Jim Kwik on Brain Food & Healthy Recipes 🧠

How do you make Kwik Brain-friendly recipes? How do you fix your food so you could fix your brain? What are the best foods for your brain? Welcome back, Kwik Brain. This is all about this episode, how do you make Kwik Brain-friendly recipes? brain-friendly recipes because you are what you eat and what you eat matters, especially for your gray matter.

You like that?

Yeah, that was great.

And we are here with a dear friend and I'm excited to have Leanna. Leanna Warner Gray, thank you so much for being here. Thanks for having me. She's a 3-time author. Her new book is right here, Cancer Free with Food. Her other books, we have Earth Diet and also 10 Minute Recipes.

Yep.

And 10 minutes is really pretty much up my alley Because this is the Kwik Brain podcast, right? Bite-sized brain hacks and foods that give you maximum return on your investment of time. I love that. And so, is it possible to make food recipes that are both nutritious and delicious?

It is, yes, and that's why I'm here.

And that's why we're in the Kwik Brain kitchen. And so we're gonna make some— we're gonna make a recipe. We're gonna show people how— I'm all about simple, Easy, fun, effective. Maximum return of joy, of time and energy. And I also want to talk about your story and why you wrote this book. You know, your journey that it documents going through cancer and coming out on the other side and the role diet played in it.

Yeah. So I'm 10 years cancer-free this year.

That's amazing.

Yay!

That's so extraordinary.

So I was just at the end of 21 when I ended up in hospital. I had a biopsy done. I had a golf ball-sized tumor in my lymphatic system. It was early stages of cancer, so I was lucky for that reason. But my diet was horrendous.

What was it like?

It was the worst kind of diet you can imagine. I would eat gummy bears for breakfast. I would eat pizza for lunch. I would eat McDonald's for dinner. I would eat KFC. Like whatever craving I had, I fulfilled it. I didn't hold back. I was like, I'm craving cookies, I'm gonna eat cookies. And I didn't just eat 1 or 2, I ate like a whole lot of it. And it became this vicious cycle because my body got used to, so used to this dead matter that was providing it with no nutritional value. And it was just like, it was hungry all the time, even though I was eating so much food, 'cause my body wasn't getting any nutrients. So it was starving for real food. So I did that for 5 years before I ended up in hospital. And I just had a gut feeling, literally that—

You really had a gut feeling.

Yeah, that my diet was what caused this major blockage, this cancer, this tumor in my lymphatic system, which is the body's sewage system. And then of course, if that's blocked, It causes gut issues, you know, brain fog, leaky gut, all kinds of health issues.

You know, in our programs we always talk about our brains being this incredible supercomputer, and we can teach software like how to read faster, how to remember people's names, how to learn a language, but if their hardware, their biology, is off tilt, you're not going to get the same kind of results. So when we talk about 10 keys for unlocking what we call your Kwik Brain, the number one thing we start with is is a good brain diet.

Love that.

That's what we're talking about here. Let's make something while we're talking.

Yeah, awesome. This is the recipe that I used when I was healing and also this helped me to not crave the bad types of chocolate brownies, the chocolate brownies that had white flour and sugar and dairy and soy lecithin and non-organic eggs. That's just a recipe for disaster, right? It's like a brain bomb, an atomic bomb for the brain. This is a healthier version of a chocolate brownie that is so delicious. So delicious and so nutrient-rich. And it's a legit Kwik Brain recipe, you guys.

It is true.

I retitled the recipe because of Jim Kwik.

Here we go. And we know this ingredient, chocolate. Tell us about chocolate and the brain, because this is probably the best news for everyone watching.

Yeah, so chocolate lovers, great news. Cacao is actually a functional food and it can be eaten every single day as part of a very healthy diet. Isn't that awesome?

It's incredible. But it's not just any chocolate though.

Yeah, it has to be pure cacao powder. So cacao that comes from either Peru, and it just comes straight from the cacao pod in little cacao beans, and then it's sun-dried and ground up into a cacao powder. So this is the first ingredient in the chocolate brownie.

Now notice we're not talking about milk chocolate that's found at a convenience store or something by the register.

Right. Obviously, don't go out and eat conventional milk chocolate at, you know, 7-Eleven. That is not the kind of healthy chocolate we're talking about. In fact, that chocolate will help destroy your health like it did mine. So this is a chocolate recipe that's actually healthy. And taste good at the same time.

Nutritious and delicious.

Yeah.

What qualities of chocolate make it good for your mind?

So cacao powder actually helps release blood flow to the brain, which is awesome. That's a good thing. Which is why most people, when they have a chocolate craving, they get really excited, right? And then when they eat chocolate, it's like, whoa, it's like a party food. It's like a party in your brain.

And what's good for your mood tends to be good for your mind also as well.

Yes. And there's actually some great studies on this too that show how good it really is for women especially. Because of all that magnesium. So it relaxes our body, but at the same time excites our body and our brain. And so oftentimes, you know, I live in New York City as well. If I have a deadline that's due and I'm like, I need to work until midnight. Okay, I'm gonna eat some real chocolate. It's gonna get me through to midnight. I'm excited and happy and I'm good to work. You know, I'm good to keep going. Whereas if we try and suppress that, like, oh, chocolate is bad and I shouldn't have chocolate, then it's like, oh, it's like straight away depression and like, oh, now I'm tired. I'm gonna go to bed early. You know, so this can help to keep us going.

I love this thing can be— and this is a meta message for everyone who's watching this. If you happen to watch this, we are in my kitchen. If you're listening to this on audio, then we'll describe the actual process. But I will put in our show notes links to all the scientific studies also as well.

Awesome. Yeah. And I've got some great ones I'd love to share with you as well, some great studies that you guys will appreciate, I'm sure.

Well, your book has— I mean, it was amazing recipes. I mean, how many recipes are in the book?

195 recipes in the book and 26 of those pages are endnotes in the book for those of you who do like science and research. But the recipes are all recipes that I use to help heal and also help me to get off the junk food addiction and addiction to sugar. And also, there are some new recipes that are very cancer-focused. So from all the research I did, I wanted to find out the top anti-cancer foods that exist on earth. So I put those together in a lot of new recipes as well. some other contributors like Chris Walk, Chris Carr as well. Got a recipe in there from Dr. Oz. And yeah, and also some cancer survivors that when they were going through chemo, some of the recipes that they used to help protect their brain. So there's a recipe in there called the Chemo Brain Buster Smoothie. So that helped protect her brain when she was going through chemo.

Chemo Brain Buster Smoothie. That's, that's big. What I love about this again is like everything that we teach, it's just It's high return on the most valuable thing you have, which is your time. And rather than eating out in restaurants all the time, and we, you know, we like to do that every so often, you never can control actually what's going on. You don't know what's going on back there.

You don't know what's in the food. Exactly, yeah. You don't know if they're adding sugar. And I mean, people add sugar to everything. That's the quickest way to make a recipe taste good is like, oh, let's throw in some white sugar.

Okay. And so what are we making today?

Okay, so here we go. This is the quick Chocolate brownie.

The Kwik Chocolate Brownie. It's a brain brownie.

It is.

Like little brain bites.

Yeah, do little brain bites. I love that.

Because that's what it is. We're talking about whether it's the information or the inspiration or the recipes here, they're bite-sized, digestible, easily to digest.

Yeah, and that's perfect. And give that a smell. How rich and amazing does that cacao powder smell?

I love it that it could be fun also. Like, people like When we do our memory training, we have these kids or these adults and they're celebrating, they're like using their imagination, they're playing, and people don't realize that education could be fun, that food could be fun also as well.

Yeah, and it should be for sure. Okay, so I'm just gonna add some cacao powder to the bowl. Now the exact measurements are of course in the book. So there we go.

I'm getting excited. You know when you've been looking forward to something for a while and you're just like thinking about it?

Yeah.

That's what I'm going through right now.

Okay, and—

So what's the second ingredient?

The second ingredient, so we need a base. So I'm using tigernut flour.

Okay.

So the tigernut flour is a root vegetable. It's my choice of flour. People could also use almond flour or coconut flour. And it's basically just, we don't want to eat white sugar, white flour, right? So we want to avoid white flour. So this is a great alternative and it's so healthy. So tigernuts have the same amount of iron as red meat. So now these Brain brownies, that's a tongue twister, have a great source of iron as well.

Amazing. Now, is tiger nut considered potentially— is it— are there some brain benefits?

Yes, so it's really high in potassium, which there are a lot of studies on potassium and how good that is for the brain, right?

Sure.

Okay, so I'm just going to add the tiger nut flour in with the cacao powder. Okay, and now we're up to the 3rd ingredient.

Yes.

Okay, so now it's a sweetener, so people can choose a source of sweetener. So today I'm using monk fruit, which is very keto-friendly, but people can also use honey or maple syrup or even dates or some stevia.

