"Fermentation has been used for centuries by cultures around the world to create food that contains an abundance of beneficial bacteria. These bacteria, referred to as probiotics, play a vital role in maintaining the delicate balance of your microbiome, which supports and promotes, mental health, memory, and cognition. Common probiotic-rich foods are kimchi, kombucha tea, sauerkraut, and pickled fruits and vegetables. In addition to probiotics, consuming adequate levels of prebiotic fiber is equally, if not more important. This fiber is not directly digested by our gastrointestinal tract and is instead used as substrate—a soil of sorts—by our gut bacteria. Examples of foods rich in prebiotic fiber are dandelion greens, garlic, onions, and asparagus, which are best if consumed raw."
**Information was taken from "The Best 9 Foods to help improve brain health and memory" article by Dr Pearlmutter team.

​Top harmful foods that you NEED to avoid immediately:
1.) Yogurt - specifically Go-Gurt for kids. Beware of yogurt with added sugar. If yogurt tells you that they have probiotics in them, check to see if the yogurt has been pasteurized (more than likely it has). The pasteurization process ends up killing off most if not all of the probiotics (the good bacteria) in the yogurt.

2.) Wheat bread: Beware of breads that contain high fructose corn syrup (20x sweeter than sugar) which is a chemical that isn’t recognized by our brains. This high fructose corn syrup confuses your “Ghrelin” which the hormone that tells you when you’re hungry and disrupts your “Leptin” hormone which tells you when you’re full which causes you to eat more than you should.

**High Fructose Corn syrup: is 8 times more addictive than cocaine and heroin. Your body does not recognize high fructose corn syrup because it is processed. Since your body does not recognize high fructose corn syrup, once it is consumed, it is stored as fat.**

3.) Cereal Bars: Cereal bars are loaded with sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Beware of cereal bars where sugar is the first ingredient. Sugar has many different identities such as: Sugar, Brown Sugar, Fructose, Maltose, Dextrose, Anhydrous dextrose, cane crystals, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, crystal dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose sweetener, fruit juice concentrates, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, liquid fructose, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, pancake syrup, raw sugar, sugar, syrup and white sugar fructose, and maltose.

This information was taken from a video called "3 Good Foods Gone Bad" published by Dr. Amy Lee, Bariatric Physician. Here is the link if you would like to watch the full video: ​ http://nucific.com/3harmfulfoods/m-vidfb_170802.php

A study from Stanford University consisting of 16 million clinical documents and 2.9 million individuals was conducted. This study looked at those individuals who took PPI (Proton Pump Inhibitors) which are drugs that work to block against our stomach acids. Examples of PPI are Nexium and Prilosec. The study wanted to find out what their risk of having a heart attack was due to taking PPI (Proton Pump Inhibitors).  The study showed that those individuals who were using a PPI regularly had a 16% increase in the risk of Myocardial Infarction (Heart Attack) and the risk of dying from a heart attack was doubled for those individuals who took a PPI.

Another study looked at the risk of forming dementia for individuals who use a PPI regularly. This study looked at 73,679 people aged 75 years or older who were not demented (cognitively intact) and followed them for five years. The risk of dementia for people who regularly used PPI increased by 44%.

 Why does this happen? PPI lower the gut PH level and acidity on the gastrointestinal system and the effects that those changes has on the bacteria that live within us (probiotics). The bacteria controls things like immunity and inflammation. The report showed that by using a PPI regularly there was an increased in the hardening of the arteries in the heart and there was a dramatic increase in the risk of developing dementia.