EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY we get to choose. Like I always say, life is an endless series of choices. Right or left? Yes or no? Fish or french fries? The whole point of this book has been to help you learn to make better decisions that will ultimately allow you to participate in life at its fullest. Even though you will be faced with difficult decisions, I know you can do this. You know the value of being healthy and mentally sharp. You know what sudden illness and chronic disease can do. Your health should be the most important thing in your life. Because what would you do without it?
Christopher E. posted the following story to my website:
I didn’t start out unhealthy, but I had let myself get run down through a combination of work stress, physical stress, and poor nutrition. I’m not an old guy and I’ve always been able to get away with whatever I wanted to do, so why not work eighty hours a week, train to climb a mountain, and knock out the Bataan Death March all in a six-month period, all while getting four hours of sleep a night and supplementing with lots of coffee! Shockingly, I started feeling super-fatigued every day a few weeks after the mountain climb, and then, to my surprise, my hair started falling out. Seriously, patches of hair started falling out! Being an Army officer, I keep my hair short, but one day one of my sergeants said, “Sir, what’s going on with the back of your head?” I checked it out and sure enough, I had a bald patch.
Over the months, it kept getting worse, and the dermatologist said it was alopecia and that we might be able to treat the patches with steroid injections. Without that, Doc said they may get better or worse, but he also said the best thing I could do was limit stress. Yeah, right. I got orders to change duty stations, and my wife told me that we were pregnant all in the same month. The patches kept getting worse, and being a leader in the military who also happens to work in health care, it certainly didn’t help my leadership presence or put patients at ease to see my patchy head.
Fast forward eight months or so after moving, and I picked up a copy of Grain Brain. Intrigued by the assertion that some nutritional supplements (gasp) were being touted by a neurologist as being neuroprotective and restorative, along with the idea that the gut microbiome could impact not only the brain but also just about every system in your body, I quickly read the book.
Feeling and looking terrible, I went ahead and gave the ketogenic diet a shot and I began six of the seven supplements suggested in the book (minus the resveratrol). We had the baby the next month (September 2015), so my stress level and sleep got worse, but the patches magically started filling in. By January they were all gone, and I no longer feel like I’m lifting a piano every time I get out of bed. I’ve also lost twenty pounds.
The success has inspired and empowered me, and now I’m tackling my stress and sleep. I recently began a daily meditation period (not sure if it’s doing anything but I’m hopeful), writing a gratitude list, and I’m trying to get seven hours of sleep every night. I seriously used to think this approach to health was laughable (I was actually taught that it was garbage), but after my own personal case study, I’m starting to come around.
There will no doubt be challenges as you proceed. And there will be times when you will have to address these challenges one by one. That’s life. Following are some troubleshooting tips for those moments that threaten to derail you. By all means this is not an exhaustive list, but it will help you handle those inevitable times when you have to make hard choices.
I recommend that you avoid eating out during the first couple of weeks on the program so that you can focus on getting the dietary protocol down using my 14-day meal plan. This will prepare you for the day you do venture away from your kitchen and have to make good decisions about what to order from someone else’s kitchen.
Most of us eat out several times a week, especially while we’re at work. It’s virtually impossible to plan and prepare every single meal and snack we consume, so you’ll need to learn to navigate other menus. See if you can order from the menu at your favorite restaurants. Don’t be shy about asking for substitutions (e.g., a side of more steamed veggies instead of potatoes; extra-virgin olive oil instead of their commercially produced vinaigrette). If you find it too challenging, then you may want to try new restaurants that can cater to your needs. It’s not that hard to make any menu work as long as you’re savvy about your decisions. Look for healthy sources of organic, GMO-free vegetables. Then add some fat—a drizzle of olive oil or half an avocado—and a little bit of protein and you’ll be fine. Watch out for elaborate dishes that contain multiple ingredients. When in doubt, ask the waiter or chef about the dishes.
Rather than eating lunch out while you’re at work, consider packing meals. Having precooked foods—such as roasted or broiled chicken, hard-boiled eggs, poached salmon, or strips of grilled sirloin steak or roast beef—in your refrigerator ready to go is helpful. Fill a container with salad greens and chopped raw veggies and add your protein and dressing of choice before eating. I travel with avocados and cans of sockeye salmon. Canned foods can be excellent sources of good, portable nutrition, as long as you’re careful about which products you buy and that the cans are labeled BPA-free.