Just not white sugar.

Yeah, definitely want to stay away from white sugar, guys.

That's—

white sugar is the number one food that I list in my book that causes Actually, there's a section of your book where you talk about the foods you must avoid. We should do another episode and talk about that.

That is a great idea.

Because it's not just what you eat, it's also what you don't eat that matters.

Yeah, that's perfect. So yeah, there's 5 foods, guys, that we really want to avoid, and it's actually easier than people might think to cut out these 5 foods from our diet.

Amazing.

Cool. And so that's it. There's 3 ingredients, and now I'm gonna just stir it up and we're about to eat chocolate brownies.

I think I can make this.

Yeah, this is very kid-friendly as well. Like, kids love to get into the kitchen and make something like this.

And that's wonderful also as an alternative for children.

Yeah.

Because sometimes they, I mean, I know children want to eat what the other kids are eating, but if you give them something that's just amazing, again, nutritious and delicious.

Yes, it has to be both, then it's a win-win.

And we talk a lot about habits and the power of habits. One of the best ways of changing habits Is to make these small little, small little changes that add up to big changes.

Yeah, it's one food at a time. So for me, my biggest obstacle was chocolate, so that was the first recipe I made. So I always ask people, what's your biggest obstacle when it comes to food? What do you think is the food that's really holding you back with your health and your brain? You know, is it dairy? Is it chocolate? Is it gluten? Is it bread?

Now I noticed a lot of the recipes in your book It's— it could— for anybody's— if they're vegan, if they're paleo, if they're keto, there's something for everybody.

There is, yeah. So it's all inclusive of a meat eater or a vegan. And yeah, it's very easy to eat more plants with the book too, but there's some meat recipes as well. So that's it. You basically just mix up the 3 ingredients and we have our brownie mixture, you guys. And now we can just take this mixture And roll it into a ball for like a nice little truffle brownie ball, or you can also pat it down into to be a square-shaped little brownie as well.

Now, are you cooking these brain brownies or?

So these are raw. These are no-bake. These are ready to eat right now.

Amazing.

And we'll actually get a lot of live nutrients from it if we don't bake it. But you know, Jim, some people do choose to bake these for 7 minutes.

Okay.

And you can also add some healthy organic chocolate chips to it as well. So it'll be a melt-in-your-mouth. But this is the base, the base brownie recipe. Would you like to try it?

I'm totally dying to eat this right now. Thank you.

Awesome. Cool.

I'm going to try some as well.

And you could also add other ingredients also to even make it even more functional if you wanted to.

You can. Yeah.

And I would love to show you guys some other ingredients that I use just to add some more brain fuel to this brain brownie. I said it. Yes. Alright. Cheers.

Cheers. I love it. That's amazing. I can't believe you made this in like 2 minutes.

Mm-hmm.

It's very rich. Now, if people like chocolate, they can add more cacao to make it more rich. If they want it less, they can add more tiger nut flour.

So you're saying you could also add additional ingredients if you like?

Yes.

So I'm going to add some Bulletproof MCT oil, woohoo, or Brain Octane Oil.

Very cool, MCT.

So this is awesome. This will also make the brownies really nice and moist as well and hold a really good form. And then I also love to add a bit of real salt, some sea salt for some extra minerals. And that gives it an awesome flavor. And you can also add a little bit of vanilla extract, classic in brownies. And then I'm going to do a scoop of sunflower seed butter. So this is just roasted sunflower seeds.

Your omegas, right?

Yeah, great omegas for the brain. And if I'm craving some fats for the brain, I'll just take a spoonful of this and eat this. Actually, I did this right before we were filming.

Okay.

I took a spoonful and it keeps my brain feeling like nourished, like, yeah, I can keep going, power on through the day. Okay, and then lastly, you guys, I love to add a greens powder to the chocolate brownies. Yeah.

Okay. Because most people, they have green powder, they put it with their water or their juice. But you can actually put this in your snacks.

Yeah, you can put it in your brownies. This is a great way to disguise it because the chocolate's quite empowering, so you won't taste like the green powder. And this has broccoli sprouts in it, which we love, you guys, for the brain, right?

It's such a good brain food.

It's also one of the top anti-cancer foods on earth. So that's it. Now I'm just going to mix up those additional ingredients.

This is a wonderful thing to do. Our students who are watching and listening, I talk about brain breaks, that people study for 25-minute intervals. They call it the Pomodoro Technique, that our focus tends to dip after about 25 minutes. And so I encourage everybody to set an alarm to go off every 25 minutes. And then during that time, take a 5-minute break. And what are they doing in their 5-minute break? They're hydrating, 'cause water is so critical for brain function. Number 2, they're moving around, because they say, what, sitting is the new smoking, and we're just sitting for 8 hours a day.

It's too much, yeah.

And then the 3rd thing is some deep breathing exercises to be able to nourish your cells also as well. But I would add a 4th thing is some brain-friendly snacks.

Make some brownies!

'Cause perfect time to be able to, it's really fast, You could do it. And it's also, it's creative also, 'cause a lot of us, we don't activate different parts of our brain all the time if we're doing the same things every single day.

Right, and there's something to be said in making your own food and that the brain-gut connection, right? We're like, okay, I'm thinking about it, I'm making my own food, I'm touching my own food here, so it's preparing the digestion for it. Okay, here we go.

Amazing.

So this is with all of our extra brain boosters.

Cheers.

Cheers.

Wow, this is amazing. I could not only taste it, but I could feel that. I wish that everybody who's listening to this, like, technology one day becomes so advanced we can be like, here, do you want some? And just through the video or just through your headset, you could actually taste like this full synesthesia experience. You could hear about it. But you can also see it. But the great thing about it is anyone could do this.

Yeah.

It doesn't cost a fortune of either money or time, and it's convenient.

Very convenient. Yeah, and you can put these in the freezer, put them in the fridge. I mean, I always had these on standby when I was going through my healing. Whenever I had a chocolate craving, I was like, okay, bing, go to the fridge, and I could fulfill that chocolate craving. So I didn't have to run out and, you know, go to 7-Eleven and get That awful chocolate that can destroy our health.

I love that. Kwik Brain Brownies.

Kwik Brain Brownies.

That's so incredible. One of the best things about this is you could— people could monitor their own, like, the amount of everything.

Yeah.

You can make it as sweet or not as sweet as you'd like.

Mm-hmm.

Liana, thank you so much. I recommend— here's a challenge for everybody here. I like challenges because if it just stays as information, nobody's That's it, nothing changes. So I want everyone to take a screenshot of this episode, either this video or this podcast episode, and tag Liana, tag myself in it. And actually, if you don't tag— tag us in it and put your big aha, like what are you gonna do, what are you gonna commit to? And then also, if you don't take a screenshot of the actual episode, take a picture. Actually, I'd rather you do this— take a picture of your Kwik Brain Snack of the day. You know, many people know the brain foods. We talk about avocados and blueberries, you know, I like to call them brain berries. We talk about chocolate or these different things. Make your own recipe, take a snapshot, and then post it, because when you teach something, you get to learn it twice. And certainly everybody, go out and get this book. Absolutely get this book. And one of the other benefits is you could take your kitchen and transform it into a pharmacy, because we know food is your medicine. And when I say pharmacy, it's like F-A-R-M because it's coming from real food. And that's what's important because what you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. How do people stay in touch with you?

They can find me on IG @lianawernergrey or lianawernergrey.com or just Google me or my book and, you know, all the platforms will come up. And if you guys are going to take a picture of yourself with the brownie, I will reshare that on my social media. So there's an extra challenge for you.

So we'll repost some of our favorites.

Yes.

And then also, so if you want to post your questions you have for either of us, and then I also will reward signed copies of Liana's new book. And so that's— let's get this out there because everybody knows somebody who's struggling, you know, like what you went through. Like, I do what I do because shame on me if I know what could help somebody, help them with their learning, and I keep it to myself. And so you went through this this journey of your own and you came through it. And, you know, I know it's kind of like a moral obligation to help more people who are going through the same things. So if you're struggling with this, know that you're not alone. Obviously talk to a healthcare practitioner and do what you can in the kitchen. The little things like that can make a difference both for your brain and also, also your body. Liana, thank you so much for doing this.

Oh, thank you so much for having me.

Welcome back, Kwik Brain. Your question for today is a big one. How do you fix your food so you could fix your brain. You know, we've done episodes about food, that the food you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. And to continue this conversation and go in depth, I'm very honored today to have a very special friend and a special guest back on our show today. He is head of strategy and innovation at the Cleveland Clinic. Clinic, Functional Medicine. He's the author of 12, that is right, 12 New York Times bestselling books, and his latest book is called Food Fix. It is a must-read for everybody who eats, especially—

Well, I think most people eat.

