FIX YOUR DIET To Heal The Body & Mind TODAY | Dr. Uma Naidoo & Lewis Howes

Research is showing more and more that inflammation that is sort of chronic and insidious and is happening in our gut microbiome impacts the brain. When you start to improve your gut.

Health, I think you gotta have a dream.

The school of greatness, really.

Yeah.

Please welcome Lewis Howers.

In your book, I've been diving in. It's amazing because you share these different foods that either hurt or help. Things like depression, ptsd, adhd, ocd, anxiety, sex drive, all these other things, things. I've been reading through all this stuff. It's fascinating. I have been a big fan of realizing that food is medicine for a long time. And in your book you're talking about the actual science showing and proving that food is medicine. Now, is that correct?

Absolutely. Thanks for the kind introduction and for hosting me. That's what it is. I think that the missing conversation has been around how food and nutrition impact our mental health. We go into our doctor's offices and we talk about lots of things. We don't talk about our brain health and we most certainly don't talk about nutrition enough. Part of that is doctors don't really study that much nutrition. But I think the niche that nutritional psychiatry fills is that conversation. And helping understand that the food we eat impacts our mental well being is newer science that has come forward.

What is the, what would you say is the percentage, if you could either guess or if there's percentages out there, of how much food percentage wise, affects these negative side effects of mental health from anxiety, depression and things like that, is food 100% responsible for these thoughts and feelings? Is it 50% responsible? What would you say?

Off the top of my head, a clinical guess would be about 50% because I do think that environment, genetics, psychosocial factors, so much, so many other things play into one's emotional well being. But I think that by cleaning up a certain amount of how we eat, and that includes my diet, everyone, none of us is perfect. By cleaning it up a little bit, I have seen people show significant improvement. And really the path to this is understanding. It's not a quick fix, it's not an overnight thing. It's really a prescription for a lifestyle change. And by doing it that way, it's sustainable. It's not just let's lose five pounds before the show or before the event or the wedding. It's sustainable. And people do lose weight, it turns out.

How do we build a sustainable nutritional lifestyle when we've been so conditioned with certain habits and foods for so long? Especially here with the SAD diet?

Absolutely The SAD diet. It is sad, and I think that it's true. That's what we're used to. And I think it's understanding. Firstly, it's educating ourselves and not relying on the wrong sources of education and information. And by that I mean just simple things. Understanding food labels, for example, I'm not saying you have to go deep into the nutrition science, but understanding that 4 grams of sugar is 1 teaspoon is a little bit of a trick for people because we cook in pounds and ounces. So every recipe in the United States is standardized. You learned that in culinary school. And our food labels on grams, so most people picking up a small half a cup yogurt with fruit in it, because they've heard me say blueberries are great for you don't realize there might be six or eight teaspoons of sugar, of added sugar. So it's educating ourselves. And that power really comes back to us because we then eat in a healthier way.

I'm curious about the fruit and sugar or vegetables and sugar. If you have a certain amount of vegetables or fruit that is supposed to enhance something in your brain, but you also have just as much refined sugar that you've poured on top of it, are there any benefits to that? Or does the sugar override the benefits of the vegetables and fruits?

Have you heard the expression you can't exercise out of a bad diet?

Right.

It's not that dissimilar because you might be eating those servings of veggies and the nutrients are going to get through, but the negative impact of what happens with the added and refined sugars is where the issue is.

Yeah. Someone told me you can't outwork your mouth. You can't outwork out your mouth. If you keep eating more and more, you're not gonna be able to outwork it. Okay, this is fascinating. Of these six on the COVID of the book and more that you talk about in the book, the depression, ptsd, adhd, anxiety, ocd, and let's say, low sex drive. Of those six, which have you seen the fastest or the best results based on a shift in food, changes in consuming different foods? Have you seen and how fast can this happen? You said it doesn't happen overnight. But are you starting to see this over a week or a few weeks based on certain changes or how does that work?

So some of this answer is also dependent on understanding the science of the microbiome, because each of our microbiomes is like a thumbprint. So a response a person has to the food is also Dependent on their quota of microbes in the gut and therefore the response times change. So I've seen people start to feel emotionally better and the condition I see probably the most robust change is either depression or anxiety. Really people do when they start to make those shifts, start to feel better.

That'S within like a few days overnight, a week or two.

At least a week. At least a week.

So they're doing the changes daily for a week, they start to feel better.

They start to feel uplifted a little bit, they start to notice with people with anxiety, they start to notice by say cutting out or limiting a bad eating habit, let's not call it bad, that's severe but less healthy eating habit that they starting to notice a change. But usually we know from the science of the microbiome that it takes about 28 days for there to be healing. So usually within the first month is a good guideline to say if you really are following this and you're being sincere about, look, no one is perfect. So if you're doing it 80% of the time, at least I ask people to do and you really are limiting those foods that could be driving your condition. That people start to feel better, but over time it really gets better. And if they're sticking with it, it becomes almost part of how they live, which is what I want because then they're feeling a lot better.

So they keep doing it.

They keep doing it and that's the hook. That's what very often happens in that first week. Someone notices. Not every single time someone notices, wow, I'm sleeping better. Wow, I'm feeling less anxious when I wake up. But I will say that when anxiety specifically, it's not just one thing. You know, learning mindfulness, practicing and relaxation exercise and actually doing those things when you're not having a panic attack. You know the worst thing you can say to someone who's feeling anxious is.

Calm down, stop feeling anxious, stop feeling.

Anxious, calm down, take it. It doesn't make sense because when your system is in overdrive that way you.

Can'T even hear what's the best thing to say. Someone who's feeling anxious, the best thing.

Is to actually have them tap into what you've either worked with them on in coaching or that they've learned in time. Breathing exercises, you know, mindfulness, do they respond to a walk in fresh air? Do they respond to getting on the treadmill for 10 minutes? Sometimes just burning off that angst help people. So they have already almost pre learned certain things that they can do and that's what you want to help get them to come down that episode. But the great thing with nutrition and changing around how you're eating is that can help you all along because that's working no matter what else is going on. It's improving because it's working in the gut microbiome and the whole gut brain system and it's helping you.

Right. And how important is a healthy gut microbiome?

It's actually so important for all parts of our health.

Right. Not just mental health.

Exactly. My focus is on nutritional psychiatry and therefore mental health. But you know, it's. The gut microbiome is related to sleep, circadian rhythms, hormones, vitamin production, immunity and mental health as well as more. So the health of your gut microbes is uniquely becoming, I would say even more important in this day and age as we understand the science more. You see, the gut microbiome research is really only about a decade and a half to two decades old. It's, it's neuroscience and it really has unfolded the food mood connection or the nutritional psychiatry piece, but at the same time it's hugely important. So things like inflammation of the gut are being associated with conditions like depression, anxiety, cognitive disorders and more because it's being seen as an underlying mechanism. Therefore, if you're taking care of your gut health, you actually are taking care.

Of quite a lot your brain health as well and everything else.

Definitely your brain health, but even your physical health.

Right, right. Yeah. I've been hearing a lot more about the gut microbiome and how it's connected to the brain and the thoughts are connected to the gut and all that stuff. But inflammation is one of the main causes, would you say, of brain stress or the anxiety of the brain?

Absolutely. So research is showing more and more that inflammation that is sort of chronic and insidious and is happening in our gut microbiome impacts the brain and that therefore conditions like even Alzheimer's, cognitive disorders, depression, anxiety, when you start to improve your gut health, therefore in that sort of cycle, improve your mental well being as well.

Right, right. So the same thing that's good for your gut microbiome is also the same similar things that are good for your.

Brain for your brain health. Absolutely.

Brain health. You talk about brain foods, specific foods that we should be stocking our kitchen with. Can you share what some of these brain foods are? You have an acronym for them? I'm not sure if you have them all memorized, but.

