“There’s nothing you can do to prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s. It’s just bad genes.”
That’s what the doctor said about my grandmother.
She didn’t remember who I was.
Seeing such a sharp and vibrant woman gradually lose her grip on reality was heartbreaking.
And for me, it was scary.
Was I destined for the same fate?
I was only 20 years old then, still a student in college, and years away from starting my career as a Functional Medicine clinician, author, and educator.
But even then, I believed the doctor had to be missing something.
I didn’t have the professional experience or evidence to prove it yet…
…but deep in my bones, I knew that dementia and Alzheimer’s weren’t just a cruel twist of fate and “bad genes,” as he suggested.
I knew there must be something we could do to reduce the risk of cognitive decline – and maybe even improve our brain function as we got older.
So I vowed to find a way.
But that turned out to be harder than I thought.
Why “conventional wisdom” about dementia and Alzheimer’s is wrong
The conventional wisdom at the time—and still today, in most circles—was that significant cognitive decline is simply a natural feature of getting older…
…and diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s are almost entirely driven by our genes.
But what if that’s not the whole story?
What if we do, in fact, have A LOT of influence over how we age in general—and how our brains age specifically?
What if our environment—what we eat, how we live, and even our mindset—has a FAR GREATER impact on our brain health than our genes do?
And most important, what if we could slow or even REVERSE the aging process in our brains?
That’s exactly what the latest research suggests.
A study published by the Alzheimer’s Association in July 2022 found that people who made certain healthy lifestyle choices…
…had similar brain health as people 10 to 20 years younger than them.
Just let that sink in for a moment.
Choices within our control can change the age of our brain by up to two decades.
This is GOOD news!
And it flies in the face of the conventional idea that we’re just at the mercy of “bad genes” that could leave us in a merciless mental and physical decline.
But it wasn’t just research that showed me what is possible.
How treating hundreds of patients convinced me that cognitive decline can be reversed
It was also my clinical experience.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve treated hundreds of patients with cognitive issues like brain fog, lack of focus, and poor memory.
Some were in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. But others were still young, in their 40s, 30s, or even 20s.
And I can tell you with certainty that cognitive issues can be slowed and even reversed—when we finally give our brains what they need to thrive.
I wish I had known all of this 30 years ago. Maybe I could have helped my grandmother.
Although I was too late for that, I’m grateful that I’ve been able to help thousands of people prevent and reverse cognitive decline in both my clinic and training programs.
Now, I want to help even more people.
Introducing my free course on boosting brain health naturally!
So, I’ve created a free course (email + video) to show you how to boost your cognitive function and protect your brain as you age.
It doesn’t require expensive, high-tech solutions with brain scans and $5,000 visits with celebrity brain health doctors.
Nor does it require absolute perfection with every aspect of our diet and lifestyle 100% of the time.
Instead, it’s based on a relatively simple idea: our brains will thrive when we give them the micronutrients they need.
The human brain needs at least 40 vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients to function well.
When we don’t get optimal levels of these nutrients, we suffer:
- We have “senior moments”—even if we’re not a senior.
- We lose our keys or forget the name of the person we just met 10 minutes ago.
- We can’t concentrate for more than a few minutes at a time and get easily distracted.
- Our productivity at work steadily declines, and we feel like we’re losing our edge.
Why nutrient deficiencies are shockingly common—even with a healthy diet
Sadly, the latest statistics suggest that most people in the U.S. are not getting enough of several critical brain nutrients.
According to the Linus Pauling Institute:
- 100% don’t get enough potassium
- 97% don’t get enough magnesium
- 94% don’t get enough vitamin D
- 92% don’t get enough choline
(I could go on, but you get the point.)
When I explain this to my patients, their first response is often something like, “I eat pretty well and take a multivitamin, so I think I’m covered when it comes to nutrients.”
In reality, this is rarely the case.
