Frontal lobes seperate Homo sapiens from all other life forms here in the Great Wide World. The prefrontal cortex is the most recent addition to the human brain. It’s the organ that enabled abstract thinking and the rapid evolution of a species; then came civilization, art and science. The prefrontal cortex has evolved to be disproportionally large, which is probably why the brain consumes nearly a quarter of the energy you take in each day.
It was the last sector of the brain to mature as you developed from an adolescent to an adult. The prefrontal cortex is the part of your brain that calculates risk/reward and predetermines the consequences of your actions. Your brain was essentially in the process of rewiring itself from puberty until the mid to late twenties. I never thought to tell to my parents, when they were dressing me down for one ludicrous endeavor or another that it wasn’t my fault, it was just faulty wiring.
Resposibilities & Consequences
The rewiring process is called myelination or myelinogenesis, and the prefrontal cortex is not fully functional until the process is complete. The prefrontal cortex provides the capacity to exercise good judgment when presented with difficult life situations. It lies just behind the forehead and is responsible for cognitive analysis, abstract thought, and the moderation of behavior in social situations. It acquires information from all of the senses and collected data; then arranges thoughts and actions to attain specific goals.
“There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments — there are consequences.” ~ Robert G. Ingersoll
So in retrospect, you have a good excuse for all the dumb shit you did back in the day but you’re an adult now and you have responsibilities and consequences to consider. One of those responsibilities is the care and feeding of your prefrontal cortex. The myelination or rewiring that took place when you were younger, increased your brain bandwidth, allowing you to assimilate and transport data at incredibly high speeds. Much faster than even your MacBook Pro. As you get older however demyelination can also take place.
High Speed Brain
This happens when the myelin that insulates your nerves deteriorate, leading to mental health symptoms and neurodegenerative disease. A few possibilities are; ADHD, Depression, Bipolar disorder, Dyslexia, Autism, OCD, Alzheimer’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome and Schizophrenia. Myelin is a fatty, white substance that wraps around the end of your nerve cells. It forms an electrically insulating sheath that helps your brain send information faster and more efficiently, making it essential for optimal brain function and mental health. There are a number dietary and lifestyle modalities that are conducive to the repair or manufacture of myelin.
“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.” ~ Homer
The quantity and quality of your sleep is at the top of the list when it comes to brain health. Seven and a half hours is about perfect but the quality of your sleep may be more important than the quantity. Myelin-forming cells increase the most during deep sleep. Melatonin is your body’s sleep hormone and has been shown to improve myelin production and reduce brain inflammation.
We take collagen and magnesium with our evening tea which stimulates the production of melatonin and it has definitely improved the quality of our sleep. Vitamin C is good for myelin formation and it boosts collagen synthesis, which is also linked to myelination. We don’t supplement C, we try to get all we need from fruits and veggies. We do take a zinc supplement as it’s an essential mineral that activates hundreds of enzymatic reactions along with improving neurotransmission. 25% of the world’s population is zinc deficient and numerous studies indicate that zinc deficiency seriously degrades brain function in both children and adults.
Lies, Damn Lies and the AHA
Let’s consider a few things that you’ve been told are bad for you but are actually good for you, as well as a few things that are bad, that have been promoted as good. Cholesterol is a waxy fat, found in all the bodies cells. It’s required to make vitamin D and a number of hormones. Myelin membrane growth is severely impacted without enough cholesterol. Yes, cholesterol is actually good for you, despite what you’ve been told by the American Heart Association, the USDA and WHO. There’s no reason to fear cholesterol and saturated fats, they’re important foods that restore vitality, even beyond brain health. Butter and Eggs are super foods, not some dangerous substance to fear.
“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
I don’t think we were intentionally lied to or that there’s a conspiracy to destroy our health and turn our brains to mush; a society of obese, zombies, looking for our next Twinkie fix. It’s probably a bit simpler. I reckon it got started by the Seven Countries Study, led by Ancel Keys, back in the 1950’s. Keys traveled around European regions like Sardinia, Naples and Spain after their economies had been decimated by two consecutive World Wars and concluded that they suffered lower rates of heart disease because they ate a diet low in saturated fats. He never considered that the reason they were eating that way was because they couldn’t afford to eat anything they couldn’t produce in the backyard.
I believe Ancel probably realized after the study that he got it wrong. Humans though, commonly argue concepts and judgements even when they know they’re wrong. There are numerous recent studies, disputing the findings in the Keys study but the American Heart Association still promotes the old misinformation and numerous others follow blindly; the World Health Organization, the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health are just a few.
The AHA even came out with a statement about avoiding coconut oil and using hydrogenated seed oils instead. Seed oils are at the top of the “foods to avoid at all costs” list, along with high fructose corn syrup. I wonder if it had anything to do with the millions of dollars in seed money they received from Proctor and Gamble? P&G produced the very first hydrogenated oils from cottonseed over a century ago, (Crisco) and it was just as toxic then, as it is now. In fact prior to the development of Crisco, heart disease was almost unheard of but by the 1950’s, it was the leading cause of death; coincidence or consequence?
Saturated Fat, the High Octane Fuel
Saturated fat is brain food and a properly working metabolism is able to make good use of it. The problem is that for the last 100 years or so, humans have been working diligently to destroy their metabolism with the overconsumption of ultra processed foods made with far too much simple carbohydrate, high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated seed oils. Removing the trash from your diet and re-training the body to burn fats is one of the best things you can do for all around health. A ketogenic diet is a very low-carb diet. When you restrict carbohydrate-rich foods, such as grains and sugar; your body enters ketosis, running on fatty acids and “ketones” instead of glucose.
Ketones are high octane fuel for your brain and studies show that when you increase the production of ketones, you improve myelination and increase myelin production. So cycling in and out of a keto-style diet for a few months, a few times a year will rebuild myelin sheath and improve metabolic performance. Fatty acids and ketones increase growth hormone, overcome brain fog and support your mitochondria, along with slowing down cognitive decline. Like sleep, fat is more about quality than quantity. Too much of even a good thing, like saturated fat, becomes a bad thing. See (The Goldilocks Principle).
The care and feeding of your prefrontal cortex will shape your mental health now and into the future. Consider the consequences! Question everything and do the research. No matter how many times you hear the phrase, “You are what you eat”, it never stops ringing true. Without a properly functioning prefrontal cortex, you might as well be swinging through the trees, munching bananas and picking lice out of your bff’s fur, with the rest of the primates. Once you begin the journey of thinking about everything you eat and weighing the consequences, it becomes a life affirming mission.