Brain Expert: “This Food Is Feeding Alzheimer’s – Stop Eating It” | Dr. Daniel Amen

1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:00

   Expand upon what are the key things we need to know about the things to avoid when it comes to eating things that damage our brain. And I particularly liked something you wrote in, uh, Change Your Brain Every Day. On day 12... I, I really like the structure of that book. On day [laughs] 12, you wrote this, "The real weapons of mass destruction are highly processed, pesticide sprayed, high glycemic, low fiber, food-like substances stored in plastic containers." Please explain.

2. DADr. Daniel Amen0:37

   So your brain is about 2% of your body's weight, about three pounds, but it uses 20 to 30% of the calories you consume. So if you have a fast food diet, a low nutrient diet, you're likely to have a fast food mind and not be able to think deeply, and this is very important. And so the nutrition we give our body basically goes to feed our brain. And so fast food, low quality food is rampant here in the United States, as is obesity, right? 75% of the population is overweight or obese. And so really thinking about, all right, what do I put in my body? And the, the first thing is water, because 80% of the brain is water, right? 70% of your body is water, 80% of your brain is water. So, um, drink about half your weight in ounces a day. Um, and so I'm about 150 pounds, but I think it's about 66 kilograms, and so I wanna have half of that in ounces of water a day. Uh, so I think that's the first thing. And then, um, colorful fruits and vegetables because they have phytonutrients and antioxidants, but it doesn't mean Skittles. Skittles was actually recently voted one of the worst foods in the world [laughs] because of the artificial dyes and the sugar associated with it. Um, high quality protein. Protein is critical to building brain cells. And did you know that your hippocampus, um, little side note, it's the major memory center in the brain, uh, on the inside of your temporal lobe, so behind your eyes, underneath your temples, um, makes 700 new stem cells every day. And hippocampus is Greek for seahorse. So I always teach my patients, it's like every day you're making 700 new baby seahorses, and are you gonna nourish them and feed them so they grow, or are you gonna give them junk food and basically shrivel them? And I love that analogy so much, but protein. Healthy fat. When America went on a the low fat kick, obesity and depression skyrocketed. There's this great study from the Mayo Clinic. People who had a fat-based diet, so think fish, avocados, healthy oils, nuts and seeds, 42% less risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. People who are on a protein-based diet, so I suppose you could think of the Caveman Diet, 21% less risk. But people who are on the standard American diet, bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, fruit juice, sugar, had a 400% increased risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. It's the food, and it's so important. Um, you know, as many vegetables as you can sort of stand [laughs] along with healthy protein and healthy fat.

3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee4:48

   What's the impacts of sugar on our brain? Or excess sugar, I should say.

4. DADr. Daniel Amen4:53

   You know, it makes me think of this study from UCLA where they took mice and, um, gave them a head injury. And I mean, it's not nice, but that's what they did, whacked them in the head.

5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee5:07

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6. DADr. Daniel Amen6:05

   And then one group, they gave them their regular healthy diet. Um, and three weeks later, they could run the maze. They had already known how to run. The other group, they added sugar to their regular healthy diet, and three weeks later, the mice were still confused and couldn't run the maze. And you think on the sidelines, and it's maybe probably true in soccer, but it's clearly here in football, is they have Gatorade, which is basically sugar water with artificial dyes. And it doesn't allow us to learn. It doesn't allow us to heal. Sugar is pro-inflammatory, which we think is the basis of many psychiatric illnesses. It's for sure the basis of many physical illnesses, and inflammatory, addictive, and has no nutritional value. Less is clearly better.

7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee7:08

   Can I ask, you know, because I'm not familiar with the scans that your clinics offer, what is it you actually see? Can an individual come and get a scan with you, make some changes, and then re-scan and see differences? That, that's the first question. But the second question relating to that is, if someone is having a highly processed, high sugar, low fiber diet, like the standard American diet, the standard Western diets, compared to someone who transforms that and is mostly eating whole foods, low glycemic, high fiber, what can you actually see in the brain that's different?

8. DADr. Daniel Amen7:48

   To your first question, yes. Many of our patients do. And, um, I'm just thinking of Jonathan Cain, uh, who is the keyboardist for the band Journey, and Jonathan wrote many of their iconic-

9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee8:04

   Yeah

10. DADr. Daniel Amen8:04

    ... songs like Don't Stop Believin'. Jonathan was drinking two bottles of wine a day and eating poorly. Um, his brain looked terrible, and I made him a poster. Um, it's, "Here's your brain today. If you do what I say, here's your brain six months from now. And if you don't do what I say, here's your brain five years from now," which basically looked like an Alzheimer's brain. And I'm like, "Okay, which brain do you want?" He immediately stopped alcohol that day, improved his diet, and his brain dramatically better. Well, how exciting-

11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee8:45

    Yeah

12. DADr. Daniel Amen8:45

    ... is that? So I use it as a motivational tool, but I also use to go, "Well, how are we doing? Are we doing the right things, or are we not doing the right things?"

