Herbalism

The wizard behind Pukka’s nutritional food products is Sebastian Pole, herbal director and co-founder of the Bristol-based organic herbal firm.

He sources the ingredients and bases the blends on the ancient Indian healthcare principles of Ayurveda.

In the photo to the right, he is holding some Pippali (peppercorn), one of the most widely used of all Ayurvedic herbs.

It is one of the best ingredients for enhancing digestion, assimilation and metabolism of food. And it is also highly prized for its ability to enhance assimilation and the potency of other herbs in a synergistic formula.

Sebastian uses this in Pukka’s Peppermint and Pippali, often recommended for hayfever and allergies.

Ayurveda views allergy as the body’s inability to digest certain substances, such as pollen.

When I complimented him on their new range of bio-nutrient food supplements, Sebastian said, “I’m glad you like them. We’ve had lots of fun making them.

“I love these concentrated, integrated healthy foods but, unfortunately, they don’t always taste nice.”

Being healthy shouldn’t be painful

As well as making pleasant-tasting food supplements - from organic, concentrated ingredients - he aims to make them digestible.

“Luckily lots of digestive ingredients are tasty, i.e. fennel, mint and ginger in the Clean Greens. And (our) wheat grass is wheat grass juice so it tastes sweet and delicious.

To me, Vitalise nutrient powder has a kind of earthy flavour.

Sebastian agreed, “The fruit and the beetroot give it a slightly richer, fruitier flavour. I make it so that people are going to take it.  Being healthy shouldn’t be painful.”

When asked which blends one should take each day, he said, “It entirely depends on what solution you’re looking for, on the time of year and the state of health you’re in.

Sebastian said wryly, when I said the product leaflets left my questions unanswered, “You’re not allowed to make many claims in the literature.

” Vitalise is to help maintain energy levels and deal with the stresses of modern life; Clean Greens is there to naturally support the body’s ability to cleanse itself and to help you cope better with our political environment.”

We touched on the opposition of drug companies to herbal products. “It’s a challenging legislative environment, that’s for sure,” Sebastian remarked with a hint of laughter.

Pukka’s proprietary blend, Clean Greens, is a complex mixture of ‘greens’, including Wheatgrass. “But some people only want to take the latter on its own,” he said.
“Use Revitalise if you want to regenerate and rebuild,” he added.

He laughed when I said I took all three blends - and the Berry C capsules - to calm my system down after returning from France with food poisoning.

“Great. I hope you’re feeling much better. There’s no reason, for example, why you couldn’t take the Vitalise in the morning and Clean Greens at night.

“That would provide another option, a way of splitting the benefits.”
Sebastian became interested in plants when he was living in India. “I just fell in love with the people there.”

He decided to spend his life connecting people and plants together. “Working with herbal plants and medicine does that perfectly. Ayurveda is very simple to understand.”

Quizzed about bringing these Indian ideas to the West, Sebastian said, “I do think you can take the cream - the ‘milk’ of Ayurveda - and incorporate that into your daily life.

“Simple things like eating warm food, using ginger in hot drinks or following the seasons more closely in your diet… are things that everyone can do.

“And it’s empowering,” he said firmly.

Asked about the doshas, he said, “Don’t worry about the elements so much; think about the nature of the environment.

“So the nature of the weather at this time of the year is changeable. And windy.”
Volatile.

“Exactly. That’s Vata. So the qualities of Vata are cold, dry and light. And that season - Vata - is really aggravated by spring and autumn… It’s drier and windier.”

“The summer is obviously a Pitta season; it’s warmer and drier.

The Kapha time is winter, when it’s cold, wet and damp. So, in the winter, whatever your constitution, you oppose the season: include warmer and drier food in your diet… you’ll need more warm soups and stews; don’t drink so many iced drinks or (eat) salads.”

He sees the practice of Ayurveda as a continuum.”People can start at a simple, introductory level; they will gain benefits from simply introducing more spices into their cooking to help their digestion.”

So it’s a matter of becoming much more sensitive; not only to the seasons outside but to your own changes within?

“You’re absolutely right. The more we pay attention to what we are sensitive to, the more sensitive we become.

“Your digestive issue will be different to mine. I don’t think there’s one cure for all but there are some excellent Ayurvedic formulas.

“For instance, Asafoetida Plus, Ayurveda’s classic formula for digestive discomfort - bloating, malabsorption and digestive discomfort.

“Ayurveda is the science of digestion. It uses herbs to boost digestion.”

Plants are the basis of all humanity’s wealth and health

Sebastian practises yoga and is inspired by Indian culture.

“I’m indebted to it deeply. But I have no formal religious affiliations with India. I’m just trying to promote Ayurveda, really.”

He mused, “We’ve always lived side-by-side with plants and that’s one of the reasons why they’re so beneficial for our health.

“We have evolved in parallel with the evolution of plants,” he said, pointing to their use in medicine, for food and building materials. “Plants are the basis of all humanity’s wealth and health.”

“Society,” he says, would “benefit from having more access to herbal medicines on the NHS or just through school and upbringing.”

Sebastian was amused by my remark that herbal teas tend to be ‘much prettier on the packet than on the palate.’ Pukka’s Three Berry tea, for instance, is very intense and berry-like.

“Pukka uses a special drying method to dry the berries so that the flavour comes out into the water. We are trying to do exactly what we say on the box so that (people will) get the best benefit from it.”

He added thoughtfully, “We’re aware that we’re blessed by having the backing of traditional medicine and Ayurveda; we want to honour that by bringing out products that show due respect to tradition.”

At Pukka, they work closely with groups of farmers in Sri Lanka, India and other places to create a sustainable relationship and grow the best possible herbs.

“I’ve been in clinical practice as a practitioner for ten years,” Sebastian said. “I see (Ayurveda) work; I know that what we’re offering is beneficial to people’s health. And that’s always rewarding.”

Once again, Sebastian emphasised the importance of Pukka’s highly nutritional, concentrated ingredients.

“It takes thirty kilos of fresh beetroot to make one kilo of very concentrated dry (beetroot powder), for example. That packs in so much nutrition! I think that’s what makes them taste so good.”

It’s all in the juice.