3

DO YOU THINK YOU’RE SEXY?


 

Within THREE WEEKS of making
these changes, you will

image Notice improvements in your memory, reaction times and thinking ability.

image Notice positive changes in your mood and emotions.

image Cope better with stress.

image Show lower inflammation in the body, reducing your risk for all age-related diseases.

In SIX MONTHS, you will

image Notice continued improvements in memory and sexual function.

image Feel more hopeful and experience more even, positive moods throughout the day.

image Drop a few pounds and inches around your waistline.

In ONE YEAR, you will

image Remember where you put your keys, the dog’s name and the title of that movie.

image Feel more yourself, happier and calmer or less agitated.

image Be able to cope better than you did a year ago.

image Have dropped a few more pounds.

In THIRTY YEARS, you will

image Think more clearly and remember more than your friends.

image Still be enjoying a romp in the hay with your sweetie.


 

I was on a panel of experts in New York about to report on the latest research on how diet can improve mind, mood and memory. The moderator had just stood up to announce the start of the event. The audience of reporters, editors and other media people were finishing their lunches and eager to hear the latest research on how diet, exercise and lifestyle improve mind and memory.

 

I leaned over to my colleague on the panel, an expert on brain research, and quietly asked his opinion on what he felt was the most important habit we should cultivate—besides exercise and increasing our intake of antioxidants and the omega-3s—to protect our minds and stay mentally sharp throughout life. I expected a somber answer, such as “Drink red, not white, wine” or “Take an extra dose of ginkgo.” Instead, this brilliant, soft-spoken man looked me right in the eye, and with a sincere and honest expression on his face whispered, “Sex.”

Not only did his response take me by surprise, giving me the best laugh of the day, but it also got me thinking. Regular great rousts in the hay with someone dear to your heart is one of the most important habits for keeping you mentally young. OK. I get that. But to turn on the lust in the first place requires a brain fine-tuned and ready for action. If your brain isn’t in the mood, the rest of you won’t be, either. It’s a chicken-and-egg scenario—thinking sexy generates more opportunity for sex, which generates a younger, more eager brain, which means…wooo hoo, more sex.

Luckily, you have much more control over your memory and mind than you probably imagine, which means following the advice below can only be a plus for your sex life.

Your #1 Sex Organ

The first few times you forget where you put your keys, can’t remember a word midsentence, or the name of that actor—“Oh, what’s his name, he was in that movie…oh, you remember, that movie with the big whatchamacallit, you know, that big fish with a fin on its back”—you might not think much of it. Maybe it’s just a bad day or you didn’t get enough sleep last night or you are distracted by work, the kids, the phone. Over time, you start to notice a pattern. You find yourself walking around the house looking for something, but now can’t remember what it is. Then your daughter tells you those glasses you are searching for are on your head. You start thinking, “Didn’t I used to be smarter than this?” From there, it’s easy to think you’re on the one-way highway to Forgetville.

“Everything you know about brain aging is probably wrong.”

First off, your memory was never perfect, so get over it. Every one of us has senior moments, even if we aren’t seniors. Second, your memory lapses are probably just a result of mental overload. Multitasking can overload that complex computer in your head. Even if there is some loss of clarity, it doesn’t mean you’re in the early stages of dementia or that it will progress. In fact, everything you know about brain aging is probably wrong.

As Good As It Gets

Your brain is not destined to get fuzzy. Even if there is a history of dementia in your family, that has very little to do with you. Genetics are only part of the equation: 66% of how smart you are and will be in the future has to do with how you choose to take care of yourself yesterday, today and tomorrow. The belief that brain cells can’t regenerate, that there is a finite number, which wither, dwindle and die over time—leading to memory loss, dementia and even Alzheimer’s—is outdated and just plain wrong.

