Fish Oil Benefits with Michael Lewis

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Hey, it's JJ Virgin. And welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show where I talk health, beauty and personal development with some of the coolest people in the world. Plus, I give you tips that you can put into fast action to uplevel your health and your life. Now, today's show is all about brain injuries and fish oil. I get asked about this all the time, so I went right to the source. This guy is a rock star. And more than that, he is just super generous, super kind, super caring. This is the guy you want on your team. He is someone who helped me when my son was in the hospital. I didn't know him and he was contacted by another friend of mine and his name is Dr. Michael Lewis. And then he. Since then so many people have contacted me and he has been helping them. He is just amazing. Like, I didn't realize this till, until I was interviewing him and I looked at his bio and I'm like, oh my gosh, this guy's incredible. So he's just been jumped in there and helped me. And the great thing is he's got a book out called When Brains what Every Athlete and Parrot Should Know about the Prevention and Treatment of Concussions and Head Injuries. So you'll definitely want to grab that. He's got an amazing website where he has a newsletter that comes out every week and really great research if you want more information. But let me tell you a little bit about Michael, Dr. Michael Lewis. Then we'll dive into this interview. And you know, this is whether you've got kids or they're in sports, you've got, you've got a brain. You know, this is information everybody needs because this, this applies whether you've had a brain injury, concussion. Everybody's hit their head at some point in their life. So you hit your head, you hurt your brain. Dr. Amen taught me that. And you know, as we age, this stuff applies too. So super important. And again, let me tell you a little bit about Dr. Michael Lewis. He is an MD, he's got a master's in public health, he's got an mba. He's also a clinical nutritionist and he's trained in preventive medicine and he's boarded in both that and clinical nutrition. He's an expert in nutritional and other non pharmaceutical interventions for brain health, particularly the use of omega 3 fatty acids for the prevention, management and rehabilitation of concussions and Traumatic brain injury. In 2012, he retired as a colonel after a 31 year career in the US army and he founded the nonprofit Brain Health and Research Institute. He's a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and Tulane University of Medicine. He's board certified and a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, American College of Nutrition and completed post grad training at Walter Reed Army Center, Army Medical Center, John Hopkins University and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Now you see what I mean? Oh my gosh. So now he's got a private practice in Maryland and he is a pioneer in the work of brain injury and brain health and he's regularly featured in the media all over the place, including CNN's Sanjay Gupta show. So I am really honored to have Dr. Michael Lewis with me today. All right, so let's do it. Dr. Michael Lewis, welcome to the show. I am so glad you're here with me today.

Thanks jj. It's absolutely a great pleasure to be with you today.

So you are my go to guy on Omega 3s. We get asked about this all the time. As you can imagine in my Facebook community, you are the one that helped me when everything was going sideways with Grant and helped me know what to do. So I am obviously excited to share this information because one of the things that I'm committed to getting out in the world is getting people on fish oil before their brains get hurt because you don't know when you're going to hit your head. That's one of the reasons Grant is with us today was he was on fish oil before and then we got him on high dose afterwards. And you know, you again were one of the people to help me. But you look at you and I'm always curious when I see someone who was real mainstream kind of branch out in this world because as you know, I had trouble getting the doctors to let me put grand tone fish oil. I had to be sneaky. So how did you, how did you get into all of this brain injuries and nutrition and all of this?

Well, you're absolutely right as I'm as mainstream as they come. Father was a surgeon, but as I think back and I went to a traditional medical school, allopathic medical school. And I think back when I was growing up, my father always had vitamins out at the breakfast table. So I guess it was really kind of there underneath. But I got involved. I got board certified in preventive medicine, public health, got involved in infectious disease.

And.

Stationed in the army over in Asia and running around as a Disease hunter. And they basically said, come back to the medical school in Bethesda to teach medical students. You got all this great experience, and you can't be at Walter Reed Army Medical center or Walter Reed National Medical center without being around a bunch of wounded warriors. You know, the visible ones, the ones that are missing a limb and running on a treadmill at the gym. But you also start to think about, what is it, you know, what about the invisible wounds, the head injuries that you're not seeing. And I had a really good friend who's a general officer who basically pointed me out one day and said, what are you doing? Why are you doing? Infectious disease. We have a problem with traumatic brain injury. What are you doing to help? And I got to thinking about it and put two and two together with a couple of different things. The Sago mine accident that you're aware of with Dr. Julian Bales and the one guy who survived that mine accident accident. And I thought I got a hold of Julian Bells and I asked him, you know, do you think this would work with traumatic brain injury? And I went to the head of research at Walter Reed and asked the same question. I said, is anybody looking at this? And the answer was, no, why don't you? So that was. That was my quick introduction to it. You know, it's not something I remembered from medical school or training. So I had to relearn all of this. And so much has changed, of course, over the years.

