← Stronger with Don Saladino
Loading summary
Transcript321 lines
- [00:01]
A
When it comes to gifting, everyone on your list deserves something special. Luckily, Marshall's buyers travel far and wide, hustling for great deals and amazing gifts so you don't have to. That means your mom gets that cashmere sweater, your best friend that Italian leather bag, your co workers unwrap their favorite beauty brands, and your nephews the coolest new toys. Go ahead. A price is this good, you can grab something for yourself too. Marshalls, we get the deals. You gift the good stuff. Shop now@marshalls.com or find a store near you. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. Listening to this podcast Smart move. Being financially savvy. Smart move. Another smart move. Having State Farm help you create a competitive price when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling. Just another way to save With a personal price plan like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and saving eligibility vary by state.
- [01:00]
B
Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of Stronger. Today I just brought on Luisa Nicola. Louisa is a friend and she's a neurophysiologist. She studies the brain. She is incredibly passionate about trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's and I think you guys are going to get a lot of great information out of this. There's so many things that she dove into in reference to anti Alzheimer's protocol. So specific things that she listed like exercise, diet, sleep supplementation. She spoke about the importance of exogenous ketones and why she would have you supplement those. I think there's a lot of great points. Today Luisa and I spent an hour. We could have probably spent about five hours. I know whether you are a man or a woman, you're gonna absolutely love this episode. There's so many great points to be able to implement and to start young. Start putting these into your daily routine. Reap the benefits of it long term. I hope you enjoy the episode. Let's go. So the Stronger podcast is not possible. If it weren't for our sponsors. I want to really thank Cozy Earth. They've been one of our really consistent ones. And to be honest, I've been using their bamboo sheets, my wife uses their pajamas, and my dog Sam Buka has been using that big. What is it? It's the big blanket. It's the, the bubble cuddle blanket, which actually Sierra is the exact same fur color as my dog Sambuca. So I have this eight pound dog laying on this blanket because my wife is freezing cold because I like the room at 65 degrees. So she's underneath the blanket. And the other day I went to grab the blanket and I couldn't see Sambuka on it, but he's literally camouflaging there. So if my dog Sambuca likes it, this is very comfortable. And now my wife won't even let me use it because her and Sambuca are cuddling together on it. And I, I use the bamboo sheets which are nice because it's very cooling, which is what I want, but really has improved my sleep quality as well. According to my aura, I could tell my body temperature is at a normal. Sierra's just laughing right now. This is not like this. This is an ad, but this is real. You understand what I'm saying? So I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan of Cozy Earth right now. You could stack my code stronger on top of their site wide sale, giving you up to 40% off in savings. That's incredible. That's cozyearth.com, code stronger for up to 40% off in savings. These deals won't last. So start your holiday shopping today and if you get a post purchase survey, be sure to mention you heard about Cozy Earth right here from me. I truly use this product. So let me know what you guys think in the comments section of our post because we're always tagging Cozy Earth and our brand sponsors. So I'd love to hear it. If you guys like it, let us know. All right guys, first off, I have to thank my sponsors, one of them right now being Mito Pure Mitopure. Thank you guys for, for just being a loyal sponsor of ours. So they have a few different products. They have Mitopure which is a urolithin a product. So I've been taking this product for a while. My skin, my lines, my energy level, my mitochondrial function is fantastic. And Mito pure their urolith and a supplement. I take four capsules a day. That's a thousand milligrams. I take it religiously and I really can't travel without it now because I have seen benefits come from this. With probably about three to six months I just started feeling like my skin was glowing a little bit more. I was feeling a bit younger. I was. But they also have skin products which I love. They have a night cream which I think is fantastic. They have a day cream. They have a whole bunch of stuff. So I just hit them up and I'm like, send me more because I'm out. And they're like, I'm praying to come soon because, I don't know. I just. Our skin, it's. It's. It's so important. It's so overlooked by most. Most men. I mean, women. You guys got it. You're nailing it. I. I gotta admit it. Like, they're. They're just. They've been doing this a long time, and guys get a little bit more seasoned throughout their years when they decide to start incorporating this stuff. But I think it's a good habit to enforce, so. Might appear again through. Thank you again, Timeline. Thank you. And timeline is offering 20% off your first order. Might appear. Go to timeline.com stronger. That's t I m e l I n e dot com stronger. I can't believe I actually had to read how to spell timeline. I did, though. All right, guys, have fun. Luisa, Nicola.
- [05:29]
A
Hi.
- [05:29]
B
Super excited.
- [05:30]
A
Me too.
- [05:31]
B
My Greek friend. People don't know I'm a quarter Greek, so I got to brag that all the time when I meet Greeks. You should definitely. But I met you through Gabrielle. Ly brilliant, incredible person. We just hit it off, and I just was grateful that you came down here. But you're a neurophysiologist. Okay. You're also the founder of the Neuro Experience podcast. Can you talk to me about what a neurophysiologist does?
- [05:53]
A
Oh, my gosh. So it's a subspecialty of neurology. So generally, when you see a neurologist and maybe you've got a headache or something, you go to the neurologist, and if they may suspect something else, along the lines of if you've had a seizure. Right. Or if you've had maybe suspecting of multiple sclerosis, you go and see a neurophysiologist. So what we do is we usually scan brains, scan the functionality of the brains using something called an EEG. So I've scanned about, I would say, 10,000 brains right now, usually picking up on epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease. We also use something called an emg, which electromyography, that you can pick up on anything from myasthenia, gravis, als, things like that. So I actually have a unique role. I'm a neurophysiologist intraoperatively. So I'm in neurosurgery three days a week, specifically in an area called neuroplastic neurosurgery. So when you are in neurosurgery, it's not just about the surgeon. It's not just, you know, it's an Entire team. Right. And because the brain is so complex, when the surgeon is cutting, so to say, you have to be so mindful that you don't go near a nerve because anything can paralyze a person because the, the brain is so intricate. So I will be in there and using, you know, EMGs, going really deep within the brain and basically guiding the, the surgeon on where to cut, where not to cut, and assessing whether this patient has stroked out or not during surgery.
- [07:26]
B
You gotta almost. I feel like you're one of these people that, that develops somewhat of an obsession to this.
- [07:32]
A
I have.
- [07:33]
B
It's not. This is not your job. This is your life's work.
- [07:37]
A
It is. And it. The age of 20 when I first saw a brain.
- [07:40]
B
What can you talk about that?
- [07:42]
A
So during my, my second year of my undergraduate degree, we had to go into a cadaver lab and I fell in love with the bodies. And that sounds kind of crazy, right? And the woman who was in charge, I know it sounds, I don't know that what you'd name her, she was in charge of actually cutting up the bodies once they came in. And she said to me, this man came in and it was just the top part of his torso. She said, I'm actually going to be drilling through, getting his brain and I can I stay back? And I stayed back until 10pm that.
- [08:12]
B
Didn'T freak you out at all watching that?
- [08:14]
A
No. And when I first saw it, I thought, this is magnificent. So I actually pulled an entire, like a human brain out. Unfortunately, this man was 62 years old. He had a car accident. He donated his body to medical research. So when I first saw that and this woman guided me on everything, like incisions and autopsies. And it was just, I thought, I have to dedicate my life to this.
- [08:34]
B
So, I mean, getting into now kind.
- [08:37]
A
Of sounds morbid and makes me sound like a.
- [08:39]
B
No, it does. But you're doing, you're, you're, you're improving, you know, life. I mean, you really are. Because people have to come in and they. That sounds like such a, like an unintelligent comment there. But I had to find something very broad. I mean, your work right now is giving us the information that. That's scary stuff. When someone's coming to a neurophysiologist. It's not like, oh, hey, I've got a bump on my elbow. They're like, there's. These are problems. I mean, you probably see people in their worst state, or let's say most vulnerable state, 100%.
- [09:14]
A
And you know when you're delivering news like, you know, multiple sclerosis, which actually is not a death sentence, thank God anymore. It's. It can be scary. It can be scary to hear something like that. What about.
- [09:27]
B
I mean, there's something. I mean, I'm gonna. I'm gonna jump right to it right now. Alzheimer's. I mean, this is something that I saw my grandfather go through when I was very. I saw my father have to go through it with his father. Scared the living shit out of me. I just. I couldn't. I couldn't believe that my dad just shows up one day and his father doesn't know who he is and is telling my dad about his son.