Everyone should read this book because it really matters. And I want to thank you for coming back on the show.

Thank you.

You are a man on a real mission. You are unstoppable. You are in every city. It's remarkable because we've known each other for close to 10 years.

More.

Yeah, more than that. And I see you everywhere, on television, on these stages, and your mission really is nutrition.

Yeah, well, it's to change the world through getting people healthy and fixing our food and fixing our health and fixing the planet, fixing everything that matters. Because if you care about your gray matter, like you said, food matters, and food matters to everything that also matters to us.

Yeah, that's very true. And eating is such an intimate experience. You know, the challenge though— I saw this quote on social media, and everyone should follow Mark there— is just like you're saying, that there's no such thing as junk food. There's just like junk and then there's food.

And there's food, right. Well, I always say, you know, when you go in a grocery store and there's a health food section, what does that make the rest of the food in there?

Exactly, exactly. So what are we gonna— what do we do about this? Everyone who's listening at home, they're watching on video right now, they know they should eat better, but, you know, there are forces out there that are really not setting us up to win. And we really need to take agency and responsibility for it.

Thank you, Jim, for that question. Well, I'm a doctor. I see patients, and I've been doing it for 30 years. And I've learned over time that the most important thing that causes so much of my patients' suffering is food. But it's also the cure. Food is medicine.

Yeah.

But then I realized I could sit in my office all day, but if we live in an environment where it's hard to access, find, and eat good food, how are people going to really change? And it occurred to me that I have to think about the why. Why do people eat the way they do? Because they're surrounded by food produced by a food system that's not working. And then I'm like, well, why do we have that food system? Well, it's our food policies. It's the policies that drive the kind of food that's produced, you know, processed, marketed, distributed, eaten, wasted, right? All those things matter. And I'm like, well, why do we have those food systems we have? They said, well, it's really our food policies that are caused by the food industry. They, they really are the dominant force driving the education of our lawmakers that drives them to make policies that they think are okay. So, so I, I, I just talked to a friend who told me a fascinating story about how the lobbyists work. There was a testimony in Congress about the dietary guidelines, which, you know, I've been increasingly limiting the amount of sugar that they suggest is acceptable, which is a good thing. And there was a woman speaking about cranberries. And she basically was saying the antibiotic overuse has led to the increase of urinary tract infections and antibiotic resistance, and we need people to eat more cranberries. But the only way to get people to eat more cranberries is cranberry juice. So we need to raise the limits on the sugar so we can get more sugar in the cranberry juice, 'cause they're bitter, so people can eat the cranberry juice. And I'm like— And this is what they're telling lawmakers is the solution to the 30 million pounds of antibiotics that are used in animal agriculture that causes the antibiotic resistance. I'm like, this is crazy, right?

Right.

So that's the problem. And I think I realized in order to solve my patients' health in my office, I can't do it there. I can't do it in the clinic or the hospital. I have to do it in the kitchen, in the grocery store, at the restaurant, on the farm. And that's why I started thinking about the bigger context of food and the food system. And that's what this book is about, Food Fix. It's about how do we save our health, our economy, our communities, and our planet one bite at a time. People don't understand the broad implications of food, right? And, and people care on this podcast about the brain, and I'll get to that. But number one, it causes chronic disease— obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's, cancer— but also mental illness. Mental illness is so rampant in this country.

Right.

We see divisiveness, we see conflict, we see depression, we see anxiety, we see ADD, we see memory issues. We see all these things, increasing rates of Alzheimer's. And not all of it is caused by food, but it's a huge factor. And so if you care about your brain, you have to care about food, and you have to care about the food system that produces it. And we need to fix that because it has broad consequences. It's— it threatens our kids' academic futures. You know, kids who are eating Doritos and Coke for breakfast, or not at all, or eating processed food, Can't focus, their test scores are lower, their grades are lower, their absenteeism is higher, their ability to earn a good living is reduced, they're increasing risk of disease, and their lives are threatened by the food they're eating.

We get this all the time in our community. We have a lot of parents who are watching and listening to this, and they're saying that their children aren't learning the way that they used to.

Yeah, I mean, one of the studies in the book that I talk about is a study of children who come from poor communities who eat processed food. Their brains are 10% smaller.

Yeah.

Their IQs are 7 points lower, which is a lot. And this is what we're doing to our children. So that's just one of the factors, but it also contributes to not only the chronic disease and these cognitive and behavioral and emotional issues, but it also threatens our economy because the costs are staggering for mental illness and chronic disease over the next 35 years, both direct and indirect costs, it's $95 trillion. That's a lot of money. If you took those as dollar bills and you stacked them one on top of each other, it would go over 6 billion miles. Now, just to put that in perspective, there's a NASA spaceship that's been traveling for 13 years to get past Pluto at 36,000 miles an hour for 13 years, and it's only gone 4 billion miles. So we need— you know, that's how much money it is.

Wow.

It's almost the entire world economy. that we're gonna spend on this. So it's economic imperative. Medicare's gonna run out of money in 5 years. Half of our federal budget will be needed for Medicare and Medicaid within 5 years. I mean, this is an imminent issue. And then you've got the environmental issues and climate issues. People don't understand that the food system is the number one cause of climate change. And then climate change conversely impacts our ability to grow food, right? If you have the floods, for example, in the Midwest with soil that can't hold water 'cause it's industrial farming that depletes the soil, You have these floods and we've got a million acres destroyed, which is why President Trump had to give $20 billion in aid to the farmers to survive. So we're in this horrible cycle. So it's climate, it's environment, it's social justice issues, it's poverty, violence, mental health. All these things are related. And I think food is the problem, but it's also the solution.

That's good to hear. And so what, for somebody who's listening to this right now, we all could play a part. In this, how do we— I mean, it sounds like such a grandiose challenge of epic proportions, but little by little, a little becomes a lot.

Yeah.

So what are some of those little things that somebody could do to be able to begin to have this food?

Well, it starts with all of us, right, individually, and that's the place to start. I think, you know, your work is so good because it helps people train their brain to do things they didn't think they could do. And, and optimize their brain function. But I always say it's a lot harder— it's a lot harder to be focused and attentive when your brain is fueled by junk, right?

Right.

And, and if you actually figure out that your brain is connected to your body and that it requires feeding and care, then all of a sudden it's a game changer. So you could do all your techniques, right? But if you're eating processed food and soda and you're in a brain fog because of it, good luck. I mean, you're gonna get better somewhat, but it's not gonna be as good as if you—

Yeah, you and I have talked about this, where it's kind of like this metaphor of a computer, where I could teach somebody how to read faster, or remember names, or pick up another language, or memorize their TED Talk, but if their hardware is, if they have high blood sugar, I mean, what's that doing to someone's brain?

Yeah, remember in the old computers, you had to defrag your computer?

Right.

'Cause it would all like, slow down, it wouldn't work, 'cause it was just too much crap in there.

Right.

And then you had to hit defrag, and it defragged. Now it does it automatically, I think, but it's like you need to defrag your brain. And it's important because if you care about your health and your brain, and you fix that, you're gonna make choices about food that's gonna have a ripple effect, right? So if you say, I'm not gonna have chemicals that may be bad for me, like glyphosate, for example, which is an herbicide used on soybeans and wheat and other crops. then you stop doing that, it sends a message to the food industry that they listen to, right? So, Kellogg's understands that they're being outed in their Cheerios—

Right.

For having more glyphosate than vitamin A or D. And so, if you're feeding your kids Cheerios thinking it's a healthy breakfast, you're actually poisoning them. So, Kellogg's declared on their own without government regulation, We are going to eliminate glyphosate from our supply chain. That's because individuals said, enough, I'm not going to buy that stuff anymore.

Right. And we vote with— we vote with our dollar.

And our fork.

And our fork, completely.

Yeah. So, so I think, um, it's really important to make those choices that are good for you and your brain and that will have ripple effects. So choosing whole foods, stopping buying processed or ultra-processed food, which is 60% of our calories. Eating foods that actually are regenerative, that restore the soil, restore the healthy ecosystems, and there's a whole science of how we do that.

What about organic food?

Organic food is important, but regenerative is the next step. It's regenerative organic, which essentially puts the emphasis on creating healthy soil, on conserving water, on not using chemicals, on really specific farming practices that help. And if you buy that, guess what? More people will do it. And now General Mills committed 1 million acres to regenerative ag. So our behavior matters. And then you'll see the benefits. I just wanted to share a few statistics about the impact, 'cause people think, oh yeah, brain, whatever. But there's been amazing, elegant studies done in prisons and juvenile delinquent centers. And you have a captive audience and you can control their food.

Yeah.