Well, especially as we start to learn more and more and more. And I'll tell you, for everyone listening, if you really want cutting edge, you are cutting edge. Like when I need to go find something, I just go to your website, brainhealtheducation.org, but I actually just text you or call you or email you. And you are right there with the information. So you're working with patient. I imagine you have a lot of people coming to you now with brain injuries. What are your recommendations for brain injuries, concussions, all of that?

Well, the very first thing is nutrition. You got to get the nutritional foundation for the brain. You deal with this every day and have throughout your career is the basic concept of you are what you eat, and we forget about that. We've been told by the government that bad is bad and all these variety of different things. The biggest thing, the very first thing, a lot of times, before I'll even see a patient, I will tell them, I'll send them to my website, I will get them started on the Omega protocol. And you really gotta. So I want to saturate the brain with what it took to make the brain in the first place, and that's omega 3 fatty acids. So there's good fats and there's not so good fats. And if we flood the brain with the good fats, I'll call it a neuropermissive environment. So it's not healing the brain, it's not a drug. But if you don't get that foundation, that nutritional foundation, the brain is far less likely to heal than if you get that. If you saturate the brain with omega.

3S and when you talk, saturate, because I get this question all the time on my Facebook page. What are you talking. How much?

All right, so Omega 3s are kind of an interesting thing because you look at a label of a fish oil bottle, for example, and it can be really confusing. The industry is not well regulated, as we all know. And so when we talk about a dose, it's really about the two important omega 3s.ep, I'll just say the initials EPA and DHA. DHA is what's found in the brain. About 30% of the brain is made up of DHA at the cellular level. It's what makes up the cell membrane. And so I look at a dose of 3,000 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA. Some people will get into the. Which one's more important? I think they're both important. And so what does 3000mg of EPA and DHA look like? A good quality fish oil capsule. That's usually about five capsules. I start people with three doses a day, like breakfast, lunch, and dinner for at least a week. And then I try to taper them down to just that one dose of 3,000 milligrams every day.

And I know we. With Grant, I just first, I'd had him on 5 grams a day before the accident, which I think was one of the big reasons that he was able to make it through. So what about prevention? I know people never think about prevention, but gosh, I mean, you look at what's going on. Thankfully, now we're getting so much information out about concussions and sports injury. Of course, there's also domestic violence. There's also just, you know, I mean, life. So what would you say about prevention? And why does this work for prevention? And what would you do?

Well, you can't have a conversation about omega 3s without at least touching on omega 6s. And our food supply over the last 40, 50 years has really become so much more Based on soybean oil and corn. Soybean oil is actually the biggest source of omega 6s in our diet. It's gone up. The amount consumed has gone up 12 to 16 fold since around 1970. So why is that important? Well, you are what you eat, as I mentioned before. But Omega 6 are very pro inflammatory, very thrombotic, meaning they make the platelets clot and cause all kinds of problems, cause inflammation. And we need that to be balanced with omega 3s. And our bodies developed over tens of thousands of years in balance. And I did a study with the NIH a few years back looking at the military population, we found that that balance of omega 6s to omega 3 was no longer imbalance. We found a ratio of 25 to 1.

And where would someone want to be?

You would really want to be under 5 to 1. I mean our bodies were designed to be imbalance. And so you can decrease AMN Omega 6s that you intake, which is really difficult and it's fat, so it takes months to sort of get out of your system. Or you can increase the omega 3s and so that's what I kind of approached is when I have somebody that comes to me with a head injury, I'm not looking at what can we do to make you better in two years. Nobody wants that, what can we do now to make you better? And so it's really working on the other side of the equation, increasing the omega 3s. But what if you did that before an accident? What if you were better in balance so that when you have a problem, you have the right balance between inflammation, which you need, but then you need to resolve the inflammation. And that really is all about balance. Why not be in balance before the accident happens?

And wouldn't you say for any parent with kids playing sports, which is pretty much all kids going out at recess and stuff, that their kids should be taking a fish oil supplement?

I think that, you know, some people say, well, they don't want to take a supplement. That's, that's great. If you're going to feed them wild caught salmon, you know, Pacific Northwest salmon, two or three times a week, then maybe you don't need supplementation.

Yeah, good luck trying to get a kid to do that on a regular.

