The UltraMind Solution (77 page)

I overeat.
I have been exposed to environmental chemicals (pesticides, unfiltered water, nonorganic food).
I have Gulf War syndrome.
I have a neurological disease, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, etc.
I have autism or ADHD.
I have depression, bipolar disease, or schizophrenia.
* For your convenience, this quiz has been reprinted in The UltraMind Solution Companion Guide. Simply go to www.ultramind.com/guide, download the guide, and print out the quiz.

Score one point for each box you checked.

To understand how energy is produced and how its production affects your mind, mood, and behavior (not to mention your health and your weight), we must start with the energy-producing factories inside your cells—your mitochondria.

Mitochondria are the parts of your cells that take the calories you consume, combine them with oxygen, and turn this mixture into energy used to run everything in your body. A single cell may have anywhere from two hundred to two thousand or more mitochondria.

Figure 14: Inside a mitochondrion

Mitochondria are built to convert calories and oxygen into energy the body can use—ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Our cells contain a total of one hundred thousand trillion mitochondria, which consume 90 percent of our oxygen intake. This oxygen is necessary to burn the calories we eat in food. But free radicals are produced as a by-product of this combustion, much like exhaust that comes out of the tail pipe of your car.

These free radicals are dangerous because they damage or oxidize molecules and cells throughout the body. This damage is called oxidative stress. More damaged cells equals more oxidative stress or “rusting”—which is essentially what oxidative stress is. This, in turn, leads to damaged DNA, damaged cell membranes, rancid or oxidized cholesterol (which is what truly makes cholesterol harmful), stiff arteries that look like rusty pipes, wrinkles, and brain damage. Oxidative stress is a central feature in dementia
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as well as autism.
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We have our own built-in antioxidant factories that produce molecules, whose job it is to seek out free radicals and clean them up before they rust our bodies. But these systems are easily overwhelmed by a toxic, low-nutrient, high-calorie diet like the ones most Americans eat.

We can get even more of these important antioxidant molecules if we eat the right foods. But we don’t, so we aren’t getting them that way either.

This problem is further complicated because the critical antioxidant enzymes we make (called superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, which helps the body use glutathione to protect you) are dependent on essential dietary nutrients to help them work well. These include zinc, copper, manganese, vitamin C, and selenium.

We are in trouble with free radicals for two reasons.

First, the typical American diet is one that causes an escalation in free radicals because it has too many empty calories and not enough antioxidants.

Second, our reduced nutrient intake (vitamins and minerals) limits the ability of our antioxidant enzymes to function. For example, without enough zinc or selenium, these enzymes can’t do their job.

That’s why our self-manufactured antioxidants are not enough to protect us.

The single most important controllable factor regulating the oxidative stress in your body is your diet. Eating too many calories and not enough antioxidants from colorful plant foods results in the production of too many free radicals, wreaking havoc on our bodies and our minds.

Here’s why.

Mitochondria are exquisitely sensitive to our nutrient-deficient, highly processed, sugar-laden, omega-3 fat–deficient, excitotoxin-rich (MSG, aspartame) diets. They bear the brunt of our nutritional deficiencies. Empty, high-calorie, refined, and processed diets that lack nature’s colorful plant-based antioxidants set the stage for trouble.

Mitochondria are also extremely sensitive to inflammation and toxic damage. I have shown in previous chapters how critical diet is in regards to inflammation and toxicity.

The combinations of these insults lead to more oxidative stress (or rusting) than your body can handle. As a result, your mitochondria literally rust and stop, just like a rusty wheel.

Colorful plant pigments—the dark green, yellow, red, orange, blue, and purple colors in our diet—are our major source of antioxidants. For example, blueberries, red grapes, sweet potatoes, and collard greens—the “rainbow diet.”

Your mitochondria depend on all your antioxidant defenses being optimized. If you don’t eat this rainbow diet, your defenses are not at their best. The result is that your mitochondria are injured by the very free radicals they produce as a by-product of their energy production, and they stop making enough energy for your cells to operate optimally. Then you get sick and ultimately die.