So I'll give you a few to get you started. So I use the brain foods Acronym to really almost have be a checklist for people. I like people to take a photograph of it or read it or list it in their phone so that when they're at the supermarket, they're picking out those nutrients. So bee is my favorite berries and my favorite berry is blueberry. Now they're rich in anthocyanins, they're rich in fiber, they are colorful. And that brings me to the R. One of the R's is for eat the color of the rainbow. And these are sort of things Lewis said many people overlook. Their doctors have said it or they've heard it or read it. But what we're uncovering in the science is that the color of the rainbow, the colors of vegetables, the phytonutrients in those interact with the gut microbes. These are powerful antioxidants, powerful anti inflammatory substances which impact things like depression, anxiety and more. So it's no longer just eat a colorful salad. There's actual good evidence as to why we should be eating it.

And does it matter if it's cooked or uncooked?

The science on that varies. But my feeling about it is the following. When you have raw veggies, they have their microbiome intact. They providing those bacteria, they're giving you good nutrients. So I like to play. I like people to do the following. Have some say when they're preparing their vegetables for roasted veggie dish, keep some chopped veggies that you munch on and then roast the rest or baking the rest, whatever. So you're having a little bit of combination of both.

Some raw, some cooked, some cooked.

But things like say sp. Spinach, you know, steaming the spinach can actually help lower the oxalate levels. So some of it is more specific.

Okay, gotcha. Now here's a. There's a. I've heard a topic about fruits that some people say have as much as you want. Others say the less fruit the better, or do it in seasonal times or things like that. Yeah. Have you seen anything where if people are only eating fruit that it helps or hurts them psychologically? Or can you never have too much fruit in moderation?

I guess so. I think when it comes to psychological health, one of the biggest things is how mental health and metabolic health are now connected. What I mean by that is I talk about berries because they have a low glycemic index, so they have a powerful positive impact eaten in moderation. So I don't mean 4 cups of blueberries a day, but I do mean about a half a cup at least. As one of your servings of fruit in a day. The issue with fruit is that the higher glycemic fruits, say, the more tropical fruits, you know, mangoes and pineapples, those are actually less healthy for those with mental health because many individuals with mental health might have a struggle with weight and sometimes with metabolic health.

Interesting. And so if you have a lot of these high glycemic fruits, they store.

More fat, they could increase your weight, they could potentially increase your weight, which.

Could make you psychologically say, I'm overweight or not confident in yourself.

That as well as your metabolic health, because it could impact your insulin resistance, your insulin sensitivity, your glucose load. So because in my clinical practice, I often see people who are struggling with their weight. I don't mean low weight, I mean struggling with a little bit of extra weight, or they're taking medications like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, Zoloft, Prozac, to name a few. One of the side effects is weight gain. Not everyone develops it, but many people do. Psychotropic medications. Others, antipsychotics also have a problem. They impact metabolic health and glycemic control, and they impact weight. So as a psychiatrist, you really have to be tuned into that to realize if you're going to save food, qualify better food for that individual to eat. Because a person could eat two bananas a day and that could totally increase their weight. Are bananas on their own unhealthy? No. To an average person of normal weight who's exercising and leading a healthy lifestyle, perfectly fine to eat a banana. But to that individual, it may not be the best solution. So it's that caveat with mental health that's important.

So what's the best fruit to eat if you're trying to lose weight?

So the best answer to that is stick with a couple of servings of different berries. Stick with a lifestyle that is supporting your weight loss, which goes from mindfulness all the way to hydration to outdoor time to good sleep and all of that. Right. Because we know it's not just one thing.

Eliminating stresses in your life.

Exactly. Stress is a huge driver of weight gain because of the impact on cortisol. So I would say stick with a couple of different types of berries and smaller servings and have those regularly because the fiber and the phytonutrients from them are still going to help you. So I would never say exclude fruit completely unless your diabetologist has said, look, you need to do this in order to bring down your hemoglobin A1C, then it's a different conversation.

So when is fruit good for you then? Because if you're trying to lose weight, I'm hearing it's not as good to have a lot of it, not a.

Lot of it in moderation, actually, to be honest, everything in moderation. Right? Because every healthy food you want to eat in a portion control sort of way, fruit is actually always good for you. It provides nutrients, macro and micronutrients, which are healthy for your body, healthy for your brain. So whether it's the vitamin C from kiwi or whichever, if you're having leafy greens, not a fruit, but if you're having folate from leafy greens, that's affecting you in a positive way. So food is always a good option. But then also comes from my food philosophy, which is I am diagnostic and I don't demonize a food group. So if you come into me and say I'm vegan or carnivore, my role as a nutritional psychiatrist is to improve your mental well being. I will advise you how you can tweak your diet in a positive way. You may not agree with me, but I'm going to offer you that guidance. Because what I find is that people fall into these eat this, not that mentality, then they exclude entire food groups, then they crave that food group, then there's a rebound effect, and then they end up either gaining the weight or they end up being unhappy because they've started to consume a food that they previously gave up. It becomes a vicious cycle.

Like I said, they weren't going to eat something, then they go eat a.

Few months depression, feeling more anxious, interesting. And then almost unable to get back on that saddle of just eating a healthier diet. Which I want people to eat healthier foods as part of their lifestyle. So it's a natural, whether they're traveling, whether they're walking through an airport, or whether they're at they're just reaching for those healthier options or carrying it with them.

And what about antioxidants? Why are these so powerful for mental health?

So antioxidants have an extremely important impact through the gut microbiome, but also on the brain. In the natural process of life, we encounter different things that form these unhealthy substances in our body called radical oxygen species. If left on their own, they can actually lead to cancer, heart disease, lots of bad things, as well as worsening our mental health. So what antioxidants do is they interact with these radical oxygen species to almost neutralize them. And that's why they're so powerful. So that's why we should eat our antioxidants.

Okay, what foods are rich in antioxidants?

Starting with berries, but they're also spices. That's, that's something people don't realize. There are spices that are rich in antioxidants, like turmeric with a pinch of black pepper. My nutritional psychiatry, no brainers. Add a pinch of black pepper because that makes the turmeric more bioavailable and bioactive for your body. So spices, many of them have rich antioxidants. So your spice cabinet is probably one of the ones you're not tapping into to add antioxidants as well as veggies, all these different colors of vegetables, different bell peppers, different lettuces, all of these. Whether the purple carotenoids from carrots have rich antioxidants because of the nutrients in them.

What about the research that's been out about lectins and nice shades? Is this something that you would avoid or limit? Or is the science from your research not really saying. There's an issue with nightshades and lectins.

So, you know, part of it depends on the person. If they are working with a physician who's asked them to and their condition. If they've been asked to stay away from nightshades because of a certain condition and it's been working for them, I'm not there to say stop doing that and eat everything. No, if it's working for them, absolutely. But many people come to me a little confused about where, you know, what foods include lectins and what they should avoid. But there are also some culinary techniques where you can get around by food preparation. For example, if you like nuts, you know, there's a way to, you know, there's a way to get raw, natural nuts, soak them in water overnight, rinse them out and slow. It's not even roasting because it's such a low temperature, or almost dry them out in the oven at a very low temperature and that circumvents some of the anti nutrients in them. So there are always ways to think about food and make it healthier or look at a cooking technique which could improve either the nutrient value or get around things like that. So I'd rather have that conversation than ask people to exclude things about other people's research, but more about my approach to, to how I feel I can help individuals in their mental well being because, you know, this is not just for someone with depression or anxiety. A lot of people in the last few Years have just been feeling a little off. And I use that term loosely. It's a little bit anxious, not sleeping well, feeling blue, just not just feeling. There's a great article calling it languishing, you know, just not feeling good, just not feeling quite themselves. And so eating in a good way can help a lot of that without a prescription.

