Top 10 Foods That Cause Dementia
Summary
TLDR本视频探讨了导致痴呆的前10种食物,并解释了食物与痴呆发展机制之间的联系。痴呆发病率随年龄增长迅速上升,而大脑需要能量和刺激来保持功能。不良基因、缺乏运动、炎症、氧化应激、环境毒素、食物过敏和肠道菌群失衡等都是加速大脑退化的因素。视频列举了包括过量饮酒、精制碳水化合物、糖、含汞鱼类、农药残留的农产品、人工甜味剂、不良脂肪、食物敏感性增加因素、过量咖啡因和食品添加剂在内的十种食物,它们可能对大脑健康产生负面影响,并建议采取健康的生活方式来减缓痴呆的发展。
Takeaways
- 🧠 痴呆症的发病率随年龄增长迅速上升,需要了解其成因以及食物如何影响其发展。
- 💪 大脑需要能量来保持功能,它虽然只占体重的2%,但消耗了超过20%的能量。
- 🔥 大脑产生能量的方式依赖于碳水化合物和酮体作为燃料,以及氧化过程中的氧气。
- 🏋️♂️ 大脑需要刺激以保持活力,缺乏刺激会导致大脑退化,这是导致痴呆的机制之一。
- 🧬 遗传因素对痴呆症的影响并非绝对,表观遗传学解释了基因表达的差异。
- 🏃♂️ 运动对于刺激大脑至关重要,不仅仅是为了减肥或保持健康的外观。
- 🔥 慢性低度炎症是导致退化的主要生化驱动因素,包括氧化压力、环境毒素、食物过敏和肠道菌群失衡。
- 🍺 过量饮酒会导致神经毒性,损害脑细胞,增加痴呆风险。
- 🍚 精制碳水化合物,如添加糖和淀粉,会导致血糖和胰岛素抵抗性上升,与痴呆症的发展有强关联。
- 🐟 鱼类含有对大脑有益的Omega-3脂肪酸,但需注意避免食用含有高汞的鱼类。
- 🚫 “脏十二”列表上的植物和蔬菜因使用大量农药而对大脑和身体有害,应尽量选择有机产品或避免食用。
- 🍬 人造甜味剂如阿斯巴甜和三氯蔗糖是神经毒素,会破坏肠道菌群,增加炎症和过敏的风险。
- 🥑 所谓的“坏脂肪”主要指加工过程中受损的脂肪,尤其是反式脂肪和过量的Omega-6脂肪酸。
- 🌶️ 食物中的凝集素,尤其是茄科植物和某些谷物中的凝集素,可能会增加食物敏感性并影响大脑健康。
- ☕️ 过量摄入咖啡因可能成为压力源,影响内分泌系统和睡眠。
- 🍡 食品添加剂,包括人工色素、香料和防腐剂,可能使食物对生物体不具吸引力,不利于健康。
Q & A
为什么年龄增长会导致认知障碍的发生率急剧上升?
-年龄增长与认知障碍发生率的急剧上升有关,因为随着年龄的增长,大脑的代谢活动增加,需要更多的能量和刺激来保持功能。此外,年龄增长还与慢性低度炎症、氧化应激和遗传因素等大脑退化的驱动因素有关。
大脑如何产生能量,为什么这对于理解食物与认知障碍的关系很重要?
-大脑通过线粒体中的碳水化合物和酮体氧化来产生能量。理解这一过程有助于我们认识到某些食物如何通过影响能量产生和氧化过程来增加认知障碍的风险。
为什么说大脑需要刺激,并且这与食物有什么关系?
-大脑需要刺激以保持其功能,因为如果不经常给予刺激,大脑就会开始退化和恶化,这是导致认知障碍的机制之一。食物可以提供必要的能量和营养,支持大脑功能和刺激,从而有助于预防认知退化。
基因如何影响认知障碍的发展,表观遗传学在这个过程中扮演什么角色?
