Fixing Brain Fog: The Ultimate Security Upgrade?

Nov. 20, 2015

So many emails! They seem to be breeding here in my inbox. Wait, what’s this, PayPal wants to validate my social security number? That’s odd, let’s click and see what it is. A form. Ah yes, I know how to do this, it’ll only take a minute. Submit, done.

One less email in your inbox, one less problem to deal with

Or is it. The next day your boss appears at your cubicle with some guy you don’t recognise. This looks ominous, what could they want?

They want to know

Why you clicked open that message from PayPal, why you were confusing personal and company email. “It was late and I was tired”, you explain.

You clicked on the link because you have brain fog

And this isn’t the only situation where your focus has been less than optimal. The guy with your boss is a security expert like today’s guest Mike Zusman, and the email is called a simple phishing attack.

Mike is a Cat 1 (fast) mountain biker and one of the three founders of New Jersey based security firm, Carve Systems. Mike and I have been working together for about a year to optimise his performance both on and off the bike, and I love his ideas about how security breaches could be prevented.

How many phishing attacks could be prevented

If our employers invested as much in their employee’s health as they do in the security systems? Not that they shouldn’t invest in security, they should, but it seems to me that there’s more than one way to approach this problem.

So what is brain fog, and what causes it?

Brain fog is that feeling of nothingness that sometimes happens when you’d rather be concentrating on work. The lights are on but nobody's home. Who knows what causes it, I think it’s one of the signs and symptoms of an underlying problem. There are however, some plausible mechanisms, like quinolinic acid on an organic acids result.

Quinolinic acid, or quinolinate as it’s labelled on a urinary organic acids result

Is a potent neurotoxin–a fancy way of saying harmful to brain cells. This image was taken from Mike’s first organic acids result:

And this from the retest after treatment:

We’ll never know if quinolinate was the cause of Mike’s brain fog

But a plausible mechanism, together these results and improvement in symptoms is better than nothing, right? So what did Mike do?

Mike made many difficult and important changes

He switched to a healthy-fat, ketogenic diet with emphasis on whole foods, plants and moderate protein. Mike made the switch away from carbohydrate supplementation towards a more fat-burning approach. He also took supplements to fix the problems indicated on the test results that included small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). Overall, Mike has been able to reduce the number abnormalities found on the organic acids result from 10 to 2.

A better life: reduced stress, increased mental clarity, greater energy

Mike is “feeling much better now”, more productive, racing faster and more consistently.

Here’s the outline of this interview with Mike:

[0:05] Christopher’s welcome of MIke and introduction of their relationship together.
[1:46] Mike’s questions about his body’s ability to make the best of the training and changes he was adding to his training regimen.
[3:20] Mike’s assessment of his stress levels before connecting with Christopher.
[4:57] The biggest help to Mike in making changes that mattered.
[6:34] The benefit of the headspace app.
[7:01] The diet changes MIke has made and how he’s feeling as a result.
[8:08] Moving away from the old way of eating and how Mike did it.
[9:50] The importance of nutrient density and letting go of the old foods that are not nutrient dense.
[10:41] The impact of Mike’s blood sugar level and health changes.
[14:36] The ongoing impact of Mike’s body moving into ketosis.
[16:20] Mike’s advice about the transition to a low carb, high fat diet.
[19:10] Causes of “brain fog.”
[20:13] Mike’s experience of headaches after racing, during stressful situations, etc.
[21:13] Christopher’s response regarding the possibilities for the headaches.
[22:29] The impact of removing carbs from his diet on Mike’s bike racing.
[26:22] The biohack that blood testing can be.
[26:51] The importance of being patient to see the changes happen.
[28:45] How Mike’s dietary changes are impacting his family relationships.
[32:14] New projects that have come out of Mike’s improved health.
[35:29] The impact of health on high intensity professions.
[41:18] Why Mike didn’t do well on the vegetarian / vegan path and what he thinks about that approach overall.
[44:49] How Christopher’s work inspires Mike in his security company.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

The Ben Greenfield podcast that Mike first heard me on

Headspace

Genova Diagnostics 0091 Organix Comprehensive Profile

Mike blog

The Rich Roll Podcast episode with Andy, founder of Headspace

PEOPLE MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Ben Greenfield

Julia Kelly

Rich Roll