Moved from India to Seattle for Her Husband’s Job: Loneliness, Cost of Living and the Toll on Her Body Shocked Her
A move with unexpected effects
While living in India, Shah saw relocating to Seattle as an exciting next step. She planned to settle in, look for work and resume her software engineering career in a major US technology hub.
Within months of arriving, she said, her body began reacting strongly to the environment. The experience disrupted her career plans and prompted her to investigate how migration and changes in food environments can affect health.
Shah’s research led her to dietary acculturation: the ways a new food environment can alter the microbiome. She also considered differences in agricultural processing, soil, water and food infrastructure.
Daily life and its costs
In Jharkhand, Shah said, walking and social interaction were part of everyday life, and produce came through short local supply chains. In the Seattle area, she found that daily routines quickly became car-dependent.
She noted that Seattle has expanded Link light rail and seen ridership climb, while park-and-ride works for office commuters. Still, she said, this differs from the travel habits she knew in India, where people commonly take long train journeys or rely on walkable options.
Healthcare and household expenses were other adjustments. Shah described same-day clinic visits and low-feeling costs in India, compared with learning about deductibles and copays in Seattle and waiting three weeks for an appointment she considered urgent. She said the US salary advantage shrank when rent and health insurance were taken into account.
Distance from family
Shah said her mother was a 12-hour train journey away in India, but that distance felt manageable because travel and phone contact were woven into daily life. In Seattle, she missed neighbors who had felt like extended family and offered help without being asked.
After becoming a mother in the US, Shah’s parents flew in. She and her family recreated some traditional care, including warm foods and rest, while the smaller circle brought a quieter experience without extended relatives’ opinions and worries.
She said homesickness does not disappear, but becomes more manageable when connection is treated as a commitment. Her family makes visits to India every year or every other year a priority.
Building a health-focused business
Shah came to believe that other South Asian immigrants could be experiencing similar health challenges without a culturally informed framework to address them. She described this as an unmet need in wellness.
That realization led her to establish Ayurvedic Intelligence, where she works as an integrative nutrition and health coach. Her account highlights how changes in food, movement, healthcare and social ties can shape the experience of moving abroad.
Shah advises newcomers not to assume familiar ingredients have identical nutritional profiles across countries. She also urges people to pay attention to persistent bloating, sudden fatigue or unexplained weight gain during their first year, which she said may be signs of difficulty adapting to a new food environment.
Key points
- Shah’s physical reactions after moving to Seattle disrupted her plan to return to software engineering.
- She says migration can alter the microbiome through changes in food and the surrounding environment.
- Seattle’s housing and health insurance costs reduced the advantage of a higher US salary, in her experience.
- Her relocation experience led her to launch Ayurvedic Intelligence, an integrative nutrition and health coaching business.