Prevent Alzheimer’s, improve Depression, Anxiety, and Brain Fog: The Food's Powe

The objective here is to make sure that as we age and as we go on in our lives, our brains get healthier, get better, instead of getting sicker and sicker, which is generally what happens if we're not conscious of what we should be doing to protect them. Hello, angels, and welcome to the Glucose Goddess Show. I'm Justine Chauspé, a biochemist obsessed with helping you understand your body, your brain, your food, so that you can feel your absolute best and thrive and live the life that you want to live, because that's what we all want. In this episode, we're going to discuss the brain. All things brain. Brain fog, personality, irritability, mood swings, mental health, and long-term Alzheimer's disease. This topic of the brain is super dear to my heart, because the reason I even got into health and glucose in the first place is because my brain was broken for a long time. I suffered from a lot of mental health issues in my early 20s, depression, anxiety, dissociation, panic attacks. It was super rough. While I was going through that phase, I realized that I didn't know very well how my brain functioned. The brain is still a very mysterious organ. It's not like we have it all figured out. We don't really know how it works completely yet, but science is advancing and showing us some really interesting things. You might not know, but actually the way that you eat, how you're eating, what you're eating, has a much bigger impact on your brain than you might think, and that in turn has a huge impact on how you feel on a daily basis and on who you are as a human being. For my part, mental health was my primary issue, and it took me years to figure out how to start improving it, until I discovered the world of glucose. I realized that when I was having a lot of glucose spikes on a daily basis, that was making my mental health worse. That was triggering episodes of dissociation. That was increasing my anxiety, my depression, etc. When I fixed my food and stabilized my glucose levels, that was the beginning of healing for me, and it started all from the brain. Today I'm going to tell you a bit more about the relationship between food, glucose, and different brain symptoms, and then we're going to cover some easy tips that you can start applying today to help your brain be in optimal health. I think the objective here is to make sure that as we age and as we go on in our lives, our brains get healthier, get better, instead of getting sicker and sicker, which is generally what happens if we're not conscious of what we should be doing to protect them. So let's get started. The first topic I want to cover is brain fog. Now, if you've never experienced brain fog, I used to have it so, so, so, so much, it is kind of like if somebody had replaced your brain with a bunch of cotton, you feel a little bit underwater, your vision is not completely clear, you're feeling a bit removed from what's going on, your memory is kind of messed up, you're having a hard time just focusing and doing anything. So brain fog is just a sort of abstract term for these symptoms of feeling like your brain is not working the way that it should be working. And some people have it every single day, some people have it 24-7. For others, it can come and go. You might have one hour or two hours of brain fog here and there. For a long time, we had no idea what brain fog actually was. But now, fascinating science is starting to shed some light on this very interesting topic. And I want to mention two scientific studies that are really interesting in this domain. The first one is called Effects of Differences in Postprandial Glycemia on Cognitive Functions in Healthy Middle-Aged Subjects. This one showed us that what we eat in the morning impacts our cognitive performance, our memory, how well our brain works, and whether or not we have brain fog. So the scientists found that if you had a breakfast that led to a big glucose spike, your memory, attention, cognitive tests were worse. If you had a breakfast that kept your glucose level steady, your brain was functioning better. So that was already pretty interesting. Then a second one, second study that's really cool. This one is called The Mechanisms of Glycemic Variability Accelerate Diabetic Central Neuropathy and Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy in Diabetic Rats. So this was a study done in rats. But what they found was that when the rats were fed in a way that created lots of glucose spikes over and over again, the speed of information going from brain cell to brain cell, so your neurons, the speed of information between the neurons, slowed down. So as the rats were experiencing lots of glucose spikes, their brain was literally working more slowly. The information passing through was going way more slowly. And this speed of information between neurons is called the nerve conduction velocity. And if you have low nerve conduction velocity, you will feel it also as a human being. Your memory will not be as good. You won't be able to perform as well. You might feel a little bit fuzzy in there, which sounds a lot like brain fog. So this study gave us a clue about the fact that glucose spikes were creating this state in the brain, this state of inflammation, of insulin resistance, etc. That was slowing down the speed of neurons. That was slowing down the speed of signal between neurons. So all in