Genius Foods: Become Smarter, Happier, and More Productive While Protecting Your Brain for Life (Genius Living Book 1)

“If you deprive cholesterol from the brain, then you directly affect the machinery that triggers the release of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters affect the data-processing and memory functions. In other words—how smart you are and how well you remember things.”

Any stressful stimuli lead to an increase in norepinephrine, from a terrorist attack to a major fight with a significant other to simply not eating for twenty-plus hours.

Increased cholesterol recycling. Soon after beginning a fast, the breakdown of excess cholesterol into beneficial bile acids begins.19 Reduced inflammation and enhanced resistance to oxidative stress.20 Studies in humans during the month-long religious holiday Ramadan, which involves daily fasting, have shown that markers of inflammation are dramat

Today, however, we grab our lunches to go so that we can sit and eat in isolation at our desks. We’re mostly stationary throughout our workday and during our commute. And then we sit on the couch and binge-watch hours of television. Research over the past few years has validated the notion that chronic sitting is bad for us.

While brown rice contains more fiber and micronutrients than white rice, it’s not a great source of either and can be difficult to digest for some people. Given the virtually identical glycemic indexes and loads, when we occasionally hit the sushi bar after an intense exercise session, I go for brown rice, while Dr. Paul opts for white (and insists

And, for some people, a full twenty-four- to thirty-six-hour fast every couple of months may be just what it takes to feel a sense of biological “spring cleaning.”

Sugar-protein bonding (glycation) can occur to any protein in the presence of sugar. All carbohydrates, with the exception of fiber, have the potential to glycate.

This is because foods that are high in carbohydrates elicit an insulin response from the pancreas, and ketosis is brought to a grinding halt whenever insulin is elevated. Suppression of insulin, on the other hand, either by fasting or by eating a diet very low in carbohydrates, drives ketogenesis.

This can be achieved by sticking to wild fish, pastured eggs, and grass-fed or pasture-raised meats, which have more omega-3s and fewer omega-6s. If you don’t like fish, or are unable to consume it two to three times per week, consider supplementing with high-quality fish oil (I’ll provide tips for choosing one in chapter 12, but here’s a hint: fis