Now most people don't want to be locked up and fed a certain diet. Now they volunteered obviously for the studies, but when you look at the data, it's just striking, 'cause it's sort of this magical, sort of set of circumstances where you actually can have volunteers who are willing to change and do it in a controlled way where you know exactly what they're eating. 'Cause most times people will cheat and eat whatever they want.

Right.

So, you know, you've done studies, for example, in prisons. Just giving kids a multivitamin and fish oil reduces violent crime in prisons by 37%.

Wow.

Yeah.

And if you look at, for example, at the violence and bullying and aggression we have in this country, it's pretty scary. You can see in certain studies they look at the behavior in kids and juvenile delinquents and so forth. There was a, a 91% reduction in bad behavior and things like antisocial behavior such as fighting and threats, vandalism, being disrespectful, disorderly contact, defiance, obscenities, refusals to work, endangering others, and all kinds of other stuff.

91%?

91%. I mean, it's crazy. And then another study looked at 12 months with these kids, 3,000 incarcerated youth replaced junk food with healthy options and they got rid of sugary and processed food. And there was a 25% reduction in assaults, 21% reduction in antisocial behavior, a 75% reduction in the use of restraints. And get this, 100% reduction in suicides.

Wow.

And suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death Kids between 10 and 19.

These aren't little incremental numbers.

No, it's dramatic, it's dramatic. And we see this over and over and over again in large and small studies where you see changes in violence, changes in behavior, changes in depression. There's a study called the SMILES Study, which is a randomized controlled trial of a healthy diet compared to a processed food diet, and there was a dramatic reduction in depression as a treatment for depression and anxiety. You know, what can you eat to fix anxiety? So if you're anxious and you're depressed and you have brain fog and you're malnourished, how are you going to actually make your brain work to do the things you want to do? And why should it be important to you? Because if you want to be living a satisfied, fulfilled life, you have to be able to be present, to be focused, to engage with your family, to be able to learn, to be able to show up for your work, to show up for your friends. I mean, how do you do that when you have FLC syndrome? That's when you feel like crap, right?

That's a tech— technical term.

Yeah, there's a more advanced medical condition called FLS.

But so what we're talking about here is those remarkable results that were taking place in this community. Imagine if we extrapolate that and that was happening in people's homes.

Yeah.

You know, across the country. And so What would your message be? I'm curious, if you were talking to some of these executives for these food companies that are producing a lot of these high-sugar processed foods, what would your message be to someone who's watching that or listening to that now?

Yeah, well, actually, I've had these conversations with Nestlé and with Pepsi and with the largest food companies out there. And the truth is they understand that the marketplace is shifting. They understand that consumers want different things. They see the millennials coming on board who aren't gonna tolerate any of the junk that they're making. And they're making changes. Campbell's Soup announced it was gonna be non-GMO.

And it becomes economically viable for them to do so.

Yes, yeah. And in fact, regenerative agriculture produces more food, better food, Makes the farmers more money, puts soil back in the dirt, basically organic matter, conserves water, increases pollinators and biodiversity. It's kind of a win-win-win and it's profitable.

And that's key.

It's profitable. There's a company called Indigo that figured out how to use tech to measure ecosystem benefits, how soil's restored and all these things, and they pay the farmers a premium. And another example is a private equity company that's figured out if you buy a conventional farm and convert it to a regenerative farm, you literally can increase the profits by 6 or 7-fold. So they used to have single-digit profits on the conventional farm. Now they have 60, 70% returns on the farms.

Wow.

And they add value to the environment. They add $21 million of value, whereas those conventional farms before were taking out $8 million of benefit from the environment. Using up resources and water and destroying soil and so forth.

So here on that, that other option is better because it's a net positive.

Yeah, it's a win-win for everybody. Better food for you, better for your brain, better for your health, better for the economy, better for the farmers, better for the environment, better for climate. It's sort of a no-brainer. And it's like, you know, if you want to solve the problem, you have to go to the root cause, or literally the root, or the seed. Start with the seed and go to the root. And it's the seeds we grow. And I think we've gotten into the place where now the majority of what people eat is just 4 to 6 crops. It's wheat, corn, soy, rice. There's very few crops around the world that are the majority of our food. And we used to eat 800 species of plants. There's a 90% drop in edible plant species in extinction because of what we do. But they're in these heirloom vaults. But these are so powerful. These are superfoods. People say grains are bad. Well, what grains? Yeah, the industrial processed grains for sure. But there's something called Himalayan tartary buckwheat, which is a superfood. It's grown at high elevations in the Himalayas that is high in protein, low in starch, full of phytochemicals that heal your body, and nutrients and fiber. I mean, it's an incredible food. And yet, you know, we don't get to eat that stuff. And that's good for your brain, it's good for your health, and it helps restore the environment. It's, it's All these benefits. So we need to sort of combine modern scientific innovation and technologies and agricultural advances with sort of ancient practices and sort of combine the best of those practices into a new way of thinking about how we grow food and how we process, distribute, sell, market, eat, and even waste food.

I hear you. For me, this conversation, you hear this phrase that ignorance is bliss. And I don't, I don't feel that right now in this conversation. A lot— some people just don't want to know so they could just be ignorant and be blissed out. But ignorance is not bliss.

You might want to know if your house is on fire.

Exactly. Ignorance is pain. Ignorance is suffering. Not knowing the information in this book— well, because it's— I could see somebody listening or watching this wanting to turn an eye or an ear somewhere else because they don't— it's, it's not positive news, but there could be a positive ending to this.

Of course.

Because to take responsibility as an individual or a family, a community, a nation, as our world, we all play that part.

It's called Food Fix, not Food Apocalypse.

This is good.

And the point of the book is a series of actions that follow on from the problems. So how do we fix agriculture? We need regenerative agriculture. How do we fix healthcare? incorporate food as medicine? How do we fix our dietary guidelines? We need to sort of get science back in the game. How do we fix SNAP or food stamps? We put nutrition back in the guidelines around food stamps so you can't buy— 75% of what's bought with that is industrial processed food. I mean, I think Coca-Cola is the biggest welfare recipient in the country with billions and billions of dollars of soda that are bought through—

SNAP.

Food stamps.

So what can— I want to ask you before I ask you what solutions, which are many in the book, what is like a day relative to food? What does a day look like for you and your family generally? And I know you're always traveling around and such, but how are you interacting with food?

A perfect day would be, you know, wake up. I try to do time-restricted eating, so I'll eat early and I might not eat till 10 or 11. I'll have a cup of coffee in the morning. And then we have what we call Alkagizer Shake, which is essentially tons of veggies in a Vitamix.

Okay.

So just like liquid salad, basically.

Like, what's— what are you throwing in?

Oh, everything, you know, kale, cucumbers, celery, avocados, you know.

All the brain foods.

Cilantro. Yeah, like pretty much, uh, not really sweet at all, but it's kind of really nice and savory and delicious. Uh, and then, um, you know, maybe have a big salad for lunch with a can of Wild salmon or sardines, nuts, pumpkin seeds. Dinner usually is just really tons of veggies. I'll order 3, 4 sides of veggies if I'm out. If I'm home, I'll cook 3 or 4 vegetable dishes with a small side of a sort of micro-sized protein. And I'll sometimes have plant-based proteins or I'll have grass regeneratively raised beef or sustainable fish or pasture-raised chicken.

Now, what happens if you're out and about And you're at a restaurant?

I try to be a restaurant whisperer.

A restaurant whisperer.

And I've learned how to hunt and gather wherever I am. So I'm pretty good at sniffing out restaurants that are more focused on whole foods. For example, I was in San Francisco and I found a restaurant called The Perennial, which unfortunately closed, but the whole restaurant was based on the principle of regenerative agriculture. So everything there Was a regenerative food. So they made bread, but it was from Kernza wheat, which is a perennial wheat with roots that go down feet and feet and feet and build soil, that are super nutrient-dense, low gluten. So I'm like, wow, this is amazing. Or grass-fed beef. You can't always find that, but I try to find restaurants. Like, I'm going tonight to a place, and I live in New York, so it's easier. And you can't always be perfect. Sometimes you just gotta eat whatever. But I also bring—

Yeah.

I also bring a day's worth of food with me in my bag. So I have always, you know, grass-fed beef jerky, turkey jerky, nut butters, macadamia nuts. Things are, you know, whole food bars, not really super processed, but just made from a few simple ingredients. And I have that in my bag at all times so I don't get in trouble.

And it's planning. It takes conscious effort and design, but at least it's by design, not by default.

It's easy. I mean, like now, you know, you can get anything anywhere. I go to Thrive Market, which is great. Our friend Gunnar runs the company and I'm an investor, and basically I order There are a lot of different snacks that I can carry with me that are not perishable. There's bags of olives, there's bags of nuts, there's nut butters, there's special bars. It's really easy to find great sourced regenerative— they even have a regenerative sort of section on there so you can seek to buy regenerative food.