Keep snacks on hand, too, especially at the beginning of this new way of life when you’re cutting carbs. There are plenty of snack and “on-the-go” ideas listed in Part III, many of which are portable and nonperishable.
And when you’re faced with temptation (the box of muffins at work or a friend’s birthday cake), remind yourself that you’ll pay for the indulgence somehow. Be willing to accept those consequences if you cannot say no. But keep in mind that a grain-brain-free way of life is, in my humble opinion, the most fulfilling and gratifying way of life there is. Enjoy it.
Maari C.’s story says a lot about what can happen when you revert to your old ways of eating, or suddenly reintroduce wheat after evicting it from your diet. Even though Maari intentionally strayed from the protocol for a couple of days, the effects were so massive that it’s worth learning from her experience:
Several years ago, I started suffering from panic attacks and anxiety, and I quickly began researching holistic alternatives to the pharmacy medications doctors wanted to put me on. After three months of these attacks, my health was repaired within a month.
Fast forward seven years, and after my second pregnancy I started breaking out in hives all over my body, on top of having an underactive thyroid (a big surprise, as I had an overactive thyroid). I was forced to take Synthroid.
A few months ago, my skin rashes came back. On top of that, I was exhausted and depressed. After stumbling across some literature, I adopted a wheat-free diet. As a result, I feel amazing. In two weeks of stopping wheat, my skin cleared up from a rash I’ve had for seven years! My energy soared through the roof. I didn’t get hungry or cranky (amazing, since I was eating 1,200 calories a day on this cleanse). I found myself so excited to drink my green juice for lunch because it made me feel like a million bucks!
The other thing that amazed me was that I was no longer dizzy. I was two weeks into “wheat-free” while on the swings with my daughter, and for the first time I wasn’t dizzy or nauseous on the swings. It has been amazing!
I have been amazed at how my brain feels after this. It feels clearer and I’m more articulate. I did go back on wheat for two days to see how it affected me, however, and within thirty minutes of eating a slice of bread, I felt lightheaded. Later, I had some pizza and was miserable that night. Within the day, I had a cold sore and an eye infection, things I haven’t had since college.
As with so many things in life, discovering and establishing a new habit is a balancing act. Even once you’ve shifted your eating and exercise behaviors and changed the way you buy, cook, and order food, you’ll still have moments when old habits emerge. (And of course I don’t endorse intentionally experimenting with old habits again as Maari did. That will derail you physically and emotionally.) I don’t expect you to never eat a slice of crusty pizza or drink a beer again, but I do hope that you stay mindful of your body’s true needs and live according to these principles as best you can.
Aim to stick to the 90-10 rule: Follow these guidelines 90 percent of the time, leaving 10 percent wiggle room. There is always an excuse for not taking better care of yourself. We have parties and weddings to attend. We have work to address that leaves us high on stress and low on energy, time, and the mental bandwidth to make good food, exercise, and sleep choices. Hit reboot whenever you feel like you’ve fallen too far off the wagon. You can do this by fasting for a day and recommitting to the protocol. Take a Friday or Monday off from work to enjoy a three-day weekend during which you get out of town to focus on yourself or enjoy a staycation. Maybe try a yoga retreat or visit a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. The point is to shake things up a bit, get out of that health-depleting rut, and refresh your resolve to succeed.
No sooner do you begin this dietary protocol than your body goes into high gear, detoxifying itself and shedding excess poundage. Headaches can be a common response to a sudden shift in your diet, especially if you’ve been eating poorly. But they’re actually a sign that the diet is working, and they will go away within days. If you feel the need to use an over-the-counter pain reliever, try aspirin. Unlike other NSAIDs, which can disrupt the microbiome and blunt emotions, aspirin can relieve pain and also have some anti-inflammatory effects. As noted in Chapter 4, you might also crave carbs and feel a bit moody and irritable at first when you go cold turkey on the carbs. Remember, gluten and sugar can act much like drugs, leaving those quitting them going through a period of withdrawal. This is normal as your body adjusts and goes through the transition away from the processed, packaged (or otherwise low-quality) foods you may have been eating. Your mood will adjust as you go along, but how can you handle the cravings? What can you do to overcome them?