- [09:48]
A
Yeah.
- [09:48]
B
And that, to me was one of the most. It's one of the most sickening things I've seen someone go through. I'm like, how do you just remove someone's memories and, and, and relationships and love? These are things that we spend an entire life building and developing and evolving. And to have that taken away from you is. It's almost. It's just a terr to say it's almost worse for the relative because at least the person who's going through it doesn't know what's going on in a way. But my dad, to sit there and watch his father going through that. So why. Why did you suddenly become so passionate about trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's?
- [10:21]
A
So when you're in neurophysiology. I was actually, you know, as I mentioned, you're. You're scanning all these brains. So I was tasked in 2018 with picking up on early onset Alzheimer's disease. That was my entire task. I was in a neurology wing and I was like, okay, great. I was scanning all these brains and I kept coming up with mild cognitive impairment, so. Meaning that people had pre dementia states. And every time I asked my superior, the attending, whoever, I would ask, okay, great, what are we going to do with this person? They said, no, that. That is it just mild cognitive impairment. I thought, well, what are we going to do? Can we reverse it? Can we cure? I didn't have the answers. And they just kept telling me, just get on to the next patient. So I had no time, and it was really frustrating, but that's what I was told. I was told that we could not do anything about it. So one woman came in and really changed my life. I saw her over the course of two years. She was 52 years old, and she had mild cognitive impairment. And the.
- [11:15]
B
So that's what it's called before Alzheimer's.
- [11:17]
A
That's like, that's when you start to get those short term memory complaints. Maybe you forgot where your keys are. And then you start. Then it's a massive acceleration. And I actually saw that because she went from coming in, hi, Louise, I'm so excited with her husband and her kids to who are you and what am I doing here?
- [11:35]
B
And in what span of time did that really happen?
- [11:37]
A
Two years.
- [11:38]
B
Two years. She went from knowing you and being friendly to not. Not knowing who you were.
- [11:42]
A
Yeah. And that's when I actually decided to go all in on Alzheimer's disease. And let me tell you, I've dedicated seven days a week, I would say 24 hours a day to this disease for the better half of my career. So ever since I was around 2017, 2018.
- [11:57]
B
So talk to us about some of the things that you've seen evolved. I mean, there's not a cure for Alzheimer's, but we're on our way to finding out things that might. I don't want to say a cure, but can you. Slowing the process, maybe, or you can slow the process.
- [12:14]
A
We don't have a cure. You can't reverse it. So that's all we can do. No matter where you are on that time course, no matter where you. Whether you're five, ten years into it, you can slow the progression of it accelerating. But let's just do a crash course for everybody because people keep. I keep misinterpreting what it is. So dementia is the umbrella term that we use for all of the different neurodegenerative diseases. Parkinson's dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies. We've got Bruce Willis, who's got frontotemporal dementia. His wife Emma has spoken about being a caregiver, which is what you said. The devastating moments of being a caregiver. Alzheimer's disease is the most prominent form of dementia. It affects right now around 50 to 60 million people worldwide. And that number is going to triple by the year 2050.
- [13:02]
B
Why is it tripling?
- [13:04]
A
Because of the state of our environment.
- [13:07]
B
Yeah. The food, everything that we're consuming.
- [13:10]
A
95% of Alzheimer's disease cases could be prevented.
- [13:16]
B
Stop it.
- [13:16]
A
Yeah.
- [13:17]
B
So now that's not a theory. That's a statistic.
- [13:19]
A
That is a statistic. You don't have to get Alzheimer's disease. We now know after many years of research, the very first patient with Alzheimer's disease was 1901, and it was a female and she was 52 years old.
- [13:30]
B
So you developed this form of dementia in the beginning, or what did you call it?
- [13:35]
A
Mild cognitive impairment.
- [13:37]
B
Mild cognitive impairment. At that point, you're.
- [13:42]
A
You're on the trajectory.
- [13:43]
B
You're on the trajectory. So at that point, there's no preventative.
- [13:46]
A
It is no preventative. But do you want to go along the bus at 20 miles an hour, or do you want to just bring it down to two miles an hour?
- [13:54]
B
Right.
- [13:55]
A
So instead of getting the. The Alzheimer's disease diagnosis at 70, do you want to get it at maybe 95?
- [14:02]
B
Right.
- [14:02]
A
Much better.
- [14:03]
B
So this is why now when we start talking about neuro athletics and neuro athletic principles.
- [14:09]
A
Yes.
- [14:10]
B
Your. These are things that, you know, a lot of coaches out there do talk about in their everyday life, but you obviously know exact. The exact things that you would recommend someone to do to basically slow this process down as quickly as possible, or protocols that you might have someone follow. If it's something that's in their family and they're nervous, they're just. It's in the back of their head. My grandfather had it, my father have it. What's it has it. What's the chance of me having it? I'm going to do what Luis is saying. That's pretty much what neuro athletics is, or 100%.
- [14:44]
A
So that there's a common myth, a misconception, and that is everyone's going to get dementia as you get older. But that's not the case. Dementia isn't a disease of old age. It's a disease of the lifestyle that you live. So we can definitely prevent Alzheimer's disease. Now, what you were just referring to, you said genetics. So a lot of people understand that there is risk genes involved in this disease. It's called the APOE4 genes. And if you have one allele, so we get two alleles, one from mom, one from dad. If you've got one ApoE4 allele, you raise your risk of getting the disease by three times, three times greater than the general population. If you have two, you raise your risk by about 10 to 12 times.
- [15:27]
B
Wow.
- [15:27]
A
Even so, it does not mean you have to get the disease. And we know this from. There was a massive study in Africa that showed that a lot of the population there have two alleles of Apoe 4, but actually have the lowest amount of Alzheimer's disease cases. Why is that? Because they're living healthier lifestyles, which means that lifestyle prevention is the number one key to preventing Alzheimer's disease.
- [15:50]
B
There was a book years ago I read by Weston A. Price called Physical Degeneration. It was basically showing the different regions and how we're affected by things like our environment and the foods we're exposed to. And they took people who lived in these regions that had perfectly white teeth and jawlines, and suddenly they brought them into different regions, and within two weeks, they were sick for the first time, or things started changing. It really is. I mean, you are a product of your environment. So there are so many. There's so many directions we can go with this today. And I'm praying that you'll agree to come back on down the road and we can highlight more things. But I would really like to kind of focus out of the gate on Alzheimer's, because I know right now we're going to be piquing people's interest about this, and that's not to disrespect all the other work that you. That you've done, but can you start maybe educating people or what are some things that they want to think about from recognizing that this might be an issue? I had a friend the other day, contacted me about someone that they're really concerned with because they're starting to see health decline and they're starting to have some symptoms. Go on. And what would you recommend for someone who's nervous, unsure, Am I going down this path? Let's start there.
- [17:06]
A
Well, unfortunately, this is the only time I will do this. We have to separate the sexes. Okay. Because we do have a problem here. There are sex differences in this disease. We know that women represent two thirds of all Alzheimer's disease cases. Two thirds.
- [17:20]
B
Wow.
- [17:21]
A
Yeah.
- [17:22]
B
I thought you were going to go the other way around. I thought you were going to say it was guys.
- [17:24]
A
No, no. Men are more predisposed to. If we're talking about Parkinson's disease, for example. But women represent two thirds of Alzheimer's disease cases. So we do have to be sex specific right now. Why is that? We used to think it was because we lived longer or women lived longer, but we now know it's because of this hormonal shift that occurs at around 45 to 55. You know, it's called perimenopause and menopause, which I know is spotlighted right now on the intern, and rightfully so, because back in 2002, there was a huge, huge study called the Women's Health Initiative that basically scared millions and millions of women out of taking hormone replacement therapy. So during the perimenopause stage, and women can get it as early as 41, 42, average age about 45, things start to shift we get a decline in estrogen and progesterone and testosterone and. And we used to think that these hormones were responsible for reproduction, but we now know that they serve so much more roles than that. We've got estrogen receptors in the brain. I'm just going to focus on estrogen receptors all over the body.
- [18:31]
B
Sure.
