Chapter 6

Fueling Your Brain

We’ve already covered how diet can help you attain the
most receptive possible membranes for your eighty-six
billion brain cells. We’ve discussed how to deliver healthy
blood and nutrients to those cells, as well as why we should
keep insulin signaling well regulated and blood sugar low.
But what we have yet to discuss are the engines of those
cells, the organelles responsible for keeping the lights on:
mitochondria.
Right at this very moment, we are amid a global energy
crisis. It’s not something you’ll read about in the newspaper,
it’s not the beneficiary of expensive fund-raisers and galas
or scientific grants, and it isn’t the subject of a dozen Netflix
documentaries with A-list actors as executive producers. It
may, however, be responsible for mental fatigue, insatiable
hunger, brain fog, forgetfulness, and widespread cognitive
decay.
Your brain requires a tremendous amount of fuel to
function properly. Despite its relatively tiny mass—2 to 3
percent of your body’s total volume—it accounts for 20 to
25 percent of your resting metabolic rate. This means that
one quarter of the oxygen you breathe and the food you eat
is being used to create energy to fuel your brain’s many
processes. Whether studying for a test, preparing for a