Be assured that cravings will not last long. Many readers of Grain Brain have told me that once they went cold turkey and dove right into my protocol, they never again experienced a craving like they had back when carbs were a staple in their diet. It takes some willpower for the first week and then it gets easier. As one of my fans wrote to me, “It is like feeding the dog from the table—if you keep eating even a little bit of the bad stuff your system will keep begging for it.”
But if you do experience a gravitational force toward a bread basket, a chocolate chip cookie, or a bowl of steaming hot pasta, try to distract yourself by engaging in a new activity. Shift gears. Go outside for a 20-minute walk. If it’s not too close to bedtime, do some formal exercise (e.g., download an exercise video you can follow at home). Take fifteen minutes to write in a journal or perform some deep-breathing exercises. Listen to uplifting music. Tackle a project you’ve been meaning to do, such as cleaning out a desk drawer or closet. Or simply find something else to eat. Have a snack on hand to settle those cravings: a handful of nuts, or half an avocado drizzled with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Try to keep a meal prepared and ready to go in the fridge all the time, so that if you’re super hungry or out of energy you don’t go for takeout. Remind yourself that the carbs and sugary foods are just filler foods—made to fill you up with inflammation and pain in the long run. Tell yourself that you’d rather fill up with good-quality foods that do your body and mind good. Remind yourself that you are worth it.
If you’re having a hard time blocking out that four-hour time period after dinner during which you don’t eat anything, here’s what you can do. Make sure you’re getting enough satiating fat at dinner. Add more olive oil to your vegetables or have a small portion (½ cup) of a rich non-gluten grain such as quinoa with a drizzle of olive oil at dinner.
Rather than heading to the refrigerator when you feel hungry toward bedtime, distract yourself. Try drinking some chamomile tea or other warm herbal tea while reading a good book or magazine article. Call a friend (see here about finding a partner for your journey). Take an evening stroll around the neighborhood. Write in one of your journals. If you have young children, play with them or read books to them. The goal is to distract yourself from thinking about food. If you find yourself lying in bed unable to go to sleep, focus on your breathing and keep your thoughts fixated on the health benefits that are happening at that moment.
A vegan diet can be wonderfully healthy as long as you’re getting good sources of vitamins D and B12, and the omega-3 DHA, as well as minerals like zinc, copper, and magnesium. DHA is available as a supplement derived from marine algae, a vegetarian source. Although people sometimes worry that vegans don’t get enough protein, they can get plenty from vegetables, legumes, and non-gluten grains. What I worry about most with vegans is that they don’t get enough fat due to the exclusion of all animal products, including eggs and fish. So added olive oil and coconut oil will help bring this dietary choice into balance.
You can indeed build a better baby through the strategies outlined in this book. When expectant and new moms ask me for advice, I offer four important tips:
1. Take prenatal vitamins and probiotics.
2. Supplement with 900–1,000 mg DHA, one of the most important fatty acids for brain development.
3. Cut back on fish consumption to once or twice a week. Moms-to-be are often told to boost their fish consumption due to the high content of fatty acids. But it’s hard to know today where your fish are coming from, and they could have high levels of mercury, PCBs, and other toxins.
4. Breast-feed if you can, as no manufactured formula can match the nutrients found in breast milk. For example, breast milk contains substances that protect a baby from diseases and infections and nurture proper growth and development—substances that formulas don’t have because they cannot be artificially synthesized. Breast-feeding has other benefits, too, such as the bonding it provides through physical contact.
A note about C-sections: C-sections do save lives, and they are medically necessary under certain situations. But only a fraction of deliveries need to be done surgically. The advantages of being born through a bacteria-filled vagina that physically baptizes the baby with life-sustaining microbes rather than a sterilized abdomen are truly stunning. Babies born via C-section face a lifetime higher risk of allergies, ADHD, autism, obesity, type 1 diabetes, and dementia later in life.
If, for whatever reason, you undergo a C-section, speak with your doctor about using the so-called gauze technique. New York University’s Dr. Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello has presented research suggesting that using gauze to collect a mother’s birth canal bacteria and then rubbing the gauze over the baby’s mouth and nose does help the baby grow a healthy bacterial population. It’s not as good as a vaginal delivery, but it’s better than a sterile C-section.