- [18:32]
A
Mainly the brain. You have estrogen too, by the way, and it's neuroprotective. So it's protecting our brain against inflammation, toxic exposure from the environment. It's protecting us against harmful chemicals. It helps us utilize glucose better in our brain. This is why you've probably heard of Alzheimer's disease being type 3 diabetes, which we'll get to. So it's so neuroprotective. So what happens if we all of a sudden get a loss in it? Well, our brain doesn't function as well because it doesn't have its protector there. It's like taking. It's like being in an NFL game. And then all of a sudden you're going, in the NFL game, but you've taken the helmet off. What's going to happen? Well, you're going to be predisposed to concussions, Right? So it's the same thing. So we've taken all of the estrogen out. So the brain is there, it's starving, it's thinking, what am I going to do to survive? And it starts to malfunction. And the way that it malfunctions is we have 87 billion neurons in the brain, 87 billion nerve cells, and all of them connect with one another. There's about 15,000 connections per nerve cell. So Alzheimer's disease is the breakdown of these connections.
- [19:46]
B
Okay, yeah.
- [19:47]
A
So you're not killing neurons itself, you're breaking down the connections. But these connections are responsible for everything we do. The way you think, the way you breathe, the way you throw a ball. Everything is connected. And so if these start to break down, which they do, they start to break down in certain regions. The first area is the hippocampus. That's the area responsible for memory formation, memory consolidation. That's why the first signs of Alzheimer's disease is what was that man's name? Or honey, where are my keys? And you're looking around. Or it's when you go into the garage. Hang on. Just gotta go into the garage. What did I come in here for? You've probably had those moments, right?
- [20:25]
B
I've been having a lot more of those moments lately, and I just think it's from work and stress, and I think that's my wife got all panicked and she's like, next thing you know, she's on ChatGPT checking it out. And she's like, if you forget table or stuff like that, then you're in trouble. I'm like, just shut up and leave you alone.
- [20:41]
A
I mean, the amount of people that I get, thousands of DMs on Instagram, so that's how it starts. And then if you don't take care of it, what tends to happen is then this is actually so interesting and I just found this out. It's. This is like brand new research, what I'm about to say to you, and it's quite scary. Your brain uses glucose as its primary fuel source, okay? Glucose in order to produce energy. So during menopause, we actually see a reduction of brain glucose metabolism by 30%. So 30% of our utilization of our brain fuel decreases. So then you think, okay, great, where is the neuron going to get fuel from if it can't utilize glucose? Where does it get fuel because it needs fuel to survive?
- [21:24]
B
I would think my guess would be fat. But what are you going to say?
- [21:26]
A
It is fat, but where does it get the fat from? Because dietary cholesterol cannot cross the blood brain barrier. So it's not like you can eat a stick of butter and then just accept and have your brain eat it.
- [21:36]
B
I'm trying to guess right now and where it would be not the place that we'd want it to come from, but the place that you wouldn't want.
- [21:42]
A
It to come from. So remember those connections that I told you about? So your brain, so your brain cell is your brain cell. And then the connection that comes off it, it's called an axon. The axon is myelinated, okay? It's covered in this myelin sheath. That myelin sheath is fat. It's made of oligodendrocytes. Guess what happens? The brain, the brain cells itself start eating the fat. So it starts eating the coating of the myelin sheath. So your brain literally eats itself to survive. And in that moment, your axon is left with no myelin sheath. So therefore something occurs. It's called conduction velocity starts to stop. So that's what causes you to stop thinking properly. And the speed. You know how sometimes I don't know if you've spoken to your parents. You know, I speak to my parents now. They're 70 years old. But when I was speaking to them when they were 50 years old, my dad, sharp, he was onto it. Now he's like, slower.
- [22:34]
B
Yeah, Right.
- [22:36]
A
Things start to slow down and then you start. That's. And that's the start of it.
- [22:42]
B
First off, the Stronger podcast wouldn't be possible if it wasn't for our amazing sponsors. And right now, I want to thank Vuori. I tried Vuori a few years ago, started diving into their gear. I was wearing their workout shorts because I have more of an athletic build. Their T shirts are amazing because I find now when I work out, I don't want to wear a dingy T shirt. I want to wear something that looks nice because I'm on camera and I'm on the gym floor a lot. But if I was going to pick up with a bunch of my training partners and go grab a bite to eat, I don't look like a schlep. All right. It actually looks good. So for our listeners, they're offering 20% off your first purchase. Pretty significant. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 in free returns. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet@vuori.com stronger that's V U-O-R-I.com stronger exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. So the Stronger podcast wouldn't be possible if it weren't for our incredible sponsors. Right now, I want to thank Gusto. All right, so Gusto is an online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's an all in one remote, friendly, and incredibly easy to use so you can pay, hire onboard and support your team from anywhere. It's what we pay you using. Right? Sierra gets paid using Gusto. So, you know, I am really talking about this. I use it. This is the real thing. I love it. I want to shout out the small business owners out there. You wear a million hats and still show up for your team, but Gusto can help take some of that load off, especially when it comes to payroll, benefits and compliance. Listen, I started as a trainer, and if it wasn't for a software program like Gusto, I don't know what I would do because I'm getting pulled in a million different directions every single day. And I need simplicity and I need reliability. So, Gusto, you've been incredible with that. Thank you. Gusto is trusted by over 400,000 small businesses and it could be yours, too. Try gusto today@gusto.com stronger and get three months free. When you run your first payroll, what do you have to lose? That's three months of free payroll@gusto.com stronger that's G U S T O.com stronger this episode of Stronger is presented by Express VPN. First off, the show would not be possible if it wasn't for our sponsors. Right, Sierra?
- [25:20]
A
Right.
- [25:21]
B
Okay. And what's ironic about this sponsor here is that my business moved fully online in 2020 due to the pandemic, and I didn't realize how often you are going to be exposed. And for so many of us, privacy is an afterthought. Right? So using the Internet without ExpressVPN, imagine taking a call on the train and just reading off your credit card number. The reason why I'm bringing that up is because I had to do that the other day and I'm literally whispering. So, you know, but don't do that, please. But you know, ExpressVPN is your security system online. So with ExpressVPN, 100% of your traffic is rerouted through secure encrypted servers so your service provider can't see your browsing history. ExpressVPN is like having tinted windows for your Internet connection. Very cool. You can see out, but no one else can see in. It's easy to use and works on all devices, phones, laptops, tablets, and more. So you can stay private on the go. Right now, listeners of Stronger can get up to 4 months of Express VPN for free. So head to expressvpn.com stronger to check out their plans. 4 months free? Why not? Why not? What do you have to lose? Secure your online data today by visiting expressvpn.com stronger that's E, X, P R E S S v p n. Stronger to find out how you can get up to 4 extra months free. Expressvpn.com stronger expressvpn thank you again for your support.
- [27:03]
A
So how do we supply the brain with all of the essential tools that it needs? Well, one, it needs proper nutrition. Right. So the mind diet is the best diet across the board for Alzheimer's disease.
- [27:16]
B
So you're. You're referring to more of a fat adapted diet. Less carbohydrates, less glucose, right?
- [27:21]
A
Yes, more.
- [27:22]
B
And I'm not really gonna say. I'm not really gonna say plant. Plant rich.
- [27:25]
A
Plant rich.
- [27:26]
B
Yeah, but still pro. But. But not. But animal protein also.
- [27:29]
A
Yes, yes, but.
- [27:30]
B
But yeah, strong is what I like to call it. Strong. Yeah.
- [27:33]
A
The MIND diet, Mediterranean Intervention Dash diet is what it stands for, was like 70 or 80% plant.
- [27:40]
B
Wow.
- [27:40]
A
Yeah.
- [27:40]
B
So, yeah. So the Mediterranean diet, you would say.
- [27:43]
A
Yeah.
- [27:43]
B
So what about. What about the theory on people getting into ketosis.
- [27:48]
A
Great. We love that. Exogenous ketones ever. Let me tell you. So I. One of the sponsors of my show, it's a ketone company, they send me boxes of. I got in touch with them. I said, please stop. I've got like, yeah, like too much. It's ridiculous. My doorman thinks like I'm like selling these like in the black market as a drug dealer.
- [28:07]
B
Ketones. Yeah.
