Prashant Desai is a passionate health advocate and storyteller on a mission to reimagine preventive wellness. Driven by deeply personal loss—losing his father at 7 and his brother at 41 to heart disease—Prashant turned pain into purpose, dedicating his life to mastering fitness, nutrition, sleep, and longevity. A firm believer in proactive health over reactive medicine, he challenges traditional healthcare narratives and champions a future where technology, ancient wisdom, and self-awareness combine to prevent lifestyle diseases before they strike. Through his engaging content on social media, Prashant shares hard-earned insights on metabolic health, glucose monitoring, and optimizing daily habits. His goal? To empower others—especially parents—to live longer, healthier lives so their children never have to endure the losses he did. Relatable, data-driven, and purpose-led, Prashant isn’t just navigating the health journey—he’s charting a new course entirely.

The Social Digest: How has working with industry stalwarts like Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Kishore Biyani influenced your perspective on business?

I think working with Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Kishore Biyani, Jignesh Shah, Samir Sen, all great entrepreneurs kind of taught to me many things. Something common amongst all of them was their ability to see things which others were not being able to see whether it was Kishore Ji and his ability to see the emergence of modern retail, whether it was Rakesh bhaiya and his ability to see the emergence of Titan as one of the leading players in the watch side at a time when Tanishq was not even there and then to see a trust of Tatas playing a very big role in the consumer side of the business, whether it was Jignesh’s ability to see India dominating the exchanges space from a technology and ownership standpoint, or whether it is today, Sameer Sen and his ability to see the emergence of private equity, and why entrepreneurs will first choose, you know, to work with the private equity owner and then migrate into a Public Market, kind of an offering. I think that is one thing which I’ve been able to observe in all of them. Second thing, their ability to take a risk. I think, as an entrepreneur, one common thing they have is a very different way to approach things. They look at risk very differently , though they weigh the risk of something. But considering there is a risk involved, they are able to take the step, take on the risk head on, and bet serious capital into this. Some succeed, some don’t, but what I learnt from them is their ability to take risk and put significant capital to work. Another thing that is common to all of these people, what I saw is they are absolutely optimistic at heart. You spend time with them and you will never feel hopeless when you come back. They are, by nature, very, very optimist human beings. And I have seen and observed that that to become an entrepreneur or to become a human first, you need to be an optimist. First, you will need to look at life as something beautiful, as something abundant then looking at life with the eyes of scarcity or fear.

The Social Digest: You have often stated that your childhood was not a happy one. You lost your father when you were just seven, and while growing up in poverty, your single-minded focus was to become wealthy and successful. How did your father’s death impact your career and shape you as a person?

From a career perspective, the way the death of my father very early in my life shaped me was because it put our family into abject poverty and we grew up wanting things from a career perspective. You know, very early in my life, maybe when I was in class 9 or 10, one thing I realized that, you know, I wanted to make a lot of money. And as I as I got into class 11-12, this is the time when the bull market was starting in India, the Harshad Mehta bull market somewhere around 1991 when I was about 19-20 years of age is where I kind of chose that I will make a career into stock market. So that poverty during my childhood and the need to create wealth led to choosing a career in equity markets or stock markets. Many manifestations to that. But the big thing that I can remember from this is how it shaped me as a person. Because as a child, when you don’t have a father and you want things and you are asked to continuously move on, I learned in life to move on very easily. And one big example of this is when I started my own venture in 2017 D:FY I lost 30 crores in 30 months. I lost everything that I had made in 24 years in 30 months. But it was very easy for me to move on from this, because life had taught me to continuously keep moving on. So I think, from a from a personal perspective, that is how it shaped me.

The Social Digest: You went through very tough times when your sports brand, D:FY, failed, and you virtually lost all the money you had earned over thirty years. What impact did this have on your mental state, and how do you think an individual’s financial health affects their mental and physical well-being?

