Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:09] Okay, welcome, everybody. Thank you for joining me for another episode of the whole Health Revolution podcast. Now, today, we're going to be talking about something that probably almost all of us have experienced at some point. I know I definitely have and sometimes do.
[00:00:24] And that is brain fog. That feeling, you know, where your mind feels slow, your thoughts feel like they're moving through mud. Maybe your focus is disappearing and every simple task feels harder than it should. And I know this can literally, you know, for me, when I've got brain fog, I find it hard to get my words out, and I'm sort of stuttering, and I just cannot. I know what I want to say, but it will. My mouth's not meeting my brain, and that's how I get brain fog. And I know that I've probably had a late night or overdone it in some way or another, and that's when I. That's how it feels for me, but it's a little bit different for everybody.
[00:01:01] So today I'm going to sort of explain what brain fog is, why it happens, and most importantly, what we can do to start lifting that fog so we can hold clearer and sharper. Okay, so let's talk about what brain fog is. Well, it's not really a medical diagnosis, so it's a cluster of symptoms. And it's when your cognitive function dips, so you might notice things like reduced focus. You can't concentrate on things that you usually can. You're forgetting the simplest of things. You're forgetting thinking is slow. You're having, like, me, trouble finding words. Maybe you're feeling irritable as well because you're not quite feeling yourself.
[00:01:38] So this brain fog, this cloud, is your body's signal that something is out of balance. And it's not all in your head. It's usually rooted in something physical or nutritional or hormonal or lifestyle related, or maybe it's all of the above. So it's really finding out, okay, what's going on for you at this time or what happened over the last few days that's causing your brain to feel a bit cloudy?
[00:02:04] So let's talk through some of the biggest contributors.
[00:02:07] Now. The first one on my list, of course, has got to be sugar dysregulation. I like to talk about dysregulated sugar because it has a big impact on our health and overall wellbeing. But when it comes to brain fog, this is a biggie, and it's a huge one that I come across in my world with my clients.
[00:02:25] So when we See, blood sugar spikes. What follows a spike, you know, what goes up must come down. We find that we're going to crash after that. And this is when, when you've had that spiking sugar, you have that crash afterwards. And that's when your brain feels it immediately. Doesn't take long at all. And so high sugar equals high insulin, the reactive drop in that blood glucose then equals foggy thinking. And then you're going to get things like cravings and fatigue. And then what do we do? We look for a sweet snack or food to lift us back up again. That simply means that we're on that blood sugar roller coaster.
[00:03:03] I have spoken to a lot of people when we start to work on their diet and that over time they find that once they work on their diet, they're not getting those sugar spikes, that the brain fog starts lifting dramatically. It's amazing. And they get more sustained energy when they start eating those balanced meals with protein and fiber and healthy fats, and they're coming away from those sugars that are going to give them that spike. So that can be a real big one.
[00:03:28] Number two is stress, chronic stress. So stress raises cortisol, and when cortisol stays high for too long, it changes how the brain functions. It reduces activity in the prefrontal cortex. And that part is responsible for our focus, for our planning, for making memories, and also decision making.
[00:03:50] It also increases activity in the emotional side of our brain, the survival centers of our brain. So we're on high alert when we're on that chronic stress.
[00:03:59] And this shift then makes it harder for us to concentrate. It can make it harder to recall information or think clearly. And this is where we find that we start making mistakes, maybe at work. I've had this myself. I went through a period in life where I was so stressed. It was a very stressful time for me for one reason or another. And I was making the silliest mistakes. I was missing emails, I was not replying to my members on the forum. It was just silly. But for me, I was trying hard to keep up with everything, but my brain just wasn't engaging.
[00:04:32] When we get this as well, this chronic stress, it also makes it harder to sleep. And then that in turn increases inflammation, both of which are now going to add another layer onto that fogginess. I mean, if you're not slept well, slept, you're going to feel foggy and tired.
[00:04:47] So I always sort of say, think about stress. That chronic stress, like having too many tabs open on your laptop, eventually everything is Going to slow down. Your computer can only run so much at any one time.
[00:05:00] Number three is hormonal changes. And of course, I've coached women in perimenopause and menopause for many years.
