WEBVTT - Unpacking stress and maximising brain power 🧠 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:05.880 Good everyone, Sam here. 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:10.520 So this week I am taking off overseas with my 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.240 biggest little girl, Evie, taking her to New York to 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:17.400 look at some university courses or college courses they call 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.160 them over there, which means for you, we're going to 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:22.840 go back and look at some of my favorite episodes, 0:00:22.840 --> 0:00:24.480 and I'm sure that some of your favorite episodes, or 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:26.520 perhaps some that you've missed altogether. 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.640 One of those was with one of my absolute favorites. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:32.280 Doctor Joanna McMillan, who joined us earlier this year, and 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.159 we spoke was a great conversation about how you fuel 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:39.479 your mind for better cognitive performance. It really was a 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:42.640 great conversation. Highly recommend checking that one. 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:44.360 Out if you missed it or as a refresher. 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:46.760 And then we're going to head to doctor Libby Weaver, 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:50.639 who is going to speak about what happens when we 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.720 overload our mind, which then turns into stress. 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:55.640 I think at this time of. 0:00:55.680 --> 0:01:00.240 Year it's cold, our next holiday or next break might 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:02.880 not be just around the corner. It feels like we've 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.560 got a massive load on us, you know, school holidays, 0:01:05.560 --> 0:01:10.280 everything's sort of going on. So giving some advice from 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.720 experts far more knowledgeable than me on how to take 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:14.520 care of our brain. 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:16.760 I thought was really. 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:21.440 Apt timing to learn about taking better care of our brains, 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:23.680 particularly when things just become a bit overwhelming and a 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:28.440 bit full on. These are two fantastic experts to get 0:01:28.440 --> 0:01:31.760 some really practical advice on how to take care of 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:34.160 your brain, particularly stressful. 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.880 Middle part of the year. So make sure you have 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:39.479 a listen. This is the wood life. Let's get into 0:01:39.480 --> 0:02:02.640 it for our listeners that don't know. 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.400 Joanna is one of Australia's best nutrition scientists. She's an 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:11.080 author and she's got this incredible audio book called Mindful, 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:15.160 which is with f U double L And that's as 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:18.919 I hear Joanna part of a series, so it's Mindful 0:02:19.120 --> 0:02:22.799 and releasing in May is Heartful, which. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.160 Yes, the one that I've just recorded and is coming 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.360 out very soon. That's heartful. What sweet for a healthier heart? 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:32.240 So let's let's talk about actually how food makes us feel. 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.639 And you know, the first question I wanted to ask 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:35.520 you was about sugar. 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:37.640 You know, what is. 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:42.480 This sugar crash or this three pm pick me up 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.760 that everyone sort of craves and why is that happening 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:51.160 to many of us? And what foods can we consume 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.200 to best to best combat this, well, I think the. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.000 First thing to really do because I see so much 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.280 confusion around the word sugar, because I think, you know, 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:03.799 with this sort of messaging that's gone on about sugar's bad, 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.960 sugar's toxic, sugar sys. To a scientist, sugar is at 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.240 its fundamental level, we've got the most simple sugars and 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.920 that includes glucose that runs in your bloodstream. Now, if 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:15.960 you didn't have glucose running in your bloodstream, you're dead. 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:20.040 So the idea, I mean, it just is so scientifically 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.760 nonsensical to anyone who's even studied high school chemistry to 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:26.480 think that, you know, saying sugar is toxic. 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:28.640 What people really mean by talking. 