-基因通过决定个体的遗传构成来影响认知障碍的发展。表观遗传学是指基因表达的调控,它可以决定哪些基因被激活或沉默,从而影响个体对环境因素的反应,包括饮食习惯,进而影响认知健康。
什么是慢性低度炎症,它如何成为认知退化的主要生化驱动因素?
-慢性低度炎症是一种持续的、低水平的炎症状态,它可以由氧化应激、环境毒素、食物过敏和肠道菌群失衡等因素引起。这种炎症状态会加速大脑退化,增加认知障碍的风险。
为什么过量饮酒会增加认知障碍的风险?
-过量饮酒会导致认知障碍,因为酒精是一种神经毒素,会直接损害脑细胞,还可能导致肠道通透性增加、食物过敏和炎症,以及增加胰岛素抵抗,所有这些都可能加速大脑退化。
精制碳水化合物如何影响大脑健康,为什么它们与认知障碍有关?
-精制碳水化合物会导致血糖快速上升,长期高血糖会促进胰岛素抵抗的发展。胰岛素抵抗会影响大脑对葡萄糖的利用,导致大脑能量供应不足,从而增加认知障碍的风险。
为什么说过多的糖分摄入会导致大脑饥饿,即使血糖水平很高?
-高血糖水平导致身体产生更多的胰岛素,长期的高血糖和高胰岛素水平会导致胰岛素抵抗。胰岛素抵抗意味着大脑细胞不能有效地利用血液中的葡萄糖,导致大脑能量供应不足,即使血糖水平很高,大脑也可能遭受饥饿。
为什么食用含汞量高的鱼类可能对大脑有害?
-含汞量高的鱼类中的汞是一种重金属神经毒素,它会破坏大脑组织,导致认知功能受损。因此,选择含汞量低的鱼类,如沙丁鱼、鲱鱼等,对大脑健康更为安全。
什么是‘脏一打’(dirty dozen),它们为什么可能对大脑健康有害?
-‘脏一打’是指在生产过程中使用大量化学农药的植物类食物,如草莓、桃、苹果等。这些农药对人体和大脑都是有毒的,可能会增加炎症和氧化应激,从而增加认知障碍的风险。
人工甜味剂为什么可能对大脑健康有害?
-人工甜味剂如阿斯巴甜和三氯蔗糖被证明具有神经毒性,它们会破坏肠道菌群平衡,导致肠道通透性增加、炎症和过敏等问题,这些都可能对大脑健康产生负面影响。
为什么说不好的脂肪,特别是反式脂肪和 Omega-6 含量高的植物油,可能对大脑健康有害?
-不好的脂肪,如反式脂肪和过度加工的植物油,会在体内产生氧化应激和自由基,增加炎症。Omega-6 脂肪酸过量摄入会导致 Omega-3 和 Omega-6 的不平衡,这也可能促进炎症和认知功能下降。
食物敏感性如何与认知障碍的发展相关联?
-食物敏感性,如由凝集素引起的敏感性,可能会导致肠道通透性增加,从而允许未消化的食物颗粒和其他有害物质进入血液,引起全身性炎症反应,包括大脑炎症,这可能促进认知障碍的发展。
为什么过量摄入咖啡因可能对大脑健康有害?
-虽然适量咖啡因可以提高注意力和能量水平,但过量摄入咖啡因会成为压力源,刺激内分泌系统和压力激素,抑制褪黑激素的产生,扰乱睡眠和昼夜节律,从而对大脑健康产生负面影响。
食品添加剂如何影响大脑健康?