Scientists now recognize that the brain is amazingly resilient and “plastic,” which means it has the ability to tweak its structure and function. Throughout life, the brain continues to form new cells (called neurons) and activate alternative pathways to compensate for aging or damaged parts. Memory loss is not a decree. The one in three people who battle even minor memory loss typically can blame that mental fog more on lifestyle and other health issues, such as high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes, than on genes. Even the 15% who suffer senile dementia might have slowed, stopped or even reversed the disease with a change in diet and lifestyle.

“Your brain is only as good as what you feed it.”

Your brain is only as good as what you feed it. Make stupid lifestyle choices, such as eating a high-saturated-fat diet, sitting like a lump on the couch, smoking or refusing to learn new things as you age, and you are asking for a dramatic decline in brain-cell numbers and their connections, which means fewer cells to store memory and fewer connections between cells to retrieve them. That increases your chances for dementia and Alzheimer’s 16-fold.

Or get smart and follow the S-Ex-Y Diet guidelines, exercise daily and adopt a few memory-boosting habits, and you literally increase the size of your brain, the number of neurons and the number of connections between nerve cells. That translates into an astonishing improvement in mind, memory and mood both today and down the road, which gives you more years of feeling sexy and ready for action! And probably more creative in the bedroom, too. In short, the problem is not so much that the mind fails, but that we fail to keep our minds engaged and nourished. (Take the “How Sexy Is Your Mind?” quiz to see how well you are caring for your brain.)

Brainiac 101

Your brain is an absolutely, no-doubt-about-it, miraculous organ. Weighing in at about 3 pounds and about the size of a small cantaloupe, it contains 100 billion cells, with each of those neurons sprouting up to 100,000 connections or links (called synapses) to other neurons. Pluck out a tiny piece of the brain as little as a grain of rice and you are holding 1 million neurons, 10 billion synapses and 20 miles of nerve tissues!

The entire brain lights up for sex, including centers for all five senses—visual, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Housed in the center of the brain, the limbic system is a particularly important area to nourish. This is where body meets mind and where thoughts meet emotions. Here you will find:

image The hippocampus This is the memory and learning center and the first to go when a person develops Alzheimer’s. Bigger means better when it comes to memory. The right diet, exercise and lifestyle increase the number of neurons in the hippocampus, pumping up its size, well into our 70s, while out-of-control stress, poor diet and being sedentary shrink this memory center.

image The amygdala Here is where meaning is assigned to emotions, such as the warm and fuzzy memory of your first kiss or the appeal of those sexy thoughts a man has every 52 seconds. (There are 10 times as many nerves going north from this emotion center to the conscious, rational brain center—the cortex—than there are nerves going south, which explains why it is difficult to think rationally when it comes to love!)

image The hypothalamus This is the switchboard that regulates how you respond to situations (like whether or not that come-on line at the bar resulted in a “Hello, Big Boy” or a “Get Lost, Loser”). Along with the hippocampus, the hypothalamus “lights up” during a woman’s orgasm. Finally, it is a major control center for appetite, releasing most of the appetite-control chemicals, including serotonin, NPY and galanin.

image The pituitary This is the master gland that sits next to the hypothalamus and tells other glands what to do, such as release testosterone as well as the hormones that regulate fertility, which in turn revs up your sexy center. It is no coincidence that the neurons that regulate sexuality and those that control eating are located next door to each other in the pituitary and hypothalamus.

image The insula As the messenger between the limbic system and higher brain centers, the insula relays emotional information and sparks your cravings for sex. The more active this part of the limbic system, the more orgasms a woman is likely to have. Hmm.

All these compartments of the limbic system record, reorganize, synthesize and retrieve information, but only as well as they are fed and nurtured. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how important S-Ex-Y Diet Guideline #2 is: Feed your #1 sex organ—your brain!

As You Eat, So Shall You Think

image In the short term, any and all diet advice to jump-start energy will also prevent mental fatigue. Eat the Ménage à Trois breakfast, drink ample water, have a Twosome lunch, a light and low-fat dinner, regularly supply your brain with its favorite fuel—glucose—drink a little but not too much caffeine and get enough iron if you are a woman, and I guarantee that your mind will do what it does best—think—throughout the day.