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:32.480 About sugar is the refined table sugar, which is actually 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.840 mostly sucrose, but sometimes it's high fructose corn syrup or 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:38.240 I mean, there's you know, there's a multitude of different 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:42.520 ways that refined sugars are added into two foods. That's 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.760 the thing that's the problem. And then we've got the 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.400 discussion that then gets confused with it, which is about 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:49.720 control of your own blood sugar, which is the glucose 0:03:49.760 --> 0:03:52.120 in your blood. And we do know that if you've 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.200 got type two diabetes and you've got poorly controlled blood 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:59.400 glucose levels, that is enormously bad for your health and 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:01.200 it puts you risk of a whole load of other 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.240 chronic conditions. So control of blood glucose is very, very important, 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.279 and even for those of us who don't have diabetes 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.120 of any sort, and so it's really important for all 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:13.800 of us to avoid big blood glucose spikes, and we 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:16.760 want to try to allow our body to have very 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.120 gentle rises and falls. It's normal for your blood glucose 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.200 to rise after meals that contain carbohydrate in particular, that's 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:24.840 where most of it's going to come from. These are 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:27.640 normal rises and falls, so it's not about not having 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.360 any rise. Glucose is the fuel for your brain. It's 0:04:30.400 --> 0:04:33.840 the primary fuel for your brain, and your brain uses honestly, 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:36.880 about twenty five percent of the glucose that's running through 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:38.960 your blood across the day. You know a quarter of 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:41.440 that at least is going to fuel in your brain, 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.400 especially if you're really using your brain. So it's worth 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:46.640 sort of recognizing that. And you know, lots of your 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.720 listeners are also exercisers. If you're doing exercise of any 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:52.440 kind of intensity. You want to have some glucose there. 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:55.480 You know that's going to fuel. You can't use that quickly, 0:04:56.080 --> 0:04:57.839 so you want to be able to have that glucose 0:04:57.880 --> 0:05:01.000 at you're disposable to do some of those particularly tougher workouts. 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.159 The differentiation has to come from what's the problem with 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.040 these highly refined sugars. Now, if I take a piece 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.880 of fruit, that sugar is bound up in plant cell walls, 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.400 along with a bunch of different nutrients. There's what we 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.520 call the food matrix. So your body has to break 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:18.960 down those plant cell walls to get at the sugar. 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:23.080 There's usually lots of fiber, nutrients, antioxidants, all sorts of 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:26.359 other stuff there, So that takes time, and the sugars 0:05:26.360 --> 0:05:29.480 are then absorbed nice and slowly up into your bloodstream, 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:31.720 and then you make use of all those nutrients. It's 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.240 a complete food package. It's a very different thing. If 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:37.320 I take the plant, and you can get sugar from 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:39.880 all sorts of different plants. It might be sugar cane, 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.719 sugar beet, it might be from a parsnipper, from whatever, 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.479 and you extract the sugar and you get rid of 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.200 everything else. That's in the plant, so you don't have 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:51.520 any fiber, you don't have any nutrients. You've simply extracted, processed, 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.400 and refined the sugar on its own, and then you 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:57.120 have that or you have it added, you know, when 0:05:57.120 --> 0:06:00.320 it's added ubiquitously into so many other foods, and that 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:03.960 becomes a problem because you don't have that full food package. 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.279 And it's not just the problem of the sugar. You know, 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.120 often we point the finger at sugar, but actually it's 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.800 the foods and drinks that have too much of that 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:15.720 added sugar in it that usually also have the process fats, 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:19.719 the refined starch, the wrong you know, low nutrient density, 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:22.480 way too many calories per bite of the food. 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:23.600 So we get these really. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:27.400 Energy dense, moorish, highly palatable foods that make us want 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:29.880 to eat them more. So we're really talking you know, 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.040 junk foods and package snacks. 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:32.560 They've got the. 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:38.520 Scientifically designed combination of salt, sugar, fat, crunch, you know, 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:41.839 to make them so moorish, so we overeat them, but 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:43.719 they're not giving us the nutrients that we need. So 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:47.240 it's really those foods. So rather than pointing the finger 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.120 of brame, I feel at sugar is one. You've got 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:53.160 to really differentiate between what are naturally present sugars in 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:56.600 foods like fruit, even raw honey. I mean, honey's been around. 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:58.520 If you want a paleo food, honey is a true 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:01.800 paleo food. These are foods that are generally really good 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:02.679 for us, and it's. 