Hearing the term "brain fog", one would probably assume that it stems from one's forgetfulness or playful explanation of why you can't remember things or serve as the reason why many of us have stood in a room, having a blank stare, not remembering why we came into the room in the first place.
If you have ever had those bouts of feeling like you lacked mental clarity, couldn't focus your attention on a task at hand, lacking concentration, or simply a general sense of just feeling not completely dialed into your own life, you could probably be classified as having a case of “Brain fog”.  
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Now with brain fog, most symptoms are "normal" when done with medical tests per se, but it is one of those conditions where people have many of the uncomfortable symptoms mentioned earlier yet the medical field can't label it. Just imagine if you are having trouble thinking of words on the tip of your tongue, feeling as if you're performing tasks in a haze, or even taking longer to do certain tasks are not, and then hearing the doctor tell you that nothing is wrong with you.  What's up with that? 

We should note that using the term brain fog doesn't mean the same thing as brain impairment or dementia, and there are no studies that says feeling of brain fog lead to cognitive diseases. But there are other reasons you may be feeling that way, and it has to do more with foods than it does aging. 

​Candida is a type of yeast that is naturally found in the human body. However, a person can end up with too much of it and that creates an array of health problems. When we hear about Candida it is usually the negative aspects of it. ​​  Most people aren’t aware of all the different problems that can be linked to it, frequent urinary tract infections, dry mouth, or indigestion, as well as a whole host of other symptoms. However, this yeast is one that our bodies actually do need. 

​If you believe that probiotics are important for better gut health, would you be surprised to know that there are other foods called prebiotics that may be even more important?  If you've been following this page for a while, you know that in order to have a healthy digestive tract, many times I've shared that probiotics, not only play a significant role in your health, but also ensure you have a strong gut and immune system.  But is that it? Is that all of what you should do in order to have a healthy gut.... take probiotics?  It's my thought that in order to get probiotics to improve your digestion, it's important that everyone incorporate more prebiotic foods into their diets. 

Let's take a step back though and ask, "What is the end goal of simply taking probiotics?" Will your health, and more specifically, your gut health improve immediately? Although I believe your gut health and digestion will greatly improve by consuming probiotic foods, there are things that are actually more important for your body when it comes to the long-term health of your gut.  Those being prebiotics and prebiotic foods.  

If you Google, “How To Find The Fountain of Youth”, you would probably see pages after pages of some mythical place where many people have died on their quest to locate it.  But what if I was to say an actual Fountain of Youth can be found in your body and more specifically, in certain foods?  Would you be shocked or surprised; this has to be a joke, right?  Where can you get this magical elixir to help reverse the aging process we all experience? You can find them via nutrition, and these miraculous catalysts to better and more healthful aging are called enzymes. 

If you want to live a longer life, then it's important for you to learn more about enzymes and the benefits of taking enzymes. These are the secret "potions". Do you know what enzymes are, what the functions of an enzyme are, or what is the definition of an enzyme?

Do kids need probiotics?  Is it important for children to take probiotic supplements or eat probiotic foods?  How about kombucha?  Should kids be drinking kombucha or other fermented drinks?  This is definitely one of the top 5 questions I receive when a parent wants to know whether it's important for their son or daughter to take probiotics or drink Jared's Kombucha or Jared's Kefir Soda.  And in 90% of the situations, my response is always the same... a definite "yes".

​It's important for me to throw a couple of caveats in there before I give a resounding "yes" (every family is different in terms of what they choose to eat and how they provide for their children), but from an overall perspective, a strong healthy gut is vitally important to a child during it's growing years, and probiotics and fermented foods can assist in that.   

I like to intermittent fast and eat only fruits on Sundays.  The weekends for me in general, are a bit different than the rest of the week. Why? Because I like to think that it's a day to start over... a new week to cleanse my body and start fresh... a fast of sorts.  I have a few routines I do that I purposefully done on this day: I have my own teeth cleaning kit, I wash my hair, and from a eating and digestion standpoint, I really focus on only eating fruits up till around 6 in the evening.  I shop in the mornings, buy organic fruits when possible, and if the rinds can be eaten, I do that as well. So what is the purpose?⠀

The first reason is to give my digestion a bit of a break; it's a fasting of sorts. But the other reason is because I truly love fruit and realize that, from an enjoyment standpoint, I could eat it everyday. The bountiful harvest I picked up from the store in the mornings or from the farmers market the day before is one of beauty, colorful fruits filling the rainbow. But there is another reason.⠀

It's one of the few foods that can regenerate itself via the seed and from a philosophical standpoint, I like to look at it differently than other foods we eat. Most people eat foods hastily, are impatient and are not very mindful of what they put into their mouths. But on a Sunday, with colorful fruits, I try to focus (and for me it is very hard) on taking this bounty and starting something anew for the week. It can be a new friendship, or a new idea, or a new habit. Can be ANYTHING.. just new. So how do I represent that with fruits? Every week, I'll randomly take a few of the seeds I grab and plant them in paper cups. Many (and I mean many) times, I have failed, but there are a few that have sprouted and grown: an avocado, a pear, a lemon... ⠀
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So next time you grab a piece of fruit. Look at the seeds, and rather than chunking it in the trash, take a few seconds and think about a new life it could bring. Just like fasting, you are hitting the reset button.  When you combine a fruit seed and your own fasting schedule, you can look at it as starting something new today, friends.

