Cavin Balaster

How To Feed A Brain

DATE AIRED: July 27, 2018

Episode Description

Cavin’s approach to repairing his brain is relevant for us all. Most of us unknowingly have brain damage either from unrecognized traumatic injuries or from the onslaught of toxins from the environment some of which open the protective blood brain barrier which protects us from toxin induced brain injuries. His recommendations for brain health include -focusing on gut health -an organic diet, -healthy oils (avoiding vegetable and hydrogenated oils) -eating plenty of fruits, vegetables including leafy greens, and sulfur containing substances. -superfoods including organ meats, fermented foods, sea vegetables, and cold water fatty fish. -choline found in organ meats and egg yolks, -DHA found in cold water fish, vega DHA, and liquid fish oil, and -uridine found in organ meats and broccoli -low carb intake -no grains, processed foods, -careful attention to food and product labels. -avoiding toxins in beauty and cleaning products, -monitoring blood sugar levels,

  • He fell 20 feet from a rooftop in 2011.
  • Sever diffuse axonal injury – a devastating brain injury
  • Over 90 % of such patients never regain consciousness. Those that recover are typically in a persistent vegetative state
  • He was unable to eat, walk or talk
    • He breathed through a tube in his neck
    • He received nutrition through a tube in his stomach
      • Ingredients were high fructose corn syrup, canola oil, soy protein isolate, corn maltodextrate
      • These are bad for health
        • Corn syrup is genetically modified, has lead
          • Cf Robert Lustig, MD’s youtube videos
        • Canola oil is genetically modified and highly processed
          • Used to be motor oil
        • Long term studies are only for six months
      • He was put into a second coma
      • He did not recognize friends and family
      • If he can do it for his extreme condition, we can do it for any cognitive challenges.
      • It was a long road to learn how to walk and talk

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

  • Many of us have had TBIs although we don’t realize it
  • Concussions are prevalent
  • Don’t need to bump head to get a brain injury
    • Can come from whip lash or roller coaster
    • Coup- counter-coup
      • Brain has consistency of tofu with fluid when head accelerates in one direction, and then stops or goes the other way.
        • Brain sloshes around including injuring twisting and tearing axons.

Blood-Brain Barrier

  • Injury opens blood brain barrier
  • Glyphosate, EMF opens blood brain barrier
  • Aspartame can get in and injure the brain
  • Statins in brain can affect the cell wall
  • Is connected to the health of the gut

Need to repair gut 

Needed to repair Blood-Brain Barrier

Nutritional Protocol

  • He regained clarity
  • He studied how to absorb nutrients and how to get them to his brain
  • He started with leaky gut protocols
  • Supplementation to heal gut and help brain
  • Choline, fish oils high in DHA
    • Listed on his website. www.Feedyourbrain.com

Need to feed brain spirituality

Brain = Garden with lots of plants (neurons) Analogy

  • Thoughts are like seeds
  • Attention is the sunlight and water.
    • Where we give attention to, these grow
    • We can’t pull the weeds but we can give attention to the plants we want to grow
  • Food is the nutrition
  • We need to be aware of the “weeds”
  • This works for everything business, relationships, politics
    • We shift attention; we don’t eliminate the old
    • Be constructive 

Recommendations

  • Reduce
    • processed foods,
    • fast foods,
    • sodas,
  • Remove
    • refined sugar,
    • high fructose corn syrup,
    • additives,
    • artificial sweeteners
    • vegetable oils
    • grains, corn
  • Limit
    • starch vegetables
    • high glycemic fruits
  • Avoid trans fats
  • Milk and wheat are problematic for most people
  • Eat Plenty of
    • fruits,
    • vegetables
    • sulfa containing items (garlic, onion)
    • bone broth
    • leafy greens
    • bone broth
  • He emphasizes
    • Importance of gut health
    • Hydration
    • Controlling blood sugar
    • Complete protein
    • High quality fats and oils
      • Don’t want rancid oils
      • Oils heated too much become rancid
      • They are oxidized, take electrons and cause other free radicals
      • He recommends
        • Avocado oil, smokes at high temperature
        • lard,
        • ghee (clarified butter) smokes at high temperature
          • takes out milk protein, lactose, casein
          • a few lactose tolerant people might have difficulty
        • butter smokes at low temperature
      • Super foods such as
        • organ meats
        • fermented foods
        • sea vegetables
        • cold water fish
      • Nutrients
        • Choline in organ meats and yolks
        • DHA found in cold water fish
          • There is vegan DHA
        • Uridine in organ meats and broccoli

Diet

  • He uses ketogenic diet, but body has to be prepared for ketogenic diet first.
  • Brain prefers taking up ketone before it takes up the glucose
  • Ketones are metabolites from fat
    • Gives more energy and less free radicals
    • Eating too much protein can lead to high insulin levels as seen with glucose
  • All organisms can metabolize sugar as can bacteria
  • We can metabolize fat through ketogenic metabolism
  • Carbohydrate diet, our sugar goes up, insulin goes up which shuttles sugar into cell
    • Get more free radicals and less energy
    • Each extreme change in glucose levels can affect the brain
  • Excess glucose goes into liver or fat
  • Visceral fat around our organs is deadly.

Food Labels

  • “All natural” does not mean anything
  • There are no standards for this
  • “All natural” eggs can be grain, GMO fed chickens in horrid conditions
  • “Free range” refers to range of their extremities so can move extremities
  • “Farm fresh” eggs does not mean anything
  • “Organic” means organically fed but could be stressed
  • Look for “Pasteur raised (organic) eggs
  • Look for “organic” especially locally grown
  • “Non GMO” is not necessarily organic
  • “Natural flavourings” very unhealthy with toxic

Brain Exercises

  • Useful
  • Like giving sun and water to plants
  • Kharrazian states to “find what is difficult for you and do it.”
  • When we building pathways, strengthening habits
    • Go down same pathway s a six-lane highway
    • To change , have to go through the woods to build a new path