Fermented Food: The Science Behind Fermentation

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March 04, 2021

Jessamyn Stanley needs you to know what yoga is really about - and it's not the poses. In her new book Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance, the yoga instructor and body activist shares reflective personal essays that touch upon everything from racism to the cultural appropriation of American yoga, from consumerism to cannabis. And while the timing couldn't be better considering the current cultural climate, the idea for the book came to her years ago while she was writing her first book, Every Body Yoga, a guide to developing a yoga practice. "I realized yoga is a lot more than postures," she tells PEOPLE. "The postures get to be more complicated, not because you're practicing harder gymnastics or physical postures, but because you're practicing emotional and mental and really spiritual postures." In fact, she says, yoga is not supposed to feel good. Take the example of someone expecting a Zen-like experience from a yoga practice - only to be disappointed. "You're like, 'This is hard. Everyone else seems to know what they're doing. I am not good enough, I shouldn't be doing this, maybe my body is supposed to look different, maybe my life's supposed to be different.' All these feelings start to come up. That's what the postures are leading you towards, is to have that experience." RELATED: Jessamyn Stanley Found Body Acceptance Through Yoga and Can Help You Do the Same Stanley has been nurturing this self-awareness in the nearly 10 years since she has been breaking barriers in the yoga world, tackling topics like fat-shaming, her queer Black identity and unattainable beauty standards. In Yoke - which means yoga in Sanskrit - she uses her own life as a a metaphor to further explore the coming together of mind and body, light and the dark, good and the bad - both on and off the mat. "I wanted to reflect on what it is to practice yoga when we are as a society being forced to reckon with the long, deep, systemic, down-to-the-bone problems. We're being forced to look at things that we've never wanted to look at. And that's all that yoga is, is looking at the things that you don't want to look at. And ultimately, come hell or high water, accepting them." Story continues Workman Publishing

 


Fermented food is foods prepared by the fermentation process. Fermentation is a very old and ancient Indian cooking process that is considered very beneficial for health. This process is used in making pickles, dhokla, idli, bread, alcohol etc.

In this article, we will tell you about fermentation, its properties, types, advantages, and disadvantages of fermented food.


Fermentation

Commonly speaking in India, it is called yeast raising. Fermentation is a biochemical activity based on science. In most bacteria and fungi, an action in the absence of oxygen under which glucose-like sugars are converted into alcohols or lactic acid or any other type of organic acid with the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) is called fermentation. 

In other words, microorganisms like bacteria, fungal or yeast turn organic compounds such as starch, sugar etc. into alcohols or acids. It acts as an alcohol or acid preservative, which makes the food taste slightly sour. The batter that is prepared for fermentation is kept on room temperature overnight. Apart from this, if there is no overnight time for fermentation, then food can be fermented using yeast, soda or fruit salt etc. which are easily found in the market.



Types of Fermentation

Fermentation can be performed as follows-

Alcohol Fermentation: Carbohydrate converted into alcohol by the action of yeast. 

Example- Wine, vodka, kombucha and other alcoholic drink, dairy products like lassi, yogurt etc.

Lactic Acid Fermentation: Starch or sugar is converted into lactic acid by yeast and bacteria.

Example- Idli, dhokla, bread etc.

Acetic Acid Fermentation: Starch and sugar present in grains and fruits ferment into vinegar and condiments.

Example- Apple cider vinegar, pickle, soya sauce etc. 




Health Benefits of Fermented Food

During the fermented process, some bacteria in foods grow which are called probiotics. These probiotics help in improving our immunity. Some of the benefits of fermented food are as follows-


Gut Health: The probiotics present in fermented food help in maintaining the balance of bacteria in our stomach. If you have been complaining of stomach constipation, stomach gas or flatulence for a long time, then fermented food can prove beneficial in such a situation. During such problems, eat curd-rice twice a week or buttermilk daily.


Immunity: Immunity is directly related to the stomach and probiotic helps to strengthen the gut, which makes our immunity stronger. If the number of these bacteria in the stomach decreases, then the chances of both infection and inflammation in the stomach increase. In the event of stomach infection, one must definitely eat fermented food.


Weight Loss: Fermented food helps in correcting metabolism in our body. The probiotics in them keep the bacteria in the intestine in balance, which keeps the stomach healthy and also helps the immune system to function well. All these conditions play an important role in reducing weight and maintaining a healthy weight.


PCOD: This problem is commonly found in women. Women suffering from this have been seen to reduce the bacteria of the stomach and not working properly. Because the bacteria of the stomach keep our metabolism fine, so they can cause problems in Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD) such as weight gain and hormonal disturbances. To keep balance in them, you must include fermented food in your daily diet.


Vitamin B12: A deficiency of B12 is found in the vegetarian diet, so fermented food can help to overcome its deficiency to some extent. Try to include fermented food like Dhokla, Idli-Sambar etc. in your diet once a day.


Good Mood: Research studies have found a relationship between probiotic food and keeping the mood good. Serotonin plays a key role in keeping the mood good, which is mostly produced in the Digestive tract but for this, a fit of the stomach is necessary. Therefore, to keep the mood good, you must consume fermented food.

Jessamyn Stanley needs you to know what yoga is really about - and it's not the poses. In her new book Yoke: My Yoga of Self-Acceptance, the yoga instructor and body activist shares reflective personal essays that touch upon everything from racism to the cultural appropriation of American yoga, from consumerism to cannabis. And while the timing couldn't be better considering the current cultural climate, the idea for the book came to her years ago while she was writing her first book, Every Body Yoga, a guide to developing a yoga practice. "I realized yoga is a lot more than postures," she tells PEOPLE. "The postures get to be more complicated, not because you're practicing harder gymnastics or physical postures, but because you're practicing emotional and mental and really spiritual postures." In fact, she says, yoga is not supposed to feel good. Take the example of someone expecting a Zen-like experience from a yoga practice - only to be disappointed. "You're like, 'This is hard. Everyone else seems to know what they're doing. I am not good enough, I shouldn't be doing this, maybe my body is supposed to look different, maybe my life's supposed to be different.' All these feelings start to come up. That's what the postures are leading you towards, is to have that experience." RELATED: Jessamyn Stanley Found Body Acceptance Through Yoga and Can Help You Do the Same Stanley has been nurturing this self-awareness in the nearly 10 years since she has been breaking barriers in the yoga world, tackling topics like fat-shaming, her queer Black identity and unattainable beauty standards. In Yoke - which means yoga in Sanskrit - she uses her own life as a a metaphor to further explore the coming together of mind and body, light and the dark, good and the bad - both on and off the mat. "I wanted to reflect on what it is to practice yoga when we are as a society being forced to reckon with the long, deep, systemic, down-to-the-bone problems. We're being forced to look at things that we've never wanted to look at. And that's all that yoga is, is looking at the things that you don't want to look at. And ultimately, come hell or high water, accepting them." Story continues Workman Publishing