Not feeling like your mind is sharp? Blurry thoughts and memories? Not able to come up with a witty joke like you used to? Not thinking as quickly as your competitor on the field? Other intellectual professionals passing you up by leaps and bounds? Outmaneuvered by business competitors? Does your brain say yes to an exercise but your body doesn’t seem to get the message?
Many of us answer yes to one or more of those scenarios and thankfully there is something you can do about it by exploring these neurotransmitters, growth factors, and simple food timing hacks. A well-balanced diet is a cornerstone to these recommendations working and amplifying their effects. If you’re unsure of what a well-balanced diet looks like, come into our Fullerton, CA or Costa Mesa, CA Superstores and we’ll be more than happy to review your diet and get you in the correct direction.
Neurotransmitters
We need to take full advantage of two neurotransmitters, dopamine and acetylcholine, to assist in optimizing brain function. Neurotransmitters are very much like hormones in their signaling responsibility in the body. The hormone testosterone boosts libido and strength, while the hormone oxytocin signals a pregnant mother to deliver her baby and is responsible for feeling love. Likewise, neurotransmitters have very unique ways they stimulate and signal our brain.
Nutrabio Tyrosine 150g
Dopamine is the neurotransmitter for drive and initiation. For example, we can know we need to complete 5 projects through the day and if dopamine is low, we lack the drive to start even one of them. If dopamine is low we also lack the initiative to make it into the gym or properly push ourselves through exercise and repetitions in sets. Our body thankfully creates dopamine from proteins that we consume but specifically, we need the amino acid L-Tyrosine to get dopamine production moving. Eating red meat, in the morning, is one of the best foods and timing to get high levels of L-Tyrosine. It’s also a good idea to supplement with L-Tyrosine in a powder or pill at 500mg to 1000mg per meal if you’re not able to eat red meat due to high iron or ferritin levels, or if you simply do not like red meat or prefer to stay away from it. NOW Foods and Nutrabio both make an incredibly pure L-Tyrosine product that can get the job to assist in optimizing your dopamine levels. Tyrosine is incredibly affordable in the $10 and under range, depending on serving size.
NOW AlphaGPC
Nutrabio ALCAR 240g
Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter for memory and focus. It also is the neurotransmitter that makes dopamine useful. For example if we have high dopamine, and low acetylcholine, we will want to start 50 projects with all of that drive but find that we finish none of them because our focus is very poor from the lack of acetylcholine. This lack of acetylcholine also prevents an athlete from properly perceiving the field. If an athlete has high dopamine, and low acetylcholine, the athlete is paying attention to too many factors without properly processing them. Proper acetylcholine levels allows the working professional, university student, and any person who needs to think and process information incredibly clearer. It’s a good idea to eat foods high in choline in your diet to accommodate increasing acetylcholine levels and nuts would be one of the best sources. Eating nuts first thing in the morning would be the optimal timing. Lecithin granules are also a great source of choline, Fearn Lecithin is a great option here. Supplement wise there are extremely potent simulators of acetylcholine production. My favorite is Alpha GPC. This taken at 300-600mg per serving usually provides an immediate boost in the clarity and focus we’re looking to get. Acetyl-L Carnitine is another amazing acetylcholine booster. This brain ready form of carnitine can be taken at 500mg to 1000mg per dose and best when taken with Tyrosine and AlphaGPC. Both products are approximately in the $20 range and affordable for the athlete, student, and working person alike.
Breakfast Neurotransmitter Diet Hacks
We’d listen to tips and tricks from Warren Buffet about Money. We should also pay close attention to an individual who trained multiple Olympic Gold Medal athletes (hundreds of Olympic medals total), CEOs and high C-Level management types, NHL, MLB, and NFL players right? Enter the breakfast trick of world renowned strength and conditioning coach Charles Poliquin which he would recommend for his athletes, intellectuals, and CEOs alike.