[00:05:06] And when we see these hormonal changes and these shifts in estrogen. Estrogen plays a major role in our brain health, memory and our mood. And when it fluctuates or when it's declining, we can experience things like memory glitches, difficulty concentrating, losing those words mid sentence. And so you can see how some of these different causes are sort of over linking, you know, that you're sort of thinking, well, what is it? Am I tired? Is it hormones? And so it's really about finding, okay, where are you at your stage in life? What's going on for you? Where is this brain fog likely to be coming from?
[00:05:42] So in perimenopause and menopause, brain fog, frog brain fog is extremely common. It really is. And aging also affects our neurotransmitters and our inflammation, both of which are going to influence our clarity and our way of thinking. So it's a real thing, brain fog. And it can be quite worrying for I've had lots of ladies over the years that start thinking, oh my God, is this the onset of Alzheimer's? Well, usually no. This is estrogen, that's, that's erratic, it's declining and it's affecting our brain.
[00:06:14] Number four is low vitamins. So you might be deficient in certain vitamins. The first one will be B12. This is essential for our cognitive function. If stress is high as well, you're going to be using up those B12 levels really fast. It's going to use up all of your sources.
[00:06:31] It's involved in our nerve health, in our blood cell production, and also our energy. So you could be low in energy as well as having that brain fog. And low B12 can cause memory issues, poor focus, tingling or numbness, especially in the extremities, the hands and feet, fatigue as well.
[00:06:51] So other nutrients that are also linked to brain fog include vitamin D, omega 3s, magnesium, and choline and zinc.
[00:07:00] So nutrient deficiencies can be a real issue. And even if you're eating the best of diets, if you're not absorbing the nutrients from those foods, say if you're on a proton pump inhibitor like antacid, you won't be absorbing all those nutrients. So this can also affect your brain.
[00:07:18] Then number five, we've got allergies and histamine issues. Histamines is not just Involved in hay fever. We think about histamines and sneezing and red eyes, et cetera. But it also affects our brain. It's actually quite interesting how histamines affect our brain. You know, it can even make you have odd thoughts, like really very strange thoughts that can really worry you as well. And this can be an overload of histamines, but it can also cause that foggy thinking, low mood, headaches, irritability.
[00:07:50] And histamines are. It's not just about, as I say, the allergies. It can be about food intolerances, but there are also lots of triggers and perimenopause. When you go into perimenopause, it can make you more likely to be.
[00:08:07] It can make you more likely to have a histamine overload, if you like.
[00:08:11] So during perimenopause, estrogen levels fluctuate, they're fluctuating wildly. So it's all over the place. When you first go into perimenopause. And estrogen actually increases the activity of our mast cells and these cells release histamine.
[00:08:27] At the same time, estrogen down regulates something called dao. And this is the main enzyme that helps us clear histamines. So if we're down regulating the enzyme, plus we're actually releasing a lot more histamines, so many women suddenly become more sensitive and this can give them headaches and fogginess, congestion. Itchy skin is obviously one and that tired but wired feeling. So histamines can actually be a real issue when you're going into perimenopause and menopause.
[00:08:58] Number six is gut health. And looking at gut health, looking at things like candida overgrowth, yeast overgrowth, sibo, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or maybe there's leaky gut. The gut and the brain are directly connected through the vagus nerve. That nerve goes from the brain to the gut. It's a two way street. And the nerve basically has branches that attach to all of our major organs. And it's this nerve that's involved in our fight or flight responses.
[00:09:28] And so if you've got an overgrowth of Candida, this can release toxins that alter the brain chemistry. If you've got sibo, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, mouthful that one, sibo, it can affect nutrient absorption and that can also cause inflammation. And if you've got that leaky gut, which can go hand in hand with sibo, it can then trigger immune activation which is going to impact the brain. It will impact you systemically because if you've got a leaky gut, you've got stuff going out of the gut into the blood, blood that doesn't belong there. So that can come out in all sorts of different chronic health conditions. Actually. It can also impact, it can also bring on autoimmunity.
