Brain Fog and Poor Sleep; They Can Be Related

Brain Fog and Poor Sleep; They Can Be Related

Do you find yourself forgetting things or feeling just plain fogged in? Has your brain been short-circuiting? Having trouble sleeping? We joke about our forgetfulness at times…our sunglasses on our heads as we search for them…. but the seriousness of the issue is our mental performance and long term brain health. If forgetfulness and brain fog persists, it can signal the beginning of dementia or Alzheimer’s. We can’t let that go. Poor sleep is often involved with development of dementia and Alzheimer’s as well. We can do something about it.

Could You Have Brown Slime in the Brain?

Damaged cells become free radicals, and a chain reaction is set in motion. Free-radicals attack proteins in the brain. This turns them into a “sludge” called lipofuscin—a form of brown slime that can coat neurons. Ronald M. Lawrence M.D., Ph.D., a specialist in neurology and assistant clinical professor at UCLA School of Medicine says, “that slime decreases the ability of the brain to send vital electrochemical messages to other parts of the brain. As the slime thickens, memory declines and senility and dementia begin.”1 Free-radical damage to the hypothalamus and pituitary glands result in a decline in growth hormone (GH). Low GH can contribute to more of the manifestations of aging including problems with sleep. Poor sleep further contributes to mental decline. Free-radical attack on the adrenal glands results in a decline in the hormone DHEA—a hormone essential to the ability to learn and form memories.

Due to a host of modern-industrial pollutants, processed foods, too many sweets, computers and other sources of low-electromagnetic-field toxicity, and other generators of free radicals, many middle-aged and even younger people are suffering declines in memory, ability to learn, cognition, intelligence, and capacity to think clearly, along with sleep challenges. Peak mental performance is a necessity for many people. A good night’s sleep is crucial for not just brain health but overall health. You want to stop any mental decline and get your brain back in top shape.

Your first step? Scavenge free radicals and prevent attacks on brain cells with an abundance of antioxidant nutrients such as you find in fresh vegetable juice and wheatgrass juice. As you feed your body high quality “brain food” every day, you’ll see a difference. You have to also remove substances that contribute to free radical attack leading to brain decline. Sugar and artificial sweeteners are among the top contributors. Artificial sweeteners are neurotoxins that are worse for the brain that even sugar. Bottom Line: Sugar can directly contribute to brain fog. It can also really mess up your sleep. Use only natural low-glycemic sweeteners such as stevia and coconut nectar.

Sugar-KnockoutLearn how to kick the sugar habit in my brand new book The Juice Ladys Sugar Knockout!!

Notes:

1 http://www.kats-korner.com/health/mdreport.html accessed 9/1/15

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Wheatgrass and Brain Fog

Wheatgrass and Brain Fog

Most people have experienced brain fog from time to time, but some people have it all the time. It’s like a mental cloud. Common brain fog symptoms include poor memory, difficulty focusing, and forgetfulness. Toxicity in the brain and lack of nutrients are major contributing factors. Also, overworking, multitasking, or substance abuse (i.e. alcohol or sugar) can contribute to this foggy feeling.

Veggie juices and eating more vegetable can help immensely along with detoxing your body from time to time. Include lots of green vegetables like kale, collards, spinach, chard, turnip greens, bok choy, and broccoli for your brain. Green vegetables are among the best sources of B vitamins. Three B vitamins in particular, folic acid, B6 and B12, are essential brain vitamins. (You get B12 from animal products.) An Oxford University study found that these three vitamins work synergistically to reduce brain atrophy, improve brain function, and dramatically reduce brain shrinkage in the part of the brain most affected by Alzheimer’s.1

Green veggies are also a good source of the amino acid l-tyrosine which can improve your mood and increase your ability to learn, solve problems, and remember. Tyrosine is needed to form the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine which are associated with alertness, drive, and motivation. 2

Wheatgrass juice is rich in many brain food nutrients and is considered to be a complete food in itself. The fact is that one pound of fresh wheatgrass is equivalent in nutritional value to many pounds of choice garden vegetables. Try adding wheatgrass juice with your vegetables for good brain health.

1 http://www.pnas.org/content/110/23/9523.abstract

2 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2736402

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12 Benefits of Detoxing Your Body

12 Benefits of Detoxing Your Body

12 Benefits of Detoxing Your Body

  1. Boosts Your Energy
  1. Rids the Body of Any Excess Waste and Toxins
  1. Helps You Lose Weight
  1. Improved Immune System
  1. Healthier Skin
  1. Say Goodbye Bad Breath
  1. Promotes Healthy Lifestyle Changes
  1. Clearer Thinking
  1. Healthier Hair
  1. Lighter Feeling
  1. Anti-Aging Benefits
  1. Improved Sense of Wellbeing

 

Just how toxic are you? Take the Toxicity Quiz.

