Every day, we are inundated with advice on what to eat, but how often does that advice come from credible sources? In this video, Sadhguru and Dr. Emeran Mayer, Founding Director of the UCLA Brain-Gut Microbiome Center, provide much needed guidance as they answer the questions, “What is the effect of fermented foods on one’s ability to perceive?” and, ” Is it something that we should avoid?”
Dr Mayer shares, “A recent study compared people that eat a large variety of fermented foods to a group that optimized fiber intake. It showed that the group with multiple fermented food components had a better gut ecosystem and less inflammatory markers.” From that, he says, “incorporating several fermented foods is as important as eating a largely plant-based diet.”
Sadhguru then expands on the topic. He talks about fermented foods as they pertain to perception, and then he gets very specific about the few fermented foods he would recommend.
“Any animal-based fermentation, fermented meats and cheeses, are all the most terrible things to eat if you are thinking of perception. When we look at perception, whatever makes your body heavy and opaque, is not good. If any one activity takes too much energy and effort the other activities will recede.” He gives an analogy:
“Suppose you are using your phone and playing too many videos. Then, when you want to make a call there’s no power, the battery is out. It’s just like that. You’re using your body too much on one level so another level goes down. So, to keep the digestive process being just a survival process, to keep it at where it should be, nothing more, nothing less, is important.”
Going back to fermentation, he says, “Some fermentation will multiply the gut biome in many ways. So, when it comes to fermented food it should be under your control. For example in Southern India one fermented substance which is consumed daily in breakfast is idli (a small steamed cake of fermented lentils and rice).” But he cautions, even with idli, one must be sure not to over-ferment.
To explain more about the impact of over fermenting food, he talks about curd or yogurt: “It should be just overnight fermented. It must still be sweet. If it becomes sour, a little sourness is okay, but if it crosses that we won’t eat because if you ferment it beyond a certain point then it creates a biome of its own. It will not support your biome.” He further explains, “A little fermentation adds fuel to the existing stuff in your alimentary canal. A certain culture in a certain way is beneficial for you. If you’re talking about perception your stomach should send signals to become more and more alert and sharp.”
Sadhguru then reminds us, it’s not only what you eat, it’s how you eat it. “In our homes, if there is a curd which is just cooked, you gently take from one side always. It’s alive. You have to handle it gently just from one side. In this regard, the United States of America has to do a lot. I appreciate why because it’s only been a matter of 200 to 250 years since people came here to a wild land. They sat and ate wherever. They stood and ate wherever. Even today, they’re doing that. But, they need not do this. They’ve achieved a certain level of education, civilization, and affluence. Now, people must do what’s best for them.”
“How you eat something is as important as what you eat because you and food are not two separate things. Your body, the food that you eat, the soil that you walk upon, the water that you drink, and the air that you breathe; these are not different from you. It is the same stuff. Here, it is just giving us an individual experience. If you can’t see what you eat as Divine, at least if you treat it with as much love as you would treat your children, it would do fantastic things to you.”
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