OUR 11 VALUES
We hold food dear to our hearts.
Below are the 11 values and principles that we aim to live by.
We hope you resonate with them and can adopt those that are new to you!
1. KEEP IT SIMPLE
Like animals in the wild, who eat only one type of food at a time, our bodies too enjoy simplicity.
Throughout the ages, we have romanticised rich, dense and complicated foods.
It has become the norm to combine ingredients from all corners of the globe, which were never meant to be paired. Although this creates delicious dishes, our bodies find it increasingly difficult to process all of this information in just one sitting.
It may be a stretch to simplify our meals to just one, two or three ingredients, but we must make a conscious effort to create meals that help our bodies digest the food we give it.
Simplifying our meals means less bloating, clearer channels, better moods and a happier gut for all.
Sounds a dream hey?
2. EAT NATURALLY
We’ve become so accustomed to packaged and processed foods that we no longer ask the questions ‘what’s in it?’ and ‘what will it do to us?’
The rise in preservatives, colourings, flavourings, and other ‘nasties’ has come hand-in-hand with a pandemic of chronic illness and weight-related issues.
For those who don’t know, a preservative is something that prevents the natural decomposition of food. Which raises the question - when we eat these chemicals, how do they impact our body’s natural functioning?
We may not see the effect of these chemicals on our bodily systems initially, but with time comes hidden illnesses that can potentially be life-long.
Whole and naturally preserved foods are the way forward if we are to heal the damage done to our guts. Simply put - If you can’t tell what an ingredient is by its name - then don’t eat it.
3. DON'T PANIC, IT'S ORGANIC
Even though they’ve been used for years, we are only just beginning to see the effects of inorganic pesticide, herbicide and chemical use on our environment and bodies.
It is surfacing that chemicals, such as Glyphosate; the most commonly used global herbicide (also classed as an antibiotic), effectively immobilise our digestive systems over time. Studies show that these contribute to illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome and autoimmune disorders.
Unbelievably, this stuff is sprayed all over the inorganic grains, vegetables and fruits that are making a home in your kitchen, and even seeps into our water systems. The only way to significantly reduce these chemicals in our lives is to opt for organic wherever possible.
If you can’t grow, trade or buy fresh organic food, then at least make sure your staple oat, wheat, soy and rice products are organic - as these tend to hold the highest amount of contaminants.
4. BETTER FRESHER
The longer food is kept and stored before being eaten, the less Prana, or ‘life-force energy’, it has.
Plants get their energy from the sun. Once they are harvested, the increasing process of entropy limits the amount of energy available within the plant for us to consume. You still get the ‘calories’, but the life-giving energy has effectively evacuated the building.
Additionally, our shop-bought vegetables and fruit are often already stored for a long time before our purchasing of them.
That’s why we recommend keeping food for only a few days at most before eating it.
Eating food when it is still hot, instead of refrigerating and reheating it, enables you to receive and benefit from its most energetic state.
We advise against eating frozen, microwaved or packaged food, as these have effectively lost all of their vital energy.
5. GOOD TIMING, LESS WHINING
Regular meals are a must.
Contrary to popular belief, our bodies know what food they need, and exactly when to eat it.
We must learn to listen to, and eat with, our bellies - not our minds.
Establishing a solid routine for eating is vital for our bodies to work optimally. For most people, three meals a day works well - with the last meal being the lightest. It can do your body wonders to eat after sun-rise and before sun-down, when our digestive fire burns brighter.
The golden rule:
Don’t eat too much, and don’t eat too little either.
We must learn and listen to what works for our individual, unique bodies.
So, begin to build a relationship with your body and take note of its signals, it only wants the best for you!
6. LOVE - THE PROCESS
We believe the most important part of food is how it’s created, from seed to table.
There is something to loved food that has been grown, cooked and eaten with care and awareness. It nourishes the people who eat it in ways we can feel, but cannot yet measure.
Many ancient traditions emphasise the importance of LOVE in food preparation. In the Hindu culture, food cooked with love is Prasad - it contains blessings of Prana that the recipient absorbs.
Food made by factories, instead of hands, is void of this life-giving energy and can be detrimental to our path to health.
7. IMPRESSIONS ARE EVERYTHING...
According to ancient systems such as Ayurveda, we are in our most impressionable state when we are eating.
Whilst filling our bellies, we are also ingesting ‘food’ as sounds through our ears, sights through our eyes, touch through our skin and smells through our noses.
It is important to be sat in a comfortable place, with good company and light conversation (if any), and to be undisturbed by noises, technology and other distractions while we nourish our bodies with food.
If we eat foods with disturbed emotions and senses, it is believed that even the healthiest of food can become toxic, rather than healing to us.
Hence, the importance of ‘mindful eating’ - where we take the time to be present with the food that eventually becomes us...
- to taste, smell, and enjoy it to it’s fullest.
After all, we are what (and how) we eat!
8. ...EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
We need to be able to enjoy a whole range of different tastes and experiences to live a life of balance.
But we often suffer from over-emphasising just one type of food, or one type of experience.
Ayurveda guides us to explore a range of the different tastes in our lives - sweet, salty, sour, pungent and astringent, and in doing so, bring our bodies into balance with our environment.
It is important to be soft with transitions if you are moving out of old, unconscious, and usually harmful habit patterns of eating and lifestyle practices, especially those that provide a feeling of safety and comfort.
So, please go easy and be gentle with yourself on the road of change...and remember to give yourself a hug every now and then.
9. YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT
We’ve heard this one before...perhaps so much so that it has lost its poignant meaning.
And now, our ever-so-gracious modern agriculture practices have given ‘you are what you eat’ a whole new meaning.
Over the years, the ‘advances’ of animal farming have meant that eating meat and dairy usually means ingesting the natural and artificial hormones that are either injected into the animal, or produced by their nervous systems when they are suffering or being slaughtered.
When we eat animals, our bodies absorb and become everything that the animal has experienced too... and it can cause our mind, body and spirit great distress.
‘Non-violence’ is the first Yama (way of ethical living) in Yogic thought, and the eating of animals is considered to be violent, not only against the creatures involved, but against ourselves too.
10. EAT YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Worldwide, we are beginning to draw parallels between the micro-organisms in the soil and the ones in our human gut.
They are one and the same; our earth’s soil is basically nature’s gut!
Just like the friendly bacteria in our ‘second brains’, the bacteria in the soil intakes, digests and transforms organic matter into usable life-providing nutrients.
When we eat food that is grown locally and seasonally, we are effectively in-taking all of the beneficial bacteria and organisms we need to be well and have a healthy functioning gut.
We adapt to our environments by becoming them.
If you eat foods in the season that they are naturally available, then you are giving your body exactly what it needs to bring itself into balance in that particular climate.
By consciously eating with the seasons, you’ll have more energy, clarity and will feel more nourished and connected.
What more could we ask for!
11. WHOLE WHOLE-FOODS
Overgrazing, mono-cropping and other unsustainable farming practices deplete the soil of nutrients. Soil depleted in nutrients produces food depleted in nutrients. Food depleted in nutrients produces humans depleted...you get the picture.
It is no wonder that we are seeing an abundance of deficiency-related problems in humans nowadays.
The health of our soil comes hand-in-hand with the health of our people - so it is extremely important that we recognise, implement and support regenerative farming i.e. agricultural practices that build the soil’s nutritional value instead of deplete it!
‘Whole whole-foods’ are foods grown with LIFE in mind, by producers who care about both the land and the people who eat from it.
With only 60 years of arable top-soil left for farming globally, we need to change the way we grow, trade, buy and consume our food.
Love the planet and it will love you right back!