It affects a lot when you lose a significant amount of capital, yes, it leaves a very deep hole. For me it was not just about myself, but every time after that loss, when I was at home and I would see my daughters play, the feeling that I kept getting is, it’s not my money that I lost, but it was their wealth that I lost. And that kind of created a very, very big question mark in my mind, whether what I did was right or wrong. Before I did, I always thought I wanted to do because I don’t want to live a life of regret, hence I did. And when I lost so much of money, I kept asking myself this question, would a life of regret be better, or would a life having a certain amount of capital for your daughters would have been better? And I have been searching for that answer. The answer somewhere lies, it’s very personal, somewhere lies in between. But today I would say that if I have to start a new venture, I will not put all my capital at risk. I will preserve some for my daughters in a way that I don’t live a life of regret. At the same time, I still have certain wealth, so even if that venture fails, I am able to support and keep certain wealth for my daughters. On the mental side, it was not a very big blow. One, because I have an ability to move on. Also, I had great support of my family and my friends, which kind of did not let this big hole kind of come up. It was not an atmosphere of gloom in my house, even when I lost that money. Life was as usual, I joined Everstore as a private equity firm, I started working, started earning money, so that my lifestyle was protected. So to that extent, I don’t think it was too much of a mental challenge. But I would say one thing, what that loss taught me, before the loss, I would say I was a very arrogant human being. And I think after the loss, I have become a little better at handling arrogance or at handling my own ego.

The Social Digest: Why do some food and healthcare brands mislabel their products, and how much can an ordinary consumer rely on the authenticity of the ingredients mentioned?

I don’t think food and healthcare brands mislabel their products, because that would be illegal. What I do certainly believe is that all of these food and healthcare brands lobby very, very strongly with the regulators to kind of report what they want to report. So for example, they very conveniently report the recommended daily allowance when it comes to say sugar, by using added sugar as a metric which the WHO recommends. Where they mislead people is in believing that sugar is good, added sugar is bad, and then they play on that. So I guess they work with the regulators, they lobby with the regulators and government to get their side of things going. I think the labels would be largely authentic. I don’t think they cheat on the ingredient list. What we don’t know is the quality of the ingredients, and it’s not just in India but all over the world. So I guess there are some challenges which the regulators also face, but where I think brands are massively misleading, and where they have worked with the advertising agency and regulators, is on the imagery of the food product. You know, when you put fruits in a fruit jacket on or a fruit concentrate packet, and try to tell people that this is fruit juice and it is healthy for your kids, and you influence the parents by putting the pictures of the fruit, because the parent knows fruits are healthy. I think that is where they are mislabelling people when they use very smaller part of what is present in their food to highlight so you will have malt based drink talking about it has so much of protein and it helps your kid becoming taller, stronger, faster. This is where they are misinforming people. I don’t think any drink can lead to somebody becoming taller, faster, stronger. To become taller, faster, stronger, you need a balanced diet, you need to sleep well, you need to exercise, but they pick and choose very, very subjective things and disproportionately highlight them in the front of the label, which kind of makes a consumer believe they are healthy and they end up over consuming that product. It’s the same even with very cutting edge new age brands like ‘The Whole Truth’ bar, where they will say this is the best protein bar, they’ll talk about protein, but if you actually read the label, there is more carbo in them, then there is protein. So I think it has to do with the way this is marketed and advertised. And the advertising councils of the countries are responsible for that. But I would also say that they are playing within the laws. So if we want them to change, we will have to change the laws.

The Social Digest: What are your thoughts on the growing use of protein powders and supplements among people?

I am a very big proponent of eating more protein and using protein powder as a supplement to ensure that your protein needs are met. India is a protein deficient country. There was a report recently in 2020 which said that against the recommendation of 0.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight, Indians are consuming about 0.6 grams. So we are 25% less protein eaters. It’s not that you are eating 25% less protein, but you are compensating that less protein with either excess carbs or sugar or fried foods. That is the challeng and a very easy thing to get your protein needs is to have a protein shake. I begin my day with a gulp of a protein shake, and I end my day with a protein shake. In that one scoop, I get 25 to 27 grams of protein. I get all my amino acids. It kickstarts my protein synthesis. Yes, you will need to have some caution regarding the quality of protein shake. So go to a source that you trust. Ensure there is no sugar in that protein shake because you are taking the protein shake for protein. See where the protein is made, whether the person makes it or they gets it manufactured by a third party. Is it some great authority, kind of certified? These are some of the things you will need to be cautious about. But otherwise for me, I love protein shake and I’m a big proponent of that.

