Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach? Have you ever had a gut-wrenching experience? Do you make your decisions based on your gut feeling? Our digestive system is sensitive to our emotions. We don’t digest food properly when we are stressed. Have you noticed that? Does the brain speak to the stomach? YES! The gut has a connection with our brain, and it is real!
What Is The Connection Between The Gut & Our Brain?
A healthy gut is essential for happiness. It’s proven that our digestive system helps digest food, guides our emotions, and is very closely linked with our mood. The link between our digestive system and brain is known as the Gut-Brain Axis. This connection works both ways, meaning the gut and brain constantly talk and influence each other.
When one is under acute stress, the body shuts down all its other systems, including the digestive system. Hence the body needs restful sleep and relaxation to start working its systems again, and oxygen and the food one eats do the trick.
The major hormone which helps to stabilise and uplift your mood is known as ‘Serotonin’. You can improve your mental health by nourishing gut bacteria through the right diet and nutritious food. Food is a man’s number one supporter when searching for happiness, joy or uplifting your mood. And if happiness starts in the gut, one must eat their way to joy.
Ayurveda And The Gut
Ayurveda classifies foods into 3 based on their effect on our mood – Sattvik, Rajasik & Tamasik food. Each affects our physical and mental well-being. Ancient Yogis believed that Tamasic food could bring out lethargy, whereas Rajasic food can make us restless. On the other hand, the intake of Sattvic food helps improve mental health and energy, thereby improving the state of our consciousness.
A Sattvic diet simply means light and healthy food, which purifies the body and calms the mind. It helps restore the harmony and balance of our body and mind. It does not go to extremes of taste – neither sweet nor salty or spicy – just moderate.
Sattvic diet encourages foods that are grown and ripened naturally. It avoids any food that involves killing or harming animals. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and nuts are sattvic and are believed to clean the mind and body, leading to optimal physical and mental health. Cooked food, consumed within three to four hours of preparation, can be considered Sattvic.
Is Sattvic Diet The Way To Go?
There may exist concerns regarding the consumption of the sattvic diet. Sattvic diet can be very healthy, but it excludes some beneficial foods. Onions, garlic, and many root vegetables are not sattvic. Gita suggests pure sattvic food needs to be chewed carefully and eaten in modest portions. One shouldn’t overeat sattvic foods as they become tamasic and lead to diseases in the body. Also, overcooking or over-spicing sattvic foods turns it into rajasic foods and leads to bodily restlessness.
It is crucial to feed yourself with the right nutrition every day, for your overall growth or happiness and the bacteria inside you. Modern nutrition says, “Moderation is the key to diet.” Ayurveda said 2500 years back that” Mitahara”, or eating sattvic food in moderation, is the key to good health.
Plainly put, Sattvic food is rich in prana (purity), so it promotes positive thoughts, happiness and satisfaction. By eating a fibrous, colourful, plant-rich rainbow diet, you can ensure the necessary nourishment of the gut bacteria to keep your health in high spirits. Therefore, one must appreciate that gut bacteria rely solely on what we eat.