all, what we understand from these two studies and a bunch of other ones in the field is that if you eat in a way that creates a bunch of glucose spikes in your body, that's going to be felt by your brain. And you're going to have significant impact on the functioning of your brain. And this is an interesting one for breakfast in particular, because in the morning, we tend to gravitate towards sweet breakfast foods because sweet foods in the morning release dopamine in the brain, which is the pleasure molecule. So when you eat like an orange juice and cereal, dopamine floods your brain in response to the sweet taste. But that's very short-lived and that pleasure then gets replaced by these negative impacts on your neurons and on your brain, leading to potential brain fog. So that's the first link between glucose and the brain. Glucose spikes increase the risk of brain fog. So if you want to feel sharp, if you want to feel alert, awake, if you want your brain to function at its best, it's very important to keep your glucose level steady so that you don't trigger this reaction. Now, let's move on to the topic of mood irritability. This study I'm about to share has to be one of my favorite studies of all time. Just because it took so much courage for the scientists to perform the study and to organize it. Seriously, hats off. It's very impressive. And this study looked at glucose levels and married couples. It's a very funny study. The study is called Low Glucose Relates to Greater Aggression in Married Couples. So here's how the study went. The scientists recruited over 100 couples. They gave each person in the couple a voodoo doll representing their spouse. So their husband or their wife. So all of these couples got voodoo dolls representing the person they were married to. And then the researchers asked the participants for three whole weeks to do the following. Every time their partner irritated them, they were instructed to put a pin, like a needle, in the voodoo doll, representing the fact that, ooh, my husband or my wife really annoyed me right now. At the end of the three weeks, the researchers got all the voodoo dolls back. They counted the pins in the voodoo dolls. And they also measured the glucose levels of the participants over a period of time. They found that in people who had steady glucose levels, so no big spikes, no big drops below baseline, those people had put fewer pins in the voodoo dolls that they had representing their spouse. So they were less irritated by their partner. However, the scientists also found that the people, the participants, who had a lot of incidents of low glucose levels, so low blood sugar, those people tended to have put way more pins in the voodoo doll representing their spouse. So when the participants had variable glucose levels and lots of low moments in their glucose levels, and by the way, the low moments usually happen after a spike, spike and then a crash, those people were way more irritated by their partners. And it showed in the poor voodoo dolls that had a bunch of pins in them. I love this study because it shows us that our glucose levels and the way that we eat can actually impact our personality and the relationships we have with others. Another good example of this is many parents tell me that now that they've incorporated the glucose hacks into their lives, their relationship with their kids has improved. They're more zen, they have more patience and also their kids are more zen, throw fewer tantrums, have a steadier mood. So you're not necessarily somebody who gets irritated or even being hangry. Being hangry is such a common sign of being on a glucose rollercoaster. I used to be hangry all the time. Being hangry means that when you haven't eaten in a few hours, you are a nightmare to deal with. Guys, I used to be a nightmare. Do not talk to me if I'm hungry kind of vibes. I would snap at people, be super rude. I'm not proud of it but it's just a situation. And what I didn't realize is that my glucose level was on a total rollercoaster all the time, all the time. So I had big spikes and then big drops. And those drops really agitated me and made me a not very nice person. Now in terms of if you want to be a nicer person and you think you might be experiencing glucose spikes and glucose drops, which by the way most of us are, if you want to know how to get started, there's a link in the description of this episode with one page recapping my 10 super easy glucose hacks. So just go ahead and download it, then you can start with that. And then if you want more, there's my books, etc. But that's a free resource that I have for you. Now let's think about a little bit why we see such an impact between glucose and personality irritability. So the scientists believe that this is due to the fact that when we have a lot of glucose spikes, there's some molecules in our brain that get altered. In particular, big glucose spikes have been shown to lead to lower levels of tyrosine. And tyrosine is a neurotransmitter that is in charge of helping our mood be nice and balanced. So it's possible that these big glucose spikes are impacting our tyrosine levels, which in turn is creating these different personality changes and this irritability. So all in all, if you're married, I highly recommend studying your glucose levels. You're welcome. Maybe you can print out the one-pager of the hacks and just put it on your partner's desk. As if nothing happened. And