Even if we’re eating well, we still have to face challenges in the modern world like declining soil quality, a growing toxic burden, rising rates of chronic disease, a shift toward industrial agriculture, and OTC and prescription medications—all of which reduce nutrient absorption.
What’s more, to create an effective brain nutrition protocol, you have to know:
- Which nutrients are most critical for the brain?
- What’s the optimal dose of each of these nutrients (and just as importantly, what’s the upper limit to avoid problems)?
- What are the best food sources of these nutrients—and is it even possible to get enough from the diet?
- What’s the best way to supplement with each nutrient? Is there a particular form that is best? Which forms should be avoided because they’re potentially dangerous?
As you can see, it’s a bit of a minefield.
It is definitely not as simple as just eating more kale and blueberries and picking up the first multi you see on the shelves at the local Costco.
The good news is that, with the right approach and guidance, a cutting-edge brain nutrition program can make a HUGE difference.
Optimizing brain nutrition can slow cognitive decline by 60 percent!
A landmark study published in September 2022 found that restoring adequate nutrient levels slowed age-related cognitive decline by 60 percent—or about 1.8 years—over three years.
Put another way, people who boosted their intake of critical brain nutrients aged less than half as quickly as those who didn’t.
As exciting as those results are, they only scratch the surface of what’s possible.
The protocol used in that study was fairly bare bones.
The one I use with my patients—and am excited to share with you—is far more robust, and as a result, can lead to even more dramatic results.
(But don’t let that intimidate you. It’s still easy to implement and very accessible.)
Optimizing our nutrient intake is low-hanging fruit for protecting our brains and improving our cognitive health as we age.
We’re talking about fairly straightforward changes that most people can make, on their own, with just a little guidance up front to show the way.
It doesn’t always have to be hard work.
Sometimes, it can be easy.
We can find shortcuts that make a huge difference.
As someone who values doing hard things personally and professionally, I’ve learned to celebrate those shortcuts when I discover them!
And frankly, I’m surprised that this one isn’t better known or talked about more.
It’s not a secret.
Hundreds of studies published in the scientific literature—including the ones I shared above—validate this approach.
Three key (but often overlooked) facts about brain health
They have proven three key facts:
- The brain needs several nutrients to function optimally.
- Most people don’t get enough of most of these nutrients.
- Brain health and cognitive function improve when these nutrients are restored.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve used this nutrient-based approach with hundreds of patients suffering from brain fog, lack of focus, poor memory, and even dementia and early-stage Alzheimer’s.
I’ve also trained over 2,000 healthcare practitioners from more than 50 countries worldwide in this method.
I’m proud of the results I’ve achieved in my clinic and training programs.
But that’s no longer enough.
Growing rates of cognitive decline, dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other neurodegenerative conditions are destroying our quality of life as we age and threatening to bankrupt our healthcare system.
I can’t sit back and watch this happen without doing everything I can to reverse this alarming trend.
More detail about my free brain health course
That’s why I’m so excited to finally offer this free course on optimizing brain nutrition.
I cover:
- Which nutrients are most important for brain health
- How to maximize our intake of these nutrients
- The brain superfoods that give us an “unfair advantage”
- The course consists of both video and written content. The videos are recorded, so you can watch them on your own schedule.
If you prefer reading to watching (like I do), I provide transcripts for each video.
I’m thrilled to share this approach because I know firsthand that it works—from my experience, my work with patients, and the practitioners I’ve trained.
I’m approaching 50 years old, but my brain is functioning as well or better than it ever has.
I feel sharp, focused, and productive every day.
And I am looking forward to the second half-century of my life being even better than the first.
I want this for everyone—not just those who have a chance to work with me in my clinic.
It’s something that is in our power to achieve.
We can take charge of our brain health.
We are not sitting ducks.
And it doesn’t always have to be hard.
Sometimes, we are blessed with a gift… a shortcut… an easy way forward.
This is that shortcut.
Let’s get started!