- [28:08]
A
When I read, when I really got into this research because you drank it all, I said, actually, I said, put it back on the list. I said, and send them to Australia. Okay. Because now I see I have to see something in. In deep, like flesh to actually really believe it for myself.
- [28:25]
B
So what did you see? So, so ketones like, like people are starting to consume this a lot more now, right. Over the last few years.
- [28:32]
A
Wonderful.
- [28:33]
B
So what did you see instantaneously through. I mean, where did you. How did you quantify the success from consuming this? It' you're getting on a scale or your body fat. Oh, look, my body fat dropped. Like, how are you seeing that this is improving?
- [28:45]
A
Well, for me, I. I see that my. My thinking is great for some reason, ketones really obliterates my. My appetite. And if you have the same feeling, I feel like I can fuel my brain for a long period of time. Two weeks ago we had a 16 hour surgery. I thought is, I don't know how I'm going to last 16 hours. And I gave every surgeon, everyone in the O. R. Like boxes of these ketones and we drunk them throughout. I'm telling you, we were so sharp, it was like taking modafinil.
- [29:14]
B
You know, it's funny, the first time I've ever experienced that was when I was speaking and I, for once, I'm a carbohydrate person. I just always. I'm good with carbs. If I don't have them, I get super skinny. I just. It's part of my. It's just part of what I've always consumed. But I did, I eliminated carbohydrates and I went more fat adapted. And I could not believe from a brain function standpoint I'll sometimes forget things or I'll stutter or I was like wired like you gave me the best cup of coffee. Non jitters. And this was probably 10 years ago when that happened and that light bulb went off because I was reading things about this and I'm.
- [29:53]
A
Your brain actually uses ketones way better than it uses glucose, even though glucose is the main energy source. So yes, ketogenic diet is fantastic, but also a plant rich diet is wonderful because another thing you have to remember about the brain is it's the most vascular rich organ in the entire body, which means it houses the most amount of blood vessels, capillaries, veins, arteries. And what are they? That's, you know, they're filled with blood. Okay. So it delivers oxygen and nutrients to the brain. If you clog them just the same as what you do with cardiovascular disease, if you clog them with plaque, then it's going to lead to a stroke. Okay. Or vascular dementia. So that's why plants having high fiber diets is going to be really good for the blood vessels of the brain.
- [30:39]
B
When people are eating a certain way or treating their body a certain way, they don't truly understand what it's like to feel good from nutrition. And you've been doing this a long time? I've been doing this a long time. I feel it sometimes. I'm not going to say I don't go off the deep end ever. I mean, I do it less and less as I get older and older because I realize how it makes me feel and how it makes me perform. But for people out there that are watching this, that don't truly understand the gut brain connection. Oh, gosh. Can you, can you talk a little bit about that? Really low level. I'm not looking for a full breakdown, but I want to just give people a little bit of a taste on. Because you're diving into some really important things here.
- [31:19]
A
I'm so happy you brought that up. And also low level, because it's not my field, but your gut and your brain communicate with each other via the 10th cranial nerve. It's called the vagus nerve. Right. So there's this nerve that comes out of the brain, it goes into the gut and they communicate with each other. So whatever's happening in the gut. Right. Is happening really in the brain. And a lot of most of the serotonin that is produced in our body is produced in the gut. So if we're having poor inflammatory diets, it's going to go straight up to your brain and cause something called neural inflammation, which is another risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Because, you know, when you're in an inflammatory, like today. My knee is sore. Okay. Yes. I checked my oura ring. I walked 35,000 steps yesterday.
- [32:02]
B
Wow.
- [32:03]
A
Yeah. With a backpack on it.
- [32:04]
B
That's a big day.
- [32:05]
A
I'm like, am I getting older or is it. I'm like, oh, my God. And then I'm like, no, Louisa, you walked with a backpack all day. So imagine that I can feel that, but you can't. Your brain, you can't feel. We can do awake brain surgery because the brain can't feel pain, Right? So imagine your brain being inflamed, but you can't feel it. But it does come off as a.
- [32:23]
B
Headache or fogginess or brain fog, dizziness, whatever.
- [32:28]
A
Just anything but you. Nobody ever thinks it's because I ate an inflammatory muffin earlier on.
- [32:35]
B
So what are some protocols you like to. Because a lot of this stuff is intertwined. Right. Like the. The avenue you would tell someone to do. To do, I want to say, prevent Alzheimer's or maybe cut down the risk of Alzheimer's. Right. That avenue is going to fix so many different things. Can you go through some protocols or some things that you've learned that you just wish everyone knew?
- [32:56]
A
Okay, well, I'm glad you're bringing this up because I have a program coming out in two weeks. I want to hear about that flagship program that is. Is. It's called Brain Code Decoding a Woman's Risk for Alzheimer's Disease. But this is for everyone across the board.
- [33:09]
B
Okay.
- [33:10]
A
I have done a meta analysis. Okay. Do you know what a meta analysis is?
- [33:15]
B
I know the word okay, please.
- [33:16]
A
It is the highest, like, scientific study that you can do. Basically, it's a statistical analysis of all of the evidence available right now that we have in 2025. When I did that to show what is the number one tool to prevent Alzheimer's disease. It is exercise. And for some reason, I was hoping it would be some crazy miracle drug. Yeah.
- [33:41]
B
Supplement or something. Nuts.
- [33:42]
A
So when you ask me, like, what's the number one thing we can do, I say exercise. And it still doesn't get through to people. It doesn't get through to my mother. We've had a 20 year discussion on this, by the way. Like, we're at the stage now where, like, it's, like, it's getting really serious. I said, I'm not coming home for Christmas unless I see. Like, I want to. Like, I communicate with their personality. Parents are tough. They don't listen to me.
- [34:02]
B
They don't listen to me.
- [34:03]
A
But get this, her doctor, she listens to her doctor. And her doctor said, oh, my God, I was listening to your daughter on her podcast. I agree with her.
- [34:10]
B
Yeah.
- [34:10]
A
Wow.
- [34:11]
B
How about that?
- [34:11]
A
She's smart, so it's unbelievable. So what's the number one thing everyone can be doing? Exercise. Without a doubt. The more muscle mass you build, the better for your brain. Actually, it turns out the bigger the legs, the bigger the brain.
- [34:24]
B
Did you know that muscle is the organ of longevity? Who said?
- [34:26]
A
That's what Gab says.
- [34:27]
B
Gab says that all the time.
- [34:28]
A
Larger the leg muscles, the larger the brain.
- [34:31]
B
I love that.
- [34:31]
A
Yeah. So we want. But we don't just want muscle mass, we want strength. Strength is a huge correlator for all cause, mortality and dementia. We want to be exercising aerobically because what's that doing? It's not just feeding the brain with blood. It's also sending these little chemicals to the brain. They're called myokines, muscle based proteins. They get released when we are running cycling, but they're also getting released when we're strength training. And what these do is they help the function of your brain. They're basically, I mean, neuroscientists, I don't like this word. They call it fertilizer for the brain, but it's actually a pharmaceutical for the brain. That's why I use at the end of all of my carousels. I say exercise is medicine.
- [35:17]
B
What's your minimum? What's your minimum recommendation for people?
- [35:20]
A
So the data showed that at least at minimum, two days a week, that's all of strength training and then around two hours a week of aerobic training. I personally think you should be doing a lot more, but we're talking like minimal, like baseline. And about 80% of the US population isn't meeting.
- [35:39]
B
They don't do that. Yeah. Oh, my God. Two hours a week of aerobic training is a lot for most people. And do you, Are you paying attention to specific, do you want people in specific zones with that training? What would you, how would you. Let's not even get to technical with zones, but say a higher intensity, medium intensity or slow steady state. Like, where do you want people?
- [35:56]
A
Females? I want them heavy strength training.
- [35:59]
B
Love it.
- [35:59]
A
Okay.
- [35:59]
B
Love it.
- [36:00]
A
And I want them out of zone three. Zone two. Zone three, Zone four. I want them in zone five. Okay. For that, for their baseline. If you have time and you want to do zone two with the kids, great, great. Reserve your. The one thing I hate so much is seeing females at the gym walking. Because I think to myself, either you've got all the time in the world and that's fine, but come on, you know, most, most females at around 45. And I'm, you know, everyone's different, average. Maybe you've, you've got a spouse, maybe you've got some kids, maybe you've got a heart. Like, doesn't Leave a lot of time to exercise. Right. Maybe leaves, what, four hours a week to exercise. Spend that time working the ranges that you want to be.
