yes, dementia. In the past, these differences may have
driven the evolution of our species, serving as advantages in
our mysterious ancestral world. Now, these differences are
why any person that makes it to age forty has an 80 percent
chance of dying from one of these maladies. But, there’s
good news: if there’s anything the past few years have
shown us, it’s that genes are not destiny—they merely
predict what the Standard American Diet will do to you.
This book will position you to be in the 20 percent as we
address how to keep your brain and vascular system healthy
(and even check some boxes for cancer prevention and
weight loss while we’re at it).
In the next few chapters, I’ll describe an evidence-based
antidote to the brain-shrinking Standard American Diet and
lifestyle, replete with nutrients to fuel your ravenous brain
and physical and mental techniques to take back the
robustness that is your evolutionary destiny. Your primary
opponents in the battle for your cognitive birthright are
inflammation, overfeeding, nutrient deficiencies, toxic
exposure, chronic stress, physical stagnation, and sleep loss.
(If this sounds like a lot, don’t worry—they overlap, and
tending to one often makes it easier to improve on the
others.)
Here’s a brief overview of each of these “bad guys.”
Inflammation
In a perfect world, inflammation is simply the ability of
our immune systems to “spot clean” cuts, wounds, and
bruises and to prevent the occasional bacterial tourist from
becoming a full-blown infection. Today, our immune