had into the book and then seeing it come together.
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It was also exciting, because I feel like I’ve brought together so many of the people in my life—the teachers that I’ve had in my life, and all the incredible food that I’ve eaten in my life all poured into this one place. I’m excited for people to experiment with it because I’ve always seen myself as a vessel or instrument of everybody and everything around me and the teachers that I’ve had. All those things have changed my life so deeply that to be able to share that with other people and have the opportunity to bring some joy into their life is a really special thing to be able to do.
That’s awesome. I know you’re into beauty. You share a lot of that on your social media. What does your beauty routine look like right now?
I honestly do try and keep it as natural as possible. I’m like, if I’m going to put clean things into my body, I need to put . From the morning, do you want just products? Can I tell you other things I do food-wise too?
Sure. We want to hear it all.
I always start, and this recipe that is in my book. I start the morning with CCF tea, and it’s coriander, cumin and fennel. You boil that into water, and then I drink it in the morning. Spices are a big part of my beauty regime because spices help to purify you. They help to your body, bring radiance and increase blood flow. There’s so many things that different spices do that can help with your internal body working well, which also then shows up in your skin, and your hair and your .
I learned in Ayurveda that your skin, hair and nails are the last tissue that all your nutrients go to. Actually, what you feed your body is what shows up on your actual skin and on the external part of you. I start with those three spices because they help to detox your body. They help with properties, purify you in the morning, and they help to clean up your digestive tract also. I definitely start with that, and that’s been a game-changer for me for energy, and gut, and then skin too.
Then I love doing ice rolling. I’ve been starting that a lot. I have different ones—I have the gloves where you actually freeze the water inside and do it. I’ll try different things, but that’s really helped me for the puffiness in the morning. The other thing I started recently was cupping on your face. Have you done that before, little cupping? Yes, I’ve been doing that because I really like doing it around my eyes in the morning, and that’s been something that’s been– yes, I’ve been enjoying that recently.
Then the biggest thing that I absolutely love is doing Abhyanga. It’s a massage with herbs, oils that have been heated and infused with different herbs. Even if you don’t have the specific oils, just having this practice of, one, putting oil on your body that seeps into your body, good quality oil that helps to lubricate your nerves. It calms your nervous system, but also it’s a really beautiful practice to just connect back to your body. That’s been a really nice practice that I’ve been doing for years, and I’ll either do it in the morning or usually in the evening. If I don’t have time, just stick to my feet, and I’ll do it on my feet and maybe give my head a bit of a massage. I’d say that. A product that I’ve used for years is . I love her products.
They are amazing.
She’s so good, and everything is just so clean and intentional, and all the ingredients are from India, and all these ingredients have been used for years and years for Indian beauty skincare. I just really appreciate that brand.
Your whole life is pretty much about balance and wellness. What do you do when you get stressed or when you feel off-kilter? What’s the one thing you always come back to?
Breathwork has been something that has helped me move through the phases of the day and all the emotions that come with it for a while now. I’d say it has helped me with feeling anxious before interviews. It’s helped me with going from feeling really low in energy and mood to creating more vibrance and movement in my body. is definitely my first go-to. I will sit with myself and I will just take breaths and try different breathworks out depending on how I’m feeling.
Then another thing is writing. I’ve really appreciated the practice of before even speaking words out to somebody, clearing my thoughts and processing them in a way where maybe I don’t need to speak to anybody and maybe all I really need is to let things out because I truly believe our body isn’t meant to hold or keep things. It’s meant to process things and allow them to flow through you. Writing has been a really beautiful practice that I’ve incorporated.
Then nature. We don’t realize how much nature gives us on a day-to-day basis. It’s like the sun’s energy can do so much for us. The moon’s energy can do so much for us. The way that we even looking at trees and looking into the distance, like we can receive so much just from the energy that we can tune into through nature. I think that’s been a huge part for me. I’d just go out and go for a walk instead of sitting and like sitting in my sadness. I prefer just going out and almost around me. It really does give you a different perspective.