That’s what Camille found when she took my advice to make a few changes in her diet. “I am eating lots more real food and a lot less junk these days. Who knew vegetables could make a girl so smart! I am much sharper than I used to be. I multitask much more efficiently. In fact, if you compare my mental acuity to picture quality, the image is sharper, more vivid, with deeper colors than when I ate less healthy.”

You also can save and even improve brainpower in the long term. Your brain is a nutrient-needy organ, entirely made up of what you choose to feed it. Diet is the only place the brain gets the building blocks to run its highly sophisticated computer system, which in turn runs the whole body. Following the guidelines of the S-Ex-Y Diet will reduce inflammation, improve blood flow, protect against aging and disease, provide all the necessary building blocks for making and rejuvenating healthy brain cells throughout life, enhance brain-cell communication and maximize energy use. Trust me: Don’t take your diet lightly—even one fatty meal has a subtle influence on your brain for up to 180 days! A grease-bomb burger also lowers testosterone levels in men, leaving them more interested in the recliner than the bedroom.

“…even one fatty meal has a subtle influence on your brain for up to 180 days!”

It goes even further than that. If you don’t follow the S-Ex-Y Diet guidelines (and exercise program outlined later), you can expect about a 5% decline in memory every decade after your 20s. A study from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found that people who did not take care of their minds in their 20s through 50s were three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s in their 60s and 70s. By contrast, seniors who eat right, move more and live well react and problem-solve just as quickly as people who are decades younger. If you don’t want to be walking down Memory Lame in the future, you’d better start taking care of your brain now.

There’s Nothing Sexy About Inflammation

Have you ever been so mad you could scream? Or punch a wall? Your heart races, your face turns red, your teeth clench. You feel as though you’re on fire. Now think of your body’s tissues and brain cells. They get enraged, too. But for different reasons. You don’t feel those enraged tissues, but all the disease of aging, from heart disease and dementia to sexual problems like erectile dysfunction, have one underlying factor in common—inflammation. The good news is that you can slow, stop and possibly even reverse damage caused by inflammation by following the S-Ex-Y Diet, exercising and being a bit fussier about how you live.

The Inflamed Brain

The term inflammation comes from a Latin word meaning to “set a fire.” It is the body’s natural response to healing. Not to be confused with infection, inflammation is how the body contains infection and injury, while promoting repair of damaged tissue. You know inflammation by its outward signs: redness or flulike symptoms, such as fever or chills.

What’s going on? Any damage to a tissue tells the immune system to send white blood cells to the area in an attempt to remove damaged cells, bacteria, toxins or irritants. These blood cells release hormonelike chemicals, called eicosanoids, that increase blood flow to the area, causing redness and warmth. They also cause leakage of fluid into the tissues, which is why a stubbed toe swells.

There are two types of inflammation: One is good and the other isn’t. Acute inflammation works great for healing a cut finger or a bumped head. The white blood cells and their chemicals get in, do their job and get out.

But too much of a good thing leads to problems. Chronic inflammation damages, rather than repairs, tissues. When inflammation is too intense or prolonged, it produces diseases instead of healing. Tissues damaged by the wrong diet or lifestyle choice set up a constant irritant in the body, resulting in chronic inflammation that works silently under the surface, damaging arteries and tissues, leading to heart disease, dementia and even loss of libido.

Feed Your Head

Diet is a major player in whether or not you fight fire or fuel the flames. The eicosanoids released to fight infection come in two varieties—promoters and inhibitors. In a healthy body, those two forces are in balance, so inflammation occurs only when and where it is needed and stops when damage is repaired. But a system out of balance with too many damaging compounds constantly irritates tissues, leading to disease.

