Heal and Protect Your Brain with Good Bugs
What if the key to unlocking a sharper mind, stronger memory, and a more vibrant life was already within you? Welcome to LIFTT’s Brain Health Class, where we embark on a journey to unravel the mysteries of cognitive wellness and take actionable steps to prevent decline. Every month, we gather to dive deep into transformative insights, armed with cutting-edge knowledge and an eagerness to optimize our brain health.
In November 2024, our focus turned to the compelling wisdom of Brain Maker by David Perlmutter, MD. This eye-opening book revealed a truth so fascinating it’s almost unbelievable: the “second brain” in your gut holds the power to shape your emotions, memory, and even your physical resilience. Yes, the neurons in your gut are so abundant that they rival those in your brain!
The connection is profound — and it all starts with what’s on your plate.
Your Gut, Your Destiny
Imagine this: a high-sugar, high-carb diet isn’t just indulgent — it’s a saboteur. It disrupts the delicate balance of gut bacteria, setting the stage for inflammation and paving the way for diseases like dementia, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. But here’s the good news: you can rewrite this story.
As we’ve discovered in class, shifting to a diet rich in healthy fats and lower in carbohydrates can be transformative. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found that this change alone can slash your risk of dementia by an astonishing 80%.
Dr. Perlmutter’s Brain Maker invites us into a culinary revolution, offering recipes that celebrate the diversity of fermented foods like tangy yogurt, fizzy kombucha, and even delightfully quirky pickled eggs. Each bite of these probiotic-rich foods is like planting seeds of wellness in your gut, empowering good bacteria to flourish. And when they thrive, so do you: inflammation decreases, immunity soars and your brain becomes a fortress against decline.
Join Us
This is more than a class—it’s a movement. We are a community united in curiosity, courage, and a commitment to protecting the most precious gift we have: our minds. Each session is a chance to not only learn but also share, support, and grow together.
Your journey toward cognitive health begins with a single step—or perhaps a single bite. Will you take it? For more information about joining LIFTT’s brain health class, contact Eileen Rodriguez, LIFTT’s Nutritional Health Coach/Independent Living Specialist, at (406) 294-5185 or eileenr@liftt.org.
About Living Independently for Today & Tomorrow (LIFTT): LIFTT is a Montana 501(c)3 corporation organized as a Center for Independent Living (CIL). With team members based in Billings and Glendive, LIFTT provides people with disabilities with programs and services that help empower them to break down the physical, bureaucratic, and cultural barriers that prevent them from being fully independent participants in their lives and communities throughout 18 counties in southeastern and south-central Montana: Big Horn, Carbon, Carter, Custer, Dawson, Fallon, Garfield, Golden Valley, McCone, Musselshell, Powder River, Prairie, Richland, Rosebud, Stillwater, Treasure, Wibaux, and Yellowstone. For more information, please visit liftt.org or download our mobile app for your Apple or Android Device.