The Dr. Lam Show

Brain Fog and Foods to Improve Brain Health

September 26, 2021 Dr. Lam
The Dr. Lam Show
Brain Fog and Foods to Improve Brain Health
Show Notes Transcript

Are you dealing with brain fog or a decreased ability to remember? It's key to find out why and the root cause. Once you have figured out the reason, then you can also take foods to boost brain health. Make sure to listen and watch this episode to boost your mind's function!

1:00 - What is brain fog?
2:05 - Adrenal fatigue and link to brain fog
4:10 - Stealth Infections and brain fog
5:10 - Low blood sugar and metabolism causes of brain fog
5:45 - Gut and environmental etiologies of brain fog
7:45 - Foods to help brain health

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Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

This is The Dr. Lam Show. We're here to talk about integrative medicine, as well as empowering you to take control of your health. Today we'll be discussing about brain fog, as well as foods to improve brain health. If you've enjoyed this show, and find it useful, please hit the like button and subscribe to The Dr. Lam show's podcast, as well as our YouTube channel. This is the best way to make this show more visible, as well as helping us so that we can create more content for you. I'm Dr. Jeremy Lam, I'm an internal medicine physician, as well as board certified in anti aging and regenerative medicine. And I firmly believe in the power of integrative medicine.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

I'm Dr. Carrie Lam, a family medicine physician. I've completed fellowships in both functional and metabolic medicine and I love nutrition and lifestyle. Today, we're going to be talking about brain fog, and foods that can actually help improve your brain health. Let's talk about what brain fog actually is, so that we're all on the same page. What is the definition of brain fog and what does it actually feel like? Some people have a feeling of a fog just come over them. They find it's hard to do things hard to concentrate, their memory kind of goes downhill, little by little. Sometimes they go in and out of being able to remember whether it's phone numbers, simple math problems, or conversations that they just had. And it could be worse after you take some supplements or medications or even after things that you eat. You just feel like you're mentally not very clear. It could also be mild confusion, or memory loss. This is something that we see very often. Dr. Jeremy, what is the main cause of brain fog?

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

One that we often see is adrenal fatigue. Now, how does adrenal fatigue caused brain fog? While in adrenal fatigue, your body is in the process of trying to slow down and you're doing so because you're encountering stress. So you want to preserve the energy that you have to deal with stress, that's overwhelming. Now, when a body goes through a stressful situation and tries to conserve energy, it slows down all its metabolic functions. So the gut slows down, the brain slows down, the heart starts to be slower, and blood pressure becomes dysregulated. So if you think about food and the gut as well, our metabolism slows down while trying to conserve energy. I would like to use analogy of our garbage disposal under your sink. It's supposed to be on 100%, when you put a chicken bone in there and it's supposed to break it down into smaller pieces and flush it out of your system. However, if this process is compromised, maybe even 90%, and it's not working to the fullest capability, and it's just slowed down. Then you're going to have pieces of metabolites that's flowing into your body. It's almost like you go to a kitchen and it looks clean, but it kind of stinks. That's kind of this discomfort and congestion that your body is going through when your detoxification pathways aren't working properly. These metabolites that build up in your body, also cause an inflammatory reaction, because it's supposed to be eliminated through the kidneys, as well as through the gut. However, it's goes to your brain through the blood and crossing the blood brain barrier and causing inflammation. That's one of the ideologies of how adrenal fatigue causes brain fog.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

So that's one way where you have a detox pathway issue causing brain fog and with its metabolites. Another reason why someone can have brain fog is if they have stealth infections, whether it's yeast like Candida, or viral infections like EBV or parasites or, even H pylori, Lyme disease. Some of these are contributing biotoxins. And these biotoxins themselves also can cause metabolites to float around in your body, and be toxic as they cross the blood brain barrier, causing brain fog or have an inability to detox very well and cause more metabolites to float around and cause brain fog. So brain fog is just a symptom of what could be a slowdown in metabolism, or a biotoxin issue, if you have a stealth infection or a detox problem. Regarding metabolism, some people feel like they have brain fog when they have low blood sugar and they get a little shaky and jittery, and they're unable to concentrate because of their low blood sugar. It comes and goes, it gets better with food because once you stabilize your blood sugar, then the body's metabolism increases, and instead of slowing down, you feel better. Therefore, metabolism can also be another cause brain fog. Are there other reasons that might cause brain fog Dr. Jeremy?

