Memory enhancement self-help programs abound and promise improved memory performance by the utilization of any number of seemingly unique techniques focused on the context of how information is encoded.
Bad things happen. And the human brain is especially adept at making sure that we keep track of these events. This is an adaptive mechanism important for survival.
This low-fat idea that's been drummed into our heads and bellies is completely off-base and deeply responsible for most of our modern ills.
Strokes are categorized as either bleeding into the brain or a blockage in blood supply, known as an ischemic stroke. The latter are overwhelmingly more common, compromising about 87 percent of all stroke events.
Our ancestors relied upon their advanced brains to survive during times of food shortage, and fortunately, the human brain is able to utilize body fat as an extremely efficient fuel to sustain function when glucose-providing food is unavailable.
Saturated fat is a fundamental building block for brain cells. It's certainly interesting to consider that one of the richest sources of saturated fat in nature is human breast milk.
Throughout our lifetimes, we are constantly regenerating new brain cells in the hippocampus, a process called neurogenesis. New stem cells are constantly being born in the hippocampus that ultimately differentiate into fully functional neurons.
Shoot for a total of no more than 80 grams of carbs in your daily diet. This means favoring vegetables that grow above ground like kale, broccoli, spinach, and cauliflower as opposed to those that store carbohydrate in the form of starch like potatoes and beets.
Most grain foods, whether we're talking about quinoa, amaranth, the very popular grains of the day - the reality is they still are associated with a carbohydrate surge.
The science supporting the relationship between carbohydrates and dementia is quite exciting, as it paves the way for lifestyle changes that can profoundly affect a person's chances of remaining intact, at least from a brain perspective.
Carbohydrates, whether derived from gluten-containing foods or other sources, including fruit, sweetened beverages, and starchy vegetables, are dangerous as they relate to brain health in and of themselves.
The best diet for overall health, and specifically for heart, brain, and cancer risk reduction, is a diet that's aggressively low in carbohydrates with an abundance of healthful fat, and this is the central theme of 'Grain Brain.'
The biggest issue by far is that carbohydrates are absolutely at the cornerstone of all of our major degenerative conditions.
The food we eat goes beyond its macronutrients of carbohydrates, fat and protein. It's information. It interacts with and instructs our genome with every mouthful, changing genetic expression.
Antioxidants are chemicals that break down or neutralize the damaging effects of free radicals - chemicals produced as a byproduct of normal cellular metabolism.
Two forms of fat that are vitally important for brain health are cholesterol and saturated fat.
Dementia is our most-feared illness, more than heart disease or cancer.
Rarely, Type 2 diabetes develops without any readily identifiable predisposing factor. But in the great majority of cases, it is brought on by lifestyle activities, including, and clearly most importantly, dietary choices.
Alzheimer's is a disease for which there is no effective treatment whatsoever. To be clear, there is no pharmaceutical agent, no magic pill that a doctor can prescribe that will have any significant effect on the progressive downhill course of this disease.
It may seem draconian, but the best recommendation I can make is to completely avoid grains.