So that's. So we see this, the conundrum there. Right. So I think that supplementation is really important. I'm not just speaking theoretically. I've got a 16 year old high school football and lacrosse player who's the starting running back on our high school Team. And people look at me and say, oh, my God, you do concussions for a living. How can you let your son play football? And it's because I do the things that I think can help mitigate the risks. What you get out of team sports, whether it's lacrosse or soccer or football or even swim, as a sense of belonging, I think kids would be lost without that team approach and how to work together, how to win, how to lose. And I think team sports are hugely important. Rather than sitting on the couch playing Xbox, I think they need to be out there playing.

I know it's all a balance. It's, you know, you don't, you don't want to take that away from them either. But it's too bad it couldn't be touch football, but I guess that's probably not going to happen.

I kept them in touch football as long as I could and, and refused to put them into tackle football.

I'm sure he loved that.

Well, it wasn't. Yeah, you make it fun. It's with friends and, and, and so it was a lot of fun.

That's good. I'm just, I'm just teasing you because I know what it's like to be a parent, and you're like, watching this going, oh, my gosh. But so the critical is what you did to support him. And that's what I want everybody to hear. It's like, yes, whatever happens. And the thing is, you don't know when someone's going to hit their head. That's why prevention is critical. Here.

It is. And so my son doesn't leave the breakfast table every single morning with, I mean, 365 days a year. Not just in football season, but 365 days a year. He doesn't leave the breakfast table without taking his dose of fish oil, the 3,000 milligrams of EPA and DHA. And usually after a game, I'll make sure he takes another dose right after the game and just do everything I can to try to protect his brain.

Well, so let's say someone does get a concussion or is my son with a traumatic brain injury.

What.

Beyond fish oil, what are some of the other things that you. Interventions you recommend?

Well, there's a number of different things from a nutritional standpoint. Curcumin, turmeric, curcumin is really an important thing. B vitamins have been shown to be incredibly important for the brain and brain health. I have a couple different modalities I do in my office that can help the brain recover a little Bit faster. Neurofeedback is one of them. And so just training, it's like going to the gym for your brain. Heart rate variability training. I typically like to use the heart math program that you can use with your iPhone to train the heart rate variability back to health. And one of the things that I've found, and this is fairly recent, is cannabidiol or CBD in particular, hemp derived CBD oil I have found to be tremendously efficient, effective with helping people who are struggling after concussion or a traumatic brain injury, and they're struggling with depression and they're struggling with anxiety. Two things that we see very, very commonly. And I found that CBD oil works great, especially with anxiety.

Yeah, that has been a lifesaver for us. I know you got grant on CBD and that has been tremendously helpful along with the neurofeedback. So I think the key takeaway there is you do an integrated approach. And I know that as a parent it's been hard because I want to do like, I've got the whole list. I just want to do everything. And they're like, stop it. You know, he's like, literally like, mom, stop it. But I just keep bringing in one at a time, which is how I can tell that things are actually working.

And it was absolutely, I mean, hyperbaric oxygen, I think is a very.

We did that too.

But it's. You're right, it's sometimes better to add one thing for a month, see how it goes. And it's sort of like stepping, you know, a step approach. You, you get somebody up, you know, you do a month of this and you get them up a little bit better in their functionality and they might start to plateau. Then you add another thing and, or switch modality. So I think it's really important. But you still can't get away from that nutritional foundation that's got to be in place.

Oh, man. Gosh, it's great to hear a doctor say this. Say it more, say it more. You just need to be everywhere, especially, I mean, like your credentials. It's incredible. So I'm going to throw a curveball at you, Michael. Okay, so what's the one thing you do every day that makes the biggest difference in your life?

There's not a day that doesn't go by I don't take a big dose of fish oil.

There you go. He walks his talk. But it is true. And this is the important thing because I've had a lot of people contact me after the fact saying how much did you use during, you know, recovery? And he's still, Grant's still on it and he always will be on it. My other son, Bryce, who's 19, who does tricking is on it. I'm on it. My fiance's on it. Like, you know, I, this is just something that I. Everybody needs to have the balance of, of omega 3s and 6s and as you said before, we aren't anymore, you know, the diet, even if you're eating well, you just have. The way we've changed, feeding our protein has shifted things.

So no, you bring up a really good point. Some people will say, okay, I eat healthy, I only eat chicken, I stay away from red meat. I'm like, okay, but what is the chicken? What's the chicken being fed? So if you have a broiler chicken that comes out of the, out of basic industry versus grass fed beef, grass fed beef is actually much healthier for you than that standard chicken. So it's the whole food supply. And I don't think that people recognize that and realize that. Same thing with farmed fish. One of the concerns about farmed fish is what are we feeding the fish. It's really gotten to be just like those big industries. We're feeding them corn and soy meal.