maybe they'll be less irritated towards you. Anyway, this is science. Pretty interesting. Hey, really quickly. If you can't always do my food hacks and you want to eat the carbs that you love with less impact on your glucose levels, I created a capsule just for that. It's called anti-spike formula. You take two before a meal. It cuts the glucose spike of carbs by up to 40%, 100% made out of plants and tested by over 25 clinical trials. Link is in the description. Okay, back to the episode. Another one I want to talk about is the link between food, glucose and mental health. So as I mentioned, the reason that I got into glucose in the first place was because my mental health was in shambles. And so this topic is super important to me. And I think there's not enough conversations going on that are about the fact that the way we eat and our lifestyle, the way we live our life can actually directly impact our mental health. To give you an example, if you're eating in a way that's creating lots of glucose spikes, we know that glucose spikes increase inflammation in the body. And when there's glucose spikes in the body, there's also glucose spikes in the brain. The blood-brain barrier really protects the brain from big variations in glucose levels, but they are still felt. And inflammation that is created in the body because of glucose spikes also gets created in the brain. And this in turn can lead to symptoms like depression, anxiety, etc. So the brain is not immune to what's going on. And when there's something wrong in our brain, it cannot alert us with pain. Like other organs do, because there are no sensory nerves in the brain. All the brain can do is make us feel certain ways. So if you're struggling with mental health issues, it's a good idea to look at the way you're eating because you might be making something worse without even realizing. And of course, mental health is a very multifaceted issue. It's not all about food. But for me, getting my glucose levels stable was the foundation that then helped me build on it. And I did a lot of therapy. EMDR was amazing for me. EMDR is something to help you process difficult emotions, difficult trauma. And because I broke my back when I was 19, I had a lot of stress in my body, a lot of emotions that were stuck from that experience. So that helped me so, so, so much. But the food piece and the glucose piece was the first step for me. And I think if you're trying to improve your mental health, listen, it's a journey. It's work. But if your glucose levels are super variable and you're on a roller coaster all the time, you're not going to have the energy and the solid foundation to then go and heal your brain and, you know, heal whatever's going on in your life. So it's so key to get your glucose right in order to have a good footing on which to stand. So anyway, back to the science. So the relationship between glucose and mental health is an emerging field of study. It's very, very interesting. But the studies show us that the more glucose spikes you have, the more you're going to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression if you are somebody who already has those conditions. And as the glucose spikes get more extreme, the symptoms get worse. So here's a study I want to mention. It is called Incident Major Depressive Disorder Predicted by Three Measures of Insulin Resistance, a Dutch cohort study. So in this study, the scientists looked at about 600 participants, male and female, 18 to 65 years old, without any signs of insulin resistance or mental health issues. And these participants were followed for nine years. So when they enrolled in the study, they had no glucose issues because insulin resistance and glucose go hand in hand. And they had no mental health symptoms, OK? As they were followed for the next nine years, the scientists found that becoming insulin resistant, so if one of the participants became insulin resistant, probably because of too many glucose spikes leading to that condition, they then had an 89% increase in risk of developing major depression. So insulin resistance was a strong risk factor for developing depression. It's linked, guys. It's all connected. If we experience insulin resistance, if we have lots of glucose spikes, inflammation, glycation, all of these things are also felt by the brain. So again, it's an emerging field of study, but we have enough data and evidence to support a strong connection between how we eat and our mental health. The way we eat also impacts our gut health, and gut health in turn impacts mental health. Especially when we're thinking about these very easy hacks that I'm going to share with you, there's no reason not to try them. So if you're somebody who struggles with mental health, have a test. See if you feel better. For me, it was in a matter of days. It completely changed my brain. So I highly recommend testing it out. And of course, I'm just going to say this again, glucose is not the whole answer. It's not going to solve all of your mental health problems, but it's an important solid foundation that you need to have in order to go after all the other layers. And finally, in this episode, I would like to talk about Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is becoming more and more common in the world at younger and younger ages. Interestingly, we're starting to discover a strong link between glucose, insulin, and Alzheimer's disease. So much so that some scientists