[00:10:10] So really important that if there's leaky gut going on, we heal that gut. And if you think, if you have got gut issues, please do reach out to me because it's a very complex thing. The gut is. There's no one thing that will fix everybody. And so it's really about me asking questions about what's going on for you, do you bloat, etc. Etc.
[00:10:32] And I can hopefully build a picture and think what's likely happening for you and then I can help you treat that. None of this is not treatable. You know, we can treat everything. What we eat directly impacts our brain health as well. So if we've got a poor diet that's nutrient poor, you know, processed foods, et cetera, yucky fats, high sugars, that is definitely going to impact your brain.
[00:10:55] So number seven is infections. Not a lot of people know that. UTIs, viral illnesses that post viral sort of fatigue can be linked to brain fog. We can get that real brain fog afterwards. And UTIs don't just affect the bladder. In women especially, they can cause confusion and fogginess as well. So when your body is fighting an infection, it releases chemical messengers called cytokines. You probably heard that during COVID the cytokine storm. And what these do is they help to deal with that inflammation. And these cytokines can travel through the body and they can also affect the brain and they can slow down the way your brain cells communicate with each.
[00:11:36] And so, yes, that's going to come out in fogginess, forgetfulness, slower thinking, or even trouble concentrating.
[00:11:43] So number eight is sleep deprivation. I mean, that goes without saying, doesn't it? You know, either sleep deprivation or poor sleep quality. You might be getting eight hours, but is it good quality sleep? Each night, even one disrupted night, affects our memory and our learning and clarity. And that's because during our sleep, our brain clears out all the waste and it resets our neurotransmitters, actually files away all of our memories as well. So if you've got a poor memory, maybe you're not sleeping well, it's not filing them away. When you miss that deep sleep, your brain doesn't get that chance to clean up, you know, to do its housework. So everything might feel a bit slower. The Next day. And chronic poor sleep almost guarantees ongoing fog because the brain never really gets that time to fully reset. It needs that. And this is gonna lead to that brain fog and sluggish thinking.
[00:12:36] So a few things we're gonna cover here. Just four things. The first one is food. You know, food is medicine. And I often talk about food as medicine because it really is. And so we need to eat for brain and for our energy.
[00:12:48] Our brain is 60% fat, thereabouts, and it runs best on steady sort of glucose levels. So we don't want those sugar spikes. And the, the meal plans and the recipes are all based around, you know, not giving you those sugar spikes. They're high in fiber, high in protein, healthy fats.
[00:13:05] And we want to focus on those nutrient dense, real food, basically, real food and foods that support clarity. So there are some foods that are better than others. Number one is your fatty fish, such as sardines, salmon, mackerel, anything that's high in those omega 3s. Then eggs for choline, really good for brain health. Avocado for healthy fats. Leafy greens. Leafy greens are good for absolutely everything.
[00:13:32] So important, if you can get a few handfuls of leafy greens, whether you're eating them, putting them in a smoothie, they are so helpful for all round health and wellbeing. And then we've got the colorful fruits and veggies, so berries, great for antioxidants. We've got nuts and seeds now, especially walnuts. When it comes to brain health, there's something called the doctrine of foods and it's when a food looks like something from our body. So walnuts, if you put two halves together, they look exactly like a brain. And it just so happens that they are really good for our brain health. You've got things like grapes that look like the alveoli in our lungs and they're really good for lung health. And there's quite a lot of foods that are like that.
[00:14:10] So walnuts are the best ones for brain health.
[00:14:13] Other healthy fats like olive oil, extra virgin olive oil, make sure you always use that cold and don't cook with it because that changes the molecular structure.
[00:14:23] Anti, anti inflammatory, such, such as cacao and turmeric. And then of course we've got things like green tea and matcha. And that's going to give us a gentle focus without.
[00:14:35] So yes, it does have some caffeine in it, but they also have L theanine, which helps to balance that energy spike, if you like.
[00:14:44] So balancing our meals with protein, healthy fats fibre, that's all gonna help stabilize the blood glucose and it's gonna give our brain that steady fuel over the day rather than that those dips and troughs.