Yeah.

So it is not a fish anymore. And it's so key important to say that because we've gotten this whole phobia of red meat and grass fed red beef is one of the best things you can do. It's got an amazing fatty acid profile. Eating this factory raised chicken and farm raised fish is entirely different food. You can't look at it the same way. I know you're highly researched and that's another thing that I love. And so I want to recommend everybody your website is. I know you've got a couple and you've got a great book out now. That's another great resource for everybody. When Brains Collide. What every athlete and parent should know about the prevention and treatment treatment of concussions and head injuries. This is a great starting point to grab that book on Amazon. The other thing you'll want to do is go and it's BrainHealTheDucation.org, right?

That's right, yes.

Go to BrainHealTheDucation dot org, sign up there. You have an awesome newsletter that I get that I just love and I always end up forwarding to people because you have really good what's in the news, latest research, and then what we can do with it. So grab the book get there. And if you don't, you know, if you're listening to this going, yeah, well, you know, I don't have kids or I haven't had a brain injury. This is one that is such a silent epidemic. I'm amazed at how big of a problem it is. I never knew till my son got hit because you can't tell when you look at somebody you don't know. And it is taking our country down. And the biggest thing that we can do is to start with prevention. So I really appreciate everything you've shared today and I thank you so much. Brainhealtheducation.org and now after the break, I'm going to be answering the listeners questions. So stay with me.

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Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener's question. And today's question comes from John in Simi Valley. And John asks, JJ, I know your son had a traumatic brain injury and that you gave him fish oil, but what else have you done to help Grant recover? So the important thing here to understand about traumatic brain injury is that it's a forever recovery because once you hurt your brain, other things can start to go wonky years later, like issues with his pituitary and different hormones. So what what I'm going to share with you is that you really need to do an integrative approach and there's things that you'll want to monitor over the years. But it all starts with like what Michael Lewis just said. It all starts with nutrition. So of course, as you know, I started with fish oil and then in the hospital I was bringing him food and making him shakes. I had a nutribullet right there in the hospital. So I was making him shakes and using special amino acids. What I'd recommend now and anyone healing is to use my all in one paleo inspired shake because it's concentrated bone broth, super healing, a lot of different nutrients. And of course, I used curcumin. And I also now have been Seeing some really great promise. I'm going to tell you things. I see the best results with CBD has been amazing because Grant battles with depression and anxiety. Just like Michael talked about. Super common in brain injuries is that mood instability. And unfortunately that leads to suicide in a lot of cases. So I'm super sensitive about that. But I'll tell you the biggest thing that's not talked about that I think is probably the most important part of recovery is having a purpose for being here and a community to support you. The biggest challenge I've seen with Grant and one of the things that I really want to make a difference in this world with is creating connection and community because it was what saved Grant. When I first had this happen, I called the troops, called my friends and was like, I need support here. I don't need your sympathy, but I need support. And it was how I got to Dr. Michael Lewis. I was like, who do you know who knows things and can you come and help? So community is huge. And then having a reason for being. You know, when he came home, all I cared about was what do we need to do to get you healthy and better? And, you know, trying to give him a million therapies at once. And he just wanted to feel like a normal person. He wanted to know when this was going to end and could he just have a normal life. And so I always have to walk that line and balance out between what do we need to do on a regular basis to recover versus and how can I get him integrated more into the world and doing things that he loves and having a purpose. And if I had to pick anything now in long term recovery that is making the biggest difference is when he has a job, has things to do and knows that he's got a place in the world. Dr. Alyssa Rankin, by the way, did an amazing podcast on the big thing that she sees in medicine. Actually, it was a ted talk, a TEDx talk. And that isolation and that lack of social support is so problematic. So I say that to you because there's so many people suffering with this and you'd never, never know because they look normal and it's tough to be around someone with a brain injury. It's like raising a very large child, starting from early on where they don't have the same social cues and their mood's unstable. And if you have got someone like that, do whatever you can to support them and help bring them through it because they need support and connection and community now more than ever now. If you'd like to submit a question, just go to jjvirgin.com ask and you can leave a voicemail for me. I can't wait to hear from you. And one more way, I'd love to hear from you. I would hugely appreciate it if you could jump on Stitcher or itunes and leave a review for me. It helps a bunch and be sure to subscribe and share the show with your friends. This is JJ Virgin signing off and reminding you to live courageously. Show up. Step up. You are stronger than you think. Toyota Thon is on. So stop by your local Toyota dealer and test drive a stylish new Camry or sleek and capable Corolla with great financing and lease options available to qualified customers. Visit buyatoyota.com for more Toyoga let's go.

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