-食品添加剂,包括人工色素、人工香料、防腐剂等,可能会使食品对其他生物不具吸引力,这可能意味着它们对人体健康也是有害的。这些化学物质可能会增加炎症、氧化应激,甚至干扰大脑的正常功能。
Outlines
🧠 认知退化与食物的关联
本段讨论了导致痴呆的前10种食物,并解释了食物与痴呆进展机制之间的联系。痴呆随年龄迅速增长,大脑需要能量和刺激以保持功能,而食物和环境因素会影响大脑健康。提到了线粒体在能量产生中的作用,以及遗传和表观遗传对痴呆的影响,强调了锻炼和减少炎症的重要性。
🍷 酒精与痴呆的关系
第二段强调过量饮酒会导致痴呆,因为酒精是神经毒素,会损害脑细胞,引起肠道渗漏和食物过敏,增加胰岛素抵抗和炎症,最终可能导致大脑萎缩。适量饮酒可能有益,但频繁大量饮酒会加速大脑退化。
🍚 精制碳水化合物与大脑健康
本段讨论了精制碳水化合物的危害,包括添加糖、蜂蜜、葡萄糖浆等,它们会导致血糖快速上升、脂肪肝和胰岛素抵抗。指出淀粉类食物比糖更快提高血糖,强调了减少精制碳水化合物摄入的重要性,以降低痴呆风险。
🍬 糖与大脑燃料
第四段指出糖是导致胰岛素抵抗的主要原因,这会阻碍葡萄糖进入大脑。如果减少碳水化合物摄入,身体会产生酮体作为大脑的替代燃料,有助于逆转痴呆过程。同时提到了糖的成瘾性和对肠道菌群的破坏作用。
🐟 鱼类与重金属
第五段提到鱼类对大脑的益处,尤其是Omega-3脂肪酸,但也警告了鱼类中可能含有的重金属汞,这是一种神经毒素。建议选择小型鱼类如沙丁鱼和鲱鱼,避免大型食肉鱼类和寿命长的鱼类,同时注意养殖鱼类的质量。
🍓 农药与大脑健康
本段讨论了农药对大脑的毒性,列出了所谓的'dirty dozen',即最常使用农药的植物和蔬菜。建议选择有机食品或避免食用这些食物,以减少农药对身体和大脑的潜在损害。
🍬 人造甜味剂的风险
第六段指出人造甜味剂如阿斯巴甜和三氯蔗糖是已知的神经毒素,会破坏肠道菌群,增加炎症和过敏的风险。提醒人们不要将人造甜味剂与天然甜味剂如甜菊糖和罗汉果混淆,并建议适量食用。
🥃 不良脂肪与健康
第七段讨论了不良脂肪,特别是反式脂肪和Omega-6脂肪酸的过量摄入,这些脂肪会导致氧化和炎症。指出所谓的植物油实际上是种子油、谷物油和豆类油,它们在加工过程中容易受损和氧化。
🌶️ 食物敏感性增加因素
第八段提到食物敏感性的增加因素,如凝集素和茄科植物,以及谷物中的麸质。讨论了肠道-大脑轴的概念,即肠道健康与大脑健康之间的联系,以及如何通过改善肠道健康来减少食物敏感性。
☕ 咖啡因与大脑健康
第九段讨论了咖啡因的适量益处,如提高注意力和能量,但也警告过量摄入咖啡因会成为压力源,影响内分泌系统和睡眠激素,从而干扰睡眠和昼夜节律。
🍡 食品添加剂的影响
最后一段讨论了食品添加剂的问题,包括人工色素、香料和其他用于改善食品外观和质地的添加剂,以及防腐剂的使用。指出这些化学物质可能使食品对生物体不具吸引力,质疑这是否是人们应该选择的食物。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡痴呆
💡大脑能量
💡线粒体
💡刺激
💡表观遗传学
💡炎症
💡酒精
💡精制碳水化合物
💡酮体
💡汞
💡农药
💡人工甜味剂
💡不饱和脂肪酸
💡食品添加剂
💡咖啡因
Highlights
年龄在60至90岁之间的人群中,患痴呆症的比例急剧上升,90岁后超过40%的人患有痴呆症。
大脑需要能量来保持功能,尽管它只占体重的2%,却使用了超过20%的能量。
大脑需要刺激来防止退化,类似于肌肉如果不使用就会萎缩。
遗传因素对痴呆症的发展有影响,但表观遗传学显示基因表达方式同样重要。
运动对于刺激大脑和预防痴呆症至关重要,而不仅仅是为了减肥或保持健康。
慢性低度炎症是导致退化的主要生化驱动因素,包括氧化应激和环境毒素等。
食物过敏和肠道菌群失衡也会导致炎症,进而影响大脑健康。
过量饮酒会导致神经毒性,损害脑细胞,增加痴呆症风险。
精制碳水化合物和添加糖会导致血糖升高,增加胰岛素抵抗,与痴呆症有强烈联系。
淀粉类食物在口腔中迅速分解,导致血糖迅速升高,比糖还快。
大脑可以使用酮体作为燃料,而不仅仅是葡萄糖。
食用过多的糖会导致胰岛素抵抗,从而减少大脑中的葡萄糖供应。
野生鱼类含有Omega-3,对大脑有益,但也可能含有有害的汞。
所谓的“脏一打”植物使用大量农药,这些农药对大脑有毒。
人造甜味剂如阿斯巴甜和三氯蔗糖是神经毒素,会破坏肠道菌群。
所谓的“植物油”实际上含有过多的Omega-6,并且可能已经氧化。
食物敏感性增加因素如凝集素,常见于茄科植物和某些谷物中。
肠道与大脑之间存在联系,肠道健康直接影响大脑健康。
过量摄入咖啡因可能成为压力源,影响内分泌系统和睡眠。
食品添加剂如人工色素、香料和防腐剂可能对健康产生负面影响。
Transcripts
"Hello Health Champions today we're going to talk about the top 10 foods that cause dementia. We
also need to understand some of the mechanisms that drive the progression of dementia so that
we can understand what the foods have to do with it. Dementia progresses very, very rapidly with
age so that between 60 and 65 years of age we have about 1.33% dementia. Between 65 and 70
we have about 2.2%, between 70 and 75 it rises to 3.8%, between 75 and 80 it goes up to 6.5%,
5 years later it's up to 11.6% and by the time we're 90 over 20% of the population have dementia
and then after 90 more than 40% of the population have dementia. As you can see it progresses very,
very rapidly and we need to understand what the causes are and the foods are influencing
that so we can slow down this progression. There are some things that the brain needs that helps
