The Best & Worst Fermented Foods For Your Gut Health

Sadhguru Presents The Power of Fertilization Part 1 Fertilization Little fermentation adds fuel to the existing stuff.

Some fermentation will multiply that biome.

If you ferment it beyond a certain point,

Then it creates a biome of its own,

Not support your biome.

I know this is a dangerous terrain to walk into in Western world.

These are all the most terrible things to eat.

What is the effect of fermented foods on one's ability to perceive?

Is it something that we should avoid in certain cases?

A recent study has shown that actually people that eat a large variety of fermented foods,

Compared to a group that optimized fiber intake,

That the group with the multiple fermented food components had a better gut ecosystem and less inflammatory markers from that.

I would recommend to everybody is as important as to eat a largely plant-based diet is to incorporate several fermented foods.

See,

Any animal-based fermentation,

When I say animal-based fermentation,

There are cultures where meat is fermented,

Literally rotting,

Is considered gourmet.

There are parts of the world where it is eaten like that.

This is the worst way to eat it.

But in those cultures,

It's become gourmet because these were cultures which were in extreme cold or removed from the rest of the world for large parts of the year.

If they had to eat food,

They had to learn to eat and enjoy rotting meat,

Otherwise they would be dead probably in those days.

Similarly,

I know this is a dangerous terrain to walk into in Western world,

Cheese,

Which is also comes from that kind of thing.

When winters came,

People would have nothing to eat to keep their calories going,

The only way was cheese.

These are all the most terrible things to eat,

If you ask me,

If you are thinking of perception.

When we look at perception,

The way to look at it is,

Whatever makes your body heavy and opaque in your experience,

Makes you feel the body is lumbering,

To digest that,

That's not good for your perception because body is made like this.

If any one activity takes too much energy and effort,

The other activities will recede,

It's as simple as that.

Suppose you're using your phone playing too many videos,

When you want to make the call,

There's no power,

The battery is out,

It's just like that.

You're using it too much on one level,

Another level goes down.

So to keep the digestive process being a survival process,

To keep it at where it should be,

Nothing more,

Nothing less is important.

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,

Dosa.

If you go north of Bangalore,

We will not touch it,

At least I will not.

Because one thing,

The idli feels like a golf ball.

In the south,

Idli feels like a flower.

As you go north,

It becomes a golf ball,

You could play with it.

And they don't know how to ferment.

They have over fermented it all the time.

So in south,

Every… it's becoming difficult there also.

Otherwise,

Every woman at home would know,

She'll just always with little finger,

They touch it like this.

No,

This can't be used.

They would simply know.

Or if you are not very sensitive,

If you smell it,

If it's gone beyond a certain point,

You will know it's fermented beyond a point where you should not eat.

So,

This kind of fermented thing,

We always go and offer to our flowering plants.

Because they flower better when they get this fermented dough.

But once we see that it's fermented beyond that,

We don't eat.

The next thing is the curd or what you call as yogurt.

It is just overnight fermented.

It must be still sweet.

If it is becoming sour,

Little sourness is okay.

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,

Not support your biome.

Little fermentation adds fuel to the existing stuff that is… Your stomach or your alimentary canal is fermentation.

But it is a certain… fermentation is a certain culture,

All right?

Is it the right word,

Sir?

It's a culture.

It is a certain culture.

So,

You want to culture this in a certain way that's beneficial for you.

Not simply culture it whichever way.

If your stomach feels like a beer factory,

Then what?

You're talking about perception.

If you're talking about perception,

Your stomach should send signals to become more and more alert and sharp.

If it makes you like this,

Then where is the perception?

So,

One thing is,

Any animal food which is fermented,

We normally don't eat at all.

If you must eat,

A little bit of curd,

But that is only overnight fermented,

Six to eight hours.

If it's summer,

Just four to five hours.

That's how we ferment,

Very carefully.

If… If people want to have a meal at one o'clock in summer,

In the afternoon,

They will ferment it at morning eight o'clock,

Nine o'clock,

Because the temperatures are hot.

If it's cooler seasons,

They'll ferment it just before going to bed in the night.

Next day,

It'll be ready.

And this fermented thing,

How you treat it.

These days,

All this is gone.

I'm… People around my table,

I'm always trying to bring some sense to that.

In our homes,

If there is a curd which is just caked,

You can't just put a serving spoon like this.

You have to gently take from one side.

Always they would tell us,

It's alive.

You have to handle it gently.

Just from one side,

You take it and use it,

Because it's life,

It's living.

You can't just plunge it in like that and put it.

See,

United States America has to do a lot.

I appreciate why it's become like that,

Because it's a matter of two-hundred,

Two-hundred-and-fifty years.

When they came,

People came here to a wild land.

They sat and ate wherever,

They stood and ate wherever.

Even today,

They're doing that.

They need not do.

They've achieved a certain level of education,

Civilization,

Affluence.

Now you must do what's best for you.

I'll tell you my experience.

One day,

I'm driving in Washington DC in the business district,

Not in the political part,

In the business where CEOs and lawyers and others are there.

I don't know what these people are.

Maybe CEO… CEOs are all young people,

Less than thirty-five years of age,

All young people,

Obviously from Ivy League kind of people.

And looking at their clothes and how they are,

They're very well to do.

They're all standing outside.

This is around twelve-thirty,

Twelve-forty-five,

Lunch hour I think for them.

And there is some cot,

Maybe it's a… I don't know,

A hot dog or… some dog pot or cow pot,

Something it is selling.

All men and women dressed very well,

They're all standing there,

Holding food in their hands and tch,

Tch,

Tch,

Like this hacking,

Hacking at their food.

I just saw this,

Tears came to me.

What's happened to these people?

They're well to do.

At least they can sit on the ground and eat properly.

No,

They're hacking at food.

Like even a wild animal won't eat like that.

This is not good.

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's just giving us an individual experience.

If you treat it with as much love as you treat your children,

If you can't see it 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.