Change Your Brain Every Day - The Truth About Toxins: Are You Being Poisoned?

Episode Date: October 18, 2017

In Part 7 of the Memory Rescue series, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen discuss toxins. Toxins are everywhere, from the hidden molds in our house to the lipstick we wear every day, we must be diligent in detecting and avoiding these often unseen enemies that can deteriorate our health.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Welcome back. We're talking about memory rescue and we are on T in Bright Minds. We've been talking about Bright Minds through this series. So B is for blood flow. R is retirement and aging. I is for inflammation. G is for genetics. We just finished H for head trauma. And now T is for toxins. And this one is like, oh my gosh, it goes on and on. And we could like live on this one. We've been remodeling our house. So dear Lord, we've had to leave like several times.

I'm surprised any of those guys actually can carry on a coherent conversation. Well, they can't. I mean, why do you think so many people hate contractors? Because they're not consistent. I mean, ours are better than most, right? But tell me during the last six months, you've not been frustrated. It's frustrating. And we have good contractors and it's frustrating. Dear Lord. So yeah, it's hard. So your brain is the most metabolically active organ in the universe, right? 2% of your body's weight uses 20 to 30% of the calories you consume,

20% of the oxygen, 20% of the blood flow. Any toxin that gets into your brain damages it because it's so metabolically active. And so when you think toxins, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? The first thing? The first thing. Like 50 just like popped in my head. Pesticides. Pesticides because they kill gut bacteria. Right. And they're everywhere. And gut bacteria actually help to detoxify your body.

Well, and it's not fair because they're on food without us, you know, for so long without us being told or without knowing or without understanding what they do. Right. I mean, when you go to a restaurant, unless it says organic, you can assume it has pesticides in it. Right. And they're in the air. So what else? So pesticides.

Cosmetics. So many cosmetics are toxic. And what do they have in it? Phthalates? Lead. Parabens? So lead and lipstick. Well, lipstick.

60% of the lipstick sold in the United States has lead in it. Especially the long wearing. So, I call it the kiss of death. So, the long wearing stuff. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. So, I'm more likely to kiss you if you don't have lipstick on, but you have lead-free lipstick. I do. I stopped wearing the long wearing when I heard that statistic.

It's crazy. So, plus they have gluten in them. It's pretty nuts. So PBAs from water bottles, PCBs that are ubiquitous in this society. General anesthesia can actually be toxic. Yeah. BPAs also line the, they line most cans. So canned food you have to be careful of. So it's in our food supply like crazy. Alcohol, which many people think of as a health food. I think of it as a toxin just because of what I've seen, the evidence I've seen on the imaging work we do here at Amen Clinics, drug abuse, smoking, air pollution. I grew up, we both grew up in Los Angeles. I grew up in the San

Fernando Valley. Do you ever remember smog days? Oh, yeah. I left there when I was pretty young, but I still remember it. Shouldn't go out and play during those days. Clearly bad for your brain. Water pollution. Mold from buildings or from your house. And we're totally freaked out and worried about Florida and Houston with recent hurricanes. There, you know, all of those places that got flooded. There's going to be mold problem for decades.

But we don't even think about the fact that, you know, we live by the coast and in places where people live by the coast and tend to leave their doors and windows open a lot. Even Hawaii, you just tend to get a lot. It can get moldy in fact uh some people remember my dad's story that about three years ago he got sick well they had mold in their house they lived by the beach and he then developed a chronic cough and then a heart arrhythmia and then heart failure and i remember one day i I would never curse at my father, but when they were remediating his house for mold, he used to go there every afternoon just to watch television.

And I walked in one day and I was so mad at him. He's pretty stubborn. It's like, what the F is the matter with you? You can't say that. I did. I just did. Like, I was not okay with sitting in the mold. You know, it's like. Oh, my gosh. Carbon monoxide poisoning, heavy metals. And, for example, they took lead out of gasoline fuel, but they left it in small aircraft fuel. So everybody who's flying a helicopter or a small plane is getting lead. And we actually did a study on a hundred pilots and found toxicity in their brain in about 80 of them. Wow. So how do you know if you've had toxic exposure that

increases your risk of memory problems? So spec scans can really help. We see that toxic bumpy appearance, which means we have to go figure out why. Having liver enzymes tested because it's a major organ of detoxification. If your liver is not right, odds are you have more toxins. Checking out your kidney function is critical. We also do hair, urine, heavy metal screens for things like mercury and lead and aluminum and arsenic. And there's another blood test called TGF-beta that helps us suspect whether or not you've had mold. So the treatment for this is limit your exposure and the exposure. So that means things like bio-organic. If you're going to have to pump your own gasoline, make sure you're downwind of it because gasoline is clearly toxic to the body.

Well, I usually start the pump and get back in my car. Like I just get back in my car. You want to avoid secondhand smoke. And one thing I learned, I was on the Dr. Oz show, and they were doing a whole show on toxins and plastic receipts. So the receipts, the paper receipts. I know, you're so funny. They have plastic receipts. So the receipts, the paper receipts. I know, you're so funny. They have plastic on them. And what that means is you're getting the BPAs in your body.