the brain stay functional and the first thing is energy because the brain is only 2% of your body
weight but it uses over 20% of all your energy. On average it's 10% more metabolically active more
needing energy than your body cells on average. The way the brain makes energy of course is from
fuel which is carbohydrates and ketones and in order to oxidize that fuel it needs oxygen. Most
of this energy is created inside your cells in little inclusions little things called
mitochondria they make the vast majority of all your energy. One more thing that the brain needs
that is absolutely essential that virtually no one ever talks about because they just
talk about how it makes energy but it also needs stimulation because without stimulation it's use
it or lose it just like a muscle if you put your muscle in a cast if you break your arm put a cast
then after two weeks you have lost 50% of that muscle that's the half-life of protein and the
brain is the same way. When we're not stimulating when we're not driving signals to the brain on a
regular basis then the brain starts degenerating and deteriorating and that's one of the mechanisms
contributing to dementia. Then there are the factors that damage that hurt your brain that
speed up the progression of degeneration and one of course is poor genetics but we need to
understand what that means because most people think that the DNA is is set it's fixed which in
one sense it is and another one it isn't. So when we talk about your genome that's your setup your
makeup of DNA that's half the chromosomes from your mom and half the chromosomes from your dad
they combine and they become your genome there's nothing you can do about that that is what you're
born with. However, what most people don't realize is that is just like the foundation that really
is not all that important because there's also epigenetics which means on top of genetics and
that is how you express it so you can have genes that are never turned on you can have bad genes
that are latent that are never activated you can have good genes that you express well or that you
express poorly and like I mentioned disuse is very, very harmful. We need to understand that
exercise is not about losing weight or staying fit or looking good it's about stimulating your
brain and then we come to the inflammation part of it which is the biggest biochemical driver
of degeneration which is chronic low-grade inflammation and there's several components
to that. One is oxidative stress which we have to have some oxidative stress because that's how we
make energy when those mitochondria make energy they use oxygen we create oxidative stress but
the cleaner things burn the more balanced things are and if we get a lot of junk in the body then
those mitochondria they tend to rust a little bit they don't burn as clean it's like a little
engine that starts smoking and now we get excess oxidative stress and we get less energy out of it.