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:04.080 Those ultra process foods. 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.280 And that's where research science has moved towards talking about 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:11.400 ultra process foods or upfs, instead of this sort of 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.600 point in the finger, blame it transfats or gluten or 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:18.280 sugar or whatever we individually pick out. It's the ultra 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:20.600 process foods that are ultimately the problem. 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:22.760 And so do you. I mean, you've given a really 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:25.040 good explanation for what people need to look out for. 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.800 But even when you are listing the different ways sugar 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:33.440 is added into package products and the clever ways that 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:37.560 the food manufacturers label them as you know, corn syrup, 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:39.800 and so you know they've got twenty five different meanings 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.200 because they don't write sugar deliberately, because they don't want 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:43.880 you to go through the ingredient list and think it's 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:45.600 full of sugar, because it's full of all these other things. 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:46.960 You don't really understand what they are. 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:51.160 What are your top tips for our listeners who don't 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.440 have your background or even my background. 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.640 Is it as simple as donated events in a packet? 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:00.240 Yeah, well it's not as it's not as hard core 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.360 is saying you can't have anything in a packet. Look, 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:04.480 if we could have a perfect world, we'd all still 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:06.920 be hunting and growing our own veggies and hand chooks 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:07.520 in the backyard. 0:08:07.680 --> 0:08:09.640 But look, we don't have lives like that. 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.840 Most of us now live in cities rather than in 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:13.840 the country, and we have to be able to buy 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:16.800 our food and we can use modern I you know, 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:17.600 I'm a scientist. 0:08:17.760 --> 0:08:18.600 I want to be able to. 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:22.440 Use modern science, modern technology, modern ways of preserving food 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.880 to make it easier for me to follow a healthy diet. So, yes, 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.320 you can have some canned produce. Frozen produce is fantastic. 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:33.079 You don't have to use chemical preservatives and things when 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.360 you're freezing foods. So, but you just have to look 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:36.839 for one of the right foods to be able to 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.839 so canned legings, can tomatoes, canned sweet corn, these things 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:43.640 are great and the foods are highly nutritious. Frozen veggies, 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.320 frozen berries, you know these sorts of things are absolutely brilliant. 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.120 You know, I don't object to, you know, packets of pasta, 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:52.720 but make your own sauce and make your and you 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:55.160 can buy good sauces, but it's generally it's so easy 0:08:55.200 --> 0:08:58.400 to make your own ingredients. So use some level of 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:00.640 these kind of convenience foods. But the best advice I 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:02.080 can give when it comes to a food in a 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:06.040 packet is read the ingredients list. And you hinted at 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:07.480 this there when you said, oh, if you read the 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:10.000 ingredients list and there's stuff there that it's clearly not 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:13.160 a food. And there's loads of these ingredients that you 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:15.199 think that sounds like it should be in the pharmacy, 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.520 not in the supermarket, the foedback, it's probably not that 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.520 great a choice. Whereas if you can identify, oh, this 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.280 has got a list of ingredients, it's bread that's got flour, 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.680 serdo culture, some salt and water, maybe some olive oil 0:09:27.720 --> 0:09:30.679 in it, that's a great bread. Whereas if it's a 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.520 bread that's got sugar in it, which doesn't happen much 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:35.840 in Australia. It's mostly sort of from breosh breads or 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:38.079 burger buns, you know, and you can and read the 0:09:38.240 --> 0:09:40.920 ingredients and it's got preservatives and it's got you know, 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:44.920 flour improvers, and then suddenly you're recognizing, okay, this is 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:47.880 getting further away from what would be a more traditional food. 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:52.640 What about fats? Good fats, bad fats? And what's sort 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.440 of the simplest way to explain do you do? You 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.400 find is to explain that to people that allows them 0:09:58.440 --> 0:09:59.559 to make bitter choices. 