Welcome to Quick, brain, bite sized brain hacks for busy people who want to learn faster and achieve more. I'm your
coach Jim quick
free your. Let's imagine if we could
access 100% of
our brain's capacity. I wasn't, I wasn't wired, just clear. I knew what I needed to do, and how to do it. I know Kung Fu show me.
I'll come back. Quick. Brain, your question for
today. How do you set up your food environment for optimal brain performance and power? And back on the podcast. We have our buddy, Max look a science, journalist, best-selling, author, genius, life, genius foods, and we are in your Genius, Life podcast Studio. We just did an episode for your show so good. How is so good? It's always, it's always so great having you here. I learned from you. It's always a mind jam and I feel like new ideas emerge.
Wrong the synthesis of everything that you've you know, gone deep within your life to learn and to teach about and and me when I bring, you know, so that it's just it's always great just as context for this conversation. It's for when I work with somebody, I'm always looking at the five W's and the H, right, you know, it's not just, it's not just what you learn. It's how you learn. It's when you're learning it, right? It's where you're learning. A dropped him. Learning environment. So this is really good because you could, as you're feeding your brain, like let's say through Reading.
As we teach your also feeding your body, so it's not just what you eat. It's how you're reading and when you're eating yeah, right and also in the environment where you're eating it, where you're eating it, where you're eating, it totally matters. I mean there have been studies that show that we tend to eat more when you know, when we eat our food on bigger plates versus smaller plates. Yeah, portion control is super important, but there are all these we think that were operating under the guise of free will. But there are all these external forces that dictate how much we eat and for
So many people, I mean, that is the central problem, right? Like, people tend to eat too much today. That's why you see obesity statistics, two-thirds of adults in this country are either overweight or obese. And we are on Trend by the year 2030 to have half of the adult population obese. And this is not just a cosmetic issue. This is actually a systemic metabolic problem that affects how our brains work. There have been correlational studies that show that The Wider, our waists, the smaller, our total brain volume. And we know that one of the
primary issues to come from overindulging, especially on sugary, refined grain flour products on healthy oils. Is we tend to promote a condition in the body called insulin resistance and we know that the brain thrives in a state of metabolic health and insulin resistance is the opposite of metabolic health. So we want to get our bodies in a state of optimal metabolic functioning so that our brains work as best that not only as best as they can. But they have a better chance of warding off conditions like Alzheimer's disease, which
You know, that both that both you and I have suffered from, you know, our in our lineage has I'm so I think that that's rule. Number one, is to cook at home more. It doesn't have to be every meal, you know, definitely partake in the, the conveniences of the modern world, especially now, as more and more of the world begins opening up, but the more that we can cook and cook at home, the better. Secondly, when it comes to shopping around the supermarket, you want to make sure that you're shopping around the perimeter of the supermarket, it to, as opposed, to the aisles of the supermarket, the perimeter of the
The supermarket is where all the whole minimally processed foods. Tend to lie. Most people don't realize is actually but also for markets are designed the same way. All the perishable fresh food tend to be around the perimeter because that's where they put the refrigeration which is like massive Machinery. It's the aisles where you have all the ultra-processed shelf-stable packaged convenience foods, and then you have the Frozen Foods, obviously, and we can talk about Frozen versus fresh. There are, you know, actually Frozen is a great option for many people's economic economical and most of the time equally as
Nutritious, but today we live in a time where sixty percent of the calories that adults consume come from what are called ultra-processed Foods. These are the foods that hang out in the aisles. They usually have ingredients lists that are pages long. It feels like. And the problem is that when we when we when our diets are comprised of those kinds of foods,
Those those kinds of foods promote their own overconsumption. So again, going back to this idea of free, will we tend to think that we're operating all of our own accord of our own agency, but these ultra-processed Foods, they drive their own overconsumption to the tune of about 500 additional calories a day. They've done studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, where they put Volunteers in these controlled, living environments where they feed them. What's called ad libitum meals. Meaning you can basically eat as much as you want. And they've done studies.