- [36:44]
B
Yeah. It's funny with. With walking, because we. We know the importance and how healthy it is, but I just. I don't.
- [36:49]
A
It's incidental.
- [36:50]
B
Yeah. I don't consider it. I don't consider that part of a cardio energy system development regimen. I don't. I consider it for recovery. I would consider it for steps and, you know, creating, you know, calorie burning and doing all these things. Especially. I use it. I actually argued with. I remember Will Ahmed from whoop, the founder of whoop. He was like, well, years ago, he brought me on a podcast and he says, well, steps aren't a high performance metric. And I go, I completely disagree with you. I said, I use steps with my athletes on recovery days. I don't like them sitting around doing nothing. That's high performance. If I have a professional athlete, I need them accumulating steps. And then, you know, he changed it recently to where now Whoop is tracking steps. And so I think there is this misconception of where people think they should be, because I have seen someone out walking on a flat pace and measuring their heart rate, and I'm like, wow, you're at 140.
- [37:41]
A
Yeah, but I. I told you, I walked 35,000 steps yesterday. What I'm trying to say is. And on an average day, we both. I mean, I live in Manhattan. You're in Manhattan.
- [37:50]
B
Probably what, 15 or 20? A.
- [37:52]
A
Normally my average is around 18,000, but I go to the gym. I don't treat that as exercise. I treat that as got to get from uptown down to downtown. I'm not getting in a car to do that.
- [38:02]
B
Yeah. It's just.
- [38:03]
A
So that's what I mean when I say step. Steps are phenomenal. I prescribe my parents, they've got a hilly walk, and so that's. That's exercise for them because I've got them on.
- [38:12]
B
They've got their little weighted vest.
- [38:14]
A
Weighted vest, the poor things. Yeah. And how so? My dad is 70, too. My mom is 70. My mom's like. The neighbors are asking me what we're doing looking like this.
- [38:21]
B
The Kevlar vest. Yeah, it's bulletproof. We've got enemies. You could start.
- [38:25]
A
So. So exercise, let me tell you, if you don't fall in love with it. And I know as I'm getting older, it's actually getting harder for me, like, mentally.
- [38:34]
B
Oh, just. What. Actually, the, The. The Discipline of doing it every day.
- [38:37]
A
Yes.
- [38:38]
B
It's also stress and work, and you're building business, and you're emotionally around a lot of people. It's got to be very emotional what you do.
- [38:46]
A
I gotta tell you, I don't.
- [38:47]
B
I. I don't know how you. I mean, it's. It's a special person to do that.
- [38:50]
A
But you see, it's. It's interesting because the area of neurosurgery I'm in, we do two things. And, you know, you've got one side. They taking out the tumor, you know, of. Of. You know, or you see a woman, and maybe it's her last surgery, unfortunately, and these are the things you're up against, and you just see devastating things. But then you come over to neuroplastics and we're reconstructing skulls. And so it's. It's. And then you go from there. Then I'm on Instagram telling the world what I see, and it's just. It's hard.
- [39:21]
B
Your. Your IG is incredibly beneficial because I think it's very digestible. I hope so, because the stuff that you can talk about, and we know. I mean, it can get lost, but I think the things that you're putting up is very digestible. And I think you're giving people good snippets. Your accounts. Luis and Nicola.
- [39:37]
A
Underscore.
- [39:38]
B
Underscore.
- [39:39]
A
Yeah. Someone stole the name Louise Nicola.
- [39:41]
B
Yeah, Check it out. I mean, I'm obviously always like. And you're.
- [39:43]
A
Okay, let's move on. The second thing we can do. Sleep.
- [39:46]
B
Okay.
- [39:47]
A
Okay.
- [39:47]
B
So we got an exercise. We understand that you like that. Zone five. Resistance train, ladies. Resistance train. At least two days a week. Go. Hit more if you can. And next. Sleep.
- [39:59]
A
Yeah. By the way, I don't want, you know, the men should be doing this as well, but I would prescribe men doing zone two a lot more.
- [40:05]
B
Why is that?
- [40:06]
A
Well, mitochondrial, biological biogenesis. Yeah. So let's. So sleep fundamentally is probably the second most important pillar. What happens during sleep is we have five stages. We only really care about stage three and stage four. So stage three, non REM sleep, is deep sleep. We can measure that on the whoop or the oura ring. You would probably see it every morning if you tracked your sleep. So what happens during deep sleep is really phenomenal. We go through, we activate the system called the glymphatic system. Now, the glymphatic system is the washing machine, sewage removal system in your brain, literally. We've got these little cells. They're involved in immunity in the brain. Glial cells comes from the Greek word glue because they literally stick out, like, between two neurons in the cerebral spinal fluid. So when they shrink, the cerebral spinal fluid has time to wash itself. So the brain literally washes itself. And when it does, it gets rid of all of the waste products that build up during the day from the environment. One of the waste products that it eliminates is amyloid beta. That is the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.
- [41:19]
B
Wow.
- [41:20]
A
Yeah. It's a protein that builds up in your brain, and if we don't clear it, that's what ends up being a plaque. And so we need to be getting into deep sleep every night. REM sleep is wonderful because it actually helps with. It's emotional first aid. It helps you really, you know, get what all the, you know, everything that happened during.
- [41:41]
B
That's more memory. Right?
- [41:42]
A
I mean, memory consolidation, emotional first aid. But it's. It's deep sleep that really matters.
- [41:49]
B
Question about deep sleep. And this might not be your expertise, but a lot of people are, as they age, they're struggling to get through a night's sleep. I mean, I remember how easy it was. I'm 48 now, but it was so easy for me when I was younger to put my head on the pillow. And if I woke up once to use the bathroom, that was a shocker. It just never existed. Now this is happening two, three times a night. You're trying to cut water consumption down early, you're trying to eat earlier. Sometimes it doesn't always work. And if you're going to bed dehydrated, you're waking up not feeling great, are there any tricks? And I know that may not be your expertise, but it might be something that you do know about.
- [42:25]
A
It's interesting because with men, we see them getting up a lot more. And that's a prostate.
- [42:32]
B
Yeah.
- [42:32]
A
Aging thing. I know it has to do with vasopressin and the. I just know that men at a certain age end up getting up at around 4am every night.
- [42:42]
B
Yeah.
- [42:43]
A
Yeah. Don't know the pathophysiology behind that, but I do know for women, hormones. So the loss of estrogen ends up messing with the hypothalamus, which is where the temperature regulation occurs. And this is why you've probably heard of hot flashes. I was with my. I was with a bunch of my girlfriends last night, and one of them said, Louisa, she was doing this. And I said, is everything okay? My friends are old. I mean, I'm mid-30s, and she's 42, 43. She's like, I don't know what's going on. I'm getting these heat, like sudden onset of heat. I said hot flash. I said hot flash. She's telling me all night, she goes, I'm waking up sweating. I said, I said hot flashes. I said, now is the time, my friend. And so hot flashes are waking women up as well, getting them out of deep sleep. And it's horrible. I don't know what it feels like, but I see it and I think that's horrible. So that's another reason.
- [43:38]
B
So you went through, you exercise, you went through sleep.
- [43:41]
A
Okay. And then diet.
- [43:43]
B
Okay.
- [43:44]
A
And then something I'm very, very passionate about and very well known for. Not this is completely by accident is I do believe in supplementation.
- [43:56]
B
Really quick backing up to diet. You just said animal based but plant strong, more the Mediterranean type of diet. The olive oils, the, you know, very veggie lean protein, that's more of what.
- [44:10]
A
You'Re Eat the rainbow. Now I will tell everybody, I think you should pair diet with really understanding where your blood work is at. Because what we see with Alzheimer's specifically, but we do see that you need to have an LDL of, of around 60 or less. If you look at your cholesterol panel and you look at two things called apob, Apo lipoprotein B, a very strong risk factor for cardiovascular disease and ldl, the bad cholesterol, you will see that if you have extremely high numbers, then you're putting your brain at risk of cognitive decline. And the reason why I bring that up is because the plants are. We know that a high fiber diet is great for sure. Low cholesterol.