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:02.320 Well, one of the best things that's happened over the 0:10:02.360 --> 0:10:05.239 course of my career from when I was an early dietitian, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.000 low fat diets were you know, really in thing, and 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.480 it was really difficult to get people to even consider 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:13.680 eating an avocado or you know, nuts were out. 0:10:13.720 --> 0:10:15.880 And again it was because of that can't exist. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:22.640 Fat was fat, and fat was a yeah. 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:23.800 And fat made fact. That was just the assumption because. 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:25.840 Nobody was really stepping back and looking at the big picture. 0:10:26.240 --> 0:10:29.240 And actually the recognition of good fats has come partly 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:33.120 from the heart health understanding, understanding that these good fats 0:10:33.120 --> 0:10:35.560 in your diet actually have a really good effect on 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:39.120 your blood cholesterol profile. And when I say profile, I 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.240 mean it's your total cholesterol doesn't tell you very much. 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.400 You need to know the breakdown of the of the 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.440 way that the different cholesterol and other fats are being 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:48.640 carried in your diet, in your in your blood story. 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.120 But it's also come from the recognition of fat is 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:52.160 a huge part of your brain. 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:53.200 Your brain is a very. 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.560 Fatty tissue and it's and it's got concentrated levels of 0:10:56.600 --> 0:10:58.559 the long chain a Mega three fats that we get 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.840 from things like oily fish. So I think it's a 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.600 combination of the heart health understanding and the brain health 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:07.880 understanding that oh, hang on, we need these really good 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:10.839 fats in our diet, and these really long chain omega 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:14.480 threes for example. Although we can make them from short 0:11:14.559 --> 0:11:17.280 chain of mega trees from some plant foods for example, 0:11:17.360 --> 0:11:19.719 like walnuts and chi and fla seed, we're not. 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:20.679 Very good at doing it. 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.080 So there's been this recognition that will actually, you know, 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:28.200 these are essential fats for us to have our optimal health. 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:31.040 And then we've got the impact of now understanding the 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:35.600 impact of fat on digestion, metabolism and even glycimic induction. 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:37.440 And when you've got some good fats there in the meal, 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:42.559 it slows down digestion absorption. We've also got fat soluble antioxidants. 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.320 That's relatively new research suddenly realizing, well, we can eat 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.600 a raw carrot, but you're not going to absorb that 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.760 beta caroteene unless you've drizzled some oil on your salad 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.360 or you've roasted that carrot the oven and got the 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:58.679 fats going into there so that the fat soluble carotenoids 0:11:58.679 --> 0:11:59.640 can then be absorbed. 0:12:00.120 --> 0:12:01.840 So and we've got fat soluble. 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.120 Vitamins of course, so we suddenly have this recognition that 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.040 will hang on, not all fats are bad, and then 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.200 we've got this sort of progress of nutrition science starting 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.400 to understand and the principles are exactly the same as 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.679 for sugar. That when you get those fats mostly in 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.320 their whole food form or from things like extra virgin oliveil, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:22.360 that's really just the freshly squeezed juice of the olive. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:26.880 A very different scenario to highly processed seed oils, which 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:28.800 I know are a little controversial because you've got many 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.480 dietitians that will tell you there's no problem with those, 0:12:31.480 --> 0:12:33.400 but I'm not one of them. To me, those are 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.079 ultra processed foods. So these kind of fats, avocado, nuts, 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.840 and seeds, oily fish, you know, and some of the 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:42.360 other fats that are found in these whole foods are 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.160 generally really good for us. And extra virgin olive oil 0:12:45.200 --> 0:12:47.319 is head and shoulders above. There is just a different 0:12:47.360 --> 0:12:50.600 category of food to most other kind of oils. Avocado 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:54.160 oil is probably one that comes close but doesn't have 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.600 the same sort of pattern of polyphenols and other are 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:57.600 phytoin nutrients that. 0:12:57.600 --> 0:12:58.440 Are there in the oil. 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.240 So these are foods that we definitely should be including 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:01.840 in our diet. 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:06.960 Talk about that sort of food brain connection and why 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:09.760 it's so important, And do you tend to agree that 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.200 I feel like we miss it a bit, like it 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.080 doesn't get spoken about as much, does it. 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:16.520 I entirely agree it doesn't. 