If you’ve read my new book, The Gut Brain Paradox, then you know this simple truth. The way to a sharper brain starts in your gut. So today I’m sharing five foods that do wonders for both your gut and your brain. Starting with one that most people avoid, chicken, skin and chicken livers. Yes, that boneless skinless chicken breast is not the way too good gut health and brain health. Instead, the chicken skin which you’ve been told to stay away from and the chicken livers which are kind of thrown in the trash are actually loaded with a really cool polyamine called spermidine. And I’ll let you guess where that name came from. Spermidine is one of the most important powerful anti-aging compounds that we know of. In fact, a 2021 cell report study found that dietary spermidine improved cognitive performance in older adults in humans. And in animal studies, it enhanced mitochondrial function and triggered autophagy, your cell’s natural cleanup process.

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Believe it or not, that’s why I developed an entire program called The Chicken and the Sea Diet in my new book, The Gut Brain Paradox. It’s a modified carnivore plan that the outline is in the new book. It’s full of spermidine-rich proteins that have a variety of benefits. You know, I spend quite a bit of time in Italy and the south of France and I’ve always been fascinated by the amount of chicken liver pate that is served particularly in Tuscany. And you go, “Well, what the heck? Why are they doing all that? ” Lo and behold, chicken livers are one of the highest sources of spermidine that you can eat. In fact, usually at least once a week I will have a chicken liver salad, uh, as my dinner. In fact, I have a favorite restaurant in Paris in the Meray District where I have a chicken liver salad every time I go to Paris.

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You’re going, “What the heck? That sounds crazy.” And yet, why would all these restaurants have chicken livers on their menu? It’s because they’re pretty doggone smart and know that that’s a great source of spermidine. And please, please, please do not buy the boneless skinless chicken breasts. Get the skin. In fact, I have many patients who actually buy chicken skin from their butchers because they’re busy taking off the chicken skin because nobody wants it. And it’s the best part, believe me. I’ve seen patients suffering from memory issues, low energy, and even mood swings feel like new people following the chicken and the sea diet in the new book. Sometimes in just a few weeks, it’s actually remarkable and actually profile one of my patients in the new book. All right, number two. All right, you don’t want chicken livers and you just are a little queasy about chicken skin.

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Wild shrimp, sardines, anchovies, small fish like pollock or red mullet, the sea part of the diet and it’s a gut-brain dream team. These are small, wild-caught seafoods that are low in mercury enrich in omega-3s like DHA and EPA, which are critical for brain development focus and mood balance. In fact, your brain is about 70% fat. And as I remind my patients, if you’re in an argument with your significant other, you’re allowed to call them a fat head and I’ll back them up. Half of the fat in your brain is a long chain omega-3 fat called DHA. And as I profiled in many of my books, the more DHA you have in your brain, the bigger your brain is and the more intelligent and memory capabilities you have and the larger your memory centers called the hippocampus are. The less DHA, the sh- more shrunken your brain is.

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I wish I was making this up, but I’m not. Look it up. And the smaller these memory centers are, the hippocampus. So your mom was right when she said, “Fish is brain food.” She didn’t know why she was right, but now we have the science to back it up. Now the other important part about the chicken and the sea diet is you and I share a sugar molecule that lines the wall of our gut, that lines our blood vessels, that lines our joints, that lines our blood-brain barrier called Nu5 capital AC. That’s what we make, that’s the lining of our gut. It’s also in poultry and it’s also in fish. Now, sadly, beef, lamb, pork, and milk contain a very similar sugar molecule called Nu5GC that’s differs by one molecule of oxygen. That difference, believe it or not, is critical. When we humans eat new 5GC containing foods, we view it as inflammatory.

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We hate it. We make antibodies to it and we attack it. The bad news is because these two sugar molecules are virtually identical, NU5GC, the bad guy, can be incorporated into the wall of our gut, into our blood vessels, into our joints, into our blood-brain barrier and we attack it. In fact, studies show that the more New5GC containing foods we eat, the more we displace NU-5AC from these structures and the more inflammation we get, the more neuroinflammation we get, which is not a great thing. In fact, I have patients who adapt the carnivore diet where they primarily eat beef and pork and lamb and they feel great, but their inflammation markers to a person climb and climb and climb. And when we change them over to the chicken and the sea diet with NU5AC, they still feel great, but their inflammation markers plummet. And that’s why a modified carnivore diet that I developed for the gut-brain paradox works so well.

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And just remember that that’s not what you want in New 5GC foods. Is there a way around? Yes, there is. It turns out the fermentation process of inoculating sausages meats with bacteria, the bacteria will ferment NU5GC and they will also produce polyamine, spermidine. So true sausages that have been fermented. So how do you find those? You look for the words lactic acid cultures. If you see those words, that’s what you’re looking for. And luckily, we’re beginning to see more and more of these. Traditionally made sausages in Europe like in Italy, like in Portugal, like in France, these are safe to eat. Even believe it or not, certain of the hams that are made in Italy, like, uh, well, like 5Jam in Spain is devoid of new 5GC and prosciutto, true prosciutto, deparma, is devoid of new 5GC. So there are ways around this and I specify all that in the gut-brain paradox.

