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doctor's pharmacy.

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doctor's pharmacy.

2:51

everyone.

2:53

Welcome to the doctor's pharmacy. I'm doctor

2:55

Mark Heimman, and this is a place for conversations

2:58

that matter. And if you ever wondered how to

3:00

optimize your brain health with nutrients, This

3:02

is the podcast for you. And today,

3:05

we're featuring a new little

3:08

segment of the doctor's pharmacy called

3:10

Health bites where I teach you how to upgrade

3:12

your health in short little nuggets

3:14

of wisdom. So what

3:16

is going on with our brains today? We're seeing

3:19

epidemic of depression, anxiety,

3:22

PTSD, mental

3:24

health issues, and it's really

3:26

staggering. And

3:29

what is causing all this? Well, we're gonna get

3:31

into that a little bit, but we're also gonna talk about how

3:33

do we optimize our brain through

3:36

nutrients, both from food

3:38

and through supplements. Now the brain

3:41

is one of the most important organs because if that's

3:43

not working, nothing it's gonna work. Right?

3:45

And it's what makes you you, so you don't wanna

3:47

lose your brain. We see

3:49

so much in our culture that

3:51

damages our brain. our processed

3:53

diet, sugary

3:55

diet, starchy diet, lack

3:58

of nutrients in our diet,

4:00

environmental toxins. Also,

4:02

we self medicate all the time to

4:04

keep our brains working with sugar, caffeine,

4:07

alcohol, And

4:09

we often don't connect how we're feeling

4:12

and how our brain works with what we're doing or

4:14

what we're eating. So the key important

4:16

thing it realizes brain is connected to

4:18

everything else in your body. And if your body's

4:20

not working, your brain's not working. And I wrote a

4:22

book years ago called the Ultramind Solution,

4:25

about how to fix your broken brain by

4:27

fixing your body first. A

4:29

lot of times we misappropriate meaning

4:31

to what's going on in our brain, with our thoughts

4:33

and our feelings, and our emotions, but

4:35

it's actually a biological problem. Now

4:37

your your thoughts and feelings can affect

4:39

your biology, but your biology can also affect

4:41

your thoughts and feelings. So it's important

4:43

to really look at how do we optimize

4:45

our brain health. And first,

4:47

you got to take out the bad stuff obviously,

4:50

get rid of as many junk

4:52

foods as you can or all of them for for

4:54

that matter, get rid of processed foods,

4:57

starch sugar, terrible for your brain. And if

4:59

you wanna scrip your brain, eat a lot of sugar,

5:01

and starch. Next one's alcohol,

5:03

caffeine. So so, I mean, depends on the

5:05

person, but it can be well tolerated. For

5:07

most people get rid of all the junk and sugar

5:09

and processed food or reduce your exposure to

5:11

toxins, exercise,

5:14

get your sleep, deal with

5:16

stress through meditation. You all got all

5:18

those are basic fundamental brain health

5:20

practices. Now, what

5:22

if you've done all that? And you're still

5:24

not doing great. Well, there's a lot of things we know about

5:26

how nutrients affect the brain. And you wanna

5:29

upgrade your brain function by

5:31

optimizing your nutrient levels And

5:33

the nutrient levels are so critical

5:36

to making all the biochemical reactions

5:38

work. Every second, you

5:40

have thirty seven billion billion chemical

5:42

reactions happening in your body and

5:44

they all require nutrients as co

5:46

factors to run everything. In fact,

5:48

one third of all your DNA codes

5:50

for enzymes. Enzymes

5:53

Basically, you're catalysts that convert one

5:55

chemical to another chemical, and every enzyme

5:57

needs a co enzyme or a helper,

5:59

enzyme or co factor And those, my

6:01

friends, are vitamins and minerals. So

6:03

they're not just making expensive urine, they are

6:06

critically important. And there's variations

6:08

in our genetics that determine different needs

6:10

for different levels of nutrients. So not

6:12

everybody needs the same amount, but we're gonna learn

6:14

any more about how to customize that. So

6:16

let's go through what are the top things we need

6:19

for bring up one of the top nutrients and what do

6:21

I do every day versus a good multivitamin

6:23

and mineral because it contains everything you need.

