Power Foods for the Brain (2 page)

In Chicago, researchers from Rush University Medical Center have been tracking thousands of people, teasing apart what separates those who stay healthy and sharp throughout life from those who don’t, finding that particular aspects of diet and lifestyle are key. Other researchers in the United States, Europe, and Asia have conducted detailed studies into specific nutrients that either protect or attack the brain. Meanwhile, new brain scanning techniques have allowed researchers to look into the brains of living human beings to understand brain function in ways that were impossible even a few years ago. Special tests have begun to show who is at risk for cognitive problems as the years go by.

Along the way, it has become clear that the diet changes my research team found to promote physical health and those that other researchers have found to be critical for brain health are remarkably similar. Specific foods and eating patterns have a powerful protective effect.

And there is more to it. It is possible to exercise the brain in simple ways that, over time, strengthen the connections between brain cells. And simple physical exercises actually allow you to counteract the brain shrinking that occurs in most people as they age.

It is urgent that people know about these findings, and that is why I’ve written this book and developed this program. The fact is, we know more than ever about how our memory works and about the causes of memory problems, whether they are minor lapses, “senior moments,” or potentially devastating problems like Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. And yet most people have no idea of any of this. While they may have a pretty clear idea about how to prevent lung cancer and how to reduce their risk of heart attack, most have absolutely no clue that it is possible to protect the brain.

There are simple, powerful steps that you can take, starting right now. This book will show you how to put this information to work and help preserve your memory and strengthen your brain.

Taking advantage of what research has shown is not difficult. Here are three steps you can take that will shield your brain:

Step One:
The first step is using power foods to give your brain the nutrition it needs. We will select foods with three things in mind:

First, we’ll shield you from toxins that are in everyday foods and water. They are surprisingly common, and it is critical to know where they are and how to avoid them.

Second, certain natural fats are essential for brain function, while others are harmful. We’ll see which are which and where they are on your plate. The correct balance makes a big difference in helping each brain cell work optimally.

Third, certain vitamins knock out free radicals and other compounds that could damage brain cells. We’ll see which foods and supplements provide the nutrients you need.

Building a healthful menu is the most important thing you can do. After all, every minute of the day, your brain cells are bathing in the nutrients—or toxins—you’ve taken in through foods.

Step Two:
Did you know you can exercise your brain? Simple mental exercises strengthen connections within your brain. They are surprisingly easy, fun, and powerful. I’ll help you develop a regimen for peak performance.

Physical exercises are powerful, too. Just as exercise strengthens your heart, it does the same for your brain. The effect of
physical exercise is so dramatic that MRI scans can demonstrate a visible difference in brain structure in a relatively short period of time. You’ll learn which exercises are most helpful to the brain and why.

Step Three:
Now it’s time to defeat the common physical threats to your memory and preserve and enhance your brain. There are two specific issues you’ll want to address: sleep disruptions and certain medications and medical conditions.

Sleep is essential for integrating memories, and many cognitive problems can be traced to common sleep disruptions. We will see how to correct any problems so you can take advantage of the natural integrative power of sleep.

Common medications and medical conditions can derail your thought processes, sometimes to the point of being mistaken for Alzheimer’s disease—until the cause is identified. I’ll show you the surprising list of common culprits and what to do about them.

Whether you aim to simply boost your brainpower, eliminate daily lapses, or cut your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and stroke, you will want to put each of these simple steps to work so you can be at your absolute best for the long haul. Implementing your brain-enhancing strategy will be easy with the advice I offer and the menu plans and delicious recipes I’ll share.

Millions of families are worried about what the future holds for them. During my training in neurology and psychiatry at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C., I had my first encounters with patients who felt that their minds and nervous systems were no longer their own. Some were succumbing to severe memory loss caused by
Alzheimer’s. Others had had strokes. And still others showed the progressive nerve symptoms caused by multiple sclerosis or other conditions. There was very little we could do to help them and nothing we knew of that could prevent these problems from arising.

Even today, most people—including many doctors—have yet to learn about the techniques you will read about here. And even though the medications that aim to slow the onslaught of memory problems are all but useless, few doctors and patients have learned about the new research on the power of nutrition. Most have no idea that their mealtime choices could make a difference.

This book changes that. The fact is, there is much we can do to prevent memory loss, not to mention maximize the everyday function of people who simply want to feel their best.

Simple choices can enhance and protect your brain, give you energy, improve your sleep, and boost your overall health. I will show you how.

Not long ago someone gave me a book on survival in wilderness settings. It helpfully pointed out that if you happened to wash up on some faraway island in the middle of nowhere, a wild Malay apple would be perfectly safe to eat, while the fruit of the
pangi
tree could kill you. If you found an ordinary strawberry, it would be delicious, but a look-alike
duchesnea
is poisonous. And it is important to be able to tell an edible Dryad’s saddle mushroom from a deadly panther cap. After a few pages I realized I had no idea how to handle any such situation and was grateful to have a grocery store across the street.

Nutrition can be confusing, and, as a result, different people
interpret things in different ways. When it comes to research on food and the brain, scientists all have their own opinions. Some want to wait before suggesting any diet changes. They feel we need more research before we can make definitive statements.

Others, including me, feel that we do not have the luxury of waiting. If you are planning your dinner this evening, you are stacking the odds one way or the other. You need to go by the best information available. As you’ll see, that information is powerful and is easy to put into action. At least it’s easier than trying to identify the fruit of the
pangi
tree.

