Part I: The Accidental Psychiatrist’s Approach to the Epidemic of Broken Brains

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Chapter 1: Broken Brains: A Twenty-first Century Epidemic

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No one is talking about this invisible epidemic. Yet it’s the leading cause of disability, affects 1.1 billion people worldwide — one in six children, one in two elderly — and will cripple one in four people during their lifetime.

We refer to our “broken brains” by many names — depression, anxiety, memory loss, brain fog, attention deficit disorder or ADD, autism, and dementia to name a few. This epidemic of brain breakdown shows up in radically different ways from person to person so that they all seem like separate problems. But the truth is that they are all manifestations of a few common underlying root causes. These seemingly different disorders are all really the same problem — imbalances in the seven keys to UltraWellness.

Our Looming Silent Epidemic of Broken Brains

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Obesity is obvious. You can’t hide it. But mental illness and memory loss are suffered silently, hidden from view. Yet they touch nearly everyone either directly or indirectly; personally or through family members and friends.

Our broken brains cause many problems—anxiety, depression, bipolar disease, personality disorders, eating disor-ders, addictions, obsessive- compulsive disorder, attention deficit disorder, autism, Asperger’s, learning difficulties, and dyslexia.

Broken brains take many shapes, including psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and mania, as well as all the neurodegenerative diseases of aging, especially Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.

In addition, there are brain dysfunctions that fall on the lighter side of the broken brain continuum. While many psychiatrists and neurologists wouldn’t qualify these problems as treatable diseases, they still cause unnecessary suffering for many. These include chronic stress, lack of focus, poor concentration, brain fog, anger, mood swings, sleep problems, or just feeling a bit anxious or depressed most of the time.

Broken brains show up in two major ways: psychiatric disorders — problems that most blame on emotional trauma — and neurological disorders — problems most consider to be caused by neurological impairment, not emotional malfunctioning. Whether you suffer from a psychiatric disorder like depression or a neurological disorder like Alzheimer’s, the simple fact is this… Our brains don’t work well.

The problem is that we’ve been looking for answers to these problems in the wrong places — in the corners of our past, in the chemical “imbalances” in our brains, in the latest drug or therapeutic approach. This is especially true of psychiatry and neurology, the two specialties that typically treat “brain disorders.” Neurologists and psychiatrists focus on treating your brain using medications or psychotherapy. In fact, most psychiatrists and neurologists focus solely on their favorite organ, the brain, and ignore the rest of the body.

But what if the cure for brain disorders is outside the brain? What if mood, memory, attention and behavior prob-lems, and most other “brain diseases” have their root cause in the rest of the body—in treatable imbalances in the body’s key systems? What if they are not localized in the brain? If this is true, it would mean our whole approach to dealing with brain disorders is completely backward. Indeed, it is.

To cure the epidemic of broken brains we have to ask a new set of questions:

• How do we find the cause of this epidemic?
  
• Are we defectively designed, or is it our toxic environment, our nutrient- depleted diet, and our unremitting stress affecting our sensitive brains? Is it the result of imbalances in our body?
  
• Are more drugs really the answer, or is there a way to address the underlying causes of this epidemic so that we can regain our mental (and physical) health and live whole, functional, fulfilling lives?

There is an answer to brain problems, but it’s not more drugs or psychotherapy. Although these tools can be a helpful bridge during your recovery from a broken brain, they won’t provide long-term solutions. The secret that promises to help us fix our broken brains lies in an unlikely place, a place modern medicine has mostly ignored.

The answer lies in our body.

Chapter 2: The Accidental Psychiatrist: Finding the Body-Mind Connection

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The body and mind are a single, dynamic bidirectional system. What you do to one has enormous impact on the other. What you do to your body you do to your brain. Heal your body and you heal your brain.

A New Road Map for Treating Disease: The Seven Keys to UltraWellness

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Unlike conventional medicine, Functional Medicine personalizes treatment based on a patient’s unique needs. We are all different. We have a different genetic makeup. As a result our bodies react to our environment in different ways. Understanding this allows us to develop unique methods to treat people, not diseases.

At the heart of this paradigm shift are the seven keys of UltraWellness, the same keys that make up the UltraMind Solution.