[00:14:57] Number two is to stay well hydrated. This can be the simplest fix when it comes to brain fog and constipation. I've had clients in the, you know, they've even been constipated or brain fog and I've said, well, okay, you're not drinking enough water, there's not enough fluid coming in and that might be the only thing they change and it makes a huge difference. And obviously New Zealand, it's hot here at the moment, it's really muggy and it's quite hot. Our needs are going to be more than you guys in the UK where it's cold.
[00:15:26] And maybe we need some electrolytes as well because we found that as little as 1 to 2% loss of water in the body can impair our cognitive performance, reduce that attention span, slow reaction times, et cetera. And another study found that drinking water has been shown to improve our mood and our mental clarity.
[00:15:47] So yeah, our cells, we're made up of a whole load of cells and if those cells are not well hydrated, things are going to start breaking down and we're going to be sluggish. We want those cells to be like nice little water balloons rather than shriveled up grapes, shriveled up raisins, you know, that's what we want because then everything's going to work really well.
[00:16:09] If water is your thing, start gradually, start to build that up through the day. We want to aim for about 1.5 to 2 liters on average. Obviously we're all different body shapes and sizes, but if we can get at least that 1.5 liters over a day, more for exercise, more if you're drinking coffee or alcohol, we need to replenish our cells and we need to be well hydrated. Has a huge impact on our brain health.
[00:16:33] Number three is to support our gut. So as I said before, yeah, the brain and the gut are definitely related and that they're, they're, there's a road, two way road between the two and it's those small daily habits that make a difference. So we can support our gut health by eating things like fermented foods. So we're looking at sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha, those fermented foods, yogurt, all really good for our gut health. And also obviously including as much fibre as possible from our vegetables. Nuts and seeds.
[00:17:09] Most of us probably undereat what we should be eating with vegetables and fruits and veggies.
[00:17:16] Yeah, from my experience and some research says we should be having eight cups a day of veggies. I mean, that's a lot to reach. I don't actually know many people that would reach that. I probably don't.
[00:17:28] But there are ways in which we can increase that fiber content by sticking it in a smoothie or, you know, we don't have to eat all of that fiber because fiber is filling. But we do need to make sure that we're getting load fibre to help our gut health because those gut bugs in our tummy, they feed on lots of different fibre.
[00:17:48] We also need to manage stress because we know that if we're stressed, it's going to alter the way our gut absorbs nutrients, it's going to alter the way the motility of the gut goes. So how the food moves through the gut.
[00:18:01] And so stress management is absolutely huge when it comes to gut health. It really is. And of course, avoiding those foods that trigger those bloating or fatigue. And if you're bloating with so called healthy foods, like your cruciferous vegetables, for example, if you're eating fibre and it's making you bloat, then we need to address that and find out, okay, what's going on for you, what do we need to do for your gut to stop that from happening? Because we should be able to tolerate these foods. Unless you've got a real intolerance to something like your celiac. Yes, you can't have, you cannot have gluten. But some of these foods where you're just sensitive, then maybe we can do something about that.
[00:18:40] And just touching on stress again, number four, stress management.
[00:18:44] It's so big, you know, and it's a real thing. In today's world, we're all so busy, we've got stress coming in from different angles. From social media, you know, being online all the time, people, family, and now we've got Christmas. So some simple tools that we can put into practice is one, getting some morning sunlight. Getting some sunlight on your eyes in the morning, it helps to reset our circadian rhythms, meaning we're gonna sleep better at night.
[00:19:09] It helps us produce more melatonin at night. It actually does. It changes our hormones. So it actually helps us on the other end of the evening when it comes to sleeping. So if sleep is an issue for you, getting morning, morning sunlight, even five or 10 minutes, and getting the sun on your eyes, no sunglasses, and not through the window. Outside can be really, really beneficial.
[00:19:32] And other things you can do is breathing, you know, five minutes, either in the morning of deep breathing or whenever you can fit it in during the day. It might just be box breathing where you're breathing in for 4 seconds, holding for 4 seconds, breathing out for 4 seconds, holding for 4seconds. It just keeps repeating in that sort of box pattern, if you like. Fantastic. If you've got a stressful job, you can do it at your desk. No one has to know you're doing it. If you can't do it there, take yourself away to the loo, lock yourself in the toilet and breathe. That's the best place for breathing because it's just you in those four walls.