Right. What would you say is the best cooking technique that you've learned to get the maximum result for optimal nutrition? Is it from the nuts? Is it from soaking something? Is it from some other type of food where you've seen, okay, here's the original raw form. And by applying this technique, it actually enhances it to really help your mental health, your brain that much more. Is there a technique like that?

I don't think there's one technique. You know, I think that I mentioned the, I mentioned things like spinach and steaming it or applying gentle temperature. The nuts, that's specific to a better way to enjoy the nuts. Some people don't have a problem with nuts. They eat them and they feel okay. Now the lectin research may refute that, but again, you pay attention to how you're feeling emotionally, how you're feeling physically, what your doctor is telling you and you either continue or you change direction a little. One thing I will say is that many people hear their doctor say, eat your vegetables, eat your greens. And they sort of, they roll their eyes and they move on. They don't do it often. It's that action step. One of the things I can say is just gently roasting vegetables in the oven with delicious flavors, putting in colorful veggies, adding spices. Even your kids will want to eat it, you know, because it's interesting. It's different. That that I think is one of the things where you can really expand and just little simple tricks. Like you can do your roasted, colorful, roasted vegetables with different spices for the flavor. Plus you can do your protein on. Whether you plant based, you eat tofu, whether you eat chicken, you can do it on the same sheet pan. And that makes it super easy for someone to prepare dinner.

Right. The next thing you say is include lean proteins and plant based proteins. From the science you said you don't eliminate any diet or any food groups.

I try my best not to.

There are so many people that try to say, like, eat only meat and this is the way to go. And other people are saying, be vegan, this is the way to go. Is there science proving which foods are better, like lean proteins that are plant based versus animal proteins?

So I will say that in nutrition science there are usually things I can quote and they're probably in the same day or same week or same year, at least three other articles which will refute that because that tends to be the spirit of nutrition science. Omega 3s I've seen clinically help my patients time and time again, whether usually I like them to use food sources first, but some people prefer supplement or they do, and I've seen the improvements. Yet there is research to say they're terrible, you shouldn't use them, that kind of stuff. So I say this with an open mind, understanding that. So I feel that the camps, who. And they are sort of camps, right? Because they tend to be very polarized. Either only eat this and the individuals say, who are plant based will say, well, there's this studies to name a substance that is negative for your health because it is from meat. And then there are people, individuals who eat meat who will say, but you don't get enough from just the plants. So there's always this polarization. And here's what I feel about it. I think that the more we continue to have these camps, the more confused we are going to continue to be as a country and the worse our nutrition is going to get. Because most people, it's not most people. A lot of people know the SAD diet and are consuming that. So anything we can move from that to a healthier version of that food, understanding what healthy whole foods are is better for us. I think it's much more about that for more people than camps, albeit this and not that. And I have difficulty with those because I feel that science can support both sides of the argument.

I know you could always find evidence for.

Always find evidence for both sides and.

Something against the other side probably.

Right, exactly. And say, well, gee, you're missing this nutrient because you're plant based or you're missing that nutrient because you're eating or consuming more meat. And I think that's where most people in the public get confused. And they come in and say to me, should I exclude this entire food group? Should I give up whole grains? Should I never eat a slice of this or that? And I think that perpetuating that is not good for us as a country. But if we can find a sensible way forward to, for the most part, so not the people in different camps, but those who just want to eat healthier, want to feel emotionally better. And most of us need to right now, with all that's going on, I think it's a healthier way forward and more sustainable.

Yeah. I'm curious about nuts. You mentioned nuts for a second. This is actually the next thing on the brain, foods and nuts. I'm a big fan of nuts, but can you overdo it? I don't drink milk anymore, but I have the milk substitutions like almond milk and things like that. So if you're having the physical nuts and then you're having almond milk and then almond butter, is there too much of that?

So there's always even a healthy food. We can overdo even a healthy food. So practicing I'm not so much of a calorie counter as much as I am the source of food and the quality of food and then paying attention to portions. So I mentioned blueberries and I said, you know, that doesn't mean 3 cups of blueberries a day because unfortunately then the load of the amount of sugar from that is not good for you, even though berries are healthy and they have lots of nutrients in them. So similarly with nuts, you want smaller servings and you want different types of nuts. My favorites are macadamia and hazelnuts. I eat them in smaller portions. For someone who likes nuts and they're going to consume that portion of nuts in a day, you may want to switch to something like hemp milk, which by the way, you can make it literally make in two easy steps. And hemp milk has the advantage of having short chain omega 3s in it because it's rich in ala. So there's a good solution for.

So if you're going to have nuts, don't also have almond milk and nut.

Butters and everything in the same day.

That same 24 hour period, have hemp milk instead.

If you're going to use almond milk instead, have your nut butter, but nut and seed butter, because you're getting other seeds and the value of that and just don't have a ton of it. So everything in moderation. If you do eat more of it, then maybe have that the next day and balance it up that way. It's similar to avocados. You'll have delicious avocados in California. The truth is, a good serving in a day is about a quarter of a medium avocado to get the benefit of the healthy fats.

Really a quarter of a medium, medium to large avocado. So not a whole avocado?

No, it becomes. What happens is it gets calorie dense at that point. And so, you know, it's balancing that up. Now if you ate that for breakfast, that's okay. My policy around that is, you know, just cross correct at the next meal or the next day because you understand something a little bit better.

Interesting. Man, I'm so used to overeating. I think, I think we all are. I eat a lot, I consume a lot.

Well, we all do. And the thing about that is what I've learned over time is that I load up on my veggies because things like the sulforaphane rich veggies, cauliflower, the cabbage, the brussels sprout, low calorie, super rich in fiber. Fiber is great for your gut microbes, that's what feeds them. Great for your body in general, your.

Digestion and your digestion, everything.

So by eating, by filling my plate up with a lot of my nutritional psychiatry plate with a lot of those veggies, low calorie, going to fill me up, going to be nutritious, add in my spices to make them tasty. That's a great way to go. And that sort of what I find over time is that is filling and it has my blood sugar in a more even keel.

So if you're going to overeat. Overeat vegetables.

Yeah, overeat. Those vegetables. Those vegetables.

Those vegetables. What are the vegetables you don't want to overeat?

You don't want to overeat the sort of most starchy vegetables. And by that I mean that they going to impact your blood sugar in a different way. So we know that potatoes do that, we know that sweet potatoes do that. That doesn't mean you shouldn't eat them.

Right? Just don't overeat them.

Just don't overeat them. Or my hack for potatoes, I mean, potatoes are delicious, but my hack for them is when you have a cool. When you bake a potato and you allow it to cool, it changes the reaction within that potato to make it a resistant starch, which not only lowers the glycemic index, it actually makes it a healthy food.

So bake potatoes.

Bake potatoes and then cool them and then, you know, heat them up or whatever. It's a process that happens within the potato.

So having a baked potato. Oh, but then cooled, not hot, bake.

It, cool it and then, you know, heat it up or do whatever you're going to do to, to have it with your toppings.

Interesting. What happens if you have it baked and you eat it hot?

So doesn't allow the cooling. It hasn't gone through the process of that change, which makes it a resistant starch. The process is called retrogradation. So it hasn't gone through that. So you're Just you're kind of just eating the potato.

So that's a good cooking strategy.

That's a good cooking strategy to add.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So bake the potato, allows it cooler, like put it in the refrigerator or just let it sit out.

You can let it sit out or you can place it in the fridge and have it for the next meal, something like that. Allowing it to process, that just changes it into a different form and different effect on your microbiome and that is healthier. Does that mean you should eat six a day? No, shouldn't mean you should eat one every day. It's still in moderation. But it's trying to prove my point that when I say potatoes and I don't mean never eat a potato, it's actually a vegetable we all eat and something that's at all our holiday tables, etc. So it's understanding that a little bit and thinking about it, more fiber rich.