6:25

A lot of the b vitamins, all

6:28

the minerals, and you wanna make sure you take

6:30

a high quality product that has

6:32

been manufactured properly

6:34

that doesn't have weird fillers and ingredients

6:36

that is exactly

6:38

what it says on the label that it's been third

6:40

party tested for purity and potency. So

6:42

you're not getting contaminants. You're having actually

6:44

the dose that says on the label. and

6:47

that it's pharmaceutical grade, that it's

6:49

bioavailable. There's a whole set of criteria I

6:51

use. And on our

6:53

website, we we kind of share a lot of the best

6:55

products and the ones I use with my patients.

6:57

The second important category

7:00

other than the multi vitamin is a basic foundation.

7:03

is omega three fats. Omega three

7:05

fats are so critical for your brain wide

7:07

because your brain is made up of mostly omega

7:09

three fats. DHA is about sixty

7:11

percent of your brain. And

7:14

and most of us evolved, well,

7:16

pretty much all of us evolved eating a lot of

7:18

omega-three fats from wild, fatty

7:20

fish from wild animals, wild plants.

7:23

These are the sources. Now we don't eat much of

7:25

the wild foods anymore, but that's what we used

7:27

to eat. And that is what full

7:29

of omega three fats, and ninety percent

7:31

of Americans are deficient in

7:33

omega three fats. And if your

7:35

brain is sixty percent omega three's, it's so

7:37

important. And we've seen this been playing

7:39

a big role in many, many brain issues.

7:42

We know that omega three deficiencies

7:44

contributing to Alzheimer's, to autism,

7:46

to ADD, to depression, bipolar

7:49

disease. There's actually studies using omega

7:51

three fast to treat these conditions, and

7:53

it improves their those conditions.

7:55

So really important to get the

7:57

right omega-three fats. And

7:59

obviously, from food, I can't know sardines

8:01

three times a week is great. I almost feel

8:03

like that. taking the

8:05

right supplements. I think it's really important.

8:07

And it's critical for supporting brain function

8:10

and mood for regulating metabolism. It

8:12

helps prevent diabetes, close eye inflammation,

8:14

has many, many other functions than just the

8:16

brain. So most of us should

8:18

get an insurance policy of at least the grammar

8:21

two a day of of omega three fats.

8:23

The next thing I I recommend

8:25

is something called

8:27

magnesium. It's a critical

8:29

mineral. It it's very important in

8:31

brain function. It calms the brain down. It's

8:33

great for sleep. But it binds to an important

8:36

receptor in the brain that it

8:38

is calming for the brain. that

8:40

helps to relax the brain

8:42

and and also everything else in your body.

8:44

So about forty five percent of

8:46

Americans are deficient, We

8:49

see this mineral being involved in up to

8:51

six hundred different chemical reactions in the

8:53

body and create people to take this on a

8:55

regular basis. because we're doing a lot of things

8:57

that make us deficient stress alcohol

8:59

caffeine, lack of it in our

9:01

diet. All these things cause

9:03

magnesium deficiency So I

9:05

would say take about two hundred

9:07

milligrams and maybe six hundred milligrams a day of

9:09

magnesium glycinate or magnesium citrate if

9:11

you tend to be constipated. The

9:13

next important category is

9:15

vitamin D. Vitamin D plays a huge role

9:17

in brain function. It's involved

9:19

in hundreds and hundreds of different gene

9:22

expression enzymes

9:24

and also it's really important

9:26

regulating the the function

9:28

of your immune system, cognitive

9:31

function, and about eighty

9:33

percent of us are low in vitamin D, so

9:35

it's important to make sure we

9:37

get adequate levels of vitamin D, probably

9:39

mostly through supplements. It's hard to get it and let

9:41

you're out in the sun all the time, or you're

9:43

eating tons of food with with vitamin D, but

9:45

it's really, you know, you've got maybe four four

9:47

hundred units in a in, let's say,

9:49

some really high quality fish or

9:51

maybe even less. And then you you actually

9:54

may need ten times that. So make sure

9:56

you get vitamin D test. Check your

9:58

levels. It should be between fifty to

10:00

seventy five nanograms per deciliter.