- [44:54]
B
Yeah. I never really understood the whole concept of just eating meat, of just eating like carnivore. I'm like, wait a second. And people, whoa, I feel better, I have less symptoms. I go, well you're probably just removing foods that you were normally having and that's just throwing a band aid on. And I think the big question is this giving you long term success? And I've never seen anyone who's been on a diet like that or one extreme approach for a very long time. When you said the Mediterranean diet, I smiled because I'm never one to catch categorize a diet, but if you had to like throw it out there, I'm like, yeah, Mediterranean would probably be one of my favorites.
- [45:31]
A
Like yeah, exactly. It's anti inflammatory. That's exactly why olive oil is a longevity superfood.
- [45:39]
B
So talk to us now about so you went through exercise, sleep, diet, supplementation.
- [45:44]
A
So supplementation is not the be all and end all. Supplementation isn't the answer to your problems. It is a supportive. It plays a supportive role. Remember how I said to you supply and demand? Yes, it can definitely help with the supply issue.
- [45:58]
B
But you're, but you're considering ketones as part of that supplement.
- [46:02]
A
You can. Yeah, ketones, exogenous ketones. You can get into a ketogenic state with food. But God, that's hard. Yeah, I've tried that and then like a grape kicked me out.
- [46:10]
B
Oh, really?
- [46:11]
A
Yeah. Wow. So don't recommend it. So what other supplements can we have outside of. If you look at your blood work and it says there's low vitamin D. Right. I strongly recommend you should have vitamin D. And vitamin D is actually preventable against dementia. A recent study came out this year in 2025 that showed a 40% reduction in dementia. Not just outside, like all cause dementia. If you have optimized levels of vitamin.
- [46:39]
B
D. Do you think the ranges are a bit low when we're going into our general practitioner and they're saying you need to be in these ranges?
- [46:45]
A
Well, yeah, mine for some goals. God knows what reason is. 20. Right. And that's so low.
- [46:51]
B
Yeah, 20, your vitamin D level.
- [46:53]
A
Yeah. What's yours?
- [46:54]
B
Oh, I gotta look at the numbers. Yeah. Gabrielle just, just did My, my numbers, I thought was a lot higher than that.
- [47:01]
A
Yeah. Well, okay. Well, that's great. You're optimized. I don't know why mine's so low. And so therefore I'm going to be supplementing with 5000ius of vitamin D. Right, Right.
- [47:11]
B
Interesting.
- [47:12]
A
Maybe I spend too much time indoors.
- [47:14]
B
What are some of the things we all do? So you talked about exercise, sleep, diet, vitamin D. Talk about diet a little bit more. And I know this is very, a very cookie cutter question, but I want to give people an understanding of what are meals looking like for you? What is meal timing looking like for you? What is a typical day in your life? And honestly, if you think it's boring, it's not like kind of run us through it. I know it's very.
- [47:37]
A
It is boring. So I wake up. I used to struggle extremely with eating prior to the gym. So I go to the gym in the morning. That's when I do my exercise. I'm at the gym at 7. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, 7. 7:30.
- [47:49]
B
Is it far from your, from your apartment? Are you pretty close by?
- [47:51]
A
One block, yeah.
- [47:52]
B
It's beautiful.
- [47:54]
A
Literally, I walk out, I'd go To New York. Yeah. And I love it. I'm an equinox. And so I have now forced myself to get at least like, 15 grams of protein at, like, at minimum, just before I go to the gym.
- [48:07]
B
And that's hard for you to get down.
- [48:08]
A
Yeah. I also have half a banana on.
- [48:10]
B
Okay, so what. What are the grams from? What? 15 grams from. What is it? Protein supplement?
- [48:14]
A
It's a protein shake. Yeah.
- [48:15]
B
Okay. So you got one scoop of protein powder, pretty much. And a half a banana. And that doesn't bloat you? And you feel like. Okay, I'm all right.
- [48:21]
A
I'm actually getting really into the. The pre. Made, like, slate milk.
- [48:27]
B
Oh, yeah. Like the RTDs. The.
- [48:28]
A
Right. Yeah.
- [48:29]
B
It's easy. Just like.
- [48:30]
A
Yeah. So I'm off to the gym. Whatever. Whatever's going on at the gym. I do my work, I come home. I usually have eggs.
- [48:36]
B
Eggs.
- [48:37]
A
I don't know if you know this, but one of the most supportive nutrients in the brain is choline, because it helps with acetylcholine. And we are. We've got an epidemic of choline deficiency. And choline is jam packed in eggs.
- [48:49]
B
Eggs, right.
- [48:50]
A
I love eggs. So I have around two full eggs or maybe three and about five egg whites.
- [48:58]
B
Wow. All right. See, that's.
- [48:59]
A
That's a hefty.
- [49:00]
B
That's a big problem. That's 15 grams from the egg whites. And then if you have three, that's another 18. So you're over. What. What's that, 33?
- [49:08]
A
Yeah. So that's. I keep going. And that's. That's all I have. That keeps me going until about. I do have a snack at about 3pm, 4pm it's usually generally yogurt.
- [49:18]
B
Okay.
- [49:19]
A
Yeah. By the way, it's something I'm doing. I have two liters of water throughout the day.
- [49:22]
B
Smart.
- [49:23]
A
Yeah, I have 2 liters water. Sometimes I have my electrolytes as well. Just because we need electrolytes. Brain functions on electrolytes. Dinner. I cook every single night.
- [49:33]
B
A lot. It.
- [49:35]
A
I make. It's always high protein and always a salad.
- [49:40]
B
All right, so you make like, some type of salad with, like, chicken, fish, Correct?
- [49:43]
A
Yeah, whatever. High protein. Yeah.
- [49:45]
B
Okay.
- [49:45]
A
I'm generally getting, like 40 grams.
- [49:48]
B
Okay, so it's 40.
- [49:49]
A
I try and hit 100 grams a day.
- [49:51]
B
40. 33. That you are. You're already at 73. The shakes, another 15.
- [49:55]
A
Exactly.
- [49:56]
B
So you're.
- [49:56]
A
But. But to be honest, I do sometimes have a protein shake. Take after the gym, a smoothie, if. Instead of the eggs.
- [50:03]
B
Yeah.
- [50:03]
A
And that's like 40 grams of protein in there, right? Yeah.
- [50:06]
B
Do you notice a difference when you're eating more food during the day? Because I'm always like, you're, you're using a lot of brain power during the day and you exercise, you're in that zone five, which is tough. You're resistance training. You're walking 30 something thousand steps, which you did yesterday. I know, but 18,000 on average is a lot. Do you ever feel like you're under fuel or do you feel, yeah, I've.
- [50:28]
A
Got right now in my bag, which I never do. I've got a protein bar. And I just know because I need to leave the house with something because I'm in New York. Like sometimes I take my backpack and I don't know what time I'm going to return home.
- [50:40]
B
Such a good feeling.
- [50:41]
A
Like I don't know what's going on. Yeah, you're in. It's just people are messaging you and you hear you're there, you see, it's just ridiculous. So I'm like, I don't know what's going to happen today. It's Friday and there's a huge event on this weekend. And I've got about 50 friends who have flown in for. And I'm like, I don't know what's going on on. I've got heels in my bag, I've got another banana and I've got two protein bars.
- [51:00]
B
I love. That's what I love about New York City. When I. The thing I do miss the most is when I. When I started in Manhattan back in 1999, I was on foot in 2000 and I was running as far uptown as 100 street, as far downtown as Battery park west, which is York, and I'm sorry, east, which is York, and as far west as probably 10th, 11th Avenue. On foot all day. And there was no trackers. I don't even know what I was running or walking. But just to have that type of movement and back was never sore. Neck was never sore from sitting. I mean, it really is one of the biggest problems I see in with most people is the amount of sitting. How much do you see? Or with a lot of your brain, you know, you put the brain under the microscope a lot. Have you seen or what could you advise on the decline from people who are just sedentary?
- [51:46]
A
Oh, my God.
- [51:46]
B
Yeah. The new basic. Yes. The new smoking. Talk about it a little bit.
