Gut Microbiome, Fermented Foods, and the Power of Your Second Brain

The gut microbiome is a microscopic world within our bodies. It’s been shown that these trillions of microorganisms not only affect each other but our overall health, both within our digestive system and outside of it. In this video, learn about the gut microbiome and its connection to human health as Sadhguru engages in a riveting conversation with Dr. Emeran Mayer, Founding Director of the UCLA Brain-Gut Microbiome Center. Loaded with insights about the relationship of the gut microbiome with soil, food, and health, they bust myths about the ways we must live and age. It all starts with focus.

A Focus on Health

When it comes to relationships between our broader environments and our individual health or illness, Sadhguru says, “We need to think at a level of ecosystems and of our interconnectedness with all life when we think about health,” also noting, “We are beginning to assume problems of memory are normal. This is not normal. Everything in this body is designed to last a lifetime.” 

He continues, “What’s happening is we are destroying things internally and we are doing it on a large scale . . . . The tiniest lives, whether in soil, food, or human beings, are not fundamentally different in structure from ourselves. We are different only in complexity and sophistication. What kills a tiny microorganism can also kill us in the right dose. We have an assumption that a small dose of something lethal (chlorine in water or pesticides on plants) won’t affect us. Where does this assumption come from?” 

“The human body is the most sophisticated mechanism on the planet. It’s super sensitive but you can’t feel anything because we don’t know how to manage our cerebral activity. It all depends on how you keep yourself.”

Human health and Soil Health

Sadhguru then ties gut health to soil health. “Lack of micronutrients in the soil and psychological disturbances are directly connected. This body is soil and if soil is not rich, food is not rich, and this body will not be rich. Being healthy is not enough. This body must function at its highest ability and for this to happen many things need to change.” 

Today’s focus on regenerative agriculture is an attempt to manage the soil microbiome. The question is will we move fast enough? In keeping with Sadhguru’s phenomenal global efforts building the Save Soil movement, he offers two suggestions for addressing soil health on a large scale. First, during elections, we can insist on soil as a policy to be talked about. We can check out savesoil.org and retweet their messages because numbers matter. And secondly, we can promote the idea to incentivize farmers to increase organic matter in their soil.

Practical Advice for Health

Be sure to watch the full video for these health tips and more:

1. When it comes to food, Sadhguru says, “In yoga, anything cooked must be consumed within one and a half hours after coming off the stove.” Also, “Eat the species farthest from our own – plant life.” Ask yourself, “Will I become more or less perceptive when choosing what food I eat because how receptive you are is how profound your life experience is.” 
2. Dr. Mayer says, “The best thing you can do for your health is to eat what your microbiome thrives on and is essentially plant-based because of the fiber.”  
3. Dr. Mayer recommends, “Fermented foods draw more probiotics to the gut. Things like kimchi and sauerkraut.”
4. Sadhguru says if the fermented foods are dairy, “…like yogurt, it needs to be very fresh and sweet. After about a six to eight hour limit, fermenting becomes its own culture and is not as good for your body. Idli and dosa are great things to eat when in South India.” 
5. He also says, “Fermented meat and cheese are not good for a person’s perception as they make the body feel heavy and opaque. They take a lot of energy to digest and they take energy away from the ability to perceive.
6. Raggi (millets), jola (sorghum), huruli (horse gram), and sopu (a variety of greens); four things you eat, one hundred years guaranteed.”

Above all, Sadhguru says, “As important as what you eat is how you eat. You and food are not separate things. Your body, the soil you walk upon, the water drink, the air you breathe; these are not different from you. It’s the same stuff. You are just giving it an individual experience. If you treat it with as much love as you treat your children – if you can’t treat it as divine – at least treat it with that much love. I will do fantastic things for you.”