I mean, this is an exciting time to be alive because just like when it comes to information, food is readily available and food is Information that we're taking on, you know, on the inside. How can we support this movement?

Well, first, the first thing is there's an action guide that you can get online which lists the actions for individuals, what business innovation can do, what governments can do, how you can be active in politics. It really is a sort of a how-to manual, a manifesto for a new food system. And you go to foodfixbook.com. You'll be able to find it there. There's simple things you can do in terms of choosing your diet to be focused on being a nutrivore, qualitarian, regenerative, which is eating whole real foods grown in the best way possible that protects the environment and protects your health.

Mm-hmm.

You can start to be active in your communities, right? Maybe your school lunches are crap and you can be an active parent and help the school change. And there's lots of models for that, Conscious Kitchens and My Way Cafe, and a lot of people have paved the way. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. I talk about those resources in the book. If you work for a government, a local government, you can create a program of what we call good food purchasing program where you source the foods in ways that have certain standards that protect the workers, protect the animals, protect the earth, protect humans, right?

Mm-hmm.

You can start a compost pile. I mean, everybody should have a— nobody should throw out scraps 'cause food waste is one of the biggest healthcare, I mean environmental problems because it emits so much methane when the scraps are put in landfills. the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China if it were a country. And we waste 40% of our food. So don't throw it out. Give it to a farm for the pigs. Make compost. Figure out how to actually engage in that. And you can do it whether you're in urban or rural environments. You can start a community garden. You can be an advocate, for example, with your local municipality to see if they can get a composting ordinance put in. So you can make mandatory composting in your community. San Francisco's done it, other places have done it. In Massachusetts, they outlawed, if you make a ton of food waste as a business a week, like Whole Foods or any of the stores, Safeway, whatever, you have to dispose of it in a way that doesn't go to a landfill.

Mm-hmm.

So it's created incentives where farmers, for example, dairy farmers who are making very little money are struggling 'Cause people aren't drinking milk. They figured out, well, they could buy this or get this stuff free. They could build these anaerobic digesters where they throw in the food waste, they throw in some dairy poop.

Right.

And it turns into electricity that fuels 1,500 homes and makes the farmer $100,000.

Wow.

So it makes the farmer money, it provides electricity, and it kind of ends the methane from the poop and the methane from the food waste. It's sort of an amazing win. So government, you can be active. People listen, and I think people People think as individuals they can't do much, but they can, especially if you band together with groups.

I love that. We're going to put the extended version— we've never done this before, but because this conversation, we went long, I'm going to put the whole extended version in our private Facebook group as well. We have tens of thousands of people in that group, and they are, they're very active, not only with themselves and their families, but also superheroes for the world.

You're a superhero, Jim.

Well, the reason I'm bringing this up is because the institutions you're talking about, it's this triple bottom line idea where it could not just be profit but also be people and planet also as well. And you are a real force of nature, you're a force for good, and I really appreciate everything that you do for our world. I want everyone to do this, besides pick up a copy of Food Fix because Most of you are reading a book a week as it is, our One Book a Week Club.

There you go.

Yes, and I want you to do this. I want you to take a screenshot of this episode, uh, this podcast, this video, or take a picture of your notes. I want you to tag Dr. Mark Hyman in it, tag myself, and post it. Because when you share something, you get to learn it better. And that's really the reason why you learn anything. You learn something for your own benefit But then you want to learn it to be able to share it with somebody else.

It's so true. That's why I write books, because I don't know stuff and I want to learn something. So I'll research and research and learn all this stuff, and then I write a book. Now I'm an expert.

And that's what the best teachers are— some of the best students also as well. So teach it, and when you teach it, you get to learn it even deeper and, and then share that knowledge with other people, especially this episode because of the importance of the topic we're talking about. So take a screenshot, tag on social media— Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, @DrMarkHyman, tag myself, and then share your big aha. What is the one thing you're going to do to be able to fix your food, to make your food fix for you and your family? And as always, I'll repost some of my favorites, and I will actually send a copy of Food Fix to one of you. As a thank you for doing so and helping us to share this incredibly important message. Thanks for coming on, buddy.

Thanks, Jim. All right.

What are the best foods for your brain? Welcome to the Kwik Brain Kitchen. We are here with Dr. Lisa Mosconi, author of Brain Food. I enjoyed reading this so much. Thanks for being here.

Thank you for having me.

And this is something we've never done before. We are actually live here in the kitchen. shopping for all these amazing brain foods, which you're about to learn all about, because people ask all the time, what are the best foods for concentration, for focus, for a better memory? And what I love about your work is that you have the background not only as a nutritionist, but your PhD is in neuroscience.

Yes, that's actually my background.

Your background. You've done so much research. You're, you're the You're associate director of the Alzheimer's Prevention— is it Cornell?

Yes, it's the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Amazing.

On the Upper East Side, and I'm also the director of the Women's Brain Initiative at Weill Cornell.

And adjunct professor—

Associate.

Associate professor at—

Associate professor of neuroscience and neurology at Weill Cornell. Wow.

I was looking through your CV and it's really impressive. And so we find what What our community of Kwik Brains loves is taking— they love geeking out over science, so they're gonna love this conversation that we're having.

Yeah.

And we're gonna talk about neurotransmitters and neuroscience, and also, but specifically though, how does that affect their day-to-day life? Because what you eat matters, especially for your gray matter. And so one of the quick brain tips I wanted to talk about real quick before we even started, and this is not even really scripted, Yeah. We said, like, how do you have— who doesn't want to have quicker reaction time and quicker thinking? And what's one thing people could do as they are listening to this, as we have all our brain foods here and our green juices?

Well, so the best brain tip I have is to actually drink water.

Right.

Because the brain is 80% water. So we usually talk about the brain in terms of its dry mass. Yes, fat, protein, vitamins and minerals, and carbs. But in reality, a live brain is a brain that is 80% water. And even just a 2% water loss to the brain, so very, very mild dehydration, is enough to produce neurological symptoms.

Just a 2% difference?

Yes, just 2%.

That's so subtle.

Some people are more sensitive, some people are less, but usually it's 2 to 4%. water loss to the brain is enough to really produce fatigue, confusion, dizziness, memory lapses, cognitive slippage, difficulty concentration— concentrating, and much smaller attention span, much reduced attention span. So one of the best tips I have is just really keep hydrated.

Okay.

And when I asked for water, you correctly gave me cold water, right? And I said, well, Warm water. Warm water is the best way to rehydrate very quickly.

Now why is that?

So warm water is vasodilating, right? So it really promotes absorption of fluids and substances into the bloodstream.

So the cold is—

it literally makes your veins pop.

So cold is more constricting?

Yes. So cold water, anything cold is vasoconstrictor. And so it actually has the opposite effect. It kind of scares your stomach away.

Right.

And so no, that's it. So that's what we do every time we do brain scans. So my background is in neuroscience, right, and nuclear medicine. I have a dual PhD, right? And nuclear medicine is code for brain imaging.

It is.

So we do a lot of brain scans.

So when you get the, the dyes and you see the blue and the—

And the red and the green and the brain like lighting up in all different colors. We do structural brain scans like MRIs, but then we do positron emission tomography scans, which is nuclear medicine.

Okay.

So we can look at all different things in the brain, like brain activity, brain energy, whether or not somebody has Alzheimer's disease, whether or not you have the neurotransmitters that are needed to maintain a happy mood. When you don't have them, like serotonin, you get depression. Acetylcholine is needed to make memories. We can look at everything. The procedure in involves injecting a tracer that goes up inside the brain. And so we need our patients to have really nice veins that are easy to get. And you don't want to stick them too many times and you want to get the line in very quickly. And so I always give them like a big glass of warm water.

Of warm water.

Like 20 minutes prior to the procedure so that their veins are really dilated. Their body is really well hydrated. And the brain too. It's usually what I do in the morning.

And if people are just listening to this right now and they're not watching us on YouTube or on Facebook, this is actually— we're actually drinking out of our brain mugs.

Yeah, so cheers.

Cheers to you. And what I want to talk about actually are these brain scans, because what's interesting to me is this is based all on science, because you've done all these studies in the area of Alzheimer's research, and you're actually looking at the Yes. You know, which is remarkable. And so what are we looking at here? And we could show everybody on the screen and put links also in the show notes for people who are listening to this on audio.

So these are brain scans. These are 2 MRI scans of participants in my studies when we started, actually, many years ago. And this brain scan here is the scan, is an MRI scan. Of a 52-year-old woman, okay, cognitively intact, and she had been on a Mediterranean diet most of her life. She's actually Greek, okay, originally, and you know she eats pretty much the way we discussed so far. And this is the way, this is really what you want your brain to look like when you are 52 years old. And the things to keep in mind: this is an MRI scan. The sequence is called the T1, so the brain looks. white and gray and fluids look black on this particular sequence. You want these little structures inside the brain, they're called the ventricles, you want them to be really nice and tight because a little bit of fluid is good for you, but you don't want to have more fluid than brain, right? You just want to have just enough to keep your brain protected and hydrated.