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:19.120 And it's only in recent years, even in research circles, 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.120 you know, you know, my early career, we sort of talked. 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:25.960 We understood that diet had some role to play in 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:28.600 brain perform and it's certainly long term brain health in 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.800 terms of your risk of dementia. And there was some 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.800 understanding of diet was important in things like depression and 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:39.040 other mood disorders that nobody could really even in research circles, 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.480 it wasn't really understood the mechanisms, you know, was it 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.000 to do with nutrients? Was it to do And now 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.439 I think there's been this sort of explosion in research 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.480 and interest in research, so therefore that stimulates more research 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:51.960 that we've got a much better understanding of what those 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.640 mechanisms are. And I say this in my introduction to 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:56.880 Mindful that you know, we used to think of the 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.400 brain and many people still do this's just elusive thing. 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:04.760 It's what makes your personality exactly influence over it, and 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.760 that can be further from the truth. You know, it 0:14:07.800 --> 0:14:10.800 of course it is involved in your in your personality 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.880 and what makes you you, but it also is like 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.520 any other organ in your body, it requires nutrients. It 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:19.920 requires fuel to function at its best. You know, nothing 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.760 affects your brain more than being dehydrated as a very 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.520 simple tool, you know, making sure that you're staying well 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.680 hydrated is absolutely key for your brain performance. So now 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:31.800 we've we've you know, got to a stage where we 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.240 still don't understand every connection to the brain, but we 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:37.600 now understand it is partly the nutrients. So the brain 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.560 needs specific nutrients. It needs iron for example, it needs iodine, 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:44.960 iodines and nutrient that's really flown under the radar unless 0:14:45.040 --> 0:14:49.040 you're pregnant, because it's been recognized iodines essential for brain 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.040 development in the fetus, but then also in young infants. 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:54.160 So we've suddenly seen, oh, well, if you're taking a 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:56.400 pregnancy supplement, you'll see that they've all got iodine in 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:59.240 them now. But other than that sort of around pregnancy 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.040 and young children, I being largely ignored. But actually we 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.440 know iodine deficiency lowers your IQ. 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:07.520 When you think of it like. 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.760 That, you go, oh, my goodness, you actually your nutrition 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:12.760 is so important. And then we've got you know, the 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.040 long chain amegas refats. We've got a whole lot of 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:18.200 research studies now showing long chain omegas rays and a 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.920 combination of bigrot vitamins is essential for your brain health 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:25.400 going forward and can reduce your risk of cognitive decline 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:26.280 as you get older. 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:27.480 So there's these. 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:29.920 Nutrients that are clearly really really important. And then we've 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:32.560 got the fuels. Your brain is a huge I always 0:15:32.560 --> 0:15:35.920 call it a greedy, a glucose greedy organ because it 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.080 uses up so much of the glucose in your blood. 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:40.800 It can also use ketones, so I know people doing 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.480 ketogenic diets are going to argue that well, ketones are 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.160 really important for the brain. There's some elements of truth 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.200 in that, but that's that becomes especially important if your 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.520 brain has some sort of disorder like epilepsy, or it's 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.200 even being researched for things like chronic migraines that can't 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:57.960 be treated, and that might be a situation where brain cells. 0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:00.760 One of the hypothesis is those brain cells are in 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.960 some way malfunctioning and not able to use glucose as well. 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.600 So therefore the secondary fuel of ketones might become important 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:10.120 and then your brain's working better. But whether that has 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:12.920 any impact on healthy people is another matter. So for 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:15.480 most of us, if your brain's healthy, it wants glucose, 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:16.760 It runs well in glucose. 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:18.720 But you want a nice steady stream of. 