The Seven Keys: Staying in Balance

• Key #1: Optimize Nutrition
  

• We are made of the stuff we eat. Our biology, biochemistry, and physiology need certain raw materials to run optimally—the right balance and quality of protein, fats, carbohydrates, the right vitamins and minerals in the correct dose for each of us and all the colorful pigments in plant foods, called phytonutrients, that support our well- being and function. Nearly all of us are nutritionally imbalanced in one way or another.

• Key #2: Balance Your Hormones
  

• Our hormones, including insulin, thyroid, sex hormones, stress hormones, and many more, are a symphony of molecules. They have to work in harmony for you to be healthy.
  

• Key #3: Cool off Inflammation
  

• We must protect and defend ourselves from foreign invaders or abnormal cells inside our own body. When this is over- or underactive, illness occurs. Inflammation of the brain is a central theme for almost all psychiatric and neurologic conditions, as well as most chronic disease. If you have a broken brain it is almost certainly inflamed.

• Key #4: Fix Your Digestion
  

• Digesting, absorbing, and assimilating all the food and nutrients we eat is critical for health. Our digestive systems must also protect us from internal toxins, bugs, and potential allergens, as well as eliminate wastes. Breakdown anywhere in this process creates illness.

• Key #5: Enhance Detoxification
  

• Our bodies must eliminate all of our metabolic wastes and toxins, which we take in from the environment through our food, air, water, and medications. The toxic burden in the twenty- first century is overwhelming and often our bodies can’t keep up. This leads to illness.

• Key #6: Boost Energy Metabolism
  

• Life is energy. Once no more energy is produced in your cells, you die. The process of extracting energy from the food you eat and the oxygen you breathe is the most essential process of life. Keeping that metabolic engine running smoothly and protecting it from harm are essential for health. Loss of energy is found in almost all brain disorders.

• Key #7: Calm Your Mind
  

• A life of meaning and purpose, a life in balance with connection, community, love, support, and a sense of empowerment, are essential for health. The overwhelming stresses of the twenty- first century, including social isolation, overwork, and disempowerment, create enormous strain on our nervous system, leading to burnout and breakdown.

By treating imbalances in these seven keys we now have a way to cure, stop, slow, and reverse this looming epidemic of “brain” disorders (as well as virtually all the diseases we see in the twenty-first century).

You see, your genes are not fixed but capable of dynamically responding to information or instructions that come from your diet, lifestyle, and environment. The “information” you send your genes determines whether you stay well or get sick, and just how well you function day to day.

This is the study of nutrigenomics (the science of how food affects your genes), and it is the other critical piece of this new road map for healing disease outlined in The UltraMind Solution.

A New Approach to Understanding Food: Nutrigenomics

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The first step is to take out the bad stuff (the things that create imbalance, such as a nutrient- poor, processed diet; toxins; allergens; infections; and stress); remove what’s bugging you. If you have ten tacks in your foot, you can’t take out one, pop an aspirin, and hope to feel better. You need to find and take out all the tacks; taking out just one of them won’t make you better.

The second step is to add the good stuff (high-quality whole foods, nutrients, water, oxygen, light, movement, sleep, relaxation, community, connection, love, meaning, and purpose), and the body’s natural intelligence and healing system will take care of the rest. This is the foundation of The UltraMind Solution.

That’s all there is to it. Using this simple, yet comprehensive, method allows me to treat virtually all diseases, whether they are “in the brain” or “in the body.” And it works for one simple reason: the body and the brain are one system.

Chapter 3: The Myths of Psychiatry and Neurology

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The Myth of Diagnosis

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We are in the naming and blaming game in medicine. It’s what we’ve been trained to do. Find the name of the disease then match the drug to the disease. So, if you have depression, you need an antidepressant. This method is outdated, increasingly useless and often dangerous.

But these are just names which we associate to a collection of symptoms. This name has NOTHING to do with the cause of the disease. It only describes the symptoms.

The truth is that the medical practice is virtually predicated on the myth of diagnosis.

The Myth of Medication

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Depression is NOT a Prozac deficiency. Doctors are paid to be pharmacy workers, not healers (except surgeons). This is a direct consequence of the myth of diagnosis.

