Striving4Zen

In his revolutionary new book, The UltraMind Solution, Dr. Mark Hyman offers not just an explanation validated by hundreds of recent peer-reviewed medical studies, but a solution for this invisible epidemic that now affects 1.1 billion people worldwide and will cripple one in four among us during our lifetime.

So, what's causing our "broken brains"?

Essentially two things - our modern diet and environment - both of which are loaded with brain-toxic compounds, including:

• Brain-toxic foods, such as high-fructose corn syrup and trans/hydrogenated fats
• Excessive consumption of sugar, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine
• Additives and toxins in our foods (more than 3,500 can be added to food; more than 3,000 are in our homes)
• Toxic chemicals (more than 80,000 have been introduced since 1990; 500 have been tested for safety)
• Heavy metals, including lead, mercury, cadmium
• Over-the-counter and prescription medications, which interfere with the body's use or production of several compounds essential for brain health (e.g., coenzyme Q10, B vitamins, glutathione)
• Mycotoxins, which, according to a number of very current studies, cause severe symptoms of brain damage in 70%, and autonomic nervous system abnormalities in 100% of patients living with them.
• Sleep deprivation
• Sedentary lifestyle, which lowers brain repair mechanisms (e.g., IGF-1 and brain-derived neurotropic factor)
• Chronic stress, which chronically elevates the "stress hormone," cortisol

What's the UltraMind Solution? Heal the Body, Heal the Brain

First, as the discussion of current research in Part I makes clear: the brain is not disconnected from the rest of the body. Dr. Hyman sums it up saying: "the barrier between the body and the brain is no iron curtain. It is more like cheesecloth."

What this means is that brain disorders are not only in the brain. Their root cause(s), and therefore their cure, is to be found in finding and treating imbalances in the rest of the body-in the body's seven key systems. Restoring balance to these core systems restores health, both in the body and the brain.

Dr. Hyman marshals these seven key systems as the Seven Keys to UltraWellness.

They are:

• Optimize nutrition
• Balance your hormones
• Cool off inflammation
• Fix your digestion
• Enhance detoxification
• Boost energy metabolism
• Calm your mind

Source

Labels: caffeine, Dr. Mark Hyman, high fructose corn syrup, living holistically, stress, sugar, The UltraMind Solution, toxic metals, toxins, UltraWellness