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

Another cause of brain fog is if your gut is not healthy, you have some gut toxicities or nutrient toxicities, then your gut cannot absorb nutrients very well. We call the gut our second brain, because that's where the majority of your neurotransmitters and precursors are found, that goes to the brain for the final assembly. So if your gut is not working properly, whether you have SIBO, candida overgrowth, dysbiosis, leaky gut, IBS, etc. These neurotransmitters are going to be affected. Another cause is also environmental, of what we put inside our body. A lot of foods have toxins, or pesticides and food with artificial sweeteners and chemicals. This can overload our body and GI system. Particularly gluten and corn are two big problems, as well as dairy products, especially if our body and our GI system is not able to process these. These could wreak havoc on our gi system, and could be a cause of brain fog. And so that's why, there could be a multitude of reasons for the brain fog. It's important therefore to find out what is the root cause of causing your brain fog, as well as dealing with the symptoms and problems. These issues can often go undiagnosed. And so if you're looking for help, but can't get it, then our team is always available at 714-709-8000 to help you. Let's go through how different foods can really help deal with brain health as well as help brain fog.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

The first food many people love is dark chocolate. It contains caffeine and antioxidants that may slow progression of Alzheimer's disease. But people with adrenal fatigue do have to be careful as a caffeine intake can be very stimulating. Dark chocolate means that it's more than 70% cacao. They taste good, have less sugar, less fat and milk in them. Eat the chocolate very slowly, not the entire bar, take in moderation so that your body has the time to process stimulants. So dark chocolate is one of my favorites that can actually help boost the brain. What else is there Dr. Jeremy?

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

The next one is bone broth. Bone broth is quite soothing, it's warm, and all the nutrients that are very good for your body are already dissolved in it. It's can help heal the gut and also help the nutrients assimilate through the GI lining that's already damaged. They can then go into the hepatic circulation and also circulate to the brain more easily than regular foods. The biggest problem with bone broth for adrenal fatigue sufferers is the amount of fat. Because the body's ready and in slow down mode, many people cannot tolerate high fat. In that case, we have to make adjustments. In our NeuroEndoMetabolic therapy, we use a bone broth in fair amount, but we titrate it according to your body's needs to help with its recovery process. Then it doesn't overload the body and your system with fat. Yet it's able to get the nutrients that they want across the blood brain barrier and deliver both the cleansing and the nutrients needed to reduce the oxidative stress at the brain level. Bone broth is very delicious, in fact it's on the front cover of our adrenal fatigue cookbook. If you're interested in that cookbook, make sure to look it up and it has some good recipes to help deal with adrenal fatigue. What's the third thing that can help with brain health, Dr. Carrie?

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

The third food are garbanzo beans. Garbanzo beans are high in magnesium, which actually is very useful for your cell receptors and neurotransmitters to be able to pass messages from your nerves to the brain. It's also great for signaling all throughout your body, as neurotransmitters go from nerve to nerve throughout your body. And so garbanzo beans or chickpeas are very good for brain health.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

Celery is also very good for brain health. It's has a compound called luteolin, which is shown to be helpful with memory loss and it is high in fiber as well. If you do vegetable juicing in the morning, throw in a couple of celery sticks, as it can be very refreshing. Nuts are also very good for brain health, especially walnuts. It doesn't have impurities, or compounds that are toxic to the brain. So it's quite good for brain health. Avoid peanuts or cashews and if you do have a general fatigue then avoid Brazil nuts. Even though it is high in selenium, but it is not recommended for adrenal fatigue sufferers, because they may cause thyroid balancing problems. You don't want to overexcite the thyroid.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

Another type of food that would be really great for your brain is coconut oil, because it's anti inflammatory. Many people now say that Alzheimer's is actually a disease of inflammation. So reducing any inflammation in your brain, in your body would be great. Also another excellent good anti inflammatory compound is turmeric, a spice used in curries. It has been around for centuries and has great potential to reduce inflammation. It's been well known as a wonderful, tasty spice in cooking too, if you do it right.

Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD:

The final great food for brain health is beetroot. It has many antioxidants and can help with inflammation. You can add beetroots to your smoothies, eat it raw, or cook it. So we've talked about the foods that are great for brain health, and we hope that you've enjoyed it.

Dr. Carrie Lam, MD:

As you can tell brain fog isn't just being forgetful, it is a combination of the organs and systems that contribute to brain fog. And we have talked about the foods that can help boost brain health. But a lot of times, unless you get to the root cause of what's causing the brain fog, you cannot improve even with these foods. So it's important that if you're struggling with these changes, and you don't know where to go, we can help you. Call our office for a free initial phone call and we can get you specialized information on how to resolve symptoms of brain fog. Call us at 714-709-8000. Thank you for being here with us today we find out we hope you found this information very helpful. Make sure you like, subscribe to our channel and get the notifications. This way we can bring you more great content and share it with anyone else who you think might be dealing with brain fog or adrenal fatigue. Thank you for listening to The Dr. Lam show. We're here to empower you to take control of your health.

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