[00:20:11] Obviously, things like walking, yoga, meditation, being grounded, taking those mini breaks throughout the day, all of these opportunities, especially if stress is a real issue for you, it's about grabbing those little micro opportunities throughout the day and taking yourself into that rest and relaxed state as often as you can. And that will be beneficial for you. And it does help.
[00:20:34] So, you know, you don't have to overhaul your whole life. It's little interruptions to your stress cycle that can reset that mental clarity.
[00:20:43] Now, just before I close, just want to talk about a few supplements that can help. So if you're eating all the right things and you're doing your stress management, you know, you feel like you're doing a lot of things but you're still struggling, then there are supplements that can help and they are there to supplement what you're already doing. So I'm not one of those naturopaths that likes to come in heavy with the supplements and say, take this for that, you know, and everything we need to be. Be getting all those corners, you know, the, the, I guess the foundations of our health in line first. And then we might need a bit of help. So I've got a few supplements that are really good for brain fog. The first one is taurine. It's an amino acid from a protein and that helps to calm the nervous system. It supports something called GABA G A B A. And that's a chemical in the brain that helps you feel relaxed and it helps you think more clearly.
[00:21:35] And it also reduces the overstimulated feeling when your mind's busy, you know, when you've got that tired but wired feeling. And often we sort of reach out for things like coffee and that to keep us going. We're tired, but we do, and that just adds to it.
[00:21:49] Taurine also supports those tiny Little power stations inside each and every cell that we have. And they are your mitochondria, they're our little batteries. And if these are sluggish, then we're going to be low in energy, we're going to have that brain fog. So we need to support our and those mitochondria, little batteries in those cells. And I did a podcast on the mitochondria and oops, that's on episode 19 if you want to go back and listen to that. It's a really good episode.
[00:22:20] Many people that, they feel, they feel more focused and they feel less wired and tired when they start taking this taurine consistently.
[00:22:28] Another one which is specific for the brain is ginkgo. Ginkgo is a fantastic herb, very well researched and I've used it a lot in the past as a medical herbal.
[00:22:39] And it improves the blood flow to the brain, supports our memory, our recall and our mental performance.
[00:22:45] It's great for the menopausal brain fog or even age related cognitive decline. Some medical herbalists say that you should just take this every single day as you age. You know, different, different opinions out there. And also there's research out there to say that can help prevent things like Alzheimer's and also improve functional abilities in those that already have any kind of mild dementia. It can actually a difference and we've always been told that, you know, once you've got Alzheimer's, you can't do anything about it. But there are things that I think you can do to slow that progression. And ginkgo biloba is one of those herbs.
[00:23:23] Another one is lion's mane mushrooms. I love, love mushrooms. They do so many different things for us. And we're not talking about the magic mushrooms here. These are medicinal mushrooms and it's a fantastic addition. I put, I put mushrooms in my coffee in the morning, in my decaf coffee.
[00:23:40] They help immune system, etc. Particular mushrooms have different functions. So lion's mane supports our nerve growth, it supports our focus and our mental clarity. Our learning also helps with our mood. And many people note that they feel clearer in their thinking and fewer sort of word finding problems when they take it consistently.
[00:24:04] Right. The next one is magnesium. Magnesium. A lot of us are often low in magnesium, especially if stress is in the picture. We use up our magnesium very quickly.
[00:24:14] It helps with stress, it helps with sleep, helps with our neurotransmitter function. These are our nerve cells. And so many people with brain fog have been found to be deficient in magnesium. It's quite deficient in Our soils. And if you're not absorbing it from your foods, you may well be low in magnesium. It's probably one of the supplements I do often recommend if I feel there's a real gap there because it has so many different functions. So we need magnesium for so much. Over 300 enzymatic functions in our body. Really important mineral to have. It's our relaxation mineral as well, so it'll help with that stress.
[00:24:55] The next one is obviously omega three fish oil. Essential for brain cells. It's essential for the brain cell membrane. It's involved in our mood and our focus.
