FEATURE—It is estimated that we use only 10 percent of our brain’s capacity. During a foggy day using 10 percent seems like a very high percentage. Our brains comprise about two percent of our body weight, but use at least 20 percent of the electrical energy in our bodies. Interestingly, our brain’s energy use increases to 25 percent when we are sleeping. So how can you keep this incredibly vital organ functioning at its best?
The key to having healthy brain function is to give your brain an optimal energy supply. Most would argue that the brain needs glucose as its optimal energy source but what we are finding is that only a small portion of your brain needs sugar. What the brain actually prefers are ketones from fat as its energy source.
For those of you wanting to optimize your brain performance, not to mention decrease inflammation in your gut and heart, it is necessary to eat more fat from butter.
Butter is now considered by many to be the new superfood, even though it has been used for at least 4,500 years. How did we get so far removed from fat? One of the early campaigns against fat began when Dwight Eisenhower was diagnosed with heart disease in 1955. His team of scientists and doctors, including the snit-fat crusader, Ancel Keys concluded that saturated fat and butter caused his chronic disease.
The then President was put on a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet of dry toast and Sanka for breakfast and only one egg per week, even though his total cholesterol was 165 ml/dl at the time of his heart attack.
Even with his strict dietary program Eisenhower’s total cholesterol continued to rise up to 259 ml/dl the day he left office. He was also diagnosed with Crohn’s disease (or ileitis) on May 10th, 1956, and Eisenhower continued to have several more heart attacks and eventually died of heart disease even with his new diet. President Eisenhower’s diseases were caused by chronic inflammation. Research shows that inflammation is the cause of at least 95 percent of chronic diseases in the body.
Most inflammation starts in the gut from food sensitivities. Food sensitivities have been shown to cause a number of chronic conditions including migraine headaches, Alzheimer’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, joint pain, fibromyalgia and brain fog.
The first step in eliminating inflammation is by testing what foods you are having a delayed immune reaction to with ALCAT labs. This blood test measures how your neutrophils react to food particles. About 70 percent of your immune cells are aimed at the gut to expel and kill foreign invaders. With the amounts of genetically modified and chemically laden foods that we are exposed to, our immune system overreacts to even healthy foods. For nutrients to get to your brain they have to first be digested in the gut. If you have inflammation then the digestive process is greatly reduced and your brain function will suffer.
The new science shows that our brains perform better by using fat as a fuel source rather than glucose. Just like electrical wires need insulation to carry energy, so do the nerves in your brain. Fat provides the lubrication that allows you to put together information for creativity, memory storage and for name recall or the date of your anniversary. When the myelin sheath is
fully lubricated, thoughts and words form faster and you feel more clarity, you will also be using ketones as your primary brain food which is your brains preferred source.
Truth about Butter
Butter provides you with loads of vitamin A to support thyroid and adrenal function. It also contains lauric acid which keeps fungal growth down in your gut. Butter contains lecithin which is essential for cholesterol metabolism and is a great source of Vitamins E, K and D. Butter is
used by the body as an energy source and is a high source of iodine. It also helps in children’s brain and nervous system development. But the best part about butter is that it tastes great.
When shifting ones diet to using healthy fats as a primary fuel source, an improvement in memory by 40 percent is often shown, as well as strength and sleep improvement. Ideally 50-70 percent of your calories should be from healthy fats, 20-25 percent from healthy proteins and 20-25 percent from healthy carbohydrates. Fruits and small amounts of starches need to be consumed in the evening if you want to keep your body in fat-burning mode.
The first step in any new process is to try it out for yourself. A note of caution: your brain will run like a G-6 so get ready!
Written by Regan Archibald for St. George Health & Wellness magazine and St. George News.St. George Health and Wellness and the St. George News
Regan Archibald is a board certified licensed acupuncturist, master of science in Oriental medicine and is the clinic director at East West Health. He teaches courses on nutrition, brain function, food sensitivities and wellness throughout the U.S. and has even made an appearance in Ireland.
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Copyright St. George News, StGeorgeUtah.com Inc., and St. George Health and Wellness magazine, 2014, all rights reserved.
This is only one, of a number of articles on the internet, stating that the “only 10% of our brain is used”, is a myth.
The 10 Percent of Brain Myth
This is a great article! I’ve been advocating fat and salt for a long time. Don’t believe the hype people! Your brain needs fat and your body needs trace minerals found in unrefined salt. It’s that simple. Sugar is also necessary. Great work Regan!
Paula Deen, are you posting as THATGUY now?
Yeah, saying that we only use 10% of our brain is a myth.
It;s an absolute myth about using 10% of one’s brain. I am convinced that most people in southern Utah don’t even have a brain, and those who do have a brain, are incapable of using it. Now shut up and go do what your church tells you to do.
Seriously? This pseudo-science about using 10% of the brain was debunked long ago. It’s a good thing I don’t read St. George Health and Wellness magazine – I wouldn’t want to die of a misprint!
Seriously? This is the reason so many people are following messed-up fad-diets. You make all these statements about what “science” shows, then leave out any references to support your over-hyped claims. 70% of your diet in fats (and total 110% with protein/carbs added in – math??)? And butter (or any dairy full of saturated fats) being the best source of fat? I am in shock that SGNews would let this article fly – this is good tabloid fodder, not news. You make no mention of saturated, trans, or partially hydrogenated fats that are in butters and margarines, and are major contributors to cholesterol and heart disease. Natural oils containing mono- and polyunsaturated fats can be used by your body to correctly synthesize the necessary vitamins and nutrients and promote brain health (vegetable/nut oils, fish), reduce cholesterol levels, and have shown to possibly limit development of diabetes (see ref below with plenty of science papers to support those claims). And there are no ketones in most fats, they are fatty acids or carboxylic acids. Your brain also needs carbs to function properly, as it is a more easily utilized source to generate ATP and other energy-storage enzymes, and is used to make glycogen for longer-term energy. Athletes use carbs to store energy – they just use healthy carbs (not sugar) to do this, and the exercise promotes healthy brain activity more than lard does. Of course you need fat, but definitely not butter, lard, ice cream, fat milk, etc. Please do not teach nutrition anymore – information like this is detrimental to society if you’re presenting scientific evidence without validated scientific studies to support your claims.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats-full-story/
Evidence doesn’t really matter, especially in Moron land. Just have FAITH and anything can be true.
Very well put.
Will this be like pomegranate juice or acai berries or the adkins diet? Since butter is milk fat isn’t milk just a fine as butter?
oh and who remembers radium?