(If you enjoyed this quick read, be sure to tap the like button and then go follow me on any of the other social media channels below for tons of useful information about gut health). 

​Jared Toay is a master fermenter who has a passion for making fermented foods, probiotic drinks, probiotic-filled foods, and gut-healthy snacks.  If you want a list of his 73 fermented foods recipe to include in your own family's diet, you can download it free by clicking here:  http://bit.ly/73Ferments

“Because probiotics sound so much better than bacteria infested"
Jared Toay

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.Probiotics and losing weight are not words that many put together, but have you ever wondered if there was a relationship between gut health and weight loss? Millions of people feel as if they are constantly fighting a war between losing and gaining weight. It seems the daily question is, “which one is winning now?” But don’t despair, if you feel you are not able to lose that last bit of fat around your midsection, there may be a specific reason why you can't shed the weight. The reason for it may be addressed by looking at the health of your gut. It could be either it isn't working the way it should or you just don’t have enough helpful gut flora or probiotics in your body.

I've discussed it many times before on this blog (Why You Have The Hardest Time Losing The Last 10 Pounds or How To Get More Energy From Foods) of the importance of having a proper (and a significant) amount of good, healthy gut bacteria thriving in your microbiome to help maintain an ideal weight. We could actually say having good gut flora is crucial for most hormonal issues, including insulin (blood sugar) and melatonin (sleep patterns), but for the purpose of this article, we are only going to address the hormones required to digest, process, and eliminate foods and ultimately the waste in your body.

I’m going to touch on a topic most people know of, but few really understand… antibiotics and prescription drugs and its relationship to our gut health and the probiotics that live in our gut. In my earlier life, I experienced several bouts of sickness and depression that, at the time, debilitated me beyond belief.

Not feeling like you were “right in the head” or that you couldn’t accomplish everyday tasks was something that I’ll never really be able to explain to those that have never experienced it before. Based on every bit of information and advice I received, it seemed like the end result was for me to take medications or antibiotics to get me healthy. “It will help me smooth out the edges,” they said. “It will cure what ails me,” they said.
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The point of persuading people to accept your conclusions of how to get to better mental and physical health is to help them draw their own conclusions as to why that is important, help them draw a line between two points. For me, this meant I must first understand and deal with the fact that having good brain health means you must first have good gut health.

This inevitably means that if those doctors, physicians, or friends wanted me to actually become a “better person” they might have helped me realize that I had a severe case of gut dysbiosis, and that my significant fluctuations in weight was due in large part to my inability to eat, digest foods, or keep food down, not the other way around, that my mental state was an effect of my weight fluctuations and inability to deal with them.

I decided that drugs and medications would not be the preferred method of dealing with my issues, so I began to learn about the importance of gut health and digestion. Inevitably, most research always ended up with me finding new information on the values of using, eating, and supplementing with probiotics.
Based on my experience in dealing with mental health and digestion issues, I believe everyone, whether or not they have issues, should be aware of the value of probiotics and how these living bacteria can play such a crucial role in helping each of us function and be coherent in thoughts and actions.

Many people have heard of probiotics, some of them know the value, and even less know what specifically they do. What’s a little alarming is that when you ask people about their knowledge of antibiotics, most everyone knows what an antibiotic is, believes what we’ve been told what it can do to “improve” our health, and that if you have any type of physical sickness, antibiotics will generally be the cure.

Now, why do you take an antibiotic? Mostly it’s because your immune system has broken down, you’re sick, or you don’t have the ability to fight disease or an infection. Your immune system becomes compromised because of some imbalance and it begins to break down.

By now, we all have recovered from the New Year's festivities and have had a few days to digest the damage some of us did to our bodies. Now, this is not a post about being high-and-mighty because, truth be told, I found myself feeling a bit under the weather the day after consuming several mixed drinks and glasses of wine to ring in the new year.   But are there natural hangover remedies? 

Most of you know my life and experiences revolve around optimal digestion and gut health. So I know 

Most of my friends and people who follow me on social media hear me talk ad nausem about pH balance in our bodies. Knowing a bit about acidic foods or the alkaline diet goes a long way to better internal health.  The Standard American Diet is very acidic to the body, so I try to over-emphasize the alkaline side of it in my food products.  It is so important in how I make my sodas and kombucha, that I often compare it to the health of our bodies.  What is the best way to think about it's importance? Dr. Gary Tunsky put it this way. "Think of your body as a fish tank. Imagine the importance