Your brain’s promoting and inhibiting chemicals are made from fats in the diet. The fats consumed in safflower or corn oil are called omega-6 fats and they promote inflammation. A specific omega-6 fat, called arachidonic acid, found in meats, is a particularly potent promoter.

Other foods promote inflammation because they are irritants to the body’s tissues, which then trigger the immune response. These brain-damaging foods include saturated fats in meat and fatty dairy products; refined grains and sugar; trans fats in processed and fast foods, potatoes and fried foods; palm or coconut oils; pastries; and processed meats like hot dogs (the nitrite additives in these luncheon meats are especially damaging).

Foods that put out the fire of inflammation are the foundation of the S-Ex-Y Diet. They include the omega-3 fats in fish oils and flaxseed, as well as extra-virgin olive oil, colorful fruits and vegetables, mushrooms, nuts, soy, whole grains, tea and certain spices, such as turmeric and ginger. Eat real, unprocessed foods most of the time and focus on plants and fatty fish and you will soothe the fires and stay brain-strong.

That’s just what Brenda found out. We met on the Dr. Oz show. She needed to lose weight and I offered to help. Over the next few months, Brenda found that making a few simple changes in how she ate not only resulted in major weight loss, it also seriously improved her thinking. “Since our lifestyle changes, I have noticed a big difference in my memory. Before, I had to make notes in my phone, write calendar reminders and set alarms to remind me about important things. I don’t need to do that anymore. I can keep my life organized in my head and find I remember just fine these days!”

GET-SMART QUICKIES

For a quick pick-me-up snack that fuels your brain and reduces inflammation, try:

  • 1/3 cup mixed almonds, dried blueberries and Cheerios.
  • Celery topped with tuna mixed with fat-free, plain yogurt with fresh herbs.
  • Sliced apple with almond butter and a glass of low-sodium V8.
  • A brown rice cake spread with pesto, topped with mackerel or sardines and diced tomatoes.
  • 100% whole-grain crackers, topped with fat-free cream cheese, smoked salmon, cucumber slices and fresh dill.
  • Chopped walnuts mixed into fat-free cream cheese and spread on dried apricot halves.
  • Thick slices of banana topped with peanut butter and sprinkled with dried tart cherries and coconut.
  • Orange and apple slices sprinkled with cinnamon. Serve with a 6-ounce tub of plain, nonfat yogurt.
  • Thin-sliced whole-grain nut bread, topped with peanut butter and sliced strawberries.
  • Red grapes, sliced almonds and craisins mixed into nonfat, Greek yogurt.
  • Baby carrots, pea pods, red bell pepper slices and lightly steamed broccoli florets dunked in hummus.

The Fats of Life

Fats either plug or promote thinking, depending on which ones you choose. Besides escalating inflammation, saturated and trans fats pack on the pounds (we’ll get to your waistline in Chapter 4) and clog arteries, including the ones to your brain. That seriously impairs oxygen flow to the brain, which is a bummer for memory and attention. End result: You are a dumb fathead! Combine saturated fat with sugar and you have a surefire way to suppress the hippocampus, which means you struggle with new information and learning doesn’t come easily. And don’t forget cholesterol. Too much cholesterol increases your chances of memory loss by up to 75%!

Don’t get me wrong. Fat can be your best friend, if you make the right choices. You absolutely must keep your brain cells flexible and fluid if you want to be thinking sexy thoughts and acting on them with your lover for the rest of your life.

The Smart Fat

Your brain is very greasy, but in a good way. More than 60% of it is fat. Unlike the lazy fat stored on the hips or belly, fat in the brain is a worker bee. It makes up the cell membranes that surround each cell and the insulation sheath around neurons that allows thoughts to travel fast from one cell to another. The more fluid and flexible those membranes, the faster you react, the more you remember and the more creative and clever you are. All of which are great assets in the dating game! The right fats also produce anti-inflammatory eicosanoids that protect brain tissue from aging and boost serotonin levels, the feel-good brain chemical that soothes both mood and food cravings.