Foods, fish and fermented foods. How much can you have too much fish in a day? What is too much fish? I guess.

Yeah. So generally two to three servings of fish a week. A week are good. You can have more if you like a seafood diet or you're pescatarian, certainly that's perfectly fine. I think again, the source and the quality. So wild sockeye salmon, a fatty fish that's rich in omega 3s. Good for your brain, good for your body. You know, mussels, oysters, rich in zinc, great for your brain. So it's balancing that up with everything else that you're doing. Again, lean into those vegetables, you know, leafy greens, the salads, all of that, as well as, you know, the fiber rich foods. Because you don't get fiber from animal or seafood protein. You get it from vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, lentils, legumes, and those healthy whole grains. So you need to add those fiber, the fiber rich foods. And I always say fiber foods help your anxiety because they basically they're your friend, they metabolize more slowly. So add those in. So yeah, so but seafood as well, it's, you know, portion control, eating, eating better sources if you can.

Yeah.

And balancing it up with everything else.

What about fermented foods?

So that's a good one because a good, good. And recent study published in Cell, which is a highly reputable journal from the summer from researchers at Stanford, talked about fermented foods helping with that inflammation we mentioned and reducing it. So adding in a serving of fermented foods to each of your meals is a super great way to go what.

Are the top tasting fermented foods?

So I like kimchi. Kimchi. I like kimchi. It depends on the person's palate. Kefir, if you eat dairy, it's a soured yogurt. Get the plain kind, add it to smoothie or something else.

Soured yogurt, what's it called?

Kefir. K E F I R K E F I R. And they do have the fruited ones, so try to skip those. Just get the plain kombucha. Look for one that's, you know, doesn't have a ton of added sugar in it. Miso, Miso paste. I have a recipe in my book for miso glazed sweet potatoes. And it actually is a great way to have your fermented food as well as more complex vegetable. But you can also add it to other veggies. I happen to pair it with sweet potatoes, but you can brush it on the marinade onto other veggies. And almost every culture has a fermented food, so there are certainly several more. But that's some ways to get started.

Oils is the next one you have here. I've heard conflicting things on oils, that there are certain oils that are great for the brain food that are great. But then also isn't oil like a non natural process where you're extracting something from the food and so it's processed still? Isn't that like.

Right. So you know, with the oils, the ones that I kind of recommend we suggest we use are things like extra virgin olive oil. I use a little bit of avocado oil. But what you're referring to is a very important point because processed vegetable oils and those seed oils, especially the ones that are used in like fast food restaurants because they eat cost effective, are pro inflammatory, they up omega 6 levels in the body and so they are really driving inflammation instead of lowering it. So it's a good reason and certainly for physical but also importantly mental health for us to be a little bit careful.

Is extra virgin olive oil and avocado oil help decrease inflammation.

They have healthy fats in them. They are brain healthy fats. So that's the way to think about them. And yes, they don't drive, they're not increasing, they're not pro inflammatory, they're not driving inflammatory.

Those too. But if you have too much of it, it's too many calories, right?

Exactly. They can be very calorie dense. Now people who eat certain diets will say perhaps much olive oil as you want, you know, put in as much butter as you Want now butter is delicious. You can have butter. Just have it in moderation as with everything else.

The next thing is omega 3 rich foods. So omega 3 is in fish, is that right?

Yes. So omega 3s on fish you can get, you know, you get the short chain omega 3s in some plant foods, the ALA, like hemp seeds, chia seeds, flaxseeds, sea algae, sea vegetables. But the conversion to the longer chain is not as efficient in the seeds, in the vegetable sources, the plant based sources.

As it is with fish.

As it is with seafood. Exactly. Or the fish. So I feel that rather than struggling about whether you're going to get that conversion in your body, one of the things is if someone is plant based, consider an algal oil supplement which can make up for that. Now, not every person who is vegan may agree with that, but it's a suggestion to certainly for my patients, I ask them to do that.

An algae supplement.

Exactly. Algal oil. Yeah.

Okay, gotcha. I wish there was just like one supplement you could take for everything.

I know.

So dairy has. You say dairy is one of the things for brain foods as well. Is milk and dairy products really that good for you? I've heard a lot of different conflicting things about the inflammation behind milk and cheeses and things like that. But you say certain cheeses, yogurt and kefirin or kefir, right?

Yeah.

So, but well, what about milk and.

Absolutely. So, you know, I think that this comes down to the nature of your microbiome, the nature of your health. Because in my practice from when I started, I think that. Oh, I know that my nutritional psychiatry plans have become much more highly personalized.

Yes.

As we understand a little bit more about the science of the microbiome. Dairy does not agree with everyone. You know, besides the lactose intolerance, people may find it inflammatory. But again, it goes back to the source. If I'm recommending dairy or working with someone who does consume dairy, it's grass milk fed dairy. It's not just hormonal infused infused dairy.

Which is completely different, which is what I had my whole life growing up.

Which is what we had growing up. Absolutely. So it's the source. It's finding alternate milks that, like you mentioned, that could substitute that flavor that you might be used to or that richness with the cheeses. It really is the look for the probiotic sources. Remember that cheeses can be sheep's milk and goat's milk because there's less of an issue around the dairy farming problem that we run into. So that's an option for people who like cheeses as well.

Are those the top type of cheeses you recommend? Sheep and goat's milk.

If you're struggling with. If you don't like dairy, then you might want to consider those alternatives to cow's milk dairy products.

Gotcha. If you love cheese like me, you're saying you recommend those?

No, I'm saying look for a good source and make sure that you're getting a good source of the cheese. If you drink milk, make sure it's a grass milk.

Got it.

Where you get it from becomes important. You know, organic and all of that, so.

Gotcha.

That makes a difference.

Last thing you talked about spices. You already talked about it a little bit. But the, you know, turmeric with pepper and certain other spices. If you have no spices on your food, is it still okay if you're doing most of these things?

Absolutely. There's no hard and fast rules. So if you don't eat spices, well, maybe you don't like them. But I would encourage you to explore a little bit outside of the box, because many people just don't realize the brain benefit in the spices in their spice cabinet. It's often overlooked. Let's add a little bit of this and move on. But actually, they're very powerful.

Right. In chapter four, you talk about, I believe, trauma, PTSD and trauma. I'm curious, what type of foods continue to emphasize traumatic experiences in our mind or in our thoughts, in our bodies? I guess are there certain foods that keep us living in traumatic patterns? And then there are other foods that help us heal traumatic memories, whether it be mentally or physically from the past?

Yes. Trauma is a very, very complicated subject. And it's something that to be as a psychiatrist is not only one route to healing. And that's where, like with other conditions as well, all forms of therapies and healing and sometimes even medication become important. But if we would look just at the nutritional elements going back to that sad diet, going back to the diet that produces inflammation in the body, the added refined sugars that worsen our microbiome impact inflammation in the brain. All of that just keeps you in that negative cycle. You know, it keeps you. When you've experienced a traumatic event or more than one, your brain is. Your brain is dealing with that. So there's less of your brain available to making healthier choices. So what you want to do is almost think about it as eating in a way that calms down that brain and helps with the healing so that the person can actually Heal from within and make those better choices. So that's part of the psychological experience of it. But then, you know, foods that can help you. Blueberries actually have a good amount of evidence, believe it or not, behind them, but then leaning into those antioxidant and anti inflammatory rich foods and sort of almost revitalizing your diet. And where I always start with people is think about just one kind of unhealthy habit you've picked up during the pandemic. Start there. It's going to help you remove all that sugar, of course, step away from the cookies, find a better alternative to the ice cream, whatever it is, you know.

Absolutely. I did an interview with Dr. Daniel Amen, which I know you know as well, and I'm curious. He talks a lot about brain health as well. And I did the whole brain scan. I don't know if you've done that as well.

I haven't done it with him, but I've heard good things about.

