We are only 10% human!
“Life is bustling outside and inside us… a tiny, virtuous world in perpetual transformation, hidden from our eyes and our control, dancing harmoniously to the rhythm of Nature.”
If we could look at ourselves with a special instrument, our eyes would notice that we are not the only inhabitants of our body. This might scare us at first, but with a little knowledge, awareness and the right attention, it will be easy to make friends with the thousands of bacteria with which we share our daily life!
We are inhabited by many "symbiotic" bacteria, which we could also call "good" bacteria, which help us to remain in balance and health and this balance is also fundamental to counteract the proliferation of pathogenic bacteria which are the cause of many pathologies.
“All diseases originate in the intestine,” said Hippocrates.
But how can we feed our bacteria and therefore keep our bacterial flora, better known as intestinal microbiota, in balance, protecting us from disease and inflammation, protecting our immune system, promoting our intestinal functionality, allowing us to live in health and happiness (because the intestine is our second brain and it is precisely the cells of the intestine that produce 95% of serotonin, the neurotransmitter of well-being)?
For example, considering that we have a wonderful "internal garden" to care for and nourish...
The microbiota is like the humus of the soil, it is very important to take care of it, with a balanced diet and lifestyle but also with some precautions, such as including fermented foods in our diet, also enriching our dishes with taste, color, vitality and beauty.
Fermentation was a very ancient discovery, probably accidental, that occurred in different geographical areas and civilizations. Many gastronomic traditions from all over the world propose typical recipes based on fermented products.
And it's not just a gastronomic issue, fermentation is culture, it's much more than cooking, it's recognition of the value of food and the relationship between Man and Nature.
In many cultures, especially Eastern ones, some fermented foods are also recognized as having great therapeutic value.
Today we have become accustomed to living in totally sterile environments and to eating processed, packaged and pasteurized foods that are totally devoid of life, which is why it is important to include vital foods in our diet and to form an alliance with the bacteria that live in us and for us, learning to take care of them too.
We are truly a superorganism and the microbes in our bodies are the key to unlocking the door to health and well-being.
"We are only 10% human. For every cell that makes up that vessel called the body, there are nine more that hitch a ride. We are not just made of flesh and blood, muscle and bone, skin and brain, but also fungi and bacteria. [...] In the course of our lives we host so many microbes that their weight would be equivalent to that of five African elephants, because in reality we are not individuals, but colonies, our skin is crawling with them. There are more on our fingers than the population of Great Britain. [...] We thought our microbes were unimportant, we didn't think to protect them, much less care for them, but science is starting to tell us a different story. A story in which human life is intertwined with that of our hitchhikers, in which microbes run the body and you can't be a healthy individual without them."
Happiness Bacteria - Alanna Collen
And if we are only 10% human, perhaps the real paradigm is to start thinking that we are not alone, and to ask ourselves what we can do to make our beneficial microbes feel good too, and nutrition plays a fundamental role in this. Unpasteurized fermented foods are a new experience of nourishment, bringing fermented foods into your life is a bit like learning to speak the same language as our symbiotic bacteria, establishing a contact with them that will prove to be truly virtuous and precious for both of us.
Life is Ferment, Ferment is Life!