 

image That’s why the brain loves omega-3 fats, especially DHA. Omega-3 fats are the most fluid of all fats. Your body can’t make them, so it is entirely dependent on your choosing the grilled salmon instead of the cheeseburger for lunch. Follow S-Ex-Y Diet Guideline #4 (Get wet and wild at least twice a week) by eating salmon, and the brain will greedily suck up and deposit DHA into its neurons. Nerve connections alone increase by almost a third by adding more DHA to the diet! The more DHA consumed, the more DHA is incorporated into brain tissue, and the smarter, more clever and creative you become and stay. Also, your brain will be less prone to gooey plaque that builds up around nerve cells leading to Alzheimer’s. (See Chapter 1.)

This might explain why a DHA-rich diet lowers dementia risk by up to 60%. There is even preliminary evidence that DHA might help soothe and heal a brain that has suffered a trauma, such as in a car accident or on the football field. Oh, and did I mention that people are less angry, hostile or anxious, they sleep better, are less prone to outbursts of temper and have an easier time focusing when their brains are loaded with DHA? All of that most definitely will improve a person’s love life!

You get the biggest bang for your buck with DHA, and maybe a bit of help from EPA. You’ll get the least results from the omega-3 fat alpha linolenic acid, or ALA, in flax, walnuts, soy and other plants, which is great for the heart and circulation, and will help lower inflammation, but does nothing for boosting memory or lowering dementia risk. There is up to 30 times more DHA than EPA in tissues, and up to 97% of the omega-3s in the brain are DHA. Also, DHA can be converted to EPA in the body, so you get two for the price of one with that fat.

How much do you need? As S-Ex-Y Diet Guideline #4 says, aim for two servings of fatty fish a week, such as salmon, mackerel, herring or sardines, and choose foods fortified with an algal-based, contaminant-free DHA. It will say “life’s DHA” on the label. If you supplement, choose one that contains at least 1 gram of a combination of DHA and EPA, or one that supplies at least 220 milligrams of DHA.

That’s just a minimum. The Memory Improvement with Docosahexaenoic Acid Study found that 900 milligrams of DHA significantly boosted memory and mental function within six months, which suggests that, in the case of DHA, more might be better. Make sure to keep it coming, since studies on animals show that DHA levels take a nosedive within three months of low intake.

WHERE DO YOU
find DHA?

8th Continent Soymilk Complete

Apple bran muffins at Starbucks

Cabot 50% Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese with omega-3 DHA

Crisco Puritan canola oil

Darigold SuperMilk 1% low-fat milk

Dr. Dave’s Mega-O Vegetarian Truffles

Francesco Rinaldi ToBe Healthy sauces

Fujisan fresh sushi

Gold Circle Farm eggs

Horizon Little Blends yogurt

Horizon Milk with DHA Omega-3 (fat free, 2% and whole milk)

Horizon Lowfat Chocolate Milk plus DHA Omega-3

Minute Maid Enhanced Pomegranate Blueberry juice

Mission Life Balance Plus! tortillas (available in flour and whole wheat)

Pompeian OlivExtra Plus

Silk DHA Omega-3 & Calcium

Silk Plus DHA Omega-3 Fortified Soy Beverage

So Good Omega DHA milk (original and vanilla)

Antioxidants are Brain Candy

image Want to seriously improve your mind and sexy self? Then combine DHA with S-Ex-Y Diet Guideline #1: Have an antioxidant orgy. That means platefuls of colorful fruits and vegetables, starting with at least 9 servings a day. The DHA will build a better brain and the antioxidants will protect it from damage.

The culprit here is oxygen. While oxygen is the most important nutrient for life, it also has a dark side. Oxygen fragments, called oxidants or free radicals, are part of the air we breathe. They also are in fried foods, air pollution, tobacco smoke and sunlight, and are generated in the body during normal metabolism.