10:02

The levels that are quote normal

10:04

are twenty or thirty on tests. I

10:06

would not pay attention to that. You really want to be more

10:08

than that. The next

10:10

category is a a special group of

10:12

nutrients we call methylating And these

10:14

are so so important for brain

10:16

function. b twelve, full 8B6

10:19

They regulate neurotransmitters, cognitive

10:21

function, And this key

10:23

process that's involved in keeping your brain

10:25

healthy, dealing with oxidative stress,

10:27

dealing with methion, and

10:30

these methylating nutrients are often

10:32

very low in our systems. And I

10:34

see a lot of people with with low

10:36

methylation. And you can check that by checking

10:38

blood tests like homocystine, in

10:40

the blood. If you check folate and

10:43

B12, it's okay, but it's better to check these

10:46

really more sensitive

10:48

tests. And so checking home

10:50

assistance is important. If that's high, for

10:52

example, if you have a high home assistance,

10:54

it can increase your

10:56

risk of Alzheimer's by fifty percent.

10:58

increase risk of depression. It can be a

11:00

big factor in autism, in

11:02

ADD, and bipolar disease, and depression.

11:05

who really, really important to get enough of

11:08

these. So you need a good b

11:10

complex or a special methalting formula with

11:12

b six folate b

11:15

twelve. But the right form is we use methyl folate,

11:18

paradox of five phosphate for b

11:20

six, we use methyled

11:22

cobalamin for b twelve. So you wanna make sure you're

11:24

giving the right the right nutrients.

11:26

The next thing is your gut.

11:28

Most people don't realize this, but your gut brain

11:30

is, like, really one thing. Your

11:33

brain doctor gut, and your gut talks to

11:35

your brain. There's something called the the

11:37

gut brain or the second brain. And

11:39

it's a nervous system with as many neurotransmitters

11:42

or more than your brain, brain,

11:44

and they're in a bidirectional conversation.

11:46

when your gut's unhappy and inflamed, your brain's

11:49

gonna be unhappy and inflamed. So

11:51

keeping a healthy gut is important. We

11:54

I've talked a lot about that on different

11:56

podcasts in my books, but the key is

11:58

to optimize your digestion, anywhere

12:00

to food sensitivities, healing gut

12:02

inflammation, getting

12:04

rid of Cboe, CFO, Bacterial

12:06

and pangoliver growth. And also

12:09

making sure you take a good probiotics. So those

12:11

are really important thing. So multi

12:13

vitamin, fish oil, vitamin d,

12:15

magnesium, b vitamins, probate

12:17

it. Now what else can you do for your brain?