It's fascinating what you learn about the traumas of the brain that you've had and all this stuff. I'm curious your thoughts on the effects of alcohol, smoking, vaping and marijuana on the brain health and how those things hurt or help your brain health?

Yeah. So let me start with smoking because lung cancer is still a massive killer in the United States. Putting Covid aside, putting heart disease aside, it's still a massive killer. So smoking, I, I can't really find a way. Whereas with food or even alcohol or caffeine substances that people sometimes don't consume, let's say, or don't eat, I can always find a way to provide guidance around moderation. With smoking, it's hard for me to do that.

There's no benefit.

I can't find a benefit. I still haven't my patients who, who I'm encouraging to keep up smoking will tell me it helps them with their weight. But that's unfortunately just.

It's the only benefit. But it's an unhealthy.

But it's an unhealthy benefit because you know you're kind of killing your lungs at the same time or you're creating copd, which is very painful as you grow older to suffer from.

And when you have that in your lungs, what does it do to your brain health?

Well, you for one thing, you know, your oxygen. So our bodies run on oxygen as well as other nutrients. As well as nutrients. And if your lung capacity is getting lower and lower, it's not feeding your brain enough oxygen. You're not, you know, you see this in COPD patients and people struggling with those conditions. So I can't justify that one. Louis. With cannabis, the research is emerging. There's also separate to marijuana, there's the psychedelic research that's emerging in psychiatry. I think we'll be learning more and more about that. I think what gets confusing for the public is that because marijuana has been legalized in some states, recreational use is not the same as medical use that is regulated and prescribed. So there's a little bit of confusion with that. What I notice is in individuals who are using it recreationally or what I see in my hospital practices, people don't often know what that. That cannabis is mixed with. And they can have, from psychotic episodes to worsening anxiety, they can lose touch with reality.

Interesting.

So it can be very mixed. So I think it's about the source. It's about whether it's prescribed. It's about whether you're using it responsibly or you're just kind of using it recreationally. There's a whole gamut of things there.

Is there any research on brain health and vaping?

Not that I'm familiar with. Off the top of my head. I will. I will need to look into that because I think we. I don't personally know yet.

And then with alcohol, but with alcohol.

There'S a good amount of research, but my feeling about it is offering people guidance around moderate use, responsible use, because more people than not drink alcohol. So having them understand that becomes important because it's. I know that, for example, dry January is a big thing, and I encourage people, if that's something they want to try, just make sure that if they've been drinking really heavily on the holidays, they don't just stop overnight because they can go into physiological withdrawal and be quite sick and very anxious and have their heart racing and all sorts of things. But if that's a healthy habit that they want to make, go for it. By all means, just do it with some guidance. With alcohol, there are a couple of things. Pay attention to your body intelligence, one of the principles and pillars of nutritional psychiatry. So if you drinking alcohol and you're not feeling good, pay attention to that. Or if you're feeling like you need two more glasses of wine to feel okay during COVID that has become a problem to a lot of people. We know that alcohol and drug use increased during COVID That's important to pay attention. If you're leaning on a glass of wine to help you sleep, it's going to disrupt your sleep architecture. So all of that being said, if you're drinking moderation, enjoy a cocktail, have a clean cocktail. Avoid those simple syrup, which is simply sugar, the added liqueurs, which is just messing it up. Just have a clean cocktail. And wine, red wines, whatever it is you're drinking, stay within some guidelines. Moderation. And if it's something you want to give up, you know, speak with the doctor. Because you don't want to go from six glasses of wine a day, shouldn't be drinking to zero. You want to do it gradually so that your body can handle it.

Have you seen anything on the science around sparkling water, carbonated water, on how that affects either the gut or the brain?

I've seen a little bit and I want to actually learn a bit more about it because people have said, because.

I love sparkling water.

Exactly. And I drink sparkling water plain, you know, because I like water as, you know, my go to beverage that I sip on. And actually it has a good amount of evidence in mental health because dehydration can worsen anxiety and precipitate panic and low levels of water. And actually dehydration has been. There's an association with depression as well. So, you know, it's important to keep our bodies running. But the combination. I've heard things about, you know, the impact on the microbiome. I'm just not sure. So that's something I want to look into.

I'd love to learn that. If you get the research, let me know.

I will.

Because I want to make sure that I'm not drinking too much of it because I don't drink any alcohol. And so I've never been drunk. I have like a Bailey's on Ice maybe like once or twice a year. And that's about it.

That's about it. Yeah.

And water gets boring after a while. And I don't want to have soda. I pretty much eliminated soda from my life. Except forever. Occasionally.

Yeah.

So it's like. And I know that, you know, fruit juices, like lemonade or something, has a lot of sugar in it. So it's like.

Do you flavor your water with, like, citrus? Maybe I should start doing berries or just a natural.

I don't like berries, which is bad. Whatever.

You know, pieces of citrus, pieces of.

Kiwi, maybe like a thing of lemon. Just put it in.

Exactly. A fresh squeeze of lemon, a fresh squeeze of actual orange. Very different from a juice. You know, the actual squeeze of that really just helps to give you a little bit of a different flavor.

Yeah, I like that.

And lots of ice, you know, Change it up a little bit.

Yeah, I can start doing that more. You also have some great research in here, which I think some people like. This chapter on I guess libido, the foods that you should be eating that can enhance your libido or the foods that will hurt your libido. Can you share a few of the positive and the negative ones?

Sure. So you know, the ones that you want to be leaning into this long list. But you know, dark chocolate, people will be happy to know extra dark natural chocolate that's, you know, 75% or higher, is actually good and is an oxytocin rich food. Pistachio nuts, avocado apples, there are a few that you can tap into and you know, cleaning up that, it goes back to cleaning up that diet. You know, there's certain amount, there's a certain amount of research on that and.

But see soy protein was 1 was.

In men for men to avoid.

For women, it's okay.

It was what the research showed that wasn't as problematic for women. So it's sort of interesting there. But again, you know, a lot of Asian countries, a lot of actually in the U.S. you know, soy, it's the sources of soy. Right. So non gmo, well sourced organic tofu, actual edamame, soybeans versus some sort of processed version, those become important.

Sugar is a big thing as well to avoid.

Yes.

Right.

It comes back to that sad diet. Yeah.

If you could eliminate one food from everyone's diet forever, if you just say we had to eliminate one thing from the earth, no one could ever eat this specific thing, what would that be to help us improve our mental health, our brains, our overall physical health or gut microbiome.

It would be refined sugars.

Refined sugars, right.

Because we have sugar in. You know, many different foods get broken down to sugar, but it's the refined, those added refined sugars. So you know how high fructose corn syrup got developed in the food industry. All of those things really did change the nature of our food. And so adding refined sugars I think would make a difference.

If getting rid of those.

Getting rid of those.

What would people, what are three great substitutes instead of refined sugar? If they're used to putting sugar in coffee or I don't know, on top of foods. What would be three in moderation substitutes that would maybe even benefit if you took these things.

So berries, we'll go back to that. No, you don't like them. But a piece of fruit. So I like little clementine, you know that they're tie. They Small eat a little bit of it. Cinnamon. Cinnamon is a spice that actually offers sweetness along with that, I think pumpkin pie spice. So those all have a little bit of sweetness without. Without the actual sugar. So although unless you have a spice that has. Is a blend which has sugar added, that's different. I'm talking about the pure spice. So cinnamon, spent cinnamon all have a little bit of the sweet sweetness because the spices have sweetness. And I guess the third one would be.

Like honey agave. Those.

Right. So I use a touch of honey in things. And the reason is that honey, I know individuals who are plant based won't consume honey. But honey has a lot of other health benefits. It helps immunity, it helps a lot of other stuff. So good source of like manuka honey or really well sourced honey could actually have health benefits, other health benefits. So for me, if I'm sweetening a whole batch of chia pudding that I'm using, I'm not using a ton of it. I'm using a touch of honey. You know what's a touch?