- [51:49]
A
Yeah. I mean, sitting is the new smoking. And you know how much muscle mass you actually lose just by Being sedentary. There's. They've done studies on this to show that bed rest in hospitals, you can lose, like, I don't know what the percentage was, but it was like massive, massive percentage of muscle mass, strength, fitness. So it's the same. You just do it in micro and. But you know what? I get it. Like, I sit, like, I take calls now, and it's. It's ridiculous. I don't have one of those walking desks, whatever people call it. I don't have one of those.
- [52:19]
B
What about. Talk about training? I mean, training the brain. Oh, yeah, right. So we. We're. We're so used to training the muscle or training our cardiovascular system. Talk about training the brain a little bit. Is this something. Is this just a term? Is this something that you really focus on?
- [52:33]
A
Yeah, this is the. This was actually the birth of neuro athletics, my company. In 2014. I got hired. I was still living in Australia. I got hired by the number one soccer player. He said, can you help me with my. My brain processing speed? I was like, okay. And I had to invoice him because he was. He actually hired me. And I didn't have a business. And so I literally just called it Neuro athletics.
- [52:55]
B
I love it.
- [52:55]
A
Yeah. And because that's what I was doing, I was literally making the brain more athletic. And the way that you do this. And it's so easy if you get two tennis balls and you just start throwing them to the wall, you think you're just having fun, but what you're doing is you are. Are improving information processing speed, hand eye coordination, you are improving your eyesight, you're improving your memory. You are doing so much in. Just by throwing the ball to the wall. And there's about. I've counted, there's over like 300 different variations.
- [53:27]
B
So what. So any, like just two balls and you're just kind of bouncing them back and forth and you're probably not going that fast, right?
- [53:33]
A
Yeah. Just because that would be.
- [53:35]
B
That's it.
- [53:35]
A
That's yourself. Yeah, yeah, but. But you're just throwing the ball to the wall. Maybe you're throwing with the right hand, catching with your left hand, throwing back, but then you can actually get even more creative. You stand on one leg and you start throwing the ball to the wall.
- [53:46]
B
I get what you're doing. Yeah.
- [53:47]
A
Okay. Or what we teach at neuroethics, you put an eye patch on. So what you've done is you've blocked out half of your vision. Remember, the right side of your brain is responsible for the left side of the body. Okay, so imagine if you block out 50% of your vision, Then half the side of your brain is like, what the hell? It starts to compensate, so it starts to work harder. You need to understand with your brain. I want everyone to understand this. To form new connections, your brain has to be placed under load. It's the same as your bicep. If it's not placed under load, it's not going to grow. Right. You have to tear apart the fibers. And it's the same with your brain. If it's not stressed, it won't grow. One thing you can do for brain training is. And I actually, I. I'll tell you how I do this with my parents. Your brain loves novelty. If you're talking to the same person every day, your husband, your wife kind of gets mundane over 20, 30 years, you know how they're going to react. You know all their stories. If you sit with somebody and have a conversation about politics and you don't agree with them, it challenges your brain because you have to think. You have to think about what they're saying, how to respond to them. So it actually puts your brain under pressure. So what I always tell people is, as you're getting older, your brain wants new experiences. This is why travel is so good. Your brain sees new things. Architecture is phenomenal. If you go for a walk and doing New York City architectural tour, your brain sees different shapes, different sizes, and it starts to see things that it hasn't seen before. So it starts to make new connections. Hearing things. Music, Opera. You know, the American Academy of Neurology released a statement saying that hearing loss is a risk factor and can be added to the list of mild cognitive. It can be added to the list of dimensions. If you start to experience hearing loss, why does it add to dementia? Because your ears just sit here behind the temporal lobes. And that's the first thing to go during Alzheimer's disease. If your brain is not using what it's meant to be using, it'll just die off.
- [55:43]
B
Die off, but it can be resurrected is what you're saying.
- [55:47]
A
Well, yeah, but, but imagine if. Let's just say you don't have any problems, right? Like listening to different forms of music, pianos, violins, going to the opera. Like you're, you're hearing things that your brain's like, I've never heard, heard that before. What is it? That's why a baby is like a sponge. Because they've never seen anything. They're like looking around.
- [56:05]
B
So neuro athletics is pretty Much a program that you put together. It's basically you've systemized all these different elements that you want to have people implement into brain training.
- [56:18]
A
Well, no, Neuro Athletics is actually Neurathic principles.
- [56:21]
B
What is it?
- [56:22]
A
So Neuro Athletics is my company and we are an education. Education provider now. So we actually have our flagship course, the Neuro Athletics coaching certificate. We're teaching all of these principles to coaches.
- [56:33]
B
Okay, but you, but you have packaged these principles into. Into a program which is what we all do. I mean, in training where you have to, you have to. It's a. You have to. We're not saying it's the best, we're saying it's a system that we followed and we recommend you following and it's a great place to start. Otherwise people don't know how to package these things together. They don't know what's too much and what's too little. When's this, when's this launching?
- [56:57]
A
So. Well, Brain Code is launching in two weeks.
- [57:01]
B
What's. So talk to me about Brain Code.
- [57:02]
A
Brain Code is my official program decoding a woman's risk of Alzheimer's disease. So there'll be five modules, very easy, very low level. What other things that you can do to assess your risk today of getting the disease and what can you do to minimize your risk?
- [57:18]
B
And what's stopping a guy from turning around and downloading that same program?
- [57:22]
A
Well, the thing is, men don't go through menopause and I do speak heavily about that.
- [57:26]
B
Okay.
- [57:27]
A
Yeah.
- [57:27]
B
So let's talk about marijuana and alcohol. I mean, these are things, especially marijuana now because so many people are using it more frequently because you can just get it off the streets now. I'm not a user. It's not something. I tried it in the past. Sure. I get more anxiety from it. It just doesn't mix well with me. Alcohol, I like a beer once in a while. Again, don't like how I feel. Talk to me about the effects and what this is doing. I mean, we can relate it to someone who might have Alzheimer's in the family or just general health. Run with it any which way that you want to run with it.
- [57:59]
A
So we'll start alcohol and what you found. Alcohol. There was a massive study done out of, from the UK Biobank and what they found was that moderate drinkers who consume alcohol, both men and women, it's more so men have a higher amount of what's considered moderate. I think it's around seven drinks a week for females and around 13 for men than considered Moderate. Yeah. What they found is that they had higher amounts of white matter lesions.
- [58:29]
B
What's that now?
- [58:29]
A
So remember the white matter that I said, that's on the axon?
- [58:32]
B
Yeah. Like the sheath. Yeah.
- [58:36]
A
So it's all the, it's all the myelinating neurons. So there's little lesions all through there. The more alcohol that you drink. And they had. Yeah, so. And then the gray matter is the cortex that sits on the outside of the brain. It holds all the cell bodies. There's also problems there, there. So you're actually affecting your brain in a pathological way. Not just you're getting groggy, you're actually literally forming lesions in your brain.
- [59:03]
B
These are, are these permanent lesions or these things that.
- [59:05]
A
Yeah, yeah. You're ruining your brain. You're rotting it. And that's because alcohol does so many things like directionally and indirectionally. Directionally is what I just told you. Because it's actually a poison. Because acetyl aldehyde, which is what ethanol is metabolized after it goes through the liver, is poison. Acetyl aldehyde is poison. So you're poisoning your brain and the rest of your body. What it does indirectly is, well, it completely blocks out sleep. You're blocking out REM sleep, you're blocking out deep sleep. Therefore you're not going to get the activation of the glymphatic system. You're going to wake up. And it's funny because people think that a hangover or a, you know, you feel hungover or you feel not, you know, whatever it is, whatever people feel these days when they drink, I don't know. And it's literally because you blocked sleep sleep, you blocked blood flow. You've killed off some neurons and you've starved your brain of oxygen. That's what you've done. And you're going and getting a burger to make yourself feel better there. Alcohol is not, is not good for your brain. It's not good for your body. Now, there is no research to show that one glass of wine or one drink is going to kill you per week.
- [60:14]
B
Right. Okay.
- [60:16]
A
This is.
- [60:16]
B
Moderate drinkers, moderate drinkers. So what would you consider light drinking? Is it one to two a week? Probably, yeah, probably around there, yeah. Marijuana now is becoming a lot more. THC is becoming a lot more popular.
