Ep 97: Why Does What We Eat Matter for Brain and Hormonal Health? with Dr. Leslie Fuller, ND

Can you reverse diabetes or cognitive decline with a fork and a pair of walking shoes? 🍴👟

Dr. Leslie Fuller, ND joins Mike and Helena, again, this week in an eye-opening episode that dives deep into the critical – yet often overlooked – connection between what we eat, how we move, how we sleep, and the health of our brains and hormones. 

In this Episode: 

🎧What nutrition support is covered by insurance compared to what’s not (HINT: Nutrition for brain health and nutrition for disease prevention aren’t) 
🎧 The groundbreaking FINGER trial and its importance for demonstrating the efficacy of lifestyle interventions
🎧 How neurons are uniquely vulnerable to damage from poor nutrition, oxidative stress, and the wrong types of fats; why they're harder to repair than other cells
🎧 Why metformin was the go-to for diabetes (and, often, still is) 
🎧 The slow shift to "lifestyle first" for diabetes treatment (and what this reveals about the lag between science and practice) 
🎧 The role of stress hormones on the brain 
🎧 Quality over quantity when it comes to sleep
🎧 Sleep as fuel for the brain
🎧 Everyone has a unique need for the amount of sleep they need 
🎧 Movement as one of the most powerful interventions for brain health, creating benefits that span neurotransmission, vascular health, immune function, and neuroprotection
🎧 The implementation gap and why going from knowing to doing can be so challenging 
🎧 Deprescribing responsibly; why it’s important to have conversations with your healthcare providers about removing or adjusting medications when adding lifestyle changes 

Dr. Leslie is a 2009 graduate of NUNM, where she was a clinical educator for 14 years (involving 10 years of specific clinical Neurology Rotation, attending physician at Outside In, and working in a certified primary care home) and an assistant professor overseeing Neurology Curriculum. She teaches lab diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and pharmacology for the Doctorate of Chiropractor program, and teaches Nutrition for Neurologic Conditions in the Doctorate of Clinical Nutrition Program. During her time at UO, she worked for a nonprofit called World Wheelchair Sports where she worked with kids and families. It was there that she realized how poorly the medical system was set up to really help individuals with neurologic conditions or disabilities receive medical care that was specialized to them.

Finding NUNM at a career fair, she fell in love with the non-MD approach and has pushed into “a different way to do neurology” for the last 18 years of education and 14 years of practice. Dr. Leslie’s goal with medicine is to strengthen and support weakened systems: weakened physiological systems that cause pathology, and weakened medical systems that don’t accommodate the needs of neurologic conditions. 

Website: https://a-fuller-life.com/

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