Um, one of the most pivotal ones was / was performed in published in 2018 where when given access to ultra-processed foods and allowed to allowed to eat to satiety, people tend to eat to a point of fullness at which point they've already over consumed their calorie budget for the day by about 500 calories. You do that every single day over the course of a week. That's a pound of fat gain, whereas when they switched over in the crossover trial to a diet that was focused primarily around minimally processed.
Foods because these are the foods that you basically. You buy the ingredients, when you cook them at home, they came in at an effortless calorie deficit. So the drive home Point here, is that what you eat influences, how much you eat. So a lot of people try to control how much they eat without without looking to what it is that they're actually eating. And that's putting the cart before the horse the minute, you make that shift in your diet and upgrade the quality of your food food quality is is so crucial. Then that tends to
Control with minimal effort, the amount that you're eating. And one of the greatest tools that I that, I like to offer people is to focus on protein dietary protein. So we know the three macronutrients carbs fat and protein, carbohydrates and fat. And especially when, when Blended together into the slurry that we call, you know, these packaged convenience foods, which tend to be primarily carbohydrate and fat based protein is the most satiating of the macronutrients. So, if you're hungry focus on protein, protein is
Is not only essential but it breaks down to the amino acids that support brain function, right? Amino acids, provide the backbones to our neurotransmitters like serotonin dopamine, even melatonin. So, protein is essential. It preserves your muscle mass which is crucial. As you age to allow you to stay mobile so that you can continue to exercise which we know is one of the most important ways to support your brain health and brain function is via exercise and protein directly supports that
And again, it's the most satiating macronutrient. So it really is a really important tool and we're told over and over again by certain people in the online nutrition space that eating lots of protein isn't good for us. It's bad. For our kidneys, which is something that has been thoroughly debunked in the scientific literature for peace for people with healthy. Kidneys, you know, you can basically eat all the protein that you want and it's really hard to over-consume protein in the end anyway because it is so satiating. So,
Focus on protein. My favorite proteins wild salmon, we know wild. Salmon is rich in DHA fat and a potent Marine carotenoid called astaxanthin, which is one of the most powerful Protectors of the fatty structure that we know and love and and refer to as the brain also great, you know, great source of vitamin E and other really important. Micronutrients grass-fed beef. I'm a big fan of beef is a bit. Can be a bit.
Herschel, but not to me, you know, researchers speculate that. It was not just access to the meat of ruminant animals. But but the very Act of cooking it that help release all of the nutrients in in that kind of meat which supported the growth of our brains, you know at the time in which humans were evolving and yeah other other types of seafood, I think are also great, you know, bivalves Wonderful source of vitamin B12. Zinc, which we know is important for good mental health as well as supporting the immune system, which is
I'm really important these days. So yeah, those I think are if you do any, you know, if you do any of those three things it's going to make a market difference in your health and the way that you feel and the way that your brain functions, but if you do all three right man, that's a home run. And it's that's like we talked about in our show that a lot of it has to do with habits and if you get set up your environment to win or if you can make what's good for you easy, and if you can make what's not so good for you more. More difficult. Yeah, and we'll definitely link.
Because we've had you on the show multiple times doubling back in the show notes as you talk a lot about genius food about what to eat. And also we did an episode about Wendy, it specifically. So we'll link back to that also as well. Anything else for the environment, you know, when we're talking about your kitchen we're talking about the perimeter of your the grocery store. Yeah, you know, I I tend to think it's really one mindset hack is to is to just visualize what you put in your shopping cart as being something that
At you are inevitably going to be putting into your stomach and if you're putting trigger foods into your shopping, cart foods that, you know, are really difficult for you to moderate your consumption of, then you're already setting yourself up for failure. You know, I'm just like anybody else. When I crack open a pint of ice cream or a bag of chips. It takes real mental muscle for me to to moderate my consumption of those foods and Portion Control, you know, junk food companies. Love to say just eat
Less move more. But what they don't acknowledge is that their foods are explicitly designed to drive over consumption. They pay food scientists, millions and millions of millions of dollars to do focus groups and to make their food impossibly delicious that they actual scientific term is hyper palatable. Hyper palatable. You won't find Foods in nature that are as delicious as a Cool Ranch Dorito chip and they know that. And that's why those Foods, you know, are those that food and foods like it underlie, the Obesity epidemic. And when we are unable to
Top our consumption of those Foods or to moderate our consumption of those Foods. We tend to, We tend to experience a bit of moral failure. We think that we're not good enough. Maybe we don't deserve, you know, the body of our dreams or the metabolic health of our dreams, but that's not the case. You're human, you know, you're programmed after eons of evolution to seek out foods that are very energy. Dense calorie dense because calories were something that we couldn't always count on for the majority of our Evolution for the majority of our time. Spent as hunter-gatherers. We
To go out and procure, our food ourselves or wasn't a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods on every block. So, our dopamine, you know, reward centers in the brain. It's like the Fourth of July fireworks. Every time you crack open, like the pint of ice cream, which combined carbs and fat generally. I mean, these boot going back to protein, I mentioned, the protein is the most satiating macronutrient. What's one characteristic that all Ultra processed packaged Foods? The kinds of foods that your grandmother would look at and say, oh those foods are fattening. What's one cat they have.