There are also environmental toxins and those are both the pollution as well as all the things that
we add to food like preservatives and artificial colors etc. Then there is food allergies because
if you have a sensitivity to a food if it causes a reaction that's an inflammatory reaction so that
contributes more to that inflammation. Then there is dysbiosis that we're only recently starting to
understand how important that is because if you have an imbalance of bacteria in your gut if you
don't have enough of the good ones or you have too many of the pathogenic ones now you start getting
a little war zone you start getting chaos down in your gut and that creates inflammation but it also
creates damage to the lining and to the mucus layer so now we get leaky gut and we increase
the amount of food allergies. So you can see how all of these things are kind of tied together that
they depend on each other and when one thing isn't working it makes the whole worse. Food number one,
and these are in no particular order, is excess alcohol. Drinking too much too frequently will
cause premature dementia because alcohol is a neurotoxin it directly damages brain cells
in excess but it also causes leaky guts now it contributes to food allergies and to inflammation
one more way it also contributes to fatty liver and once you have a fatty liver that tends to
increase your degree of insulin resistance which is another driver of inflammation and
over time because of all these factors it can cause brain shrinkage and we also have
to remember that it's dose-dependent that it's not alcohol per se it's excess alcohol
so if you have a glass of wine or maybe two a few times a week then that has been shown to
have some positive effects but if you have four, five, six drinks most days then that is probably
going to speed up that brain degeneration. Food number two is refined carbs and we really need to
understand what those are because they usually only make a big deal out of added sugar and we
all know to look at the label and if it has added sugar we stay away from it but added sugar that's
the white sugar the crystals but it also in any other form like honey or glucose syrup or agave
or high fructose corn syrup or any of those and what they're adding is basically a sugar that
consists of a glucose molecule that is tied to a fructose molecule and these are both they're
monosaccharides meaning single and we we put them together like in white table sugar then
it becomes a disaccharide and this is what we're talking about with added sugar and why is this
so bad because the glucose portion of it will raise blood sugar and because these carbs are
processed then they're going to break apart very quickly and the glucose will raise blood sugar
the fructose will take a different path it's not called blood sugar because it's not blood glucose
this is fructose and that has to go through the liver to get processed and in doing that it causes
fatty liver it is almost on par with alcohol and how bad and how quickly it causes a fatty liver
and of course alcohol is bad because it causes intoxication but at the same time that sort of
sets a limit for how much alcohol people consume sugar doesn't do that so there's no limit in how
much people eat and therefore we also give it to kids and kids now can get fatty liver at a very,
very early age. So we all know to stay away from that however there is also something called
natural sugar so when that occurs in fruit it's okay to have some berries it's okay to have fruit
occasionally if you're not insulin resistant or you don't have type 2 diabetes but when they dry
the fruit then sometimes they add chemicals to it sometimes they even add sugar to it and now
it becomes a very concentrated form of sugar like raisins is about 70% pure sugar just like
that the other form is when we make juice out of it because now we remove the pulp we remove the
fiber we remove all the cell walls the bulk of that fruit and now it just becomes a liquid with
sugar floating around in it and that natural sugar is no different it's exactly the same as the added
sugar so even if they don't list it on the label we need to understand the difference that there
really is no difference we need to understand that sugar is sugar and then there's one more
kind of carbohydrate called starch and if we get a little bit here and there in a sweet potato or
some tubers that's not a big deal but when we get it in grain we're getting way too much and we're
getting it in processed grains now we removed a lot of the fiber everything that slows it down so