12:19

One other nutrients may play a role

12:21

and be used sometimes. Well,

12:23

one of the things that we see a lot is

12:25

people have low glutathione

12:28

glutiform is an important detoxifier,

12:31

antioxidant, anti inflammatory,

12:33

and it is so critical to our

12:35

body's functioning that

12:37

everybody needs to pay attention to

12:39

what their glutathione levels are. And the best

12:41

way to do this is by up

12:43

leveling the amount of cruciferous vegetables

12:45

in your broccoli collars kale, brussels

12:48

sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, arugula,

12:51

watercrows. All these things boost glutathione

12:53

levels. Now,

12:55

that's important, but sometimes you

12:57

need support. And n acetyl cystine is

12:59

one of the most important precurses

13:02

of glutathione. You can take that as a

13:04

supplement like polka acid also a

13:06

great booster of glutathione and

13:08

even grass fed whey. I use goat

13:10

whey, but these really help boost

13:12

glutathione levels. Also, your

13:14

mitochondria really important you've got

13:16

more mitochondria for these little energy

13:18

factories in your brain cells than

13:20

almost any other cell, heart cells, I

13:22

think a close second. So you've got

13:24

seventeen, twenty thousand mitochondria

13:27

per cell. And they have to be

13:29

working to produce energy to make your

13:31

brain work. And low energy in the

13:33

brain is what we see in autism, in

13:35

schizophrenia, in

13:39

often Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease,

13:41

A colleague of mine, Christopher

13:43

Palmer, who we've had on the podcast from

13:45

Harvard McLean's at Harvard's psychiatrist wrote a

13:47

book called Brain Energy. about the

13:49

deficit of brain energy. So getting your

13:51

brain energy up is really important. And

13:53

how do you do that? There's mitochondrial

13:55

nutrients that are involved in

13:57

producing energy from food and

13:59

oxygen. And you need all these steps in the

14:01

assembly line to make it work coker,

14:04

carnitine, lipoic acid, NAD,

14:07

and and and many more that we

14:09

use to help boost boost the

14:11

mitochondrial function. And

14:13

then there's things that the body used to kinda

14:15

calm the brain down. I use this product

14:17

called two hundred milligrams of Zen, which is

14:19

kinda fun. I actually take it at night because

14:21

I live a crazy life. So It's

14:23

it's essentially gaba,

14:25

which is the basically like

14:27

the the body's volume. The body

14:29

actually makes this and the volume binds to

14:31

the gaba receptors, which is why it makes you

14:33

calm. But gaba is really important

14:35

and it comes the brain down from too much

14:37

stimulation from adrenaline and so forth.

14:40

Also, theanine is

14:42

also important. This is what's in green tea.

14:44

It's an amino acid in green tea. It can help

14:46

calm and our system down. Five

14:48

HTP also can be helpful,

14:50

which is a precursor of

14:52

serotonin and and even

14:54

herbs that I use to sort of help balance

14:56

the brain function like rhodiola. So this

14:58

is really a kind of a

15:00

simple approach to helping your brain

15:02

function get the foundations, make

15:04

sure you optimize your glutathione, make

15:06

sure you optimize your mitochondria,

15:08

try some calming nutrients if you're

15:10

overactivated. And

15:12

and just to kind of think about what you

15:14

should be doing, it's it's really

15:17

focusing on your lifestyle first.

15:19

Obviously, your diet, exercise,

15:21

stress reduction, sleep. And then

15:23

we focus on what nutrients

15:25

we can use to support that. They're called

15:28

supplements, not replacements, remember, but

15:30

the key ones for your brain are multivitamin,

15:32

magnesium vitamin d, omega

15:34

three fats. The methylation

15:36

nutrient species, which were a folate probiotics,

15:39

maybe a little glutathione mitochondrial

15:41

support. and you're golden. So

15:43

that's it for this week's health bite. If you

15:45

enjoyed this episode, please share with your friends

15:47

and family. Leave a comment. Have

15:49

you used nutrients to help your brain health

15:51

love to hear, and we'll see you next

15:53

time on the doctor's pharmacy.

15:56

Hey, everybody.

15:59

It's doctor Heimin. Thanks for tuning in to the

16:01

doctor's pharmacy. I hope you're loving

16:03

this podcast. It's one of my favorite things to

16:05

do and introducing you all the experts that

16:07

I know and I love and that I've learned so much

16:09

from And I wanna tell you about something else I'm

16:11

doing, which is called Mark's picks. It's

16:13

my weekly newsletter. And in

16:15

it, I share my favorite stuff

16:18

from foods to supplements, to

16:20

gadgets, to tools, to enhance your

16:22

health. It's all the cool stuff that I

16:24

use and that my team uses to

16:26

optimize enhance our health. and I'd love you to sign up

16:28

for the weekly newsletter. I'll only send it you

16:30

once a week on Fridays. Nothing

16:33

else I promise. And all

16:35

you can do is go to doctor hymen dot

16:37

com forward slash picks to

16:39

sign up. That's doctor hymen dot

16:41

com forward slash picks, PICKS

16:43

and sign up a newsletter and I'll share

16:45

with you my favorite stuff that I use to

16:47

enhance my health and get

16:49

healthier, and better, and live

16:51

younger, longer.

16:52

Hi, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's

16:55

episode. Just a reminder that this

16:57

podcast is for educational purposes

16:59

only. This podcast is not substitute

17:01

for professional care by a doctor or

17:03

other qualified medical professional. This

17:05

podcast is provided on the understanding that

17:07

it does not constitute to medical or other professional advice

17:09

or services. If you're looking for helping

17:11

your journey, seek out a qualified medical

17:14

practitioner. If you're looking for a

17:16

functional medicine practitioner, you can visit ifm

17:18

dot org and search there, find a

17:20

practitioner database. It's important

17:22

that you have someone in your corner whose trained

17:24

who's a licensed healthcare practitioner and

17:26

can help you make changes, especially when it

17:28

comes to your health.