What the Brain Needs

Robots Versus Zombies

Here’s the central idea behind this book: it’s a good idea to give your brain the nutrition it needs to function and limit the toxicity that weighs it down. Do this, and you will be more likely to feel and function at your best. Feed your internal chemical and emotional machinery with the nutritional raw materials it needs, and you can begin to feel alive and well again. A well-fed, and unburdened, brain will offer you a better chance at resolving uncomfortable moods, reducing anxiety, increasing focus and productivity, and enhancing your overall sense of wellness.

So what does our brain want us to eat? To better understand the needs of the brain, let's take a detour into sci-fi. We can start by comparing the needs of three distinct complex systems – human beings, robots, and zombies. We are not robots, nor are we zombies. But humans do share some things in common with each.

Robots are made of metal, grease, and circuit boards, but maintain no real prerogative of their own. They solely follow the instructions they are given. Similar to humans, robots have real needs. Robots need raw materials, fuel, and maintenance to function optimally. However, beyond all that impressive hardware, there’s not much going on upstairs for robots... no self-awareness and no self-directed passions in life.

In this way, robots are pretty lame. They’re incapable of originality, of creativity, of striving for more in life. But being that way saves them from the “monkey mind” that plagues humans. When you think about it, robots are masters of mindfulness. They focus on just those tasks in front of them at any given moment. They also complete those tasks exceptionally well and with great efficiency. Contrast that to the effectiveness and efficiency of humans at their 9-5. Not as good. When robots finish a task, they seamlessly move on to the next. Without fail, humans check their social media, grab a snack, chat with a neighbor, shop online, daydream, complain about management, and check off other critically essential tasks. Despite this maximal productivity, robots maintain an empty brain. They are soulless. Think about it... no matter what mean things you say to your electronic devices, they never take offense, and always show up for work the next day. In this way, being a robot has its advantages.

Zombies, on the other hand, don’t have many needs; they do just fine lurking around for decades without any upkeep. It's unclear how they have the energy to carry on. They can foot drag their way across miles of obstacle-heavy terrain with no real productivity goal other than to eat as many brains as possible. They are determined, but not deliberate in their decision making. They aren’t as effective as robots, and can easily be outsmarted. Outside of eating brains, they lack real passion and purpose in life. That got lost somewhere on the way from human to zombie.

As impressive as their perseverance appears to be, emotionally, zombies are a mess. Poor zombies groan, gargle, and hiss, but they can never have themselves a good cry. They don’t know how to make friends and they are so one-dimensional with the whole “must eat humans” thing. Day in and day out, zombies persist through the forest, totally parched, in search of their next meal. It’s a never-ending, tortuous struggle. That kind of sounds like our mental and emotional struggles in modern-day life.

Despite all that angst, you’d never catch a zombie working out their grief on a therapist’s couch. They never stop to address the real issues, or try to make things better for themselves. Perhaps the clear-headed robots would make good therapists for these lost soul zombies.

Zombie: Ugggghhhhh

Robot: I can see you are upset. Please tell me more.

Zombie: Raaauugghhhh

Robot: That sounds difficult. How does that make you feel?

Zombie: Graahhhuugghhaaa

Robot: My algorithm tells me this is about your mother.

Zombie: Ghraammmhh

It may be that our modern-day lives are more aligned with the experience of zombies, which is not great. Modern-day life can feel like a never ending, meandering journey through the woods that leaves us feeling lost, alone, and unsatisfied. Like zombies, we are always hungry for more. Ironically, often we are unclear on exactly what we’re hungry for.

How many of us struggle to know if what we’re after is the right thing? How many of us keep persisting despite uncertainty about whether we are even heading in the right direction? How many of us want to break free from the shackles of adult office worker-hood and enjoy life like we did when we were younger? How many of us feel disconnected from our purpose, from our relationships, even from our reasons for doing things?

Anyways, as much as our mental and emotional experience aligns with zombie life, it seems our bodies share more in common with robots. With robots, all you really need to do is focus on the right inputs, and the system will respond with improved function. That’s nice. At least it gives us something to work with in the beginning.

Humans are complex systems with diverse needs – both physical and psychological. We need to satisfy each of these needs to be able to function optimally. Like robots, we need the physical inputs – fuel, maintenance, and repair. But like zombies, we need to be more connected to our purpose and our own inherently awesome, no-external-validation-needed unique identity.

Achieving peace of mind requires that we find ways to be driven and productive without the pain and suffering that so frequently accompanies constantly seeking to be quicker, faster, stronger, better. It also requires a healthy, well-fed brain.

Brain Drain

As you’ll discover in the following chapters, it’s no wonder we are suffering so much. Our brains are starving with this Western pattern diet. Our brains are also overloaded from stress and other forms of toxicity in this modern-day environment. We don’t give our bodies and brains what’s needed in terms of nutrition. And, we stress out our brains and bodies with constant psychological pressures. Our brains are literally starving for nutrients that just aren’t present in adequate amounts in the Western pattern diet. Similarly, our lifestyles are hungry for more meaning and healthy stimulation. We lost the genuine human connections that used to fill us up. We lost the time allotted to digesting life and discovering what it means to us. There’s an excess as well as a deficiency going on at the same time. In that scenario, dysfunction naturally follows.

The following chapter will detail what we need to put on the dinner table to start feeling and functioning better. We have established thus far that consuming (and hopefully absorbing) a specific collection of dietary nutrients gives the brain what it needs to function at its best. This is common sense. But it’s also backed up by research. The solutions for our harmful modern-day lifestyle is outlined in chapter four. The gist is to stress less about stuff that truly doesn’t matter as much, stress more about the stuff that does.

Everyone has the sense that eating better can make you feel better. Yet, the question remains. What exactly should I eat to feel better mentally and emotionally? Research exists that helps us understand what and how traditional cultures ate. Numerous fast food restaurants exist to provide examples of what we shouldn’t eat. In terms of the available scientific research, many studies have examined the effects on subjects when scientists artificially create a deficiency of a key nutrient. Related studies see what happens when key nutrients (that are deficient) are then replenished with supplementation. And, there’s incredibly dense and confusing research, filled with Latin sounding scientific terms and long, run-on sentences that clarify the mechanism of action for these key nutrients.

All of this research, as you can see with the hundreds of citations in this book, supports the guidance provided throughout this book. It’s there to back up the idea that the brain works better, and mental health symptoms tend to diminish, when we regularly consume foods with these key nutrients.

The final chapters contain diagrams to help explain exactly how all these key nutrients support the brain. These diagrams depict important processes in the brain (including neurotransmitter activity, energy production, immune protection, balanced stimulation). They illustrate where the key nutrients highlighted in TMWD fit into these important processes. The key nutrients all play specific roles in supporting our learning, memory, focus, and emotional regulation.

So get ready, things are about to pick up speed. Don’t worry if you feel like all this science hits you like a ton of bricks. The take home point will remain the same. Take care of your brain. Feed it well. Don’t overload it with unnecessary stress. Give it something big to work towards. Do this, and your brain will have the best chance at helping you to feel mentally well.