now that starch raises blood glucose even faster than the sugar does and starch is nothing more,
nothing less than these little sugar molecules and then when we link them together two,
three and dozens and hundreds and thousands now that's called a starch but it's still only one
type of molecule and then we go when we eat these we have something called amylase in the mouth and
that starts chopping off these little glucose molecules the moment we get them in our mouth so
within minutes we see a rise in glucose in blood glucose from eating starch and like I said this
is faster even than sugar and the reason that we want to understand this so well and avoid excess
carbohydrate whatever level that is for you and your lifestyle and your genetic makeup is
that there's such a strong connection between glucose and insulin resistance and dementia
that it's sometimes called type 3 diabetes and that doesn't mean that it is a separate type of
diabetes it just means they're trying to focus and help us understand how strong that link is
and to understand the link and that mechanism we need to understand the two types of fuel that the
brain can use and very often they talk about only glucose if you do a Google search on fuels for the
brain the first million hits are going to be for glucose alone and if you talk to 99% of doctors
they're going to tell you that the brain can only use glucose but ketones have been critical in
human survival and it's critical in babies babies are born into ketosis and that helps drive that
huge brain so when we eat a lot of sugar and we eat a lot of starch now we raise blood glucose we
get excess blood glucose on a regular basis and if we get excess glucose we get excess insulin if we
do that all the time we become insulin resistant and here's something that was not discovered until
very recently really like 50 years ago they had no idea because we thought back then that
the brain was so dependent on glucose that it could just suck it up out of the bloodstream,
that you didn't need insulin to get the glucose into the brain. Well, that proved to be wrong
because the brain does depend on insulin. So if your cells are insulin resistant, if your muscles
are insulin resistant, then your whole body also becomes insulin resistant to some degree,
and your brain cells are insulin resistant. So for a given level of blood sugar, that means
if your brain is insulin resistant, it gets less glucose; it can't properly get into those brain
cells. So here is that paradox that is responsible for dementia in people with insulin resistance. If
you have too high a blood glucose level, that results in less glucose in the brain. So the
more sugar you eat, the more your brain starves. Some people would look at that and say, "Oh, well,
the body is pretty stupid sometimes; that seems like a defective design." I would beg to differ.
I would say that it's a defective lifestyle that we have introduced something in the last 50 years,
50 to 100 years, that humans have never ever seen before. We have never had the abundance of sugar
and starch, especially processed starch, that we've had in the last few decades.
Food number three is sugar, and just like we talked about, sugar is the number one cause of
insulin resistance, which keeps that glucose out of the brain. If we keep eating sugar,
there's never going to be any ketones to fuel the brain. But if we cut back enough on the
carbohydrates, now, even if we're insulin resistant, we're going to make some ketones
that can fuel the brain and start reversing that process. The reason that sugar, this disaccharide,
is even worse than the starch is that it's 50% fructose, which causes a fatty
liver and is also highly addictive. Another problem is that it contributes to dysbiosis;
it messes up your biome and thereby causes leaky guts, more food allergies, and so forth. But we
still have to remember that it is a very natural molecule. This molecule, the glucose, and to some
degree the sugar, is part of all foods, but the dose makes the poison. When we concentrate it,
refine it, and eat too much of something, that's when it becomes very damaging. It's
not carbohydrates per se, because leafy greens and non-starchy vegetables still have some sugar, but
there's so little, and there's so much water and fiber that those foods behave nothing like this.
Food number four is fish, and this is a little confusing because, on the one hand, if you
get clean wild-caught fish, it can be incredibly beneficial for the brain because it has Omega-3s,
EPA, and DHA. DHA is the main building block for brain tissue, so we absolutely have to have that.