The Braincell Myth

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Once you loose a braincell, it’s gone forever. But the latest research shows that the brain can repair and even regenerate itself. You CAN make new braincells. It’s called neurogenesis. And you can improve connection between braincells: it’s called neuroplasticity.

The key to optimal brain health is to lessen the things that kill braincells and add more of the things that promote new braincells.

Chapter 4: Why You Are Suffering from Brain Damage: Learning How to Protect Your Brain

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Our brains are the most sensitive organs in our bodies. They respond almost instantly to insults. Stop insulting your brain. Most of us have no clue that sitting on the couch and watching TV hurts our brain. So does losing a few hours of sleep per night or drinking cola etc. Save your brain. Learn what harms and what enhances it.

Toxic Foods

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There are two toxic foods that everyone should eliminate from their diet today immediately. Throw out everything that contain these two ingredients because they damage your brain and also your body.

• high fructose corn syrup or any form of sugar or refined carbohydrates
  
• trans fats or hydrogenated fats – trans fats come from processed foods, baked goods, most fried foods, margarine and virtually any product that comes from a factory

By eliminating these two man-made ingredients you will really transform your brain overnight.

Protect Your Head

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Protect your brain. Avoid contact sports and hitting your head. Wear helmets.

Your Brain Loves Sleep

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Sleep is when your body repairs and heals.

Sedentary Lifestyle

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When you don’t exercise, you have low levels of IGF-1 (repair and youth growth hormone) and low levels of BDNF (Brain-derived Neurotropic Factor). These two are used to make new braincells and improve connections between existing braincells.

Don’t Stress Your Brain Out

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Relax and don’t stress yourself because it damages your brain. Relax more, meditate regularly, practice yoga, deep breathing etc and your brain will grow.

Toxic Drugs

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• Sugar
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Nicotine

All of these damages your brain. Addiction to any of them seriously damages it. Moderate use is harmless, but not regular.

Medications

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We are becoming a pill-popping people. Be careful which drugs you take because you don’t know what their long-term effects are (what nutrients they take away by secondary effects etc). Try to treat your condition with lifestyle first, before going to medication.

Use supplements.

Metal-containing Medications

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Read the labels for *aluminum, mercury etc.

Toxic Chemicals

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We are bombarded with unknown chemicals which haven’t been studied for effects.

• Additives and toxins in our food
  
• Household and environmental toxins (VLC)
  
• Toxic molds in homes – be extremely aggressive in addressing it
  
• Toxic metals – mercury and lead – eat sardines and other small fish
  
• Toxic waves – use caution

Part II: the Seven Keys to UltraWellness

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Chapter 5: Your Mood and Brain Power Are Not All in Your Head: The Seven Keys to UltraWellness

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The Seven Keys: Staying in Balance

• Key #1: Optimize Nutrition
  
• Key #2: Balance Your Hormones
  
• Key #3: Cool off Inflammation
  
• Key #4: Fix Your Digestion
  
• Key #5: Enhance Detoxification
  
• Key #6: Boost Energy Metabolism
  
• Key #7: Calm Your Mind

The following 7 chapters will detail them. Each chapter contains a quiz found in the Companion Guide which will tell you where you are out of balance.

Chapter 6: Key 1: Optimize Nutrition — The Key to Mental Health and Brain Health

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Optimal nutrition is the most important factor to keeping your brain healthy.

Feeding our brain is not something most of us know how to do.

Fats

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Omega 3 fatty acids – check for deficiency (EPA, DHA); eat fish & take supplements

Phospholipids (PS Phosphatidylserine supplements, PC – Phosphatidylcholine (lecithin supplements, peanuts, eggs etc) )

Eat a can of sardines to have Omega 3, phospholipids, protein.

Protein and Amino Acids

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Essential Amino Acids – for the brain; eat protein and take supplements (protein or amino acids)

Neurotransmitters: Dopamine (DA), Serotonin (SE, 5-HT), Y-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), Acetylcholine (ACh) – the 4 most important

• Dopamine – the mood molecule – supplement with Tyrosine, Phenylalanine, Omega 3, B12, B6
  
• Serotonin – the feel good molecule – supplement with Tryptophan, B6, Magnesium, protein, less stress, less Cortisol (stress hormone), less sugar
  
• GABA – getting relaxed – take GABA supplements
  
• Acetylcholine – learning & remembering things – supplement with B12, B5, eggs, soy, PS, PC

Be sure to supplement with the other amino acids as well.