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All right. Number three, aged cheeses like Parmesan or sheep cheese pecorino cheese and aged cheeses that are raw cheeses like Gulier or Compte also are devoid, number one of Nu5GC. The bacteria have eaten them and are loaded with polyamines that support your brain function and your mitochondrial health. So cheese for brain health, cheese for heart health, you’re right, it actually works. As you know, I study many long-lived people. And the thing that has shocked me, I guess, is that almost all of these communities eat a huge amount of fermented dairy products, primarily fermented goat and sheep cheeses and they eat fermented sausages and fermented meats, exactly what supposedly we’re supposed to avoid. So spermidine, you get probiotics, believe it or not, prosciutto is loaded with friendly bacteria. Who knew? That’s what’s good for you in these fermented products. The other great thing about fermentation in cheeses is the lactose has actually been eaten by the bacteria.

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So most cheeses are completely lactose free. The other great news is that most of these cheeses are made out of casin A2 milk eliminating the inflammatory casine A1 milk that most of our cows in America make. In the sardinian blue zone where centenarians are known for their cognitive longevity, people eat pecorino cheese every day. In fact, sardinian pecorino cheese is well known for its longevity producing properties. Now get this. These cheeses will also support the production of GABA, the calming neurotransmitter that plays a role in suppressing anxiety and depression. Now, unfortunately, without the right gut environment, GABA can’t be produced properly. So eating GABA in these cheeses is one way around that problem. Again, I spell all this out in the gut-brain paradox. All right, number four, perilla oil. Perilla seed oil is the number one oil of Korea and in most of China. Now you go perilla oil.

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I’ve never seen perillo oil. So you’ve seen the perilla plant, I guarantee it. Perilla plant is the colius plant, that very beautiful ornamental plant that you often grow in your gardens or in the house. It’s got these beautiful colored leaves and it’s an ornamental plant with us, but it’s a seed that produces perilla oil. What’s so unique about perillo oil? Perilla oil is almost exclusively a short chain omega-3 fat called alpha linolenic acid. Now you’re hearing the word seed oil. Let me assure you that all seed oils are not the evil empire. In fact, perilla seed oil has been shown to encourage the growth of my favorite gut buddy, that keystone species, Akkermansia mucinophilia. One of the most important gut bacteria to support your intestinal lining. And as you know, a healthy intestinal lining means less inflammation, which can help your brain function more clearly.

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It also has rosemarinic acid. Yes, rosmarinic acid comes from rosemary and rosmarinic acid promotes GABA signaling, helping reduce toxicity in the brain and supporting a calm balanced mood. Moreover, animal studies and now studies in my lab with humans show that the consumption of perilla oil dramatically lowers the amount of LPSs, those little pieces of, you know what, that are one of the biggest drivers of inflammation in humans and animals and parilla oil blocks the absorption of LPSs. And it’s amazing when I see this happen in my patients. I personally mix perillo oil with olive oil and MCT oil for a brain boosting salad dressing and I suggest you do the same. It’s getting easier and easier to find parilla oil. It’s in almost all Asian grocery stores. It’s on the internet on Amazon and it’s really quite inexpensive. So give it a try. It has a very neutral flavor.

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Finally, number five, a brain boosting compounds, dark chocolate. Yes, chocolate made the list, made the top five. Now dark chocolate, greater than 72% cacao or higher and preferably higher is better, is loaded with polyphenols, which support your gut flora and support brain function. In fact, one study cited in the book found that just eating 30 grams of dark chocolate daily for three weeks increased microbiome diversity. In other words, the more kind of tropical rainforest of bacteria you have in your gut, the better off you are. It improved focus and it boosted mood. Now even better, your gut bugs might ask for chocolate, literally. Certain strains of gut bacteria can signal your brain via the vagus nerve to crave polyphenol rich foods like cacao. So the next time you need a chocolate fix, don’t fight it. Your gut buddies are asking for it. But please, the lower the sugar content in your chocolate, the better it is for you.

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Finally, if you see the word Dutched chocolate or milk chocolate or alkalized chocolate, run the other way. All the polyphenols have been neutralized so it’s worthless for what you’re actually eating it for. So when chosen wisely, chocolate is good for your mood, your memory, and your microbiome, the three M’s that we’re looking for. So if you want sharper thinking, better memory and a more balanced mood, don’t start with your brain, start with your gut. To learn more, just check out my new book, The Gut Brain Paradox, where I lay it all out, including the full Chicken and the Sea Diet.

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That’s a wrap on today’s episode. And before you go, I wanna leave you with one task. If anything you heard today made you think made you wanna dig deeper or gave you something you’re going to pass along to someone you care about, please take 15 seconds and leave a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. I know that sounds small, but those reviews are how Apple and Spotify decide which shows to surface to new listeners and this show only grows when people who’ve never heard of it suddenly find it. That person finding this podcast today could hear something that genuinely improves their life or the life of someone they love, maybe even saves one. Everything I share here comes from my research when writing my next book and my clinics where I’ve been seeing patients six days a week for over 25 years working with nutrition and supplements as the primary treatment.

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This is real world medicine. Help me get it to more people and thank you. Truly thank you. I’m Dr. G and I’m always looking out for you.