Because I love honey.

Right.

Don't put too much on.

Exactly. So it's like if I'm making a whole bowl of say two or three cups, I would probably use not more than a teaspoon for a large batch. It's not much. So for me, over time I've kind of honed my sweet senses to having less sugar. So I can do that. And it's a process. Even my patients will tell me it's a process from a candy bar going, teaching them to eat and have their palate get used to a dark natural chocolate that actually is loaded in serotonin and magnesium. And lots of good things for you. They go from a whole candy bar to eating a square or two because the palate changes. And that part of it is that the candy bar is often the sugar that tastes good and that is wanting us to eat more as well. Gets into that vicious cycle.

You've been studying this for a long time. You teach this to a lot of people with your clients, but you're also now teaching this to nutritionists and other experts in the world. What's the thing that you struggle with the most in your own. With all the information that you know with your own food intake or I guess what's the thing that's challenging for you?

So this is a great question because with the emergence of my book during a pandemic, sharing my book with the world became almost an entire job on its own.

It's a lot of work.

The thing That I really had to relearn was my time management around food preparation. And I say that as a chef. I say that as someone who talks about meal preparation as being so important. Because what would happen, Louis, is I would be going from one podcast to the next, and I would not realize I didn't have a lunch break. I would be sitting with the virtual world and promoting the book, be sitting on one interview after the next and have forgotten my water bottle. And so really, I had to take a step back and reevaluate how I was going to handle it, because, like I said, it became like a whole other job. And so trust me when I say, you know, my nutrition is not perfect. I've had to relearn a lot of that again and say Wednesday is going to be my meal prep day, and I'm going to go back to making my chia pudding and stuff because it was so thrown off by the pandemic and needing to promote and share my book without any, you know, any media available.

Chia pudding, is that a healthy dessert?

So you can actually have it in many different ways. I have it as a breakfast, I have it as a dessert. So the great thing about chia pudding is it's all about the ratio of the chia seeds to the coconut milk. Coconut milk.

Ooh, that sounds good.

And then the seeds expand in gel and they form like their own little pudding. So you don't need much of it to be very satiated because they're rich in fiber and protein. And then you get some healthy fat from the coconut milk, and I top it. So if I'm having in the morning, I'll put. I know, berries. But if I want it as more of an evening dessert, I'll either add some. Make it a cocoa flavor with some.

Cacao nibs or something.

Some cacao nibs for crunch. Or add in some natural cacao powder. When I'm making it, you can play with it and really get something good out of it, or I have my turmeric in it and then just switch it out with maybe some crunchy nuts for the evening or whatever it is. So you can actually have it as a snack whenever you want.

How do you make this?

It's very simple. I don't have the ratio with me, but it's because I usually make it in large batches. It's a small amount of chia seeds. It's with coconut milk, and it's basically two ingredients. You make sure that it's blended. You just use a spoon. And what I Do is I set it out in little mini ramekins. So I have a little chia pudding jars or you can use jars and seal it. The little tiny mason jars. You can use little ramekins and cover it with, you know, kind of a plastic wrap. Plastic wrap? Yeah. So that it's sealed and then you can use it at least for seven days at a time. You can make a batch and it sets overnight. So it's actually.

So you just mix in coconut milk with chia seeds in a jar. Do you put it in the refrigerator? How does it work?

Yes, in the fridge.

That's all you do?

That's all you do.

You mix it in and then you put it in there?

Yes, so. So the chia seeds swell with the liquid.

It coagulates a little bit more.

Exactly. And they kind of make this pudding type texture.

That's all it is. There's no other process to it. Put it in the refrigerator, let it.

Cool, stir it up and just chill.

It overnight for 2412 hours. 24 hours?

Actually, the small ones set pretty fast, so you can sometimes do it in a few hours. So you could do it in the morning and eat it later in the day. What I tend to do is make it when I do my food prep day and make it for the week.

That sounds good. I'm going to have to try that. I could do that and not mess it up. I feel like. Do you have the ratios in here?

Yes, I have the check and if not, it's also on my Instagram.

That's amazing. This is your brain on food. An indispensable guide to the surprising foods that fight depression, ptsd, adhd, anxiety, ocd, help with your sex drive, and so much more. This has been very inspiring. I have a couple final questions for you, but I want to make sure people get the book. They can get it anywhere online, Amazon, your website. What is your website, by the way, where people can get more?

Sure. My website is umanaidumd.com and my Instagram is R U M A N A I D O O. We also put out tons of information there. And I'm actually hosting my first virtual course in nutritional psychiatry early in 2022 for anyone who wants to learn more and dive deeper than the book.

Wow. What would that cover?

That will cover beyond what's in the book. So we go through the basic tenets of the book because people have individual questions. They want a deeper learning of the subject. And as you know, in any book, you can never cover all the topics. So we go into more topics, question and answer sessions, and hopefully it will deepen people's knowledge of the subject and the interest.

Dr. Uma, I really acknowledge you for the way you show up. I think it's. I think researchers and people working in universities can stay stuck in the university or working with one on one clients, and there's nothing wrong with that. But by you taking this, simplifying it into a book, and now wanting to go beyond that, I think is really inspiring for so many people that are confused around what to eat, how to eat, how it affects their gut, how it affects their brain. So I really acknowledge you for showing up, for doing the work, for packaging this in a way that we can consume it and understand it so it doesn't seem so overwhelming, and for doing all the podcasts you do to get it out there, even if your diet's a little off here and there. But it's amazing. And so I really acknowledge you for your decades of research and training so that we can become better human beings. I have a question that I ask everyone at the end called Three Truths Question. So I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical scenario. It's your last day on earth, many years away from now. You get to live as long as you want to live, but eventually it's, you got to call it your last day. And you've accomplished all of your dreams in life. You've accomplished everything. You've created the life of your dreams, you've spent time with the people you love. But for whatever reason, you've got to take all of your work with you. Your message, your content, your books, videos, like everything you've ever created. For whatever reason, it's got to go somewhere else. So we don't have access to your information anymore, but you get to leave behind on this last day three lessons, three things you know to be true about all the things you've learned in life that you would like to share with the world. What would you say would be those three truths? Off the cuff, obviously.

Number one, be kind to yourself, because without that, honestly, you're not going to be able to help anyone else.

Yeah.

The second is you are what you eat, even though it's cliched and overly used and it's often misunderstood and never actually taken seriously. So you mentioned the sad diet, and you know what I'm talking about. And the third is spices are the magic in your kitchen cabinet that are going to help your mental health.

Really? I like it. Spices are the magic. Very cool. I'm excited for This I want people to get the book. Thank you. Is there anything else we can do to support you currently?

Well, thank you, I think, you know, helping me to bring this message forward in whatever way you can. So I thank you for sharing this podcast and inviting me. But people listening to it, you know, supporting the book, supporting the work, letting us know the burning questions that they have. You know, it's social media. I can't answer, I can't be a doctor, I can't answer your medical questions. But you know, we can if we hear from people. We'll put a post out on something, we'll add it as a segment to the course that I teach, that type of stuff. So, so that really helps me.

Okay, cool. Okay, final question. Dr. Uma, what's your definition of greatness?

Truly being yourself, if you are able to reach that place within yourself, to be confident, to be yourself, I truly think that makes you the greatest that you can be on this earth.

If you got value from that, then go ahead and stick around for more. Coming up Right now, what I'm hearing you say obesity is a big factor to mental health stresses and brain stresses and Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's obesity.

I mean, they're all, it all sort of goes together from depression to problems in school to memory problems later in life.