I love this because for people who are looking at this photo right now, most people never really looked at what their brain looks like, right? It's something everybody sees what's on the outside, but this This is like a black box, 3-pound gray matter inside.

Yes. And the other thing you want is that you want your brain to fill up as much as possible of your cranial cavity, of your skull. So you want the brain to be—

And that's the outer layer?

Yeah. So this is the bone that surrounds the brain, and you want the brain to be as close as possible everywhere. It's a little bit more difficult here on top. It's normal to have more fluids here on the top, but you want the rest of your brain to be really, really close Okay. And these, these 2 little structures in the middle—

I recognize those.

This is your thing. So this is the hippocampus.

Right.

This is the memory center of the brain for memory consolidation and formation and also a sense of direction.

Right.

So it's in the hippocampus and it looks gray because it's gray matter.

Mm-hmm.

And you want it to be really close to the white matter around it because it needs to be really like chubby.

Okay.

As big as possible. Bigger is better.

And when we were talking earlier before we started shooting, we were talking about neurogenesis and neuroplasticity. That when you were talking about brain cells specifically, the reason why it's so important to preserve them is because it's different from other places. Your hair cells, they regrow, or your liver cells, you know, over a matter of X amount of time. But for your brain cells, once they're dead, they're dead. But when there is neurogenesis, it's happening mostly in the hippocampus?

Yeah, there are 2 parts So there are 2 parts of the brain that were shown to show neurogenesis in grown-ups, in adults, and also later on in life. And these are the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and also the olfactory bulb, so that part of the brain that is responsible for smell. So these are basically the most primitive functions in the brain, right?

Memory and smell. The sense of smell, to just make sure you don't eat bad foods, you don't poison yourself, and then the ability And I think everybody talking about food, when we're talking about memory, it's like you smell a food, it could take you back to when you were a child, you know, with all that emotion. Now what's this other scan?

So this other scan in comparison is the brain of a slightly younger woman. She was 50 years old back then, and she had been on a Western diet most of her life. She tells me she loves burgers and fries.

So like more like a standard American diet?

Yes, I think Western is a nicer way to put it, right? Let's not blame America. But yes, that kind of diet. And her brain shows that, right? I think you can see immediately that the ventricles are much larger everywhere, also going like deep inside the brain. There's a lot more black around the entire brain and also inside the dry eye.

Right.

This is the temporal lobe. and is involved in memory formation as well, especially the hippocampus here is also surrounded by black, which means it's been losing neurons. It's shrinking, which is something we call atrophy.

Okay.

Right. And this whole pattern of ventricular enlargement and neuronal loss, specifically in the memory centers of the brain, is usually a big red flag for future Alzheimer's disease. So this is a brain that is at risk. for Alzheimer's disease, and we follow our patients over time for as many years as they will stay with us.

Certainly.

Frankly, and we're mapping.

That's fascinating. And how much—

It's really scary. And of course it's not just these 2 people.

Right.

I just want to clarify that we have hundreds and hundreds of people in the studies, and this is average. So it's not like she's a very extreme case. This is quite normal.

Typical.

Yes, quite typical.

So for people who are at home and they're probably thinking, how much of it is genetic and how much has to do with their diet and their lifestyle? How much do we— how much input do we have or control or influence?

Yeah, I think brain aging is more diet than destiny.

Okay.

To some extent.

More diet than destiny.

More diet than destiny, yeah. So when I started in the field, which is in college, I started right away because I have a family history of Alzheimer's. So I was really interested in prevention and what to not do to stay healthy.

My grandmother passed of Alzheimer's.

My grandmother too, and her 2 sisters as well, whereas their brother did not.

Interesting.

So it's a reason I'm concerned about my mom, of course, and myself and my daughter. I really want to understand how avoid Alzheimer's if possible and finding solutions and options. So back then, everybody understood Alzheimer's as the consequence of bad genes in your DNA or aging or a combination of the two. And I think in 2018, there's consensus that neither of these alternatives is necessarily or universally the case.

Okay.

Now that we have cheap genomics, Right? We can understand genetics much better, and we have brain imaging that shows us when Alzheimer's actually starts in the brain. And so what we have learned is that there are genetic mutations that cause Alzheimer's. There are 3 that we know of, but they're found in just less than 1% of the general population.

Less than 1%?

Less than 1%. So they're much less common than we previously thought. And even if you just gather together all the families affected by Alzheimer's disease, only 6% of families have these genetic mutations.

Okay.

So 94% of patients with Alzheimer's are just not born of these mutations that we know of, which is not to say that genetics are not important.

Right.

As a scientist and as a biologist, I mean, I studied biology, a lot of that, and I believe in genetics. There's always a genetic component. component to everything. It's just that it's not as deterministic as we thought it was. It's more like there are groups of genes or networks of genes that work together to make you healthier and more resilient, and there are other groups of genes and genetic risk factors that actually increase risk.

Okay.

And just increase your vulnerability or give you a predisposition to a specific disease. And then there's everything else. There's your medical health, and there's your That are probably just as important, if not more.

Things like stress management, things like your sleep, things like the clean environment.

Yes.

You know, because there could be pollutants. We've talked about that before. People you spend time with, your thoughts, your amount of exercise. But here specifically though is your food, because literally what you, what you eat becomes you. I mean, your brain is Pretty much.

It's built on food, but on very specific types of food, very specific nutrients. I find that many people just think of the brain as some kind of sponge, right? That whatever you put into your stomach eventually will get inside your brain, right? And that's just not the case. And we were talking about it before, then the brain comes with a protection system called the blood-brain barrier that literally shields the brain from the rest of the body and everything else. Basically, it regulates very strictly the passage of substances to the brain and from the brain out.

Because it's extremely sensitive.

Yes. Well, you want the— so there's homeostasis in the brain. Your brain is in equilibrium, and it's optimized to work in that kind of environment. So everything that gets inside the brain could potentially disrupt that. And that's the last thing anybody Of course, of course. So there's this very strict protection system that says, okay, there are some substances that the brain needs and wants, so we need to supply them to the brain. So there are literally gates in the blood-brain barrier. They're called receptors or transcriptional factors, but effectively they work like messengers or like gates. And the thing is that it's the brain that opens the gates, so it's not us. You know, you can eat all the sugar you want, But it's never gonna get inside your brain unless your brain wants it.

Right.

So it's a very— it's very carefully regimented in a way. So brain diet is a very strict diet, and it's the brain that says, I want it, I don't want it.

Right. Now there's certain— there's so many— so much information out there about food, and—

There's a lot of opinions.

Of course. And so what I like about this, with your background in neuroscience, is that the food— some— not everything that you eat necessarily serves your brain because your brain has different needs than the rest of your body.

Yes.

Right? Because obviously your brain is part of your, your body. It's in charge of it. It's in charge of pretty much the master control center. But what you eat matters, especially as we talked about your gray matter. So what are some of your, your favorite brain foods? Like your go-to, you know, for you and your family. I'm sure a lot of people who are watching this, they're thinking, you know, what do I need to eat that's just gonna help me have better cognition, better focus, a better memory?

So my number one brain food is caviar.

Caviar.

Or fish eggs. And we were looking for it at the store and we didn't find it, but yes. To start, if you look at the chemical composition of caviar, the nutritional composition of caviar or fish eggs in general.

Like you go to a sushi restaurant and see salmon roe?

Yes, perfect. Salmon roe is fantastic. And it basically mirrors the nutritional composition of the brain. It's very rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially the omega-3 fatty acids that your brain needs, like on a daily basis. It contains a good amount of essential protein, so all the amino acids that the brain has gates for are in there. And it also contains some antioxidants. That is, it's very rare for animal foods to contain any antioxidants at all.

Okay.

But caviar or fish eggs contain vitamin A, vitamin E, and a small amount of vitamin C in some cases. So all the antioxidants Antioxidant vitamins and minerals that these are very neuroprotective. So the brain is super sensitive to oxidative stress because it's the most metabolically active organ in the body. And every time the brain burns glucose to make energy, it also produces free radicals and oxidative stress. So the only way to, to, you know, kind of put them in jail, right, like little bandits that you have to find Is to feed your brain with antioxidants.

Okay. Now, if somebody is, let's say they're vegetarian and they don't eat fish, we know it's a great source of DHA and omega-3s. What are their— what would their best option be?

There are many plant-based foods that contain polyunsaturated fatty acids, including omega-3s. And I want to say that I mean, fish eggs are great, but fatty fish is probably just as good.