Charles teaches that the first bite of food we put in our body dictates a high percentage of our neurotransmitter production for that day. He always taught that optimal thinking for athletes, intellectuals, and CEO’s would be through high levels of dopamine and acetylcholine for the reasons mentioned in the neurotransmitter section above. The exact breakfast recommended to trigger these cognitive boosting neurotransmitters would be red meat and nuts. Red meat is high in tyrosine and will provide the raw amino acid material to produce high levels of dopamine, and the nuts are high in choline allowing for the production of high levels of acetylcholine. Eat this meal first thing in the morning with no other liquids other than water and no food before it.
Examples of this meal are: Beef / Hazelnuts, Venison / Almonds, Yak / Pistachios. To provide more variety it doesn’t always have to be red meat such as: Lobster / Cashews, Chicken / Hazelnuts, Turkey / Walnuts, Salmon / Pine Nuts. Be creative and find the variety. If you’re allergic to nuts there are other foods that contain choline such as apricots, blackberries, asparagus, cauliflower, and more.
“Brain Fertilizers” – Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Nerve Growth Factors
Our brain has stem cells and to assist them in “fertilizing” the brain stem cells properly we need BDNF. The BDNF signals the production of new neurons, synapses, and the “good” brain cells to support improving memory, reaction time, mood, clearer and faster thinking. Nerve Growth Factors help BDNF in maintaining the health of brain cells and possess many of the same benefits. We can help our bodies to produce more of these key brain fertilizers and maintenance proteins through higher level of Omega 3 DHA and Lion’s Mane Mushroom. Although there are several other supplements we could be taking these are the main ones with the greatest degree of performance.
Wiley’s Peak Omega
Nordic Ultimate Omega
Omega 3, specifically DHA, has been shown to increase memory and reaction time at 1.16g in studies. DHA along with EPA is also responsible for higher levels of BDNF to support improving memory, reaction time, mood, clearer and faster thinking. Two specific brands are very good to ensure adequate DHA/EPA in high concentrations for our brain optimization. Wiley’s Finest and Nordic Naturals. Our recommendation for intake would be to start with 2 teaspoons up to 6 teaspoons. The athlete would choose somewhere between 4-6 while everyone else can test 2-3 teaspoons of these high potency Omega oils. If a standard potency oil is chosen it will most likely require a dose of 2 tablespoons to achieve the required DHA amount.
Host Defense Lion’s Mane
Lion’s Mane mushroom is becoming very popular and is an incredible brain food to increase both BDNF and NGF. This incredible mushroom has emerging science showing that it can assist in much more than the brain health that we’re all looking for. It also assists in supporting nerve damage from lack of blood flow, promising tool in the fight against some cancers, and a very large list of other benefits. Lion’s Mane is best taken in a pill, powder, or tincture and Host Defense’s Lion’s Mane is one of the top and highly sought after pure source of this mushroom. Host Defense certifies that it’s Lions Mane product is Organic, Non-GMO, and grown under the supervision of Paul Stamets, one of the US’s most respected Mycologists. We recommend 2 pills twice daily, morning and afternoon, for the brain support and benefits discussed. Lion’s Mane is incredibly affordable at $16 for a 30 cap bottle or $24 for a 60 cap bottle.
All of these methods of supplementation along with specific foods are great ways to improve memory, focus, and general cognitive function to push ourselves to our best driven, optimized, and focused state. We hope you enjoyed this list and compilation of information to hit your best cognitive level from a nutritional standpoint. We’re happy to help answer any questions you may have in our Fullerton, CA or Costa Mesa, CA superstores at your convenience.
References
AlphaGPC increases Acetylcholine – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4595381/
Lacking Tyrosine lowers Dopamine – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11291999
Acetyl-L-Carnitine & Acetyl Choline – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23965166
DHA/EPA increases BDNF – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31098654
DHA normalizes BDNF – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15672635
1.16G DHA for Memory/Reaction Time – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23515006
