Philosophy -

Shaucha (Sanskrit: शौच, also spelled Saucha, Śauca) literally means purity, cleanliness and clearness. It refers to purity of mind, speech and body and is one of the Niyamas of Yoga.

For non yogis, yoga is considered exercise for the lazy hippies or middle aged women trying to be fit. Ok there is slight truth in these observations , but it is a very superficial interpretation of yoga: yoga is one of the oldest and most complete ways of practice and what happens on the mat is only the tip of the iceberg. Yoga according to Patanjali, an ancient yogi sage, is a set of 8 disciplines among which the physical practice (asana) is only one. Niyama is one of those 8 limbs and is activity recommended for the spiritual development of an individual. Saucha is the first of the Niyamas.

In yoga Shaucha, or holistic purity of the body, is considered essential for health, happiness and general well-being. External purity is achieved through daily ablutions, while internal purity is cultivated through physical exercises, including asana (postures) and pranayama (breathing techniques). Along with daily ablutions to cleanse one’s body, the concept of Shaucha suggests clean surrounding, along with fresh and clean food to purify the body. Lack of Saucha, such as letting toxins build in body, are a source of impurity.

Shaucha goes beyond purity of body, and includes purity of speech and mind. Anger, hate, prejudice, greed, pride, fear, negative thoughts are a source of impurity of mind. The impurities of the intellect are cleansed through the process of self-examination, or knowledge of self (Adhyatma-Vidya).The mind is purified through mindfulness and meditation on one’s intent, feelings, actions and its causes.

So what do all these have to do with a food blog? Well, though I am doing my best to be pure in mind, thoughts and speech and be a better person, I find it SOOO much easier to control the purity of what gets into my body, starting from my plate. So this blog is my personal journey of eating a clean, pure diet: and by pure I mean a wholesome plant based diet.

So what triggered this lifestyle change for me? Long story short: I had an anaphylactic reaction due to a food allergy in Nigeria when travelling with work. This was an aha moment since I realised what an impact can food have on our body. I visited quite a lot of doctors to understand what triggered the reaction. And this is how I started reading and learning more about nutrition.

The second biggest milestone in this journey was the China Study book by professor Colin Campbell- if you haven’t read this book I totally recommend it! It’s the biggest epidemiologic study ever done in nutrition and supports with academic evidence the idea of using a plant based diet to prevent and most importantly treat disease. More details about Cambell’s work on nutrition here .

Mr Campbell’s academic adventures were interesting but definitely not a suprise for a Greek. The Mediterranean diet, and most specifically Cretan, which was discovered by Ancel Keys (and the world) in the ’70s is based on exactly the same principles: high consumption of uncooked olive oil, legumes, grains, unrefined cereals, fruits and vegetables. And it has been long associated with low risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, low cholesterol levels and overall longer & healthier living.

And again the notion of nutrition being used to prevent & treat disease is not new to the word. Hippocrates was the first one to say “Let food be thy medicine and medicine by the food” endorsing a plant based food diet of grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits. What is really disappointing is how far we have moved away from healthy eating and incorporated in our diets food that poisons & kills.

All of these encounters and thoughts made me enrol in Nutritional Therapist diploma, at London College of Naturopathic medicine. I am doing this part time in parallel with my work- but because I love it and find nutrition so fascinating it just feels more like leisure than work!

So in a nutshell some of the nutritional disciplines that Saucha is based upon are:

– Eating plenty of vegetables, legumes, beans, nuts and seeds

– Fruits, but in moderation

– Plenty unrefined grains (dark rice, quinoa, buckwheat, oat, amaranth)

– No dairy, cheese, yoghurt or eggs

– No processed (i.e. white) sugar

-No red meat or chicken

– Occasionally some white fish (when I am back home near the sea and I cant resist!)

This is what Saucha eating is all about .. You don’t have to follow this all the time (I do because it makes me feel good) and really hope that some of the recipes & advice on this blog will inspire a cleaner eating & lifestyle for you too!

Korina