some way. Dr. Isaacson is now rigorously studying these
associations in an effort to validate his clinical observations.
INCREASING BLOOD FLOW TO THE BRAIN
Our brains are massive oxygen consumers. Twenty-five
percent of every breath you take is going directly to support
the ravenous metabolic needs of your brain, and ensuring
that your blood lipids are healthy is one way of keeping
your cognitive power supply free of interruption.
Thankfully, there are some other ways of increasing healthy
blood flow to the brain:
Eat dark chocolate. Compounds in dark chocolate
(called polyphenols) have been shown to boost brain
perfusion, or blood flow to the brain. As we learned
with Genius Food #4, stick to 80% or higher for the
cocoa content (ideally 85% or higher–this means less
sugar), and make sure the chocolate has not been
processed with alkali, which degrades antioxidant
content.
Eliminate or reduce grains, sugar, and starch.
Allowing your brain to run on fat, or more
specifically ketones, may increase blood flow to the
brain by as much as 39 percent.^14 More on this in the
next chapter.
Consume more potassium. High-potassium foods
include avocado (a whole avocado has twice the