These oxidants are like street gangs attacking unsuspecting cells, cell membranes and even the genetic code within cells. Left unchecked, each cell in our body is attacked about 1,000 times a day. As cells are damaged or killed, the accumulating debris clogs tissues, while organs begin to break down. Oxidative damage is a major underlying cause of all age-related diseases, from cancer to dementia and Alzheimer’s. It also initiates inflammation and reduces the ability to become sexually aroused.

The brain is particularly vulnerable to oxidative damage. It accounts for only 2% of ideal body weight, but consumes between 20% and 25% of the oxygen we inhale. Consequently, it generates more oxidants per gram of tissue than any other organ in the body. For example, the nerve chemicals that regulate appetite, such as serotonin and galanin discussed in Chapter 1, release massive amounts of oxidants every time they are released. The fluid and flexible fats in brain cell membranes are particularly vulnerable to oxidative attack. The onslaught over the course of years slowly kills brain cells, tangles their connections, causes a buildup of gooey plaque, damages blood vessels needed to feed neurons and shuts down brain activity. The more oxidants, the more damage and the greater your risk for thinking less like a steel trap and more like a sieve.

Fortunately, the body has an antioxidant or anti–free radical system to halt, or at least slow, oxidative damage. That system includes enzymes that act like a police force released into the cellular neighborhood to round up the oxidant street gangs. It also includes dietary antioxidant nutrients, such as vitamins E and C, beta-carotene, selenium and manganese, plus the phytonutrients (anthocyanins, polyphenols, carotenoids, flavonoids, etc.) in colorful fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, red wine, herbs, cocoa powder and tea. The brain is smart enough to know that it needs a ton of protection, and will automatically concentrate these antioxidants if you eat them. For example, vitamin C is concentrated 15 times greater in the brain than in most other tissues if you eat lots of citrus and other C-rich foods.

The stronger your antioxidant arsenal, the more of these protective compounds are absorbed by the brain, the greater the brain protection and the more youthful your mind today and down the road. Learning, coordination, balance and attitude also improve. Antioxidants even reverse brain aging in some people. People who eat the most antioxidant-rich foods also have the best memories, the sharpest minds and the most creative ideas. Antioxidants aren’t stored in the body. They must be constantly replenished by including at least 9 servings in the daily diet.

Antioxidant supplements help, but they aren’t a shortcut to brain protection. Vitamin E supplements help prevent the gooey buildup around neurons associated with Alzheimer’s, vitamin C pills improve memory and an extra dose of beta-carotene might help brain cells communicate. But the greatest brain protection comes from a mix of antioxidants that you get only from a wide variety of colorful, authentic (i.e., unprocessed) foods, which supply the right amounts and balance of the almost 1 million phytonutrients. Skip the lutein supplement or pills that tout a full serving of vegetables in every dose. That’s hype, not help.

Stress: The Brain Drain

Stress is one of the biggest causes of memory loss. I’m not talking about fun stress, like learning to tango or speak Italian. It is chronic stress from worry, fretting, anxiety about money woes, self-esteem issues, time pressure, anger, loneliness, relationship problems and more. Bad stress releases chemicals and oxidants in such force that it can bring any brain to its knees. Blood pressure rises, immune function plummets, minute tears in the brain don’t heal and inflammation has a free-for-all.

Stress causes the adrenal glands to release cortisol. High levels of this hormone cause inflammation, kill neurons, suppress or halt the formation of new brain cells and damage the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical to memory and learning. In fact, chronic stress can shrink the hippocampus by up to 14%! Stress also raises a compound in the blood, called homocysteine, that irritates blood vessels, setting up inflammation associated with dementia and sexual dysfunction. It triggers the release of another chemical, called norepinephrine, that puts a damper on libido. Waste products, including a compound called lipofusin, accumulate, blocking electrical activity in the brain and leading to cell death. Finally, stress increases the requirement for several nutrients, such as vitamin C, and drains the body of magnesium, a mineral that otherwise helps you cope with stress. As a result, the nutrient losses escalate the stress response and brain damage.