I’m offering two ways to cleanse your body with me. Join the 30-Day Detox Challenge that Begins August 10.

Come to our Juice and Raw Foods Cleanse Retreat Sept 20-25. We will go through the cleanse together with vegetable juices, wheatgrass juice, and raw foods. Part of the week will be a 3-day juice fast. You will also have a chance to cleanse emotions and toxic thinking. This is a whole person approach to cleansing the body, soul, and spirit. Don’t miss this wonderful experience with my husband and I this fall.

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Is Your Brain Starving?

Are you feeding your brain the fuel it needs for optimal function?

Considering nearly 60 percent of your brain is made up of fats, it’s imperative that you get the right fats in your diet. We’ve learned in recent years that fatty acids are among the most crucial molecules that determine your brain’s integrity and ability to perform. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) are required for maintenance of optimal health. We must eat them since they cannot be synthesized by the body. Clinical observation studies has related imbalanced dietary intake of fatty acids to impaired brain performance and diseases. Beyond their important role in building the brain structure, EFAs, as messengers, are involved in the synthesis and functions of brain neurotransmitters, and in the molecules of the immune system.To give your brain a cognitive boost, aim for more omega 3’ fats from fish or quality fish oil, flax seeds, hemp seeds and walnuts. Your brain will thank by being smarter and happier. This also means NOT feeding your brain the stuff that has been shown to perpetuate a downward spiral in mental function like sugar, junk food, damaged fats, and foods your are sensitive too such as gluten or soy.  

Notes

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20329590

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Sugar Hijacks Your Brain

Sugar Hijacks Your Brain

Sugar is sneaky—and unbeknown to many of us, we’ve become hooked before we know it. In ways that drugs such as nicotine, cocaine and heroin hijack the brain’s reward pathway and make users dependent, sugar is addictive in the same way.

Sugar Detox

“It almost feels like you’re detoxing from drugs,” some people say. There are four major components of addiction: binging, withdrawal, craving, and cross-sensitization. All of these components have been observed in animal models of addiction—sugar as well as drugs.

A typical experiment goes like this: rats are deprived of food for 12 hours each day, then given 12 hours of access to a sugary solution and regular chow. After a month of following this daily pattern, rats display behaviors similar to those on drugs of abuse.

They’ll binge on the sugar solution in a short period of time, much more than their regular food. They also show signs of anxiety and depression during the food deprivation period. Many sugar-treated rats who are later exposed to drugs, such as cocaine and opiates, demonstrate dependent behaviors toward the drugs compared to rats who did not consume sugar beforehand.

Like drugs, sugar spikes dopamine release. Over the long term, regular sugar consumption actually changes the gene expression and availability of dopamine receptors in both the midbrain and frontal cortex.

This means that repeated access to sugar over time leads to prolonged dopamine signaling, greater excitation of the brain’s reward pathways and a need for even more sugar to activate all of the midbrain dopamine receptors like before. The brain becomes tolerant to sugar—and more is needed to attain the same “sugar high.”

Sugar Withdrawal

In a 2002 study by Carlo Colantuoni and colleagues of Princeton University, rats who had undergone a typical sugar dependence protocol then underwent “sugar withdrawal.” This was facilitated by either food deprivation or treatment with naloxone, a drug used for treating opiate addiction which binds to receptors in the brain’s reward system.

Both withdrawal methods led to physical problems, including teeth chattering, paw tremors, and head shaking. Naloxone treatment also appeared to make the rats more anxious, as they spent less time on an elevated apparatus that lacked walls on either side. Similar withdrawal experiments by others also report behavior similar to depression in tasks such as the forced swim test. Rats in sugar withdrawal are more likely to show passive behaviors (like floating) than active behaviors (like trying to escape) when placed in water, suggesting feelings of helplessness.

A new study published by Victor Mangabeira and colleagues in Physiology & Behavior reports that sugar withdrawal is also linked to impulsive behavior. Initially, rats were trained to receive water by pushing a lever. After training, the animals returned to their home cages and had access to a sugar solution and water, or just water alone. After 30 days, when rats were again given the opportunity to press a lever for water, those who had become dependent on sugar pressed the lever significantly more times than control animals, suggesting impulsive behavior.

I encourage you to swear off sugar for good. There are also countless articles and books about the boundless energy and new-found happiness in those who have sworn off sugar for good. There are great healthful sweeteners to choose from such as stevia and coconut sugar. So why not say good bye to sugar for good and see how good you can feel?  I did years ago and it was one of my life changers.

Adapted from http://qz.com/353138/this-is-what-happens-to-your-brain-when-you-stop-eating-sugar/

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