Okay.

Right? Because of course we know that caviar is super expensive and fish eggs are not, you know, like in a health food store they don't have them.

Right, right.

So they're special gourmet foods. So for vegetarians and vegans, I think flaxseeds are a great source of omega-3s.

Which we have here.

We have here a lid of flaxseeds. We have almonds.

Now the flaxseeds, are they— are you making a meal with that, or is that something you could put into a smoothie?

Yes, so you need to grind them to really release the nutrients, and I think a smoothie is a great way to do that.

Right.

You can also use them when you— I don't know if you bake, but like if you make cookies or cakes, you know, if you use flaxseed meal, it can kind of replace eggs. Just mix it with water. And it creates a little bit of like a paste, like chia seeds do.

Okay.

But they're very rich in omega-3, polyunsaturated fatty acids. It's only— the problem is that they— so there are 3 main types of omega-3. There's DHA, which is the one your brain really wants, EPA, which is a precursor to DHA, and these are found in seafood. So seafood is the best source. Right.

And the ratio is important.

The ratio is also important. For plant-based foods, they contain neither of these 2. They contain ALA. It's another type. And what happens is that this ALA goes inside your brain, but your brain needs to convert it into DHA, and 75% is lost in the conversion.

Wow.

So you need to have more. So let's say if you need— so brain scans, brain imaging studies show that People who consume at least 4 grams of omega-3 fats every day have a 70% lower risk of dementia later on in life.

Wow.

As compared to people who consume less than 2 grams a day.

Can you, can you repeat that just for everybody? This is like a very important point.

Okay, so brain imaging studies have shown that people who consume at least 4 grams of DHA omega-3 fatty acids every day have at least 70% reduced risk of Alzheimer's and dementia later on in life as compared to people who eat less than 2 grams.

Well, we're talking about 4 grams?

Yes, so research—

is about how much of a— how much portion is that about?

So I would say—

some handful of almonds and—

well, so it's about 3 ounces of a good quality salmon fillet and then like a handful of almonds And some extra virgin olive oil on the salad, and perhaps some flaxseeds, and that's it.

Okay, so that's very doable.

Yeah, as long as people eat seafood, because it's the best source. You know, if you're going for a vegetarian diet, then you eat 3 times as much, because you lose 75% in the conversion. So it's just a matter of keeping tabs on what exactly you're eating, and there are supplements They're actually very helpful. They're vegan DHA supplements from high-purity algae oil that are great sources of supplementation, I think.

Okay. Algae oil. And they can find that in any health food store?

Pretty much, yes. They should be able to, yeah.

I mean, it's one of the most important supplements probably for the brain is DHA.

Yes. If you don't eat any fish, I think it would be probably helpful. So the best way to really know is to test it, right? You should do a blood test and measure your fatty acid compositions in serum. And then if you're deficient, I think it's a good indicator that you should supplement.

Right.

But normally what we say is always that supplements cannot replace a healthy diet.

Of course.

Right, there's a tendency to say, I don't want to eat salad and fish, you know, I'd rather have a burger and take a pill.

Right, right.

Right. But the truth is that supplements are not nearly as biologically active as the nutrients in the foods.

Than something Mother Nature— because there's other compounds in there that probably is not isolated in a pill.

Exactly. The isoforms are important. Like, we were talking about vitamin E, and what you get from a pill is one of the 8 varieties of vitamin E, whereas if you eat flaxseeds and almonds or hazelnuts, my favorite nuts are hazelnuts, then you get all 8 different forms.

Okay.

And it's much more beneficial because like one of the forms, for example, increases oxygenation. So, and that's very good for your brain. There's another form that is more anti-inflammatory.

Right.

So every form has a slightly different function. And when you have them all, then you really get the full benefit.

So we talked about the foods that are helpful for greater brain function. What are the ones that are harmful? The big villains that are affecting us and our children.

Yeah, and that's really interesting because I think there are different schools of thought, but research actually agrees, at least in my field, that processed food is bad for you, and specifically is the combination of too much trans saturated fat and cholesterol.

Okay.

And also saturated fat, at least in our research and in many of my colleagues' research, is the combination of these fats, especially in combination with too much copper, iron, and zinc, that is really harmful to the brain in the long term. And I think the understanding is that they're bad because they have a bad effect on your heart and they trigger inflammation. in the body. Not for everybody, of course, but like on average.

Mm-hmm.

And that really negatively impacts your brain. And also processed food has been linked to a much greater risk of dementia. So there are many studies showing that among like hundreds and hundreds of people followed over time, those who consume 2 grams of trans and saturated fats in their diet, trans fats in their diet, broccoli every day have twice the risk of dementia as compared to people who eat less than 1 gram. And 2 grams is nothing, you know, just processed foods contain enormous amounts.

What are the big culprits that people don't realize? What are the—

Hydrogenated fat. Okay, partially hydrogenated fat. I think these are the 2 worst, found mostly in—

And what kind of foods do you think people are eating that don't even really qualify as food.

They don't qualify as food. There are a lot of things like— I'm very concerned about that because of my daughter.

Right.

Right? She's growing up in an environment where kids have access to all sorts of crap, just broadly speaking. And so I always read the labels. Like, there are some spreads. Spreads are incredibly dangerous. Like, you would think that that's some kind of butter, and it's really not.

Right.

They're margarine. Right. Um, the kind of, this kind of weird like whipped creams that you spray on things.

Right.

Um, fake cheese, like processed cheese. That's terrible. And I realize I'm telling, I'm just going for dairies, but, um, for dairy products, but a lot of baked goods like muffins that you buy or packaged foods like cold cuts, right? Deli ham. Or this kind of products, they're all really in danger of containing all sorts of things that are hydrogenated.

Because it's not just the food, it's just the way it's processed also.

Yes, it's the kind of fat that's been added to the food to preserve shelf life and give it a richer texture and just make them taste better. But then it's everything else that comes with it, like coloring, artificial substances, preservatives, arsenic. You know, chicken are being given arsenic.

Really?

Yes, as an antibiotic.

Okay, yeah, so it's very important.

Not all chickens, of course.

Right, of course. I mean, that's why it's so important to eat things because—

That are healthy. You need to read the labels.

Because a lot of meats have— right, they have everything from hormones, antibiotics. Some meats have like Cement just to make them heavier so they can make more money.

Yeah, but also depending on the way that they're bred, many animals are basically so confined that they end up eating their own feces. That can't be good.

No, not at all. And then so what about things like wine?

Ooh, yeah, we didn't buy any. Wine is actually brain food.

White or red?

Red, and that's because so we talked about it before at the store, and I'm going to show the blackberries.

I love blackberries. Everyone always goes to like the blueberries.

Everybody goes to blueberries.

They're good, but these have more nutritional value.

Yes, they're more antioxidant. They have a higher antioxidant power than the blueberries. But so all fruits that are very dark, like prunes, cherries. Red grapes, the darker the better, because it means they're very rich in these antioxidant compounds that then you drink with your wine.

And that's what gives them the color?

That's what— yes.

So this is like a rainbow. I like looking at everything here. It's like eating for the rainbow.

Yeah.

And so it's not just the lycopene, but it's just the color of everything. So you want to make sure it's very rich.

Yes, yes. I, I strongly believe in that and in diversity. I mean, there have been tons of studies showing that the nutritional diversity and quality of your food are 2 major factors for longevity and health.

So what is the research saying about red wine? Why is it good for you? Why is it a brain food?

Because of the antioxidants. Actually, clinical trials kind of failed to show a strong effect, but I think we know from epidemiology and from studies of Italian centenarians that is actually a good part of a healthy diet. The point— so red wine is very typical of the Mediterranean regions like Italy, Greece, Spain. The way it's been— the way we drink it there is that it's really in moderation. So for women, it's only like basically this much.

Okay.

Just a very small glass.

So it's not just the quality, but it's also the quantity of what we're— It's the quantity.

And men can have 2, but 2 glasses is like this much. This is in the entire day. And also, you never drink it on an empty stomach.

Why is that?

Always with food. Because alcohol has very dehydrating effects. It's the nature of alcohol, it's dehydrating, and it can really create unpleasant effects in general. And also, it's better if you absorb it with other foods that can promote hydration. uptake of this compound, it's called resveratrol.

Sure.

In the blood, in the bloodstream. So it's better paired with foods like fatty foods to really help absorbing the helpful nutrients.

Right, right. Yeah, and who doesn't love like wine and cheese?

Who doesn't? And again, for women, it's important to consider, I'll say, the menstrual cycle, you know, because we tend to absorb alcohol much faster. Faster during one part of the cycle and slower in the second part of the cycle. So it's good to keep in mind that all the stimulants— alcohol, caffeine, everything, theobromine, even chocolate— they have different effects on your brain and your physiology depending on your hormones.