What's your thought? I mean, I'm all for people loving themselves where they're at where they're at in their life and loving their bodies for where they're at and not shaming themselves. And the self love movement of accepting yourself for where you are. But that's only going to hurt our brains if we're not actually saying, okay, I accept and love myself where I'm at and the decisions I've made to be here. But I've got to start working on these things. Otherwise there's going to be some challenges emotionally, mentally, anxiety, depression. If I don't work on it right.

My health, then don't worry, be happy. People die the earliest from accidents and preventable illnesses. And I want people to love themselves. But doing the right thing is an act of love. Like if you're really unhealthy, walking is an act of love. And so it sort of catches me in this funny place. I remember I was on a plane once and I'd figure out this connection between as your weight goes up, the size and function of your brain goes down. And I was sitting next to someone who was very overweight and we were on a tiny plane going to Des Moines, Iowa for public Television. And in my head, I'm like, oh, you want to talk to her about that? And then I talk to myself all the time. It's like, no, you don't want to say anything. Don't need to upset her day. And. But then I went to Pittsburgh and I went to gnc, you know, the supplement company. And one of my core values is being authentic. So I live the message of my life. And the message of GNC is health.

Yes.

And their number three guy, their marketing director took me to dinner, was morbidly obese. Really? And. And that thought in my head is, you should talk to him about this. And he made the comment, he opened the conversation. He's like, you know, I don't know why I'm overweight, but my numbers are okay. And I'm like, what numbers? And I'm like, tom, you don't want to be a dinosaur. Because I had figured out, big body, little brain, you're gonna become extinct. And we had this great conversation because my favorite verse in the New Testament is John 8:32, Know the truth and the truth will set you free. I'm like, do you not want to be like the number two guy or the number one guy? You're not going to do that if your brain's not healthy. And that conversation, the next year, he lost 80 pounds. Wow. Most people don't know that this is a serious health, mental health, brain health risk. And I just want to tell people the truth, and I want them to get healthy. And people go, but I don't like any of one of my NFL players. But I don't like any of the foods that are healthy for me. And I'm like, none. Not one. And we do this great exercise. And it turned out he liked like 70 of the foods that were. You only want to love food that loves you back. It's a relationship. Right. I don't know if you've ever been in a bad relationship, but I've been in a bad relationship. 20 year marriage with someone who didn't like me very much. I'm never going to do that again. I'm just not. It's a boundary for me. I'm damn sure not going to be in a relationship. Bad relationship with food. I want to be in a good relationship. I mean, I love food. I just want it to love me back.

What are the five foods that we should have to help our brain the most?

Salmon. Wild salmon. Blueberries. Walnuts. Olive or avocado oil. Yeah. Healthy protein. Chocolate. I make this great brain. Healthy, hot Chocolate every night for my family. I just look at the six of them that live at home. I'm like, okay, who's up for it tonight? So Costco, of all places. Organic vanilla, unsweetened almond milk, Raw cacao. It's a superfood. So organic raw cacao and a little bit of sweet. Leaf is a company that makes flavored stevia. They make chocolate flavored stevia and put it in the blender, heat it up. It's phenomenal. Good for me. I love it, and it loves me back.

It loves you back. Salmon, blueberries, walnuts, avocado or avocado oil, raw chocolate are some of the top favorite flavors. Foods for the brain.

For the brain.

Why are these foods? Is it high in antioxidants? Is it proteins that they have?

So blueberry, it's the phytonutrients. They've actually done studies showing cognitive enhancement with blueberry juice. Salmon, it's the omega 3 fatty acids and the complete protein. Avocados, it's the healthy fat, especially omega 3 fatty acids. Same with walnuts. Your brain is fat. Low fat diets are bad, really, for your brain. People who go on low fat diets actually have an increased incidence of depression.

Really?

Yeah.

So now you don't want bad fats, Fried fats particularly. You want healthy fats. Avocados, nuts and seeds, green leafy vegetables.

Olive oil.

Is it olive oil? Avocado oil, Damian. Nut oil, yeah.

So how much food should the brain have? Is it. You know, your buddy, our buddy Dave Asprey, talks about fasting a lot. A lot of people are in this fasting craze. If we're not giving the brain food or nutrients for a day, three days, five days, does that help the brain? Does it reset the brain? Does it hurt the brain?

So intermittent fasting, where you go 12 to 16 hours, from dinner to breakfast or lunch, is good. They've actually found your. There's a term called autophagy where your brain begins to clean up some of the trash.

So it works in the brain, too? Not just in the.

It works on the brain as well. Now, I grew up Roman Catholic, and long suffering was one of the gifts, and I never got that one. A fan of long suffering?

Yes.

I'm not doing a marathon. It's, like, way too much stress for my brain. And I'm not fasting for three days. But I can go 12 hours. I mean, like, that's not a big deal. And it helps people lose weight. It helps them be healthy. And I come from a Family of fat people. My dad used to hate when I would say that. But I have a brother who's 150 pounds overweight, despite me loving him, nudging him.

And.

You just have to be thoughtful, know your vulnerability and bright minds. And gee, is genetics so know what you're genetically vulnerable to. And you know I have to work on it, Right?

Right.

How you mentioned you don't do marathons if you're not traumatizing the brain through contact sports, but you're an endurance junkie. You love to run marathons. You run them every year. You do triathlons, you do ultra marathons, you're doing mountain climbing. Are these activities good for the brain to put some extreme stress on it, even if it's not physical contact to the brain, or does it long term hurt the brain?

The scans I have of extreme athletes are not good.

Really?

Yeah, I think it's too much stress for the brain. I love HIIT training, high intensity training that's been shown to increase mitochondria and cells. I'm not a fan of putting your body under a lot of stress. It's just not good for it. Some stress is good. We call it eustress a little bit so your fibers grow. That's why weight training is important. The stronger you are as you age, less likely you are to have Alzheimer's disease. But you want to love your brain. You want to make sure you're sleeping for your brain. That's the s in bright mind.

So someone's like, you know what? Okay, I hear what you're saying, but I really love to do a marathon or two a year. And a few times in my life, I want to do, you know, on a climb Everest or something like that. I want to do something to challenge myself.

And I go, awesome.

Is that going to hurt the brain.

If you're doing everything else right? So One of my NFL players just signed an $80 million deal. So he's gonna play. He's going to play. And. But if you're going to do something that is potentially damaging to the brain, make sure you're doing everything else right. So, for example, being a firefighter is a brain damaging profession. We need to own that. Just like we need to own playing football is a brain damaging profession. It's like, own it. Everybody knows it. Now. When I started my work in 2007, very few people know it now everybody knows it. But they don't know that being a firefighter because they're our heroes. Those are the people we need when we need them and we need them healthy. But because of the toxins they breathe, because of the emotional trauma they see day in and day out, because of the head traumas they experience, they have a higher incidence of depression, a higher incidence of suicide, and a higher incidence of early death. We should not be okay with this, but it doesn't mean we're not going to have firefighters. What it means is we should put their brain in a rehabilitative environment all the time. We should be teaching them about brain health like with NFL players currently. We should be teaching them, look, if you're gonna do this, own it. It's a brain damaging sport, so let's just do everything else, right?

What are the other things, right, that you talk about? Are. There are a few main keys. Is it nutrition, is it sleep?

Well, we think about bright minds. It's such a good model. So blood flow, B is blood flow. So exercise and foods like beets that increase blood flow or supplements like ginkgo that increase blood flow. The R is retirement and aging. New learning is absolutely critical. You know, your work and studying, greatness, you're always learning something new, which is great.

So for the brain, retirement plus aging, is that what you say?

Retirement and aging.

So continuing to learn in those stages.

And always putting yourself in an anti aging environment. So the food you eat, the exercise, new learning, being passionate, never retiring, right? I mean, maybe you go and do something else you like better because you have enough money, but never retirement. Because when you start, when you, when you start not doing things, your brain actually starts to disconnect itself.

