Konscious Kuisine was birthed from my own personal health journey.
From a young age I enjoyed food. Coming from an Iranian heritage and growing up in Iran meant I experienced food in its most natural form - picking fruits straight from the tree, as organic as it can get.
Alongside beautiful fruits, nuts, and spices, I also developed a loving relationship with rice and sugar.
Over time, that love for food slowly became imbalance. Drinking, overeating, and consuming large amounts of junk food - especially after I arrived in London - began to take a toll on my body. Things started to change. My system was becoming overloaded, quite literally.
Leading up to 2020 my body had already been weakened by football injuries. Recovery was becoming harder and harder. In my late twenties, with lockdown approaching and depression quietly creeping in, I realised something had to change.
So I took matters into my own hands.
I committed to a 30-day water fast and completely changed my diet, inspired by the documentary The Game Changers. Extreme circumstances require extreme change - and that’s exactly what I chose.
At the time my weight was around 115–120kg. I suffered from acid reflux, even after drinking water. My skin was struggling, my digestion was poor, and doctors had told me both knees would eventually require surgery. Everything felt like it was building up towards a breaking point.
On the night of my 30th birthday in March 2020, I decided enough was enough.
Shortly after, I became seriously ill - losing my appetite, my sense of taste and smell, and developing a high temperature. Was it Covid? Who knows. But from that moment on, my life changed.
Since that day I have gone through many cycles of diet and lifestyle changes. One thing I committed to was avoiding pharmaceutical drugs wherever possible. Instead, I began exploring herbal alternatives - remedies that don't just treat symptoms but aim to address the root cause.
Like an alchemist, I became my own guinea pig.
I started experimenting and learning, travelling across communities in London and beyond, observing how different cultures approach healing. From Caribbean herbal traditions, to Ayurvedic wisdom from India, the teachings of Avicenna from Persia, Chinese acupuncture practices, and the ancient knowledge of the Mayan and Incan traditions.
Across all these cultures, one thing became clear to me: Our food has changed. Our soil has weakened.
The nutrients once naturally present in our food are no longer what they used to be. And that realisation led me deeper into understanding herbs, tonics, and natural supplementation — searching for ways to restore balance to the body.
That journey eventually led to what you see today:
I welcome you to Konscious Kuisine.
Ardavan