When Meghan Markle was expecting her little royals, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, she called in a specialist.
Videos by Suggest
The 43-year-old recently shared a personal revelation on her podcast, Confessions of a Female Founder. Meghan, who is the mother of 6-year-old Prince Archie and 3-year-old Princess Lilibet with her husband Prince Harry, revealed that she consulted an Ayurvedic doctor during her pregnancy.
The Cleveland Clinic describes Ayurveda as a 5,000-year-old medical system from India that takes a natural, holistic approach to promoting physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
“During my pregnancies, I had an Ayurvedic doctor, and so much of it was about seeing food as medicine,” the Duchess of Sussex told guest Hannah Mendoza, founder of Clevr Blends, a plant-based superfood latte and tea brand backed by Markle as an investor.
Meghan Markle Dropping She Worked with An Ayurvedic Doctor Came Up After Discussing Taboos Around Mushrooms
The topic came up during a discussion about caffeine alternatives, and Markle talked about the stigma surrounding mushrooms and other adaptogens.
“I think a lot of people, when they hear mushrooms, they go, ‘OK, she’s talking about being hippie dippie and grounded in all these things.’ And if you aren’t familiar with adaptogens, you can go to this place of, ‘Oh, it’s feeling a little psychedelic and super woo woo,’ but what we’re talking about is, in some ways, is food trends, which you were ahead of the curve on,” she explained.
“I was thinking about it, and maybe 10, 15 years ago was when people didn’t know how to pronounce quinoa, and they were saying, ‘Canoa,’ ” she quipped. “So there are these items and ingredients that have been part of our natural ecosystem and dietary system for a long time, whether acknowledged or not, that somehow you say ‘Mushrooms’ and now people have a connotation attached to it, but it’s really just a food trend that I believe you were far ahead of in terms of saying, ‘Hold on, these have properties that can in some way make you feel differently, in a really safe way.’ “
“And I tried it, and I looked at the back. I said, who is this person? And then I started trying to dig into, like, what is this company? But it’s so bizarre because I didn’t have a portfolio at the time. I didn’t have a roster of female founders that I invested in,” she continued. “It was the first and truly organic, all puns intended, experience of looking at something and saying, ‘I want to support this.’ “
Mendoza Admits Being Intimidated to Pitch Her Business to Meghan Markle
Mendoza quipped that she wasn’t sure how to pitch her business when she first connected with Markle. However, Markle quickly put her at ease, assuring her there was no need for that expectation.
“I wasn’t asking for a pitch. I came to you. Do you remember I said to you, I was like, I was watching a lot of Shark Tank at the time? And I said, ‘This is not Shark Tank, Think of this as ‘Dolphin Tank.’ These are very friendly waters. It’s all gonna be good,’ ” Markle recalled, making Mendoza chuckle.