So let's talk about that. Where most people get their caffeine besides chocolate is through coffee.

Coffee.

So how's, uh, how's coffee affect your, your brain?

Coffee does affect your brain. It's a stimulant and it's an energizer. It's a vasoconstrictor, so it makes your blood flow go to your brain much faster, right? And the problem with caffeine, I think, is that some people respond very strongly to caffeine. It can have a dehydrating effect, not universally, not for everybody, but for some. Like, I can't drink coffee without drinking water at the same time.

Okay.

I find it very dehydrating. So there's a genetic basis to that, as to everything else, right?

Sure.

And at the same time, the way it's prepared and the amount of caffeine can have negative effects on the heart. And for women, also depending on hormones. So in the first part of the menstrual cycle, we're less sensitive to caffeine, so we can handle it really well and you feel energized. And in the second part of the menstrual cycle, It takes a lot more coffee to reach the same level of activation. So it's really easy to drink too much of it.

Right.

Right. And then you can't sleep and you have palpitations and you actually feel like crap and you get headaches and you're dehydrated. So it's important to, to consider that, that it's just the way it is. There's 2 weeks, probably. Just resign yourself and there's no need to drink more coffee. It's just the way your body responds and your hormones make you respond to stimulants.

That's amazing. So we talk about brain food and we talk about what to eat. What about when to eat? Different parts of the day. Do you believe in intermittent fasting? Do you— after somebody eats a big meal, should they— what do they do right afterwards? Should they—

Take a nap.

Take a nap?

Relax. There's very good science done at NIH by Dr. Mattson, Mark Mattson, showing how caloric restriction has positive effects on the brain.

Okay.

Kind of makes your neurons stronger and more resilient. And then there are all these other ways to try and implement that, right? Because just eating less is not an option for some reason.

Right.

And so we try to refrain from eating, and I think it makes sense, especially overnight fasting.

Okay.

Right, it's something that at least, you know, in Italy or Mediterranean regions, it's not normal to eat after dinner.

Right.

So everybody automatically fasts overnight just because we're not used to eating after dinner. That's it, you're done. But I think it's important to talk about it because you really have to give your system a break.

Right.

Right, and so if you have dinner around Around 6, 7 PM, then I think it's very healthy to just stop or refrain from eating until at least 7 AM the following morning. So you have 12 hours for your body to just detoxify.

Have a break. And then you have your breakfast.

And sleep.

You have your breakfast. What do you recommend? What would be a good brain-healthy breakfast?

I think it's subjective.

Okay.

You know, some people do very well on protein, some people do better on carbs. I think women in general are physiologically predisposed to run on carbohydrates, and men do better on fat. But that's really the average person, and I think everybody is different. It depends on your insulin levels, it depends on your blood sugar levels, it depends on your reaction to certain foods. I think good options are for people who do well on carbohydrates, a nice toast, right? Like we have fette biscottate, like a nice toast with a little bit of honey and some fresh fruit, or a yogurt for those who don't like bread or don't want to eat bread, with fresh fruit again. I think fruit is a good thing to have first thing in the morning, you know, it rehydrates you, it gives you the vitamins and minerals And for me, I like carbohydrates. I do very well on carbs.

Okay.

And so I prefer toast for breakfast. It's my go-to. A little bit of honey, a little coconut oil, and my daughter eats it too.

That sounds delicious. And so the main idea here is that people are—

And green juice.

People are bio-individual. It's finding what works for you that you could also maintain consistently. Yes, sustainable.

And just also, I think it's really important. important to, to think of as your nutrition is something that transcends breakfast, lunch, and dinner, right? So what do you eat during the whole day? Do you have a good balance of macronutrients? Do you have enough of proteins and carbs and healthy fats and healthy carbs and vitamins and minerals? And do you have enough fiber? And do you drink enough water? You know, I think it's, it's good to think about.

Here's some really powerful You have some incredibly powerful recipes and we've been testing these, so it's not just nutritious but they're also delicious.

They're good. Yeah, I love food.

And there's a whole section there on snacks also as well, so brain-healthy snacks that are easy, that have, you know, just a handful of ingredients.

Yes. Well, you know, as a new mom, nothing can take longer than 15 minutes.

Right.

So except for the slow-cooked chicken, which is a big hit, but basically you make You can make it in 10 minutes and then just pop it in the oven and let it go. So everything is super, super quick.

And that's the thing. We're all at Kwik Brain and the Kwik Brain Kitchen here. We're all about having something incredibly, incredibly nutritious and delicious that you could do that's also doable too. Because so many people set something, a goal, but it's attainable but it's not sustainable. They can't do that on a regular basis.

You know, most people work and they have lives and you can't spend an hour making dinner.

Right.

I mean, maybe once in a while, but it's just not, it's not reasonable on a daily basis. And I feel like if you go for quality, then preparation time gets really, you know, you don't need to spend that much time dressing your food or marinating your food or doing who knows what. You know, just have a nice piece of salmon fillet, you put some Dijon French mustard on top, You put it in the oven and that's it.

Like 30 minutes, you're done.

It is fabulous. You know, if you have good quality foods, very nutritious, then you feel satisfied. No?

Yeah, completely, completely.

Right?

Yes. We're here with Dr. Lisa Mosconi, author of Brain Food. I recommend everybody goes and picks this up. There'll be links also in this episode. Where's the best place for people to find you? Find out more about you?

On my website, lisamasconi.com.

All right.

Yes, or Instagram.

Instagram.

Yes, I think Instagram is my favorite tool.

Okay.

I'm a scientist, social media, get in there, just get in there.

What I would challenge everybody to do is your Kwik Brain Challenge, is to take a screenshot of this video or of this podcast episode, and when you do it, I want you to post it, tag Lisa, tag myself, And share your big aha. What was your favorite lesson from this episode? Also, what's your favorite brain food? Out of all the brain foods we talked about, which is your favorite?

Chocolate.

Chocolate. I think chocolate's going to be a very favorite one. I like avocados. I really love guacamole. We made some incredible guacamole last night. It's one of my favorite ever, but at the very least, people could take a lot of these ingredients and put it into a blender and make a brainpower smoothie. They could take their blackberries, their blueberries, their avocados, some green leafy vegetables, some cacao, which is amazing. Don't put that wild salmon in the blender, it probably wouldn't be the best ever. And it's convenient too.

It is.

And that's what's most important.

And it's an investment, you know, I think it takes discipline, perhaps, but then the benefits are for life.

Right, and this is an investment. I mean, so many people, really, our health is our wealth.

Oh yes.

A lot of people, they'll go out there and achieve with their career at the expense, they're not sleeping, they're not eating right, they're not exercising, and then they achieve a level of wealth, you know, maybe, but then they're chasing, then they have to use all that wealth to get their health back.

Yes, that's true.

And that's really sad.

Yes, and then they come to us at the clinic.

Exactly, exactly.

What should I eat now?

And this is great because we get to, I'm excited about this, Because we're talking with the research that you're doing in Alzheimer's and with the aging brain, why not get there sooner? You know, why not prevent it upstream?

Yes.

And you're saying that, you know, a very small percentage of it has to do with fate or your genetic destiny, that maybe that your genetics is what maybe loads the gun, but what you eat is really what kind of fires it. And we have total control over our hands. And what we actually put into, into our mouth.

Yes, that is very true. And I think as a society, we're used to the idea that we feed our bodies, right? And we're much less aware of the fact that we're feeding our brains too, that we should be feeding our brains too. And that should be like a lifelong process. It should really be part of our lifestyle and not just this 3-week diet that I do after Thanksgiving Thanksgiving or whatever, your brain will not change in 2 weeks or 3 weeks, no matter how many books tell you that. It's just impossible. And it really has to be like a day-by-day practice. It should be a practice.

It's part of your lifestyle. And really, at the bottom line, we're just saying really love your brain.

Yeah, you know, treat your brain like your best friend.

Treat your brain like your best friend and you'll get all the rewards.

Yes, for sure, for sure.

Yeah, thank you, Lisa.

Of course, thank you.

Hi, Kwik Brain, it's your brain coach. I want to thank you so much for watching this video. 3 things to do. Number 1, make sure you share this because when you teach something, you get to learn it twice. Update your learning so you can update other people's learning as well. Number 2, make sure you subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a thing because if you miss a video, you miss a lot. And finally, make sure you hit that bell so you're notified and you find out when we put out the latest and the greatest. One extra thing, if you want really close attention, then text me. Here is my phone number: 310-299-9362. Did you remember that number? 310-299-9362. Shoot me a text And we'll stay in touch. Ask me your burning question, and I wish your days be full of lots of life, lots of love, lots of laughter, and always lots of learning. I'll see you in our next video.

Bye.