Because whatever goes on your body goes in your body. Well, no one thinks about it. They touch their face. No one thinks about it. And so when people want to give me the receipt, I'm like, no, I got it on my phone. Don't worry about it. I don't like touching receipts. And I know you think I have OCD. No, I just tell them either put it in the bag or tear it on my phone. Don't worry about it. I don't like touching receipts. And I know you

think I have OCD. No, I just tell them either put it in the bag or tear it up for me. I guess I shouldn't tell other people to tear it up either, should I? To one or two glasses a week. It's not a health food. It's related to seven different kinds of cancer. It decreases judgment. And you don't want to eat or drink out of plastic containers. There's a wonderful app. A couple of companies make it. I like the one called Think Dirty. You just like the name. I do. You do. It's true. I actually like Skin Deep a lot. Okay. Well, so there's also EWG has EWG.org has an app called Healthy Living. Which Skin Deep is theirs. So what you can do with these apps is actually scan all of your personal products. You remember when I did that?

Yeah. I came home and I said, here, download this app. And you looked at me because of the name. And I'm like, it's clean. I promise you it's called think dirty and we scanned all of our products yeah and we were horrified uh so it'll tell you on a scale of one to ten how quickly they're killing you and i always liked um soft soap the i know body wash. Yeah.

And I love the Bath and Body Works, but it's not good either. So on a scale of one to ten, one being healthy, ten being kill you early, that soft soap was a nine. Yeah. And I was horrified. Really bad. Horrified. And to have like sunscreens and hairsprays are the worst. Like, the worst out of all of them.

So you should download the app and scan all of the products, you know, the barcode, on the products in your bathroom. And just decide. You love yourself. You don't love yourself. Because if you don't love yourself, who cares? Put the toxic stuff on your body. But if you love yourself and you want to live a long time with a healthy brain and you don't want to get dementia, you need to make better choices. It's really interesting because they're not very good. Most of the cosmetics that are all natural aren't that

great. There's some that are really great. There's most of them that I have found not that great. So like for filming days, like if I'm going to wear something that I know is not amazing, I do the best I can find the least toxic, save that for days that we film. And then I just wear the other stuff when I, you know, and I know I'm not going to be seen that much or whatever, but mostly what I have found is I find myself like not wearing makeup. And even though I think to myself, okay, that doesn't look very good. I'm like, so what?

Yeah, but it does look good. Well, thank you. Um, it's just not worth it. I didn't marry you for the makeup. And even though I think to myself, okay, that doesn't look very good. I'm like, so what? Yeah, but it does look good. Well, thank you. It's just not worth it. I didn't marry you for the makeup. I know you didn't. And I love that about you. I really do. I really want you to stay around for a long time. And the more healthy you are, the more vibrant you look and the better you feel and it's just not worth it. And then it's critical to support the four organs of detoxification. So support your liver, which means don't poison it. Limit alcohol. The supplement I like is N-acetylcysteine. I put it in brain and memory power boost.

It's also in craving control because NAC has been shown to decrease cravings. That's what they give to drug addicts. Right. Because it decreases cravings for alcohol, cocaine, compulsive gambling, marijuana. But I know when people are going through DTs, they give it to drug addicts. So support your liver, support your gut, which means add fiber, support your kidneys, drink water, and support your skin by either sweating more with exercise or taking saunas. So let me just go a little deeper into that for one second. The water part,

some people don't like the taste of it. So like in the mornings and in the evenings is when I focus on warm water with a little lemon, some fresh grated ginger, a little spot, like one little pinch of cayenne pepper, and maybe a little, a couple of saffron threads. It's amazing. It actually tastes great. And a few drops of stevia. It tastes great. It's totally detoxifying. Um, it's a way that it makes it taste a little, it's got a little bite to it. And it's like sipping on something with a bite. It's really great. Um, and then I, sometimes at night I'll put a little teabag in it. That's, you know, one of my sleepy time teas. So it just relaxes you. And it's a way to increase your fluids. Is in memory rescue. Right. So we hope you get the book and watch the new show when it comes out.

So let's talk about foods quickly. So the supplements we talked about, NAC, also vitamin C and magnesium support your liver. Gut support, pre and probiotics. Skin support, grapeseed extract and green tea can be very important in kidneys. It's water. For foods, so to support your liver. So this term I actually learned from a restaurant close to our house, brassicas, which is actually a term for detoxifying vegetables. So things like Brussels sprouts and broccoli, which has sulforaphanes in it, which is one of

the most potent antioxidants on the planet. And cabbage. Cabbage and cauliflower. Those types of vegetables are great for detox. I just said that. Yeah. Those, those types of vegetables are really great. Are you saying I forgot that? Yeah, you did. So those types of vegetables are really great for detoxifying. And then we just talked about the water, like the warm water that I talked about. And then my green juices, I do green juices in the morning and I'll add a half of a beet. I don't like too much beet because it's too much sugar, but beet is really good for detoxifying your liver. And beet increases blood flow, as we talked about. Guts, you want to add more fiber in your food. Skin, water, green tea, colorful fruits and vegetables, salmon, avocado,

walnuts. And again, limit processed meats, limit salt, MSG, artificial dyes, sweeteners, and preservatives because they can be toxic to your body. So many things to do. The chapter on toxins and memory rescues is just one of the best things. I mean, you'll just think about it every day because you want to love and keep your brain. Stay with us. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to iTunes and leave a review and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing to get a free signed copy of the Brain Warriors Way and Brain Warrior's Way cookbook we give away every month.