Multiple characteristics in common, but what's one? Well, they're all diluted in their protein content. They're all low in protein. There are very high in carbs and fat and those kinds of foods underlie, the Obesity epidemic and and the epidemic of what's being called diabesity. So the, the concurrent presentation of type 2 diabetes and other related illnesses, along with the Obesity crisis, and I think that it's so important for people to know how food affects their behavior because this way, they can jump off.
That sort of moving treadmill of just disappointment and depression and failure to realize and to, and to, and to embrace the sense of agency that they have to be able to look at certain foods, and identify those foods for what they are foods that are designed to promote their overconsumption foods that are designed to create repeat customers. So, we talked about the environment where people are getting the food, right? The supermarkets and then the environment the kitchen where they're preparing the food. Yeah, what about the environment? Where they're actually eating the food, you know, a lot of
'Well, you know, they they eat and they're not actually in that rest digest, they're still like working or they're doing other things, does state that you're eating it in, make a difference in terms of how you're absolutely. I mean at the very least, when you're stressed out, you're not digesting your food as well. You're not extracting all of the, all of the nutritional value of your food. So I think that's really important. That's that's a key. Take-home is to make sure that you're sitting take a deep breath, which we know activates our parasympathetic rest and digest autonomic nervous system.
And then also, I would say just be really present with your food. I mean, we talked about this on my podcast, but they've done studies where they've shown that people who are eating while distracted, like watching television or something watching, TV, sitting with their phones. I mean, look, I'm guilty of this too. So, I think this is just like, this is just so that you have the knowledge so that you can try to like make incremental improvements in your life. I eat while I'm on my phone, just like every other human being today and the year 2021, right? But research has shown us that
that when you do that, you tend to over consume calories by about 15 percent because we're not mindful because we're not being mindful of our food. And I think that's something that's really important people that are struggling with with issues related to their weight. Again, they tend to think that it's a they have a moral failure that they can't achieve their goal weights that they keep, you know, that they're that they're they just keep throwing themselves against the wall over and over and over again, but I think it's these insights that have been published in our most respected peer-reviewed medical journals, that really shine a light on.
Now this isn't all about free will it's about. It's about looking for the triggers and being present, being Mindful and realizing that there are forces outside of your control that dictate your behavior. And usually those forces are are in place. Thanks to, you know, billions and billions and billions of dollars worth of corporate interest. You know, we want to make sure that you're glued to the TV screen. We want to make sure that you're glued to the
to the Nightly News. We use the it bleeds. It leads mentality to make sure that you are going to be hyper-vigilant over the course of the next hour, you know, half an hour, long news broadcast. And of course, those tend to are around Meal Time, right? So it's just like the cycle and I could just go on and on but like what are the ads that you tend to see mostly on the Nightly News right there ads for pharmaceuticals their ads for like heartburn medication their ads for like so there's there's they're all these forces but I
Putting the power back into the hands of you, the person listening to this and you, Jim, it's just to be more mindful. I'm all of all this stuff and mindfulness. It's interesting because mindfulness, when people think about it, they think about meditation. But people can be mindful and all activities when they're, you know, when they're sitting with their significant other when they're with their children, when they're brushing your teeth, right? They could practice mindfulness. So eating this date that you eat in is as important as the food, you're actually eating that your external environment. Greatly infects, affects your
Internal environment in terms of how the food is actually processed and digested. And I could see if somebody is distracted. How they could overeat? Because there are their focus is somewhere else. Yeah, your show. We'll wait. Just be with your food for five minutes, you know, and and, and two people don't even taste their food. Yeah, it does. There they literally inhale it I mean, there are so many there are so many reasons to slow down when you eat. I mean there have been studies that have shown that. So we have What's called the thermic effect of feeding you actually burn calories.