It also provides a really good source of protein. But wild fish can also have mercury. It's a heavy
metal, a neurotoxin, and it's incredibly destructive; it will literally chew away
and dissolve brain tissue in excess. So we want to make sure that we get fish that have very,
very low amounts of mercury. The high amounts of mercury are in the fish that are predatory,
that eat other fish, because all fish absorb a little bit from the water,
but then the large fish that eat the smaller fish concentrate that. When they're predatory,
they're usually larger, live longer, and the longer they live, the more they accumulate this
mercury, this toxin. So the safe fish to eat are typically very small fish like sardine, herring,
and to some degree, mackerel, as long as you don't eat the king mackerel that get huge. Also,
the small flat fish like sole and flounder, and cod are very safe. The ones you want to avoid
are swordfish, tuna, and any other large predatory fish or any fish that lives for a very long time.
Then there's farmed fish, and in some cases, that could be okay if they farm it responsibly,
give it good quality nutrients like natural food for that species, and keep it in good conditions
with clean water and no parasites or mold, or all the things that can occur. But for the most part,
they're just trying to save a buck, and the conditions are usually very deplorable. So
they feed the fish low-quality foods, the cheapest thing that will keep them alive,
and very often they also feed them hormones, antibiotics, chemicals, and artificial colors.
Number five is what I call the dirty dozen, and those are the types of plants that are most often
using a lot of chemicals, a lot of pesticides to produce them. Pesticides are toxic to the body and
toxic to the brain. On this year's list, we have strawberries, nectarines, blueberries, apples,
grapes, peaches, cherries, pears, and plums. You want to check for what's going on in your
region because it's going to differ between different countries, different continents,
as there are different farming practices, and also they change over time. These items can
vary from year to year. Among the vegetables, we have bell pepper, hot peppers, green beans,
tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, spinach, kale, and celery. These are the foods that you want
to pay extra attention to, and either you get them organic or you pass by altogether and eat
something else. Very often, they're going to say they're still better than none, so eating sprayed
toxic plants is still better than not eating them at all because plants are so good for you. Now
that's just one of those things that we've heard and it's been repeated so often that nobody really
thinks about it. For some people, that's going to be true. If they have a good tolerance against
toxins, if they have a strong gastrointestinal tract, if they have a strong liver, they can
probably break down those pesticides pretty well. But if you have a genetic weakness,
if you have various genetic variants where you don't tolerate, where you don't break down toxins
so well, then that's probably not going to be true for you. Then it's probably better to avoid
them altogether. If you have a weak microbiome, if there's imbalance or dysfunction, now you're
going to be more prone to food intolerance, you're not going to have that protective mucus layer,
and you'll also be more sensitive to various forms of toxins. The other thing to understand is that
all of these pesticides, all this spraying, all these chemicals, it's a very modern thing. It's
all happened basically in the last 50 years. In the previous 50,000 or a million years,
there were no pesticides. Our genetic makeup, our genome, has never seen pesticides. Even
if one isn't going to do all that much damage, today we have hundreds and thousands of them,
and that body burden starts piling on top of each other. So it's something that we
really need to pay attention to and start really understanding what food is. It always cracks me
up when I go into a store and see a little sign and a little section that says "natural food." I
always ask myself, if that's the natural food, then what's the rest of the store?
Number six is artificial sweeteners, and I'm going to mention a couple that are more common
than the others. The first is aspartame, which goes under the brand name NutraSweet. This is a
well-established neurotoxin. When people did poorly on that one and started complaining,
they brought out another one called sucralose, which goes under the brand name Splenda. Now we
have sucralose in 5 to 10,000 different products. For several years, they said Splenda is the new
thing, the clean thing, it's made from natural things, it's not going to harm you. But of course,
it's artificial, so it will do damage. Very recently, they found that it starts breaking apart
DNA. Both of these will disrupt your gut bacteria, and in doing that, they contribute to leaky gut,
more inflammation, and allergies, etc. The biggest reason that they've brought these to the market is
that people are starting to understand how bad sugar is, but we still have that sweet tooth
and that addiction. So now they're marketing this as a no-calorie alternative, and people
see it as a good thing and start overconsuming it. The whole idea was that if you drink or
consume these artificial ones, you lose weight. Sugar puts on the weight; if you stop the sugar,
you lose the weight. But unfortunately, it doesn't work like that because it also tends to increase
cravings. You eat something sweet, but you're not getting anything of substance, so now your
body starts looking for more and more and more. Also, people confuse these artificial sweeteners
with Stevia and Monk Fruit because they're all non-caloric sweeteners, but they're not
all artificial. Stevia and Monk Fruit are natural; they're plant extracts. In moderation, I would say
that they're okay. If you start overconsuming, thinking it's a good thing that you can eat it
unlimited, then there's some evidence that it may actually start to disrupt your microbiome as well.
