About Uddha
I was inspired by this poem since my 20s
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield.
As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard.
This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”
―Lao Tzu
Uddha means water in Konkani, one of the Indian languages. I wish for me and for all to be fluid, soft and yielding towards who we wish to be and continue being on that path.
My nutritional philosophy
My philosophy sits at the intersection of nutritional anthropology, Ayurveda, and eating psychology.
From nutritional anthropology, I look at the foods human biology evolved with over roughly 250,000 years — the foods our metabolism, hormones, and digestion are naturally equipped to thrive on.
From Ayurveda, I draw on the principles of living in rhythm with nature — honoring seasonality, digestion, life stage, and the subtle signals of the body.
From eating psychology, I recognize that food choices are rarely just biological. Our eating is shaped by culture, family traditions, identity, emotions, and social environments.The goal is not to reject these influences, but to learn how to navigate them wisely.
A key idea in my philosophy is the difference between deprivation and restraint. Deprivation comes from restriction and punishment. Restraint comes from awareness and choice.
We already practice restraint in many parts of life — in how we spend money, in the words we choose to say, in how we spend our time. Practicing restraint with food is simply another form of self-respect and self-governance.nstead of chasing strict diets or rigid food rules, I guide people toward a more grounded way of eating — one that gradually moves them closer to nature’s foods while still allowing space for cultural foods, celebration, and emotional moments around food.
My philosophy is intentionally simple: There is no calorie counting, no weighing of food, and no portion policing. Human beings thrived for thousands of years before nutrition labels and food scales existed. When our body is given the foods it is biologically designed for, hunger, hormones, energy and fullness signals naturally begin to regulate themselves. The goal is not perfection. The goal is alignment with the body most of the time.
About me
You can have lofty visions, amazing ambitions, beautiful gifts and talents, but if you don’t have daily energy and the longevity then your dreams are not going to get done. My mission is to help people achieve lasting transformations by changing their relationship with food.
Hello! I’m Smitha Prabhu. I’m from Bangalore, India but reside in the San Francisco Bay Area, USA with my family. I have ~25 years of global experience having worked in worked in companies such as Yahoo!, SAP, DocuSign and Google. It’s been my mission to empower people to get the most out of life. Through my various institutional learnings and guiding as a coach, I help teaching people fundamentals of eating healthy, help those who are struggling with releasing excess weight, emotional eating, yo-yo dieting and sugar cravings take back their power, so that they can feel good about themselves again, love their bodies and live their life to the fullest. I am excited to share the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and a healthy relationship with food with you.
I’m a certified Wildfit® Coach, Ayurveda Coach through Kerala Ayurveda, Eating Psychology Coach from the Institute of Eating Psychology, eCornell University Nutrition learning certified, Certified MBTI Facilitator and ICF accredited Coach. I believe that transformation happens when we stop beating ourselves up, let go of unrealistic expectations, treat ourselves with compassion and find joy in the process. Health is a journey; not a destination. I look forward to supporting you on your journey to being a vibrant new you. Let’s have fun along the way!
From Dates to Desserts - My own health story
I’ve been a huge fan of ‘good diets’ all my life, not really knowing what it actually meant. Like many, I fell mostly for marketed ‘superfoods’ and followed those. In parallel, as a child I worried I’d be bald by 21 yrs of age with no one to marry; I suffered from hair fall issues, suffered from sinus most of my life, had mouth ulcers all year round, all my life, suffered from bloating and fatigue too. My body was screaming and showing signs that something was wrong but I didn’t know it was not normal. I continued with what I wanted – eating more sugar and snacking mindlessly all day. It was an addiction which I thought wasn’t so bad and wasn’t really hurting me. I thought of it as just little pricks but nothing major.
I come from India, from a community and a family that absolutely loves desserts. In my late 30’s I had built in an addiction where I could not leave a box of sweets unfinished. It had hit its peak during the pandemic where I could finish a couple of boxes of Indian desserts in a day. It was a wake up call; a new low.
I was disgusted with myself. I couldn’t control myself anymore. I knew I needed help. I thought I needed some kind of sugar rehab. I’m sure there aren’t any rehabs for mindless snacking and sugar addiction. Or are there?!! They say when the student is ready, the teacher arrives. I was ready and I came across Eric Edmeades’s Wildfit Program. Did a little bit of research and then decided to take a leap of faith and signed up. I signed up only to take control of my sugar addiction. Nothing else. I hadn’t thought of other pricks as issues at all.
This turned out to be a magical experience for me. It challenged many of my beliefs, did it in a gentle sustainable manner and provided me with a community to really get to the last mile of the program. I am proud of myself and grateful for the support I was provided through this program which has brought in long lasting changes through more awareness and actual tangible positive breakthroughs. I did it while I had a demanding job and a 5 yr old to single handedly manage. All I needed was the desire to make the change and access to a kitchen to get me started. I was also surprised to see and hear about the breakthroughs my fellow friends in the community were sharing, whose goals were different from mine. It was miraculous to see that change in others where they reversed chronic illnesses type 2 diabetes, thyroid, arthritis and released a lot of weight by just being well nourished.
While my primary goal was sugar addiction, some of the visible and non-visible breakthroughs I experienced were: (it’s soon going to be 6 yrs now and I haven’t had a single mouth ulcer!!!!) It wasn’t even my goal. Food did what medicine couldn’t! I’m ecstatic about that. My daily bloating has disappeared unless I eat the food that actually isn’t working for me, of course. I’m listening to my body. I’m more aware. I released weight although it was a non-goal. I also love my kitchen more today because of the power I have over my own and family’s health to nourish them better.
The key to good health begins with nourishment; the key to improved health is when you layer exercise on an existing well nourished body. I am not counting calories anymore, not exercising until exhausting my body, I am not “afraid” of “if I eat this, I won’t be able to stop eating till I finish the whole box”. I can walk past an aisle of desserts and not feel compelled to buy or eat. At the same time, I am able to enjoy a moist chocolate cake with buttercream icing when I want. I have gained the food freedom I desired wrt many foods that held me hostage and I’m still working on some others. I gained trust in my body and my choices with many things. Now I know what nurturing the body really means from so many perspectives and the food confusion finally faded away. And truth being said: it’s not always just about the food. There were so many emotional/other triggers that affected my food choices. I’ll always be a work in progress AND I’m a better me, a better spouse and a better mom around food choices, now that I know better.
This was just the beginning of my journey of changing my self and changing my career…
love,
Smitha
Contact Me
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly. I can’t wait to hear from you!