7 Steps to a Super Brain

Hey everyone, welcome to our weekly house call, your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is, Dr. Hyman, most days I feel like I can't focus for more than 15 minutes at a time. I lose my train of thought. I feel like I'm living in a daze. I used to be so sharp. Is there anything I can do to build better brain health? Well, I know this feeling all too well. About 20 years ago, I was seriously ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It was like I had dementia, depression and ADD all at once. My brain was broken. I was suffering from mercury toxicity even though I didn't know it, and I was exhausted from stress and overworking. And one of the things that suffered the most was my brain health. I had brain fog and I was unable to focus for long periods of time. And that was a huge problem. A physician with brain fog, I mean, there were days I couldn't even remember my patients' names. And I knew that I had to start to make a change. And that's when I started to discover the power of functional medicine. And one of my best benefits of reversing my chronic fatigue syndrome was how well my brain worked. And over the years, I fine-tuned my approach, which has led to an even sharper, faster, and better brain. I want that for you too. Now, whether you're in school or you need to focus more at work, or whatever it might be, optimal brain health makes life better and it gives you more opportunities. So let's start with the problem. What leads to a broken brain? Well, most of us don't learn how to manage our energy and our bodies very well. We use drugs like sugar, caffeine, alcohol, adrenaline, or even worse, to manage our energy and our moods. We don't connect our behaviors and our choices with how we feel every day. We don't connect what we eat, how much we rest or sleep, how much we exercise, or how much time we make for connecting with friends and community, or the kinds of media and news we watch with how we actually feel every day. So feeling fully energized and having great brain health comes down to a very simple principle. Take out the bad stuff and put in the good stuff. whether it be with food choices or lifestyle choices. Health results from what you get too little of, right? Or maybe disease actually results from what you get too little of. Things like good food and nutrients and light and air and water and rest and sleep, rhythm, exercise, community, love, meaning, purpose, or too much of, right? You get sick if you have too much of the bad stuff like Poor quality food, too much stress, toxins, allergens, infections, microbes, all these things are driving disease. So here are my first steps to a better brain. First, not surprising, eat whole, real, fresh food. Eat organic food, eat unprocessed food, eat local food if you can. If it has a label or a barcode, you probably should avoid it. If your great grandmother would not recognize it as food, then don't eat it. Did she know what a Lunchable was? Or a Gogurt or even a Twinkie? All these processed junk foods in the middle of the aisles are things we should avoid. They're in the grocery stores, in the middle of the aisles. That's where all the processed food is. Just stay away. Next, eat lots of colorful fruits and veggies. They're full of phytonutrients. All these dark, deep reds and yellows and oranges and greens and blues in food are signs of powerful anti-inflammatory, detoxifying, antioxidant, energy boosting and brain powering molecules. So I want you to enjoy those blueberries and those dark leafy greens like kale and all these great veggies. Also, you don't want to avoid carbs completely because all veggies are carbs. You want to eat the right carbs or what I like to call slow carbs. Eat foods with plenty of fiber. small amounts of beans and whole grains, ideally gluten free because gluten is not good for your brain, and nuts and lots of seeds. This keeps toxins moving out of your body and keeps your gut bacteria healthy. And a healthy gut is really connected to a healthy brain. Also, did you know that 60% of your brain is made up of omega-3 DHA, which comes from algae and fish? What we shouldn't be avoiding is fat. Fat is good for your brain. My brain was working pretty good before, but ever since I've embraced fat, Even good saturated fats like coconut oil or MCT oil, which is medium chain triglycerides, my mental clarity has been through the roof. So, I want you to eat omega-3 rich foods like sardines, walnuts, wild salmon, flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, and don't skip out on the protein because we need about 30 grams per meal to build muscle. And it's the new organ you have to pay attention to if you want to keep healthy because when you lose it, you age fast. including your brain. So eat protein for breakfast every day, such as omega-3 eggs, protein shakes or nut butters, even fish for breakfast. More importantly, stop poisoning your brain. Get rid of all the bad stuff: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, alcohol, or maybe just a little, trans fats, food additives, preservatives, all that stuff which poisons your brain, disrupts your biochemistry, and is absolutely not necessary to eat at all. Basically, if it's not food, don't eat it. Finally, I want you to supplement wisely. A high quality multivitamin, magnesium, vitamin D3, omega-3 fats or fish oil, probiotics, and these special vitamins called methylation vitamins like folate, B6 and B12. These are all critical for your brain to function at its peak. So add those in. Now, these are the things that you can do today. to start a path toward optimal brain health. And often, just doing this alone can make a huge difference. But if you tried all these things and nothing seems to be working, you might need to dig deeper. For me, mercury toxicity was the issue, but it could be bad bugs in your gut or hidden food sensitivities. And if you feel like you've tried everything, you might want to work with a functional medicine practitioner to dig deeper and find out if something else is going on. A good starting point is the plan in my new book, Eat Fat, Get Thin. This plan includes all the right foods for your brain, gets rid of the junk, so I want you to check it out. I also want to hear from you. What have you done to improve your brain health? Please comment below or on my Facebook page. If you like this video, please share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter, and be sure to send in your questions to DrHyman.com and maybe next week I'll make a house call to See you.