Dr. Mark Hyman talks with Martha Stewart about his book The UltraMind Solution, covering how nutrition, supplements, relaxation, and lifestyle changes can prevent mental disease and sharpen your brain.
We're back with Dr. Mark Hyman and his new book, the Ultramind Solution, outlines his plan to help us avoid mental diseases and achieve that ultramind that we're all looking for. So let's go over the plan. And in front of us we have solutions.
That's right. In order to achieve an ultramind, you have to feed your brain right. And the first thing you need is to become a fat head, because 60% of your brain is made up of fat. And if you don't have enough, you get depressed and demented. And I've seen people who have, like a 20-year-old girl, who hated fish, who got rid of her depression by getting enough of healthy fats, like sardines.
I love sardines.
I know.
Most people hate them, but I love them too. No, I have stacks of sardines in my cupboard. They're great.
I eat them and I feed them to my cats. This kind of sardine, they love it. It is great. You don't really have to cook them. You just open the can, and there you are. And wild salmon. Wild salmon. And if you don't like that, flax seeds are also a good way to get a fat head. and prevent depression.
Right.
And then we have protein for brain power. You need amino acids that come from protein to make all the brain messenger chemicals, the neurotransmitters, so you can be happy and focused. And people who don't eat enough protein for breakfast, they can't focus, they're sluggish, they're not present and alert, and they get depressed. And then they crave sugar.
So eating protein for brain power is very important. So pumpkin seeds, almonds.
Pumpkin seeds, almonds, pistachio chicken. Potatoes, absolutely. But is that organic chicken? It is. Should be, okay. Okay. And then of course we have, the right carbs, which are essential for healthy brain function to keep your sugar balanced. Beans and vegetables like asparagus keep your blood sugar even. And we know now that even a little bit of increase in your blood sugar can cause depression and lead to dementia or even pre-dementia, which a lot of us have and don't even know it. And then of course we have the brain protectors, these phytonutrients. You're talking about the medicinal plants in the garden. Well, these are the medicinal foods that.
Love all these things.
The antioxidants and berries, detoxifying things in cilantro, the anti-inflammatory components in turmeric, all these will help protect our brains and heal our brain from disease. And then of course, we have the ability to tune up our brain chemistry with supplements.
So you're a believer in taking additional vitamins? Yes.
If we lived in a perfect world, we wouldn't need them, but 92% of us, according to government surveys, are deficient in one or more nutrients at the minimum level. So I recommend the right ingredients for making your brain brain molecules work properly. And that's a multivitamin, fish oil, calcium, magnesium. We need vitamin D, and we need B complex vitamins, and what we call probiotics. These are healthy bacteria. And I've seen remarkable things. For example, one woman from Boston had depression. She never went outside. She worked in the basement. And she was severely vitamin D deficient. So just getting her adequate vitamin D boosted her mood and got rid of her blues. And then of course we have finding the pause button. Who doesn't know where their pause button is? I bet most people out there don't know how to find their pause button. And they go and go. And there's a lot of ways to do it. You can relax, get a massage, deep breathe. My favorite is the ultra-bath. And the ultra-bath is very simple. You don't have to do anything much. You just take two cups of Epsom salt, half a cup of baking soda, 10 drops of lavender oil, you add.
One stressed human, and you soak for 20 minutes.
And what happens is the magnesium is the relaxation.
That's good to do like every night before bed. Before you go to bed. That's right. That's right. Don't do it in the morning when you have to go to work. No, no, you'll be a puddle.
You might fall asleep in the bathtub and not get to work. That's right. But at night it's a fabulous way.
Of just taking the whole system down.
Because lavender oil lowers cortisol. This I really believe in. Yes. So you have to train your brain and your body. So sudoku or crossword puzzles or learning.
A language or doing math in your head is necessary for making new brain connections. And I just put on my vacation I put Sudoku and Scrabble on my iPhone. There you go. And it's so much fun to play and everybody else wants to play with you. It's very good for your brain.
I agree. And of course, the exercise itself, even just a half an hour of walking has been shown to prevent dementia and it's better than Prozac for treating depression. Agreed.
Because it increases your brain cell connections.
And makes you grow new brain cells, we've learned. So walk or go on a treadmill? Walk or do either. You know, it's one of those things. And of course, we need sleep. All of us need sleep. Now, most of us need seven to eight hours of sleep. I know you get a little less, and some remarkable people need less. I think most of us need seven to eight hours of sleep. And you can do things like the ultra-bath before bed, or you can take a little extra magnesium or melatonin that helps you relax. And lastly, we need to live clean and green, which is apropos of our detox week here. We're exposed to so many toxins that we don't even know about, and there's.
Ways to reduce our exposure and prevent it. For example, Electromagnetic frequencies from all our devices. I didn't even realize that an electric.
Alarm clock is bad for you. Yeah, well, you know, we have electrical rhythms in our body, our heart rhythm, our brain waves, and external rhythms interfere with that.
It's called electro-pollution.
So keeping your radio at least six.
Feet away from your head or using a battery-powered radio. How many of you sleep with your electric clocks right now?
Yeah, so keep your cell phones and your electronics away from your head. But I always use a little battery clock anyway, that little bong clock I love. I've never used one of those. What about those? Off cell phone, you should not keep it on your body. Keep it away from you. Keep it in your purse. Keep it somewhere at a distance from you. If you have to use it, use a speaker phone if you can. There's some electronic devices you can get for earphones. And also, you want to filter your water. Here's a Brita filter for filtering your water. And house plants are great detoxifiers because.
They absorb toxins from the air and put out oxygen into the air. So these are all ways you can achieve an ultra simple, simple, simple solution. Very simple. And simple rules. to follow that you'll find in Dr. Hyman's book, the UltraMind Solution. And so, and thanks for giving one to everybody in the audience. Oh, my pleasure. And I wanted to point out that we have our editor of Body and Soul magazine sitting right in the front row, Alana Fink. Welcome, and thanks for bringing Dr. Hyman with you. We'll be right back. Subscribe to Body and Soul magazine during the month of January and receive our special 10 issues for $10. Go to wholeliving.com and subscribe today.
