A few weeks ago, I published the first part of an interview with Dr. John Ratey, author of the following book: spark and go wild. I spoke with a Harvard Medical School professor about his field of expertise: the role of exercise on our bodies and brains. Part 2 discusses the impact of diet on gut and mental health, processed foods, and addiction recovery.
derek: in go wild, you write that the disease of civilization is a disease of starch. In our earlier conversation, you mentioned “inconsistency,” which reminds me of Daniel Lieberman’s work. According to your research, how do sugar and starch affect us?
John: We are all addicted to glucose. No matter how good the starch is, it is broken down into glucose. Our blood sugar levels are too high and rising even higher. Inflammation also causes major problems with cellular communication. They then become insulin insensitive and develop type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, all of which lead to neuronal toxicity. Eventually, we begin to see erosion and miscommunication within the cells. Cells are less effective and lead to cell death. Then you really get into dementia, depression, all the things that happen when we’re in this kind of toxic mode.
derek: About 4 years ago, I transitioned from a long-time vegetarian diet to a primarily Paleo diet. This surprisingly stopped many inflammation-related issues, including stopping my panic attacks. Recently, there was an article linking anxiety disorders and allergies, and I also experienced relief from my seasonal allergies. I don’t think that eating meat is the only culprit (though I do think that carbohydrate reduction is the culprit), but that eating meat is a fundamental and determining factor in the human condition at the gut level. It is written that it is.
John: I lived Paleo for a while. I lost weight, had more energy, and started sleeping better. Personally I think that really plays a role. By lowering your carbohydrate intake and consuming more fat and protein, you can get the calories you need for the day. Now I’m plant-based paleo.
A big part of our evolution was lots of vegetables, lots of different things, not just the 30 or so people we have now. It was completely different from eating spinach.
Although we are meat eaters, we are concerned about our impact on the environment. Is there a better way? Probably. Is it Beyond Meat or the Impossible Burger? Probably not yet, but we’ll get there someday.
Diet, Sugar, and the Impact on ADHD by Dr. John Ratey
derek: I think it would be a great way to take animal cells and make food from them to alleviate suffering. However, an investigation by Beyond Meat found that the patty contained carcinogenic ingredients. There are ethical benefits to a diet like this, but I don’t think it’s a worthwhile trade-off if you’re going to give yourself cancer.
John: right. I think the whole idea is worth it, and it will only get better. In the next iteration, Beyond Meat will have less junk. We will get there because we have the science to get there.
A big part of what we’re talking about is the microbiome, which affects you and your anxiety and allergies.When you change your diet, when you put meat and protein back into your diet, and maybe put more fat back into your diet, and reduce carbohydrates, your microbiome changes, and your microbiome Huge. Reducing inflammation and exercise, all of these things are interconnected, and the microbiome is a very interesting area.
Interest in this has increased over the past 15 years and is now seen everywhere. I work with a group of autistic children in upstate New York, and they discovered something about the microbiome and children with severe autism. It will increasingly be driven by science.
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derek: I recently covered a study on autism and processed foods that looked at a potential link between mothers eating certain processed foods and autism. This was definitely one of my most controversial pieces, as autism is a very controversial subject. However, if you look at the list of ingredients, most of them are chemical substances that you can’t even describe, so there’s no way they wouldn’t have an effect on your body.
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John: Yes, that’s right. As we’ll get to in a moment, we’re seeing this incredible increase in numbers. One in 59 births in the United States will have autism. 1 in 35 people will have autism. When I was in medical school, it was 1 in 10,000. This should give us a lot of pause. What have we done differently? Autism is on the rise at an incredible rate in so-called “developed” countries. There’s something environmentally going on because these numbers are out of this world.
derek: We were recently referred to by Brandon from Tree House Recovery. He first contacted me when you were working in addiction recovery.
John: Yes, I run a non-profit organization called Sparking Life. Our latest challenge is to focus on exercise as part of treatment for people in recovery. Many recovery centers don’t do that. It’s optional at best. If you go to a high-end recovery center, they’ll have a lot of great equipment and encourage you to use it, but that doesn’t mean you have to exercise. At Tree House, fitness is part of the deal.
CrossFitters and the folks at Orange Theory use it to help people continue their recovery and find another path through life.in spark I wrote the chapter on addiction because we know that exercise can help you deal with cravings. There are some really useful tools out there. Tree House emphasizes not only connections with people, but also exercise and physical health. Connecting with others isn’t just a good thing. It is essential for our bodies, brains and souls. We’re proof that connections make a big difference.
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