So when we say people, someone retires at 60, 70, 75, and they say, you know, I'm just gonna sit on the beach for the next however long, enjoy my family time, enjoy the money I've had and relax. What happens to those people if they don't have a purposeful mission in their life beyond relaxation? What happens or what?

Their brain disconnects itself. Really. They have a higher incidence of dementia. And my dad worked until he died when he was almost 91 and he's like, when my friends retire, they die.

Really?

And now if you retire because you really didn't love what you were doing anyways, and you go off and do something you love, maybe not golf because you're around all those toxins on the grain, maybe not golf, but when, if you're doing things you love and you're always learning, well, that's awesome. That's a really good thing.

So you can retire from your job, don't retire from your Life.

Don't retire from your life.

Stay connected in some meaningful pursuit.

Absolutely critical to stay keeping young. And then the I is inflammation. This is the big bad actor, because inflammation in your body, which comes from eating processed foods. One of the surprising things comes from gum disease. If you're not a flosser, really, you need to floss. I'm a flossing fool.

Me too.

I did twice a day.

I wasn't that way until I started reading the study that people who have gum disease have a higher incidence of heart disease, but also a higher incidence of brain disease. They actually found gum bacteria higher in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. And so omega 3 fatty acids decrease inflammation. Fruits and vegetables decrease inflammation. Flossing, probiotics, getting your gut healthy. There's this huge connection between the brain and the gut because inflammation often comes from having an unhealthy gut, either from infections or the lousy food that you're eating. And the G is genetics. You need to know your vulnerability. But genes aren't a death sentence. What they should be is a wake up call to know what you're vulnerable to. To my. I have heart disease and obesity in my family. I don't have heart disease and I'm not obese. Why? Because I'm always on a prevention program. You just want to be serious as soon as you know what your risks are.

Okay.

H is head trauma, which we talked about. Brain is soft, skull is hard. There are 3 million new head injuries every year in the United States. This is a big deal.

3 million new head injuries is every year. Is that from car accidents or sports falls? Everything.

Everything.

Wow.

You know, being hit, domestic violence, whatever.

It might be anything. Gunshot, whatever, whatever.

3 million. Which means most people live over the last 30 years. That's 90 million people in the United States who struggle with the effects of traumatic brain injury. Very high in prison populations, very high in people who struggle with psychiatric diseases. And then T is toxins. And so you go, what can I do to support my brain? Well, one, avoid them. Alcohol is not a health food. My biggest blog last year was titled I told you so. And when I dated my wife, Tana. I think you met my wife. She's awesome. And when we were dating, she said, your current wife? My current wife.

Not the 20 year.

Not the 20 year. She said, I'll never tell you I told you so. She lied. She just flat out lied to me. It's like her favorite thing to say. But I've been telling people ever since I started imaging. Alcohol is Not a health food. And our first clinic was right next to the Napa Valley, so it was not a popular thing to say, but it's just what I saw. And then there's a study from Johns Hopkins that say people who drink every day have smaller brains. Then last year, the American Cancer Society came out and said, any alcohol is associated with an increased risk in cancer. Seven different cancers. Oh, any alcohol, Any alcohol?

Every wine drinker is saying, no, you're wrong. No, I'm not listening to this right now. What about a glass once or twice a week? What about the nutrients from the.

You're going to do something that's bad for your brain. You should be doing other things that are good for your brain. Right. It doesn't mean you can never have a drink, but just know it's not a healthy, healthful thing to do. So you want to do the other things.

Yeah, like when I eat a bowl of ice cream and pen pizza, I know it's not helping my brain.

Right.

And if you do it once a month, it's like not the biggest deal in the world. But then, because here we're talking about tea for toxins. You want to support the four organs of detoxification. So your kidneys drink more water. Your gut eat more fiber. In my shake every morning, I put fiber in it in your. For your liver, kill the alcohol and eat detoxifying vegetables. They're called brassicas, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale. And take infrared saunas. People who take the most saunas have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer's disease because it detoxifies you. And it's also. There's actually a study in the Journal of the American Medical association, people with major depression took one infrared sauna. Their mood was better. Well, how cool is that? I mean, that's like simple. There's no side effects, mostly to taking a 25 minute sauna.

So is it infrared or any type of sauna?

Well, it's probably any type of sauna, but the study was on infrared.

Right, gotcha. But anything that's releasing the toxins, any heat exposure, not too much sweating with.

Exercise or saunas is detoxifying for you.

Yeah.

And this isn't hard, right? Like, not one thing I've said so far is hard. The M in bright minds is mental health. This is where you learn to kill the ants and tame the dragons. So ant stands for automatic negative thoughts. The thoughts that come into your mind automatically and ruin your day. And the exercise is super simple. Whenever you feel Sad or mad or nervous or out of control. Write down what you're thinking and then just ask yourself if it's true. You don't have to believe every stupid thing you think. I didn't learn that till I was 28 years old. I'm like, I'm in class. I'm a psychiatric resident at Walter reed in Washington, D.C. and I'm like, no, I don't have to believe the noise in my head. It's like, thoughts come from your genes, right? They're actually written into your genes. You're a failure, maybe because your grandfather had to file for bankruptcy. They come from your parents talking to you. They come from your siblings. I'm one of seven. They come from the noise. They come from your coaches, and they lie. Just because you have a thought has nothing to do with whether or not it's true.

Absolutely. And I was working with a therapist recently that said, just because someone tells you something about yourself doesn't mean. And they're trying to give you this thing doesn't mean you need to receive that gift. It's not a gift you need to receive. They're offering you a gift. That's a bad gift. Doesn't mean you need to take it. You can just say, okay, I don't need that gift right now. I don't need to let that thought sink in and believe this. I think I'll speak for myself. Growing up, anytime I heard someone say, you suck. You're dumb. You're an idiot. You're not enough. You'll never amount to whatever. I learned to believe those things, and I think a lot of us probably learn to believe whatever we hear from anyone, whether it was a side comment or a direct comment. And how have you learned over the years to really defend against those ants? Like, besides, someone might say, okay, I tried writing it down that this is not true and analyzing this. But how can we really show up for ourselves so our thoughts don't consume us in a negative way?

So you know that if you're overweight on Monday and you have a salad, you are not going to be trim on Friday.

Right.

You need to develop practices. Right. That getting well physically is a discipline that occurs over and over, over time. Right. To be mentally well, you need to develop practices that you do, like eating well over and over and over. So, for example, I start every day with, today is going to be a great day as soon as my feet hit the floor in the morning. And today was easier because I spent last night in Santa Monica and walking on the beach this morning and I get to hang out with you. Today is going to be a great day. That way my unconscious mind finds why it's going to be a great day. And then your brain is always listening. I talk about taming the hopeless and helpless dragon, the dragon from the past that feeds depression. And it's something I do called positivity bias training. I want to get my brain looking for what's right because it automatically goes for what's wrong. And so I start every day with, today is going to be be a great day. And then if I have a hard time, if I feel sad or mad or nervous or out of control, I write down what I'm thinking. And then I just go, is it true? And there's a whole bigger method in the book. And often I'll go to what's the opposite of that thought? No one loves me or no one respects me or you're a failure. And so quickly, my brain, if I go, my wife never listens to me. I've had that thought. I'll go, well, I never listen to my wife. And I'll be like, oh, that can be true. Or she does listen to me. And then I find the times, it's just, I don't believe what goes on in my head. And then when I go to bed at night, and this is so powerful, I say a prayer and then I go, what went well today? And I put myself to sleep by reviewing the positive things that happen that day. And I find the little micro moments, whether it's that sip of hot chocolate that I made that I'm proud of myself for or some cool text or interaction, and it sets my dreams up to be more positive.

This gut bacteria actually controls our metabolism, communicates with our brain, actually can help us heal from the inside out. And very importantly, that's where your immune.

System, 70% of our immune system lives inside our gut.