As you put the findings of this book to work to protect your brain, you may notice not only that you feel mentally sharp. You may also find that your bathroom scale is becoming friendlier day by day. Your cholesterol and blood pressure may improve, and if you have diabetes, it may get better, too. If you have arthritis or other chronic aches and pains, you may notice that they are fading. That’s the power of healthful eating.

My hope is that, instead of searching for words or worrying about your memory, you’ll be searching for a tougher crossword puzzle, calling up old schoolmates whose names you remember well, and planning your next walking trip through the Rockies.

I hope you enjoy the very best of health and all the foods that will bring it to you.

I
n my previous books on health and nutrition, I have translated the research findings of my team and others into steps to help people conquer diabetes, cholesterol problems, chronic pain, and other health concerns. However, this book did not start with our research studies. It started with my own family.

My mother’s father was a physician in a small Iowa town back when house calls and home births were everyday parts of a doctor’s work. His diet, like that of the rest of the family, was typical Iowa fare, which is to say it was long on meat and potatoes and short on green vegetables and fruits. Long before the advent of health insurance, patients did not always have money to pay for his services. So people often paid with a chicken or a cut of beef.

At around age sixty, he suffered his first heart attack. And not long after that, his behavior started to change. He became confused. Sometimes he set out for walks without seeming to
know where he was going. Cars had to stop as he wandered across busy streets. Once in a while, a motorist knew him and brought him back home. With time, things got worse. He became aggressive and was put into a hospital, where another heart attack eventually killed him.

We never knew if his problems were due to Alzheimer’s disease, a series of strokes, or something else. His wife, my grandmother, lived longer, but her memory went, too. “By the time I get to the end of an article in the newspaper, I’ve forgotten the beginning,” she told me. Memory gaps here and there began to coalesce into ever-bigger caverns where she was unable to find her way. It was tragically downhill from there, as she fell into severe dementia.

Both of my father’s parents suffered the same fate—a gradual decline into more and more severe cognitive problems to the point where they were essentially unresponsive to the world around them. They existed this way for years before finally dying.

Fast-forward. Not long after I got out of medical school, I became concerned about my mother. Her memory was fine at the time. It was her cholesterol that was a problem. She and my father lived in Fargo, North Dakota, where they and their five children took full advantage of a typical Midwestern diet, and the results showed up on her cholesterol test.

A diet change would have helped, but it was a tough sell for my dear, stubborn mom. It was not until her personal physician threatened to put her on cholesterol-lowering medication for the rest of her life that she decided to try some changes in the kitchen. And, to her credit, she eventually did throw out the cholesterol-laden meat, dairy products, eggs, and greasy foods, adopting a vegan diet for seven weeks before going back to
see her doctor. And her doctor could not believe the change. Her cholesterol had dropped nearly 80 points, which he thought
had
to be the result of some kind of mistake in the laboratory! But the effect was real, and my mother no longer needed medicines at all.

She continued on a healthy diet and lured my father into healthier eating habits, too. At family get-togethers, my mother and I prepared healthful foods and did our best to rebuff the contributions of family members who remained loyal to our not-so-healthful North Dakota traditions.

Sometime later, my parents moved into a retirement home. And there healthy diets were not the order of the day. The management felt that people in their “golden years” were not interested in healthful eating, and meaty, cheesy fare was on the menu at every meal. My parents soon drifted back into unhealthful diets, and she and my father dug into whatever foods were in front of them.

My mother’s cholesterol skyrocketed again. As time went by she developed a severe blockage in one of the carotid arteries that lead to the brain. And she began to complain that her memory was going.

My father started to have memory problems, too. As they became more severe, he had a battery of medical tests, none of which showed any treatable cause. His dementia worsened, and eventually he became expressionless, nearly mute, and immobile.

Were my family’s problems all genetic? Or did the blame go to their Midwestern diet, or perhaps a lack of exercise? Were they missing out on the vital nutrients that protect the brain?

At that time, none of us had a clue about how to protect the brain. Even today, most people—including many doctors—have
never learned about the nutritional steps or exercises that shore up brain function and cut the risk of memory loss. That is why I wrote this book.

Let me give you a quick overview of where we’re headed.

Did you ever wonder how you remember a name, a face, a fact, or a song? Or how your brain holds on to all the coordinated movements it takes to ride a bicycle or drive a car so that it’s all second nature? How do we remember the layout of our home or our neighborhood?

When your brain lays down a new memory trace, it does not create a new brain cell—a neuron—to stuff a fact into. Rather, it makes new connections—called
synapses—
between brain cells. Or it strengthens existing connections. So a rickety one-lane bridge that could accommodate a pedestrian or two becomes a two-lane bridge, a four-lane bridge, or an eight-lane thoroughfare.

Your brain is taking in your experiences, making sense of them, and then deciding what it needs to hold on to and what it can let go of. Important events and emotional moments stay, while today’s weather forecast, a restaurant phone number, and movie showtimes get pitched into the recycling bin.

Sleep plays a vital role in the process. That is when your brain integrates memories—carefully filing them away so you can retrieve them later.

Unfortunately, our brain circuits are fragile. They are easily knocked off-kilter by a lack of certain nutrients, poor sleep, or a medication side effect. And sometimes synapses break. You might have trouble finding a name or a word that you know is in your memory banks somewhere, if only you could figure
out where. And for some people, memory problems become serious.