call Alzheimer's disease type 3 diabetes or diabetes of the brain. I know that sounds pretty surprising, but the explanation is simple. The reason that some people call Alzheimer's disease type 3 diabetes or diabetes of the brain is because of two things. First, in people with Alzheimer's disease, scientists are noticing that their brain also shows signs of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance, inflammation, and glycation, which are telltale signs in a body that has type 2 diabetes. So they're seeing a connection. They're seeing patterns that are super, super similar. And what they're noticing is that in people who have Alzheimer's, they also have this kind of situation where their brain has type 2 diabetes. So it's all connected. And the second thing is that people who have type 2 diabetes are at significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. There's one study that I'll cite. It's called midlife lipid and glucose levels are associated with Alzheimer's disease. In this very big study, 3,200 participants aged 35 to 50 years old were followed up for 38 years. That is a long time. That's a lot of work. Kudos to the scientists. And a lot of things were measured. Triglycerides, blood pressure, glucose levels. And what the scientists found is that the people who had high glucose levels at midlife, so at 35, 40 years old, had a 14.5% higher risk of developing Alzheimer's later in life. Because the scientists could follow these people for so long, they were able to see this pattern. They were able to see that if somebody, and looking back, of course, they were able to see this looking back. They were able to see that if somebody had high glucose levels in their midlife, then they were more likely to then develop Alzheimer's later in life. And so we have these two things. We understand sort of the mechanisms a bit more, that Alzheimer's might be a metabolic disease with insulin resistance in the brain. And we have data like this one that shows us, oh yeah, it appears that high glucose levels at midlife is a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease later on. But there is hope. First of all, from this data, we can sort of get a sense that Alzheimer's disease is not 100% genetic and that we can do something about it. So keeping our glucose level steady as early as we can is going to be helpful to our brain in the future. And second, there are some studies even showing that some cognitive decline may be reversible if you significantly change your diet. And that's really amazing. It shows us that the way we're eating is impacting our brain and that we have agency and we have power and we can change how our health is going to look like in the future. So if you're interested in all of this, if you want to help your brain get healthier as you age, not get sicker as you age, my glucose hacks are a really easy place to start. And I'm going to tell you my four favorite glucose hacks right now. And again, you can download all 10 in the free PDF in the description of this episode. So my four favorite glucose hacks for brain health are number one, have a savory breakfast, not a sweet one. As we saw in the early paper, if you have a sweet breakfast, that's going to lead to glucose spikes and that's going to lead to poor cognitive function, lower memory, brain fog from the glucose spikes, slowing down the speed of signal between your neurons. Second hack that I would highly recommend is the veggie starter. So before your lunch or before your dinner, add a plate of vegetables to the beginning of your meal. The fiber in the veggies is going to protect your body from too big of a glucose spike coming through during the rest of the meal. Third hack, never eat sugar on an empty stomach. If you want to eat sugar, and guys, I love sugar as well. So this hack is really key for me. If you want to eat sugar, let's say you want to eat like a chocolate cake or something, do not have it first thing in the morning and do not have it between your meals. Have it as dessert at the end of a meal. Because if you have sugar on an empty stomach or between meals, the glucose molecules in it are going to go really quickly to your bloodstream because there's going to be nothing holding them back. If you have the sugar at the end of a meal instead, then the food that's already in your stomach is going to slow down how quickly that sugar is going to get to your bloodstream. And as a result, it's going to slow down the appearance of glucose in your blood, and it's going to reduce the glucose spike of that sugar. And final one is moving after eating. So after your meals, whenever you can, whenever it's easy, use your muscles for 10 minutes. You can go for a walk. You can clean your apartment. You can do some calf raises like this at your desk. So just by putting your feet on the ground and raising your heels for 10 minutes, you can dance. You can go to the gym and lift weights. You can do whatever you want. But these are really easy tools that are going to help your brain so you can feel better today and also prevent any issues long term. Have a look at the free PDF in the description of this episode with my 10 hacks. And that is all we have time for today. I hope you enjoyed this science. I'm really fascinated with this topic. I think it's so, so, so, so cool. Yeah, so if you want to be a better wife or husband as well, you should study your glucose levels. Okay, I'll see you next time. Bye.