A Yogic Superfood for Better Digestion

Sadhguru: That should be the first thing you consume, so that it facilitates a certain easy passage of food. Today colon cancer, intestinal cancer, are becoming so big. The incidence would be much lower. It enhances the aura within the system. Speaker: Sonia from Jodhpur says that, you know, ghee has always been an integral part of our… our food traditionally, but given our sedentary way of living, does it make sense to continue with it in our food plan, or should we drop it? Sadhguru: Now, ghee is… has many useful things. She comes from Jodhpur which is… which are actually desert lands. In a place like that, ghee is very, very important, because if there is… Ghee has this capability. Normally we must understand this, today we are mixing it with so many things. Ghee and sugar, ghee and carbs and everything, otherwise, generally, traditionally, ghee was always eaten as the first mouthful. The idea is… She comes from Jodhpur, and if she's eating dal baati… Speaker: Yeah (Laughs). Sadhguru: soaked in ghee (Laughter), there is no way you're going to eat this dal baati without ghee, it has to be soaked, soaked in ghee, because the roughage of the cereal is such, without ghee it's very hard for the thing to go through. And the idea of eating the first morsel with ghee is, ghee is a lubricant which lubricates the entire alimentary canal. That should be the first thing you consume, so that it facilitates a certain easy passage of food. And also there is a factor in India, you know, in many ways chili is the spirit of India, okay? Speaker: Yeah. Sadhguru: (Laughs) So, especially in Rajasthan, chili is umm… you know, (Speaker laughs). Because even if a camel eats, it must be tasty (Speaker laughs). So it is really, really heavy on chili. When you eat very spicy food, it's very good to coat your tract with ghee, before you consume that. In Andhra Pradesh, in Rajasthan, in various other places, wherever there is very hot spicy food, eating ghee has been a part of Indian tradition. Leaving that aside, the importance of ghee is, it keeps the alimentary canal clean. See, one important aspect of being physiologically and psychologically healthy is, you must have a clean colon. If you go to an ayurvedic doctor or a siddha vaidhya, if you have any kind of problem, even if you say you're mentally disturbed, first thing that they do to you is – you have sleepless nights – first thing they do to you is to purge you, because a clean colon is vital for all these things. So one who consumes ghee in a proper manner, that person's colon will always be clean because nothing sticks there; nothing stays there for long periods of time. Today colon cancer, intestinal cancer are becoming so big. I would say it is not that you can prevent this absolutely, but the incidence would be much lower if there is a certain amount of consumption of ghee. And the ghee must be of the right quality. I don't know what commercial ghees that people are eating today, but if it is properly made from cow's milk or even buffalo's milk, if the ghee is made, it has many important benefits. One particular benefit is that it… this is because you're saying it's an ayurvedic conference, I think I can take the liberty of saying this. It enhances the aura within the system, the cellular aura will go up and you will have a higher sense of aliveness in the system, which becomes visible in the way you are to people. It's not just by eating ghee, at the same time if you eat ghee and carbohydrates together, if you eat ghee and sugar together, then it adds as fat. But if you eat just ghee, or just with a small morsel of food that you eat ghee in the beginning, then it works more as a lubricant. Body's ability to digest ghee is very low when ghee goes in by itself. But when it is mixed with something else and goes, it tends to add fat. So in terms of sedentary life that you… the question had the sedentary life issue, that is relevant only when you're mixing it with sugar and carb. Otherwise ghee does not make you fatten up in any way. It works more as a lubricant in the alimentary canal.