Brain Maker Summary

To understand his findings better, we’ll take a closer look at three of the most practical lessons from the book:

• Our gut holds the most diversified microbiome and is responsible for our weight, mood, health level, and much more.
• Western diets are at times awful because they contain high levels of fructose and sugar.
• Try to avoid antibiotics as much as possible, while getting your intake of probiotics.

Lifestyle and diet choices are a real struggle – I know. However, after examining these lessons in detail, I hope that everything will make a little more sense to you.

The largest collection of microbes to ever inhabit a human body isn’t located in your colon, as one might expect. It isn’t located anywhere within the boundaries of your skin, either. This complex ecosystem is present in greater numbers within the gut.

Your gut is home to trillions of microorganisms, organically functioning together with one common goal: to keep you alive. One main attribute of these microbes is to determine your weight.

Firmicutes – they extract energy from the food and consume calories

Bacteroidetes – they help you break down fiber and starch

Scientists discovered that having more firmicutes is likely to cause weight gain, which is why it’s advised to eat plenty of fibers and starchy greens and keep bacteroidetes working. Another main responsibility of your gut is to keep your mental health in place.

An imbalanced microbiome sends signals to your brain, and because your brain doesn’t have any pain receptors, it is inflammation and does a lot of harm (such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, etc.) without you being able to notice it. Therefore, managing the microbiome of your gut is essential for your health.

Advancements in our societies brought forth plenty of amazing discoveries, but also a series of changes in our lifestyle that are far from being considered ‘advancements’. Many of these changes occurred in the standard diet that people followed in the past.

The rise of sugar, simple carbs, processed foods, and chemicals are now responsible for a large part of modern diseases. The worst part is that it became increasingly more difficult to avoid ingesting these components, as they’re present in almost all foods. 

One main ingredient that everyone finds hard to avoid is sugar, and more specifically, fructose. It is a known fact that fructose is highly difficult for our body to metabolize, so eating this active ingredient is a big no-no. The problem is that you can find it in ice cream, soda, candies, and even fruits.

While it’s not harmful to consume fructose from natural-occurring sources, eating too much of it is a problem. Therefore, it’s best to stick to fruits and other natural foods as our main source of fructose.

Gluten is also known to increase the body’s inflammatory response, which can translate into multiple diseases.

However, in order to cause an inflammatory response in your body, you’ll have to be celiac, or at least suffer from gluten sensitivity. Therefore, it’s best to carry out a medical test or even try to notice yourself if foods like pizza, pasta, dough, or flour-based dishes cause you more harm than good.

The discovery of antibiotics was a groundbreaking invention attributed to Alexander Flemming. Grace to his experiments, we now know how to fight bacteria and cure diseases that once killed people. However, nothing too good lasts forever, so with antibiotics’ popularity growth, other problems have come to the surface.

For starters, doctors all over the world are prescribing antibiotics like sugar candy. While they only treat bacteria, they’re prescribed for viruses and other conditions too. The food industry uses them to make animals resistant to poor living conditions and have them grow faster.

All these factors contributed to an antibiotic-resistant body that cannot fight certain diseases anymore, because there’s no medicine strong enough to kill them. What’s worse is that antibiotics mess up your body and your gut without you even realizing it. Well, there’s one way to help your body out – ingest probiotics.

In other words, look for fermented foods like yogurt, sauerkraut, black tea, wine, etc. They’re packed with vitamin B12 and beneficial bacteria, which neutralize the bad bacteria in the gut. Another way to boost your health is through fasting, which is known to slow age and increase insulin sensitivity.

Brain Maker isn’t just another diet book. It’s a compilation of investigative science that will spark the interest of anyone who wants to improve their health.

You’ll learn about the negative effects of a Western diet, the correlation between the microbiome in your gut and the brain, and a handful of valuable tips and tricks that can improve your health.

Most importantly, you’ll come across first-hand knowledge that can change your life right away, which makes this book a highly valuable piece to study.

The 40-year-old person who is overweight and wants to learn how to lose weight safely, the 30-year-old health-conscious person who wants to deepen their knowledge, or the 35-year-old person who constantly gets sick and wants to learn how to boost their immune system.

“The simple act of moving your body will do more for your brain than any riddle, math equation, mystery book, or even thinking itself.”

-David Perlmutter