The Social Digest: What is the ideal time to go to the gym—morning, noon, or evening?

There is no ideal time. You can go to gym whenever you want. You have to see how your body responds to this. If you look at it through the lens of science, I think first thing in the morning is recommended because your body is fresh, so it can pop more iron. You will have more muscle breakage, and when the repair happens, you will have increase in muscle mass, muscle strength, and muscle power. But you can get that in the afternoon also, in the evening also, because the mechanics are the same. If you are somebody who likes to train in the evening, try to train at least three to four hours before your sleep. Otherwise, it will go and impact your sleep. So actually, there is no recommended time. Whatever suits you, you should do that. The idea is to ensure that you do three times a week of strength training, whatever is your time which you want to do.

The Social Digest: What role do diet and sleep cycles play in achieving fitness goals and improving the overall quality of life?

Your sleep is foundational. If you are not sleeping for 7 to 9 hours consistently, almost 5 to 6 days a week, it doesn’t matter what you do with your diet or with your nutrition, it won’t work. Sleep has two phases : The first phase is the deep sleep. This is where your entire glucose metabolism goes through and overall your pancreas gets stressed. It is when you wake up and eat, your pancreas will make enough insulin to ensure that the fuel partition is good. But if you are not sleeping well, you will end up eating almost 500 to 600 more calories. Your creatinine levels will go up, your leptin levels will go down. These are both your hunger and satiety hormones respectively. You will have a very high desire to eat fatty foods, sugary foods, starchy foods, fried foods. So from that point of view, sleep plays a far bigger role than nutrition when it comes to your quality of life. If we are talking of quality of life or health span, I think from a nutrition point of view, I always tell people your protein should be a constant. You must consume at least 1.5 grams of protein per kg of body weight over index on protein. And if you get your protein right, then you can play with your carbs and with your fats, whatever you like. Somebody may like more carbs, they may go for 70-30 carbs to fat. Somebody may like fat more, they may go for 70-30 fats to carbs, keeping the protein constant. One thing you have to understand that as a society, we are significantly over-nourished and under-nourished. And over-nourishment has led to obesity, which has sheer consequences later in your life. When you put on 1 more kg of weight, your knee has to withstand 4 more kg of weight every time it walks, and 8 kg when it runs. So that is how bad weight gain is. And weight gain has a very simple formula. When you eat more than your body needs, you gain weight. It’s a law of thermodynamics. Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed. All the extra energy you are giving your body, if you can’t use it, will get stored as mass or as weight. So the principle rule in diet or nutrition is eat less, eat less often, eat more protein, and then you can play with your carbs and fats.

The Social Digest: In Jainism, there is a common practice of eating meals before sunset and refraining from food until sunrise the next morning. What is the scientific perspective behind this practice? Does intermittent fasting align with such religious customs, and how can it contribute to one’s physical and mental well-being?

I am a Jain myself. I think it makes a lot of sense if you are able to not eat after sunset. It’s a great thing because you are aligning your nutrition and your enzymes to circadian rhythm. That is what science calls this. However, if you wear the realist hat that I wear, it’s not possible. If you are somebody working in a Bombay or a larger city, it’s very difficult for you to reach home by 5:30 or 6 and eat your food. So I don’t think it is practical. So what you need to do is align yourself with your lifestyle. Within that, as I mentioned previously, for me, eating less is more important than anything else. Because when you eat more, you will gain weight which is disastrous. Intermittent fasting is one of the tools to eat less. Does intermittent fasting have any other advantages? Yes, it has other advantages, provided you do it for a period of about 48 to 72 hours then in Science we have something called as Autophagy that kick starts. If you are able to do intermittent fasting, in my view, you are able to restrict calories better. And if it works for you, it works for you. If it doesn’t work for you, it’s okay. Even if you want to eat every two hours, the idea is to eat less. When you eat less, you get great health and quality of life. So from that perspective, yes, in our religion, it is said that you should eat according to your circadian rhythm. But in today’s life, it’s a bit difficult.

This interview was conducted by Vansh Shah from The Social Digest on 26/03/2025. If you have any interview recommendations or have a story that you want to share with our readers, get in touch with our editor Vedant Bhrambhatt, at editor@thesocialdigest.com