Number seven is bad fats, and it's not what you usually hear that saturated fat is bad
fat. Saturated fat is very stable and safe to consume; it's a very stable source of energy
and doesn't cause any inflammation in the body. The bad fats are damaged fats, and these
are primarily trans fats. They realized how bad they are, so now they're moving away from trans
fats. But instead, they tell us to start consuming vegetable oils, and these are not vegetable oils
at all. They're seed oils, grain oils, and legume oils. The problem with these is that they have
too much Omega-6. A little bit of Omega-6 is okay, but today we're getting like 20 times more
Omega-6s than we should have, and most of that is coming from these so-called vegetable oils.
An even bigger problem is that they're processed so harshly. They have to use high temperature,
high pressure, and chemicals to get the fat, the oil out of these sources, and in doing that,
they damage the oils and oxidize them. So now we have another source of excess oxidation and
free radicals. Another source of bad fats is fried foods when you use vegetable oils. These
are already damaged, they're already high in Omega-6s, and now when you fry things
and reuse that oil over and over, you're just increasing the damage and oxidation over and over.
Number eight is anything that increases food sensitivities. One thing that can do that is
called lectins, and they're usually associated with a group of plants called nightshades.
Nightshades are things like eggplant, bell pepper, tomato, and potato. There are many more, but these
are probably the ones that people consume the most. However, it's not just these nightshades,
but grains like rye, barley, and rice also have lectins. The biggest grain to stay away from is
modern wheat because it is processed, hybridized in so many different ways,
it's not really a food anymore, and it is also the richest source of gluten,
the type of gluten that people tend to react to. Then there's something called the gut-brain axis.
If we disrupt the gut bacteria and damage that mucus protection, we get leaky gut. Now all sorts
of things start leaking through, getting into the bloodstream. Anything that gets into the
bloodstream, anything that causes a leaky gut will tend to create a leaky brain. The things
that get out into the bloodstream are going to circulate and start creating brain inflammation,
which can be very damaging and really progress the development of dementia. But again, this does not
mean that these are bad foods. It's going to be important for some people to avoid these,
but if you start restoring your microbiome, if you start getting a healthy gut again,
you can probably get to the point where these things do not become a problem.
Number nine is excess caffeine. Here's one more thing that can actually have some benefit in
low doses. It tends to improve focus and give you a little bit of energy. However,
if you start having high doses, if you start depending on it to stay awake and get things done,
if you're not limiting yourself to two cups but you're having six, seven, eight, ten cups a day,
now it becomes a stressor. It will drive your endocrine system and your stress hormones,
and anything driving the stress hormones will also shut off melatonin, which is
your sleep hormone that regulates your sleep and circadian rhythm.
Number ten is food additives. These are things that we add to make things look a certain way
or feel a certain way. We have artificial colors, artificial flavors, and then there's
tons and tons of other additives that are texturizers and keep things from separating
and so forth. Then there are preservatives, and that sounds like such a positive thing,
right? We add preservatives; we preserve the food. Now, if you do canning and things like that,
that's okay; that's a totally different thing. But when they add chemicals,
basically what they're doing is they're making the food so unattractive that no other living
things want it. You have to ask yourself, is that what your body is looking for? Is
that what you want to feed yourself if it's so unattractive that not even the mold wants it?
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