13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee8:59

    And in terms of food, are there specific differences you see in the brain, or is it more general?

14. DADr. Daniel Amen9:06

    I think it's healthier overall. There's a study from Australia showing that there is a linear correlation between the number of fruits and vegetables you eat a day and your level of happiness. So two is better than none, four is better than two, six is better than four, and so on. You know, I have two minds of the ketogenic diet that for some people it's miraculous. It's an anti-seizure diet, and it also is a mood stabilizing diet for some people. But I worry about it because there's not enough good fiber and good nutrients with it. And so people on the ketogenic diet have to take a lot of nutritional supplements. Um, but that's a clear example that food is healing or it's damaging.

15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee10:08

    Yeah. One of the most important pillars for our health is, of course, nutrition. But I think because of our busy, stressed out lives, so many people are struggling despite their best intentions. So many patients over the years have told me that they know what they should be doing, but they're struggling to actually do it, and that's why I'm a fan of AG1. AG1 is a daily health drink that contains over 70 vitamins, minerals, and other ingredients that are designed to make nutrition really easy. It's been in my own life for over six years now. It's simple, it's tasty, it's convenient, and it forms a part of my morning routine. People will routinely tell me that taking AG1 regularly has improved their focus, their cognition, their energy. Some people even tell me that they drink less coffee when they're taking AG1. And there's research out there showing us that taking AG1 regularly can improve specific markers of your gut health, which is really good for your immune health. So if you're looking to upgrade your own nutrition in a simple, tasty, and convenient way, try AG1. To get a free bottle of vitamin D and five free travel packs, go to drinkag1.com/livemore. You also mentioned in terms of these negative daily habits, screen use and social media. Now, I'd love you to explain, um, is it screens in general? Is it social media? Is it both? And how would you help people think about their use of screens in relation to the health of their brain?

16. DADr. Daniel Amen11:51

    Well, increased screen time goes with obesity and depression. Social media, especially for developing brains, goes with depression and anxiety disorders because you're constantly comparing yourself to someone else who is... You know, that's their public persona, and you have no idea what they're like.Personally, uh, but you often feel less than other people. And screens and social media were created in part to be addictive. And so I, I like to talk about dopamine and how dopamine is a critical neurotransmitter involved in motivation, pleasure, and focus. And the devices we have, the notifications we get, the emails we get or the text, they produce a little bit of dopamine, uh, in our brain, which goes with a little bit of expectation. Um, or in some people, cortisol, a little bit of fear. "Oh, what do they want now?" Um, but the more we're on them, the more we get this dopamine dumping. And when you don't have it, you actually get depressed. So think of dopamine and cocaine. So it's these little micro, uh, dopamine bursts that over time begin to wear out the pleasure centers in your brain. So there's an area deep in the brain, big term, just think pleasure center. It's called the nucleus accumbens, and it specifically responds to dopamine. But the more you hit that, um, the more it wants more, and then it wants more and more to feel anything at all. And that's where addictions happen. In people who are obese, it's less reactive, which means they actually get less pleasure from the food they eat, and they have to eat more and more to feel anything at all. And so I like to think of drip dopamine, don't dump it.

17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee14:20

    Hmm.

18. DADr. Daniel Amen14:20

    And obviously alcohol dumps it, marijuana dumps it, psilocybin dumps it, cocaine, methamphetamine, they all dump dopamine. Um, and that's where addictions start. Nicotine as well.

19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee14:34

    What does that mean, dumping dopamine instead of dripping it?

20. DADr. Daniel Amen14:37

    So dumping it is things that powerfully release it, like scrolling on TikTok for an hour. You just dumped a lot of dopamine into your system. So d- if, if you release a lot of dopamine, uh, then you won't have enough store afterwards, and after you spend three hours on TikTok, you, you just feel flat.

21. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee15:07

    Hmm.

22. DADr. Daniel Amen15:07

    You feel unmotivated, unfocused. So if you're gonna spend time on it, do it after the work you've done, you need to get done for the day, and then limit it to no more than a half an hour a day.

23. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee15:23

    Yeah. Okay, great. You also mentioned, I think the other two were sleep deprivation and these negative thoughts. If you could just cover in a bit more detail, what is the impact of sleep deprivation on our brain?

24. DADr. Daniel Amen15:37

    So when you sleep, your brain cleans and washes itself. And it's very clear now, if you're not getting six and a half, seven hours of sleep, it's sort of like trash builds up, and you're less healthy the next day. When we sleep, our body turns on 700 health promoting genes. If we don't get good sleep, those do not get turned on, and we're just more likely to be sick. So sleep deprivation basically goes with all of the Bright Minds risk factors. You have lower blood flow in your brain. Your brain looks older. You have more inflammation in your body. Um, we just talked about genetics.

25. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee16:26

    Yeah.

26. DADr. Daniel Amen16:26

    If you have sleep deprivation, you're much more likely to get a head injury. The H in Bright Minds is head trauma. I mean, we talked about you have this lymphatic drainage that sort of cleans your brain at night, and if you don't get good sleep, you have more toxic buildup. You're more likely to be anxious or depressed, and your immunity goes down, which is the second I. And it's just bad for all of the Bright Minds risk factors.

27. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee16:53

    Yeah. And in terms of these negative thoughts, uh, you mentioned some of this new research that you're involved with. A lot of people may be thinking, "Well, what can I do if I have negative thoughts?" So what is your advice? I mean, just maybe recap what are negative thoughts... Well, number one, what are they? Uh, number two, what are they doing to our brain? And I guess number three is, what can people start to do about them?

28. DADr. Daniel Amen17:20

    So many years ago, I coined the term ANTs, automatic negative thoughts, the thoughts that come into your mind automatically and ruin your day. So I had a really hard day at work. I saw four suicidal patients, um, two teenagers who ran away from home, and two couples who hated each other. [laughs] And I, I'm home, and nobody's home when I got home, and I go in the kitchen, turn on the light, and we have an ant infestation in the kitchen. And I'm just like, and as I'm wiping up what felt like thousands of ants... And you remember in medical school, we're always making acronyms, mnemonics to remember stuff. Um, as I'm wiping them up, I'm thinking, "Ants, ANTs, automatic negative thoughts. My patients are infested." And so the next day at work, I brought a can of ant spray. [laughs] And I'm like, "I'm gonna teach you how to get rid of these bad-"... thoughts. And then I realized ant spray is pretty toxic, so I bought an ant puppet and an anteater puppet. And so here's the exercise: whenever you feel sad, mad, nervous, or out of control, write down what you're thinking. And then ask yourself whether or not that's true, whether or not it's absolutely true. And then later on, I met Byron Katie, who I love. She wrote this great book called Loving What Is, and she has this five-question process that I teach virtually all of my patients and I live with daily. And so say you have a negative thought, "My wife never listens to me." Well, write that down, "My wife never listens to me." And in my work, and I have in the book, Change Your Brain Every Day, all the different types of ants, and, like, mind reading or fortune telling or all-or-nothing thinking or guilt beating. Um, and so, well, what kind of ant is that, "My wife never listens to me"? Well, it's an all-or-nothing ant. Whenever you think in words like always, never, everyone, every time, they're overgeneralizations and almost always wrong. Um, so I write the thought down, "My wife never listens to me." Is that true? No. I've written 18 national public television specials, and she's listened to the script for every one of them. [laughs] So that one's, like, not true. Um, just because you have a thought has nothing to do with whether or not it's true, whether or not it's helpful, and whether or not you should keep it. The second question, is it absolutely true? Well, absolutely not. Um, the third question is, how does that thought make you feel? Awful, angry, um, separated, lonely. Um, how would I feel without the thought? Fine. And then you take the original thought and you turn it to its opposite, "My wife does listen to me," and I can give you five immediate examples of it, and then I'm fine. But if you never question your thoughts, you just believe them, and they torture you. So if you tend to get negative, if you tend to get depressed, just start writing down what you're thinking, and start with question one, is it true? And I love teaching my patients positivity bias. It's one of the reasons I studied negativity, because, you know, I just saw low positivity, high negativity goes with depression. In fact, our patients, we ask them 300 questions about a variety of mental health issues when they come see us. If your negativity bias is high, you answer yes to 67% of the questions. And so how can you train your brain to be more positive? Turn off the news, at least in the morning, and don't listen to more than 10 minutes a day. The news is meant to make you angry. The news, they sell more products if you're angry because you watch more TV. So turn off the news. Start every day with, "Today is going to be a great day." Say it. Say it out loud. Say it to someone else. "Today is going to be a great day." But my favorite strategy that is so effective, it's so effective, it is found by researchers to increase happiness in just three weeks, is when you go to bed at night, I say a prayer, and then I go, "What went well today?" And I do it in a very structured way. I start at the beginning of my day, go hour by hour looking for what I liked about the day. Now, the bad stuff shows up, but I just imagine a big broom and sweep it away. I'm like, "Not now. Not now. Now I'm gonna focus on what I loved about the day." And even during the worst day of my adult life when my father died, I did that, and I went to sleep. And it didn't mean I didn't grieve. It was a horrible day. But it's the practice. You know, the brain is lazy. What you allow it to do is what it's gonna do over and over and over and over. And you can choose to do good things and helpful things, like, "Is it true? Today's gonna be a great day. What went well today?" Or you can focus on why your life isn't going in the direction you want it to.

29. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee23:25

    [instrumental music] If you enjoyed that short clip, I think you are really going to enjoy the full conversation, which you can check out here. [upbeat music]

Episode duration: 23:46