Dr. Dominguez-Bello also recommends taking probiotics and breast-feeding. She writes: “The synergy of the probiotic and prebiotic components of human breast milk provides breast-fed infants a stable and relatively uniform gut microbiome compared to formula-fed babies.”
At some point, most of us will have to take a course of antibiotics to treat an infection. Take antibiotics only if they’re absolutely necessary and recommended by your physician. Understand that antibiotics do not treat viral illnesses. Colds, the flu, and the typical sore throats that people experience are caused by viruses, and antibiotics are entirely useless.
When an antibiotic is necessary, rather than getting a “broad-spectrum” antibiotic that will kill many different bacterial species, ask your doctor for a “narrow-spectrum” medication that uniquely targets the organism that is causing the illness. And be an advocate for your children if the pediatrician wants to write a prescription for an antibiotic. Question the doctor to make sure the antibiotic is truly necessary. Antibiotics account for one-quarter of all medications for children, yet it’s been shown that up to one-third of these prescriptions are not necessary.
It’s important to follow your doctor’s prescription exactly (i.e., do not stop taking the drug even if you feel better, as this can spur new strains of bacteria that could potentially make the situation worse). Continue to take your probiotics, but do so “on the half time,” meaning take them halfway between dosages of the antibiotics. For example, if you’re instructed to take the antibiotics twice daily, then take the drug once in the morning and once at night, and take your probiotics at lunchtime. And be sure to get some L. brevis into the mix, which is especially helpful in maintaining a healthy microbiome while taking antibiotics.
Many people write to me to express their joy at feeling so much better after they start following my protocol. And many begin to rethink medications they are taking, wondering if they don’t need them anymore. This is especially true when it comes to psychiatric drugs to treat anxiety and depression. Consider, for example, Linda T.’s experience:
I am fifty-two years old and am currently taking Cymbalta, 30 mg, for depression. I have been seriously depressed for too long along with severe anxiety. Only one month after becoming gluten-free and reducing my carbohydrate and sugar intake, I am a totally different person. Honestly, it is like night and day. My anxiety has disappeared; I am calm. I’m not depressed. Instead, I’m feeling good and content. I used to think that I would be on antidepressants forever, but now I feel like there’s hope that one day I won’t need them anymore.
It’s important that you speak with your treating physician before stopping any prescribed medication. You may indeed be able to wean yourself from certain drugs, but this should be done under the supervision of your doctor. Like Linda, have hope that you can one day say goodbye to your medication, but be smart about how you come off any meds that were prescribed to you for a reason.
Stories of children getting their health and their future back are truly uplifting. Here is Jen W.’s story:
My eleven-year-old son suffered tremendously. It’s no stretch to say there were days he just didn’t want to wake up. He was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, OCD, daily nausea, severe eczema, joint pain, psychotic episodes, and unexplained weight gain. Beyond that, he was obese: 65 pounds heavier than his brother, who is thirteen months younger than him. Diets didn’t work, antidepressants did nothing, and neither did the countless therapists he saw. Nothing helped, but I kept searching.
The best day of our families’ lives came two years ago when a new doctor told us to eliminate sugar, gluten, dairy, processed foods, and legumes from his diet, and to go organic. By day two, all his symptoms were gone and I mean gone!!!!!! It was unreal. I am constantly telling people and doctors about my son’s success! I am so so so thankful for your new book, and that there is a real movement and plan that can change people’s lives.
I am routinely asked whether children can follow this protocol. You bet. In fact, children stand to gain even greater lifelong benefits, since they are still developing. I can’t tell you how many parents write to me about the turnarounds they witness in their children, some of whom have been battling serious brain-related disorders, from epilepsy and ADHD to autism.
While mainstream medicine seems reluctant to embrace dietary intervention as a true medical therapy, I talk to parents all the time who report positive effects of dietary changes in their children. I would encourage any parent of a child exhibiting gastrointestinal and/or behavioral problems to try the strategies outlined in this book. The child’s plate should look like yours—lots of colorful, fibrous veggies, some fruit and protein, and healthy fats.
You don’t need to do much to reinforce the body’s instinctive proclivity toward health and optimal wellness. You are an incredibly self-regulating machine. So take a moment to appreciate—and perhaps marvel at—that wondrous reality. And then open yourself to the possibilities that await you.