Our is via the mastication or chewing and digestion of food alone. And there have been studies. There was one study that was that came out of Japan. It was a, it was all females in the cohort, but they showed that actually we can boost our metabolisms. Lot of people are like, but my metabolism is so slow or mental, you know, their metabolism that there's this misconception that metabolism tends to decline with age, right, but we can actually boost our metabolism merely by slowing down while we're eating. Mmm.
So a crush on the board. So many takeaways, what you eat matters, especially for, you know picture of your grey matter for sure. And it's not just what you eat. It's how you eat. And when it's also where you eat, also, also as well. We'll put all of in the show notes at Jim quick.com for / notes. How can people stay in touch with you? Besides, you're awesome book. So if thank you, yeah, definitely pick up either. Genius Foods or the genius life. They're both great. I wrote genius Foods first and genius life. I've thought of a sort of like the sequel. So
New to my work. Definitely grab genius Foods. Find me on Instagram at Max Lugia v r, l-- u-- g, AV e re and then listen my podcast. It's called the Genius life, wherever you get your your paintings, everyone. Take a screenshot as you often do and Tak Tak Max tag myself. So we get to see it. And what's one question you want to ask them to put in the post, you know. Owning. What is it? What's the last gift that you've given yourself? Oh, I like that. Yeah, you know what? Maybe it was like a good
I work out. Maybe it was like a big salad. Maybe it was a massage. Yeah, like, you know, I think we've talked about care, self care, how important that is. So what was the last was? The last thing that you've done in the name of self-care? The last gift that you've given to yourself? I'm curious to know, make sure you post it. I'll repost them of our favorites also, as well and Max. Thanks for being back on the show, buddy.
Once it double your brain, speed and memory power. If you'd like to learn rapidly and get ahead faster, I'd
To give you my brand new quick, brain accelerator program, you will discover exactly what I teach my clients to learn read and remember anything in half the time, there is no charge as my gift to you for being one of our subscribers. That's K. Wi K, brain.com or simply text. The word podcast, 29 1682 272 46 and we'll send you a direct link. That's nine 1682 brain growing up.
Struggling with learning challenges from a childhood brain injury. It's been my life's mission to help. You have your very best brain, so you can win more every single day. Now, one more quick brain, here are four ways to Fast Track your results in lock, in which, we just learned into your long-term memory. Remember fast faaast, the F stands for Facebook. You're not alone on this journey. I invite you to join our free private online group. There. You can connect with me, your fellow brain lovers links to resources. And
And submit your questions for me to answer in future episodes. Go to Quick brain.com., That's K. Wi K brain.com the, a stands for Applied act, on what you learned today. Remember knowledge is not power. Its potential power. It only becomes power when you use it. So use what you just learned the S stands for subscribe. Don't miss the next episode and other free brain training and finally the T stands for teach. You want to learn faster. Now the keys.
Is to lock it in right away by teaching it to someone else. When you teach, something you get to learn it twice. Here's a simple way to do that. Leave a review on iTunes. Leave a review with your biggest takeaway from this episode. You could also post and share this podcast on your social media. It helps us spread our mission of building better brighter brains. And of course, tag us to our team can properly. Thank you. Hashtag quick. Brain K wi K brain. Mine is at Jim quick K, wi k.
Okay. On Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. So what does fast and for Facebook? Apply, subscribe! Teach. I'll see you in our next episode of quick brain. Until then. Remember, you are faster and smarter than you.