- [60:27]
A
Why?
- [60:28]
B
I don't know. I think people are. I think people are drinking less because they're. They don't like the effects of what it is doing to their sleep quality or how they feel or waking up with a Hangover. And I'm just telling you what people are telling me. They're like, no, I can, I can, I can take a gummy or smoke a joint and I fall asleep and I sleep better. And it's like, it's, it's, it's their understanding.
- [60:47]
A
Yeah. So it's, it's the same thing. You're not only blocking sleep. People think that they're inducing sleep. You know, you're just, you're probably just activating the sympathetic nervous system. Maybe it's downregulating that and you're, it's, you're feeling karma, you're actually blocking sleep. But the worst part about THC is there's been long term studies, obviously for 10 to 20 years that shows that it can induce psychosis, paranoia.
- [61:13]
B
A lot of people who were, who suddenly developed anxiety.
- [61:17]
A
Yeah.
- [61:17]
B
They claim, and I'm not saying that there's studies here on this, but they claimed it was from the incorporation of thc. And guess what? When they got off of it a few weeks later, they stopped having those episodes.
- [61:28]
A
Oh, go figure.
- [61:29]
B
Go figure. Thank you. I think we covered a lot of great stuff, Chris. I know we got some questions in here. I'd love to fire them off to Luisa Luis. I'm grateful. Thank you. This is great. Yeah, we do. We have a couple questions. This first one is from Katrina and we'll have one following up after this. Here we go.
- [61:46]
A
Wow. Hey, dawn and Nicola. My name is Katrina and my question today comes from personal experience. I have about 3,500 volunteer hours with the VA hospital, a lot of that time working in mental health with Alzheimer's and dementia veterans or veterans that have trauma related cognitive decline. So my question is what are some early lifestyle changes that, that we can do in our 20s and 30s that will really reduce that risk of Alzheimer's? Maybe especially with those of us that have trauma or a very long family history. Really excited to hear your answers and thanks again for opening up the questions.
- [62:25]
B
It's a great question.
- [62:26]
A
Oh, I love this. I love people who are, especially women who are in their 20s and 30s and they're actually taking control of their brain. Yeah. You know, one of the best things that you can do, first of all is there was an 80 year old follow up study from Harvard that showed that those with hat that have the greatest brain health along the years is those who have quality relationships. And the reason being. Okay. Is because you can offset, first of all, your brain feels safe. The second thing is you can offset a lot of cortisol by having close, quality relationships. The reason why I bring this up is because when you're around an environment that is so stressful and you have to have an outlet to do that, that. So the first thing I would recommend is make sure you have an outlet to share all of the trauma and everything that you're going through to get out of your brain. And then if you can, start building out a brain, healthy lifestyle like exercise, sleep, getting sunlight, fixing your nutritional profile. I always think that you can't optimize what you don't measure. Make sure you go and get a blood panel.
- [63:28]
B
And minimizing the damage. The things that people just overstay their welcome with. Like you talked about earlier with the alcohol and all that other stuff. Stuff, I mean, that's always. People don't want to. They think taking a sauna is going to biohack their way into living to be 120. And you can't. You can't neglect the things that pay real dividends.
- [63:46]
A
You can't out. You can't ice bath your way out of a good diet.
- [63:49]
B
I'm not saying those things are bad. I'm saying that they're good. But she's 100% right. Chris, next question.
- [63:54]
A
All right.
- [63:54]
B
Yeah. Next question is from Amy from Pennsylvania. Here we go.
- [63:58]
A
Hey, Don and Louisa. My name is Amy. I'm from just outside of Philadelphia in Reading, Pennsylvania. My question today is I have a family history of dementia and Alzheimer's, specifically on my father's side. And I have been reading that certain GLP1s are being developed that can help reduce risks of cognitive decline in addition to their other benefits. And I just really wanted to see if either of you could shed some light on this and if you've heard anything yourself and what other things I can be doing to help protect myself against Alzheimer's risk. Okay, I love this question. So the first thing, if you have a family member, the most important part of all of this process is family history. If you have a family member that was diagnosed and maybe passed away of some form of dementia, it's really important that you go and get a blood test to figure out what is your risk. And that is called getting an APOE4 gene. You can go and get this from your doctor, then you can see what's my lifetime risk of getting the disease. The second thing is you mentioned GLP1s. You and I didn't talk about it. And I actually, I love it. I love GLP1s in terms of what they've done for society. So Specifically the GLP and GIP tirzepatide. What we've seen is that if you fix obesity and diabetes and insulin resistant, what are you going to do? You're going to minimize three of the biggest risk factors. Three of the biggest risk factors. Factors of Alzheimer's disease.
- [65:31]
B
You're shooting the alligator closest to the boat is the term I always use.
- [65:35]
A
But not just that. We actually have science. They've done a study on GLP1s and Alzheimer's disease, reducing the risk by 30%. Why is that? Not because you put a. You inject yourself and the GLP goes to the brain nodes because you're fixing the underlying effects. Yeah, exactly. I am. So for these. In the right way. In the right way.
- [65:55]
B
Did you just say.
- [65:56]
A
Okay, not on the black market way.
- [65:58]
B
The, the problem right now I'm dealing with. I can't mention her name, but she's a friend. She's. She weighs about 415 pounds right now. She lost, she just lost 150.
- [66:08]
A
That's phenomenal.
- [66:09]
B
Phenomenal. But she's working a job that she has to change. She's underpaid. She can't afford these sort of things. She went to her insurance company and her insurance company says, we'll pay for a surgery, but we're not going to pay for these GLPs. And that to me, shocking. I'm like, how are they going to pay for a surgery but not for this person to go get on Ozempic or, or, or a specific peptide that she needs. I think it's, I think it's a shame. And I think it will evolve and I think these things will, people will realize now they're coming around where I'll be the first to admit it. Years ago I was like, oh, you know, we can do it through diet. No, we, we can't always do it through diet and exercise. It doesn't work that way for certain people.
- [66:48]
A
But these GLP ones have got so much more than just diet. You're down regulating inflammation 100%. I honestly think, I'll say this. I honestly believe that you and I won't see the effects of GLP1s. I think we won't see the effects of, I think in decades to come, people are going to look back in history books of all of us walking around and they're going to be like, Alzheimer's disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes. They're going to say, what was that?
- [67:13]
B
That's fantastic. And I, and I hope they, I hope they do.
- [67:16]
A
Yeah.
- [67:16]
B
You just mentioned how you love it. It. Give me an example of when you don't love it.
- [67:20]
A
GLP ones. Yeah. I don't love it when women specifically or men take it and they completely reduce their protein intake and we get what we call skinny fat. You have to take it responsibly. It's not used to completely starve you, for God's sake. And I've seen many people, I'm like, what do you like? I don't understand. It's there to help you stay in control. That's what it is.
- [67:44]
B
It's a great way to close. First off, I want to thank you.
- [67:46]
A
Thank you.
- [67:47]
B
I know you've done. You do these like crazy and I appreciate it. And I appreciate what you're doing in your business and your mission. And the topic of Alzheimer's today I just think is so special. It's very near and dear to me because I've seen family members go through it and I pray you find something because I know someone does. You might be the one to do it. I also want to thank Christian Ponder and the team over at the Post. This place is great, right?
- [68:08]
A
I love it.
- [68:09]
B
Yeah. I'm a big fan. Close to your home, right?
- [68:11]
A
Yeah.
- [68:12]
B
Guys, thanks a lot for joining in. Love you guys.
- [68:14]
A
Thanks again. The views, information, or opinions expressed in the series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Chip and Joanna Gaines by N Audio nor Magnolia Experience, the sequel everyone's been waiting for. Follow Drayton and Dallas as they navigate the challenges of college life while trying to stay true to both themselves and each other. Other Sideline 2 Intercepted, starring Noah Beck and Sienna Agudong, is streaming now for free only on Tubi.
- [68:48]
B
Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. You know one of the perks about having four kids that you know about is actually getting a direct line to the big man up north. And this year he wants you to know the best gift that you can give someone is the gift of Mint Mobile's unlimited wireless for $15 a month. Now you don't even need to wrap it. Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment.
- [69:09]
A
Of $45 for three month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes if network's busy. Taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com.