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:23.400 Glucose going into your blood fueling your brain. And mentioned hydration, 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:24.880 and you mentioned exercise. 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:25.600 You know, it's one thing. 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:27.440 I've got a great slide I put up when I 0:16:27.480 --> 0:16:30.760 do this a corporate talk about brain performance. And there's 0:16:30.840 --> 0:16:33.840 a brilliant slide of a scan of a brain showing 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:37.080 activity in the brain before and after just doing a 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:38.840 brisk walk or you know, running up and down the 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.200 stairwell in your office, or you know, just stimulating your 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:45.040 brain because it gets blood flow glowing and you see 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:46.080 the brain light up. 0:16:46.360 --> 0:16:47.360 So if you've got to get your. 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.560 Brain powered up, or you're feeling in a slump and 0:16:49.560 --> 0:16:52.200 you've got that three o'clock slump, head outside and have 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.520 a quick walk. Also, getting some sunlight's going to be helpful. 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.400 Thank you so so much. You're an absolute gym. I 0:16:58.440 --> 0:16:59.520 appreciate you so much. 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:00.200 Thanks. 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:18.200 Our guest today is an absolute expert when it comes 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:21.120 to talking to women, particularly women in their thirties, forty 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.879 fifties and sixties, is none other than doctor Libby Weaver, 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.360 who let me just read these credentials out because wowsers 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:35.680 a nutritional biochemist, thirteen yes one three thirteen times best 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:39.480 selling author books like The Energy Guide, Women's Wellness Wisdom, 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:45.040 and Rushing Woman Syndrome. Libby Weaver, Welcome to the WOODLFE 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:46.320 and thanks so much for joining us. 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:49.199 Oh it's a pleasure, Sam, thanks for having me join you. 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:53.720 I love how you talk about dealing with stress. Our audience. 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:55.240 Of course, we have men that listen to the show 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:57.199 and they will absolutely benefit from this chat, I have 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.040 no doubt about it. But our audience would be sort 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:02.119 of eighty percent women, and through my twenty eight program, 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.199 which is one of those bikini body programs, it's you 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:08.359 know women particularly you know, late twenties sort through to 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.399 late fifties, early sixties. Even where would you like to 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:17.000 start with how you've been able to help this particular 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.440 demographic from a stress dealing with stress perspective. 0:18:20.760 --> 0:18:23.560 Thank you, that's so generous. So I originally studied nutrition 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:25.600 and dietetics and then did honors and then did a 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:28.240 PhD in biochemistry. So there's lots of geeky signs in 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:30.840 my background. But since then, I've worked with people one 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:34.679 on one for over twenty years. And I've combined fourteen 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:38.200 years at university with twenty plus years of working one 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.679 on one with people to create a three pillar approach 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.520 where I look at the biochemistry, and nutrition and emotions. 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:47.399 So stress comes into all three of those categories. So, 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:50.600 for example, when we go into a stress response, obviously 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.920 our two main stress hormones are adrenaline and cortisol. They 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:57.359 activate a part of the nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system, 0:18:57.600 --> 0:18:59.840 which is essentially the fight or flight response. And I'm 0:18:59.840 --> 0:19:02.719 sure or most of your listeners know this stuff, but 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:04.879 it's a part of the autonomic nervous system, so we 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:08.840 can't instruct it, we can't boss it around. And when 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.119 we go into that fight or flight response, there's no 0:19:11.200 --> 0:19:13.240 problem with that as long as we can come out 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.040 of it and activate the other branch of our nervous system, 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.959 which is the parasympathetic nervous system, the calm arm. So 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:22.159 we want to be a really healthy person just swings 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.560 between those two branches. And the challenge I find, particularly 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.600 for a lot of women today's they get stuck in 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:29.679 the fight or flight response. They get stuck with that 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.720 sympathetic nervous system activation. And I wrote a book in 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:35.960 twenty eleven called, which I can't believe is twelve years ago, 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.480 but I wrote a book in twenty eleven called Rushing 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:42.679 Woman Syndrome, basically describing this and the health consequences of 0:19:42.760 --> 0:19:45.399 always living in a rush and always living with the 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.480 perception that everything is urgent and that there's a huge 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:52.440