If you’ve ever been stressed out, you have suffered the immediate effects of this damage—poor concentration, muddled thinking and poor decision-making skills. You are distracted, spacey, forgetful. You repeatedly use the words “thingamajig” and “whatchamacallit.” Needless to say, thoughts of sex fly out the window as cortisol levels rise. It is tough to think about being sexy or even being intimate when you are barely holding it all together. Sex feels like just one more thing that has to get done.

Maxed-Out Waistline

To make matters worse, when the going gets tough, the tough get hungry. Cortisol has a domino effect on most appetite-control chemicals in the brain, from serotonin to NPY, which stimulates cravings for sweet and greasy foods, like ice cream, pizza, sausage, hamburgers and chocolate. These foods soothe us and help calm us down, but the cortisol forces those incoming calories to be stored as fat around the middle. Even if you are typically a lean machine, chronic stress will increase ab flab. That spare tire in your 40s will triple your chances of having dementia later in life. In fact, according to a study from Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, memory decreases for every one point increase in a middle-aged woman’s body mass index (BMI), a measurement of body fat. The bottom line is that the brains of overweight people appear 16 years older and are considerably smaller than the brains of lean, fit people.

Stress-Busting S-Ex-Y Diet Tricks

Your brain is far too important to beat it up with stress. Do whatever it takes to calm down. Do it now! Meditate, get more sleep, do yoga, have a massage, get organized, declutter your life, put on upbeat music, breathe deeply, visualize peace, delegate, just say “no” to more work, use biofeedback, walk in the outdoors, garden, tell funny stories, get and give a foot rub or giggle daily. Best yet—a good lovemaking session is great for stress reduction, since orgasms, coupled with intimacy and physical closeness, drop cortisol levels like a skydiver without a parachute.

The S-Ex-Y Diet is essential before, during and following stress. In addition, many of the real foods in this diet plan curb the stress response or protect tissues from damage caused by cortisol. For example,

Go with the Flow

The final piece of think-your-way-to-sexy is to keep blood flowing freely and smoothly to and from the brain. Let’s face it. Sex is all about circuitry and circulation. Keep the nerve cells in tip-top shape, and make sure they have an unhindered supply of oxygen-and nutrient-rich blood, then sit back and enjoy life in your sexy skin.

Healthy and smooth blood vessels are built from a diet based on fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts, and low in artery-clogging saturated fats from red meats, fatty dairy products and processed or fast foods. That’s the same eating plan that will help you cut inches off the waistline, which further improves the elasticity and smoothness of your vessels.

The B vitamins are especially important in keeping arteries clear and inflammation at bay. They block formation of a compound called homocysteine, which irritates blood vessels and initiates inflammation. Amp up intake of vitamins B6 and B12, as well as folic acid, and homocysteine doesn’t stand a chance.

These vitamins are also important in making brain chemicals, such as serotonin, in generating energy for the brain and in maintaining healthy brain cells. With age or with the use of antacids, the body is less efficient at absorbing vitamin B12. Up to one in every two seniors is deficient in this vitamin, with the first symptom being memory loss. Lana, a 42-year-old flight attendant I met on a flight from New York told me she had gotten to the point where she couldn’t remember anything from one moment to another. “I thought for sure it was Alzheimer’s,” she told me. But a lab test found that Lana’s memory lapses were a result of low vitamin B12. “No one told me that the medication I was taking for heartburn would block absorption of this vitamin. All it took was a supplement twice daily, and my memory came back stronger than ever!”

Both folic acid and vitamin B12 are better absorbed from supplements than from food, so hedge your bets and get these nutrients from both.
  • Vitamin B6: bananas, seafood and whole grains, and 5 milligrams in a multi.
  • Vitamin B12: chicken breast, plain yogurt and fortified soymilk, and 25 micrograms in a multi.
  • Folic acid: green leafies, legumes and orange juice, and 400 micrograms in a multi.

