Khichdi, patience and a comeback: what recovery nutrition really looks like
The most-reported piece of Shweta's work was also the least glamorous. A note on why the first weeks after an injury are about digestion, not protein.
When an athlete is recovering from surgery, the instinct is to feed the muscle: more protein, more calories, more of everything. The body often has a different priority. Heavy medication and a long anaesthetic leave the digestive system raw, and food that cannot be digested is not nourishment, however good it looks on paper.
That is why the recovery plan Shweta described to GQ India and IANS in 2023, after Rishabh Pant's road accident, began with something close to the simplest food in the Indian kitchen. For the first twenty days: khichdi, made with yellow and chilka dals, kolam rice and vegetables. No garam masala, no raw food, no non-vegetarian food, nothing that would ask much of a stomach lining that needed to heal.
Calm the system first
Alongside the khichdi came juices chosen for a reason rather than a trend: celery, cucumber, mint and coriander for the water retention that follows weeks of medication; pineapple and pomegranate for inflammation. A morning tea of cardamom, cumin and black pepper to wake the digestion gently. In Ayurvedic terms the aim was to restore the jathar agni, the digestive fire, before asking it to do heavy work.
Then build, in order
Only as digestion settled did the plan widen. Rotis and parathas returned first on amaranth and buckwheat flour, then non-vegetarian food, and then the energy-dense additions that training demands: a laddoo built around iron-rich ingredients, chia pudding, makhana, roasted chana, gond katira. Each step followed what the body could handle, not a calendar.
By late 2024 the arrangement had grown to include a private chef, so that what was written in the plan was what reached the plate on tour. That detail says something about the method in general: a plan is only as good as the kitchen that cooks it.
What it means for the rest of us
Most people recovering from an illness, an operation or simply a hard season are not elite athletes. The sequence still applies. Settle digestion, then rebuild, then push. It is slower than the alternative for a week or two, and faster for everything that follows.
Note: Based on Shweta's own account as reported by GQ India (12 August 2023) and IANS (August 2023 and November 2024). Nutrition during recovery from surgery or injury should always be planned with the treating medical team.