[00:25:06] And it's especially helpful if you don't eat much fish. So if you're not eating at least 2 servings of fatty fish a week, then then I recommend supplementing with fish oils. The next one is a B complex, particularly B12. B12 supports our energy, our cognition helps the way our liver detoxifies things, our methylation.
[00:25:30] Especially important if you're on a plant based diet, especially if you're vegan, if you're not getting much meat in the way in your foods, then you do need to supplement with B12 because mainly it comes from animal sources.
[00:25:44] So yeah, if I've got any plant based clients that don't eat any meat, so no eggs or so particularly vegans, I will always say definitely. And most vegans know they need to supplement with B12 or you can get things like nutritional yeast, which is very high in it as well. But you've got to be having that on a daily basis.
[00:26:04] A couple more we've got probiotics. Obviously we're talking about guts and brain. We want to make sure that environment in our gut is really nurtured. We've got a lot of those different gut bugs in beneficial guys. The balance is not out of kilter. So probiotics can be very, very good depending on what's going on for you, if you've had antibiotics or if you've had. If you're recovering from infection, I'll often say, okay, let's get you on a probiotic. We want to feed these good guys because these good guys can really determine how we think and how we feel. There are some gut bugs in there that will make you crave certain foods. It's really interesting. If we've got an overgrowth of Candida, for example, these guys love sug, so they will make you crave sugar, they will make the host crave sugar so that they can feed and multiply. It's fascinating.
[00:26:54] And the last one I want to Talk about is it's a bit of a buzz at the moment and that is creatine. Now when I was bodybuilding and powerlifting, we used to use this a lot in the fitness world for our muscles and muscle recovery and what have you.
[00:27:08] But there's a lot of research. It's probably one of the most researched supplements ever.
[00:27:14] But the consensus now is that creatine helps our brain make those quick decisions.
[00:27:21] It gives us that usable energy, helps us with that clearer thinking, better focused, and it also improves our short term memory as well.
[00:27:30] I could do with some of that actually.
[00:27:32] So it's especially helpful for mental fatigue, that stress related fog, and for people who don't eat much red meat. Because creatine is another amino acid and it's found in protein and you're looking at about 3 to 5 grams a day of that.
[00:27:48] You can mix it in your coffee. It's a pretty tasteless powder and some people might notice that they get a bit of water retention from taking it. And if you do, just lower the dose and just build your way back up slowly. And that often helps to clear that. I've covered what brain fog is. I think we all know what brain fog is. We know when we've got it. I've covered why we can get it, or different, different reasons why we get it and also how we can treat it. It's not something that we need to just accept. You know, if you're finding that you're just feeling this way every day, maybe you need to start looking at, okay, am I doing too much in a day, is the stress too high, et cetera. We don't need to just deal, just accept that that's the way it is. And I think when you understand where it's coming from, you can definitely make changes. As always with every call, I always encourage you to pick one or two things from tonight's talk and them this week. Let me know in the forum or make a comment on the WhatsApp group as to what you're going to add in this week. And maybe it's improving your breakfast, adding some healthy flaxseeds or chia seeds, some healthy omega 3s to your breakfast. You might want to practice some five minutes of breathing every day. Or maybe you want to try and get to bed a bit earlier in the night so you've got more chance to have that good restorative sleep. Remember, it's always those small steps that make the big changes.
[00:29:11] And if you take away one thing from tonight, hopefully is this that we need to support our whole body, our blood sugar, hormones, stress, sleep, gut, health and nutrition. Because when we're in balance, our brain becomes that sharp and focused brain again.
[00:29:28] And this is really what the Whole Health Revolution for me is all about. It's understanding the body as a whole system, making it simple, making it sustainable, those sustainable changes that support every part of your health and wellbeing. Thank you for joining me once again for this week's episode of the Whole Health Revolution. Now, after this show, we did have some wonderful questions asked by some of our members of the program and if you'd like to join me each week live and have your questions answered, then please do click on the link in the show notes www.naturalhealthproject.co.nz nz forward/weight loss program. You can also email me rachelleaturalhealthproject co NZ and we can get you started today. Thank you for joining me and I look forward to seeing you again next week.