Of course, all the 40+ nutrients your body needs to grow, rejuvenate and repair are also essential to the brain and bloodstream. Most important is supplying them in the right balance. Too much of one nutrient and not enough of another can backfire, resulting in memory loss. That explains why people who follow the S-Ex-Y Diet and take a well-balanced multivitamin and -mineral also perform the best on tests for memory, learning, reaction times and problem solving.

MIND PILLS

There are supplements that promise to boost memory. Do they work?

Omega-3 DHA: Improves memory, mind and mood. Suggested dose: 220–900 milligrams daily.

Phosphatidyl Serine (PS): Might improve learning, memory and recall (of names, faces, numbers, etc.) up to 30%. Start with a daily dose of 300 milligrams then drop that to a 100-milligram maintenance dose after a few weeks.

Ginkgo Biloba: Improves circulation and might help protect the hippocampus from damage and shrinkage. It is also an antioxidant. Suggested dose: 90 milligrams daily, with at least 24% flavone glycosides.

Lecithin: Contains choline, a component of the memory-enhancing nerve chemical acetylcholine. Pharmaceutical-grade lecithin improves memory, while studies are mixed on whether regular supplements are beneficial. Supplements on the market contain anywhere from 20–90% choline. A typical daily dose is 2,500–3,000 milligrams, four times a day. Or take a choline supplement of 250–500 milligrams daily.

Huperzine A: Might help block the breakdown of acetylcholine, and help Alzheimer’s patients. Typical dose: 50–200 micrograms daily.

Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALC): Chemically similar to choline and might aid memory, blood flow, sperm mobility and energy level. Suggested dose: 1,500–2,000 milligrams daily.

Tyrosine: An amino acid and building block for nerve chemicals, such as dopamine. Might prevent decline in cognition, especially associated with stress. Suggested dose: 100 milligrams/kg body weight, or 6,800 milligrams for a 150-pound person.

For example, other B vitamins and vitamins D, K, C, E and A improve concrete and abstract thinking, and lower the risk for dementia. Minerals such as iodine, chromium, boron, selenium, iron, copper and zinc improve concentration, learning skills, memory and overall brain function.

Jog Your Brain

Are you truly serious about staying mentally sharp? Then there are no excuses! You must exercise daily—both muscles and brain. People who challenge their brains by learning, problem solving and trying new things, and who exercise every day, also think faster, remember more, learn more easily, and are more creative and better problem solvers. They are least likely to develop memory loss, dementia or Alzheimer’s. They also have more energy, motivation and desire to learn. They are happier, more content with their lives and more optimistic. In short, they feel confident, energized and sexy. (See Chapters 9 and 10.)

Makes sense. Mental stimulation increases the number of nerve connections in the brain, while exercise improves blood flow to the brain, which means more oxygen and nutrients. Activity raises levels of the feel-good nerve chemicals, the endorphins, and the get-moving nerve chemical, norepinephrine, which is associated with improved memory storage and retrieval. It boosts the body’s production of brain-derived nerve growth factor (BDNF), a substance that keeps neurons strong and raises levels of neurophins that increase growth and connections between nerve cells. Both mental and physical exercise slow brain aging and sharpen mental function, reverse some memory loss, lift spirits and help the brain multitask. In fact, you will cut your risk for dementia by half if you exercise daily. Moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, will maintain your brain. Intense exercise, where you push your limits, actually regrows brain tissue. (See Chapter 9.)

From Brain Dead to Brain Trust

I can’t think of one reason why any one of us would want to neglect our brain. All it takes is the S-Ex-Y Diet, daily exercise, a few good supplements and a stimulating life, and you stack the deck in favor of being one sharp cookie well into your 90s!