Carbohydrates

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The single most important food for long-term health and brain function. Look up Michael Palmer’s The Omnivore Dilemma.

Beans, nuts, broccoli, green tea etc.

Key principles:

• Eat food
  
• Not too much
  
• Mostly plants

Vitamins and Minerals

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Take a basic vitamin and multimineral supplement.

The amounts recommended by the government aren’t enough for optimal health. You need much more.

Each individual needs different amounts of nutrients.

The most important trio: B6, B12, and Folate (B9) – fish, eggs, sunflower seeds, garlic, broccoli etc

• vitamin D – up to 25 times more the recommended dosage: sunlight, mackerel, herring, salmon, cod liver oil, supplements; optimal 50-80 ng / ml in blood
  
• Magnesium – the relaxation mineral
  
• Zinc
  
• Selenium

Two main issues which cause problems:

• Your genes (predisposition to certain diseases => diet, nutrition)
• Your environment

Chapter 7: Key 2: Balance Your Hormones

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Three main problems:

• Too much Insulin (from too much sugar)
• Too much Cortisol and Adrenaline (from too much stress)
• Not enough Thyroid hormone

Insulin and Your Brain

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Blood sugar, blood pressure

Check your waist to weight ratio to see if you have insulin resistance (>0.8). Take an insulin response test. See Companion Guide.

As a hunter-gatherer species we ate about 20 teaspoons of sugar per year. In 1800 we eat 10 pounds of sugar and now 20 teaspoons per day.

Exercise.

Thyroid Gland

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Sex Hormones

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Bad habits (drinking, smoking) and stress deplete your sex hormones.

PMS affects 75% of women.

Get your sex hormones back in balance and all the problems disappear.

• Estrogen
  
• Progesteron
  
• Testosterone

Sex hormones are imbalanced by:

• Caffeine
  
• Stress
  
• High sugar
  
• Dairy products (in shops)
  
• Alcohol
  
• Insufficient exercise

Sleep

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Getting enough sleep is the most important thing you can do for your health.

Most of us need at least 7-8 hours of restful sleep at night.

You have to prioritize sleep.

Chapter 8: Key 3: Cool Off Inflammation

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Be on the lookout for systemic inflammation.

Don’t eat sugar.

Find out if you have food allergies (York Test)

Common food allergies:

• Gluten (wheat, barley, oats)
  
• Dairy (milk, cheese)
  
• Corn
  
• Eggs
  
• Soy
  
• Yeast

Chapter 9: Key 4: Fix Your Digestion

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Your gut has a mind of its own. It is your second brain. It has its own nervous system (Enteric Nervous System).

Food inflammations (allergies) are related to the gut.

It’s sometimes helpful to get blood tests for IGG allergies.

Chapter 10: Key 5: Enhance Detoxification

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Be careful of the toxins around you. We live in a sea of toxins.

Some people are great detoxifiers, others are not.

Mercury. Don’t put mercury fillings and if you have, get rid of them.

Glutathione (GSH) – the most important detox agent. For it to be produced, you must have enough Folic acid, B6 and B12. Eat foods that contain sulphur like garlic, broccoli sprouts, cabbage, wasabi, horseradish, egg yolks, most forms of protein. It is produced by three amino acids:

• Lysine
  
• Cysteine
  
• Glutamine

Our genes are influenced by how we live. We can even stop and reverse the effects of toxicity.

Chapter 11: Key #6: Boost Energy Metabolism

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The brain uses the most energy in your body.

Want more energy? Heal your mitochondria.

Colorful plant pigment from green, orange, red, blue and purple colors in our diet are our major sources of antioxidants. For example, if you eat a rainbow diet full of blueberries, red grapes, sweet potatoes etc, you’re getting a whole array of antioxidants.

Lipoic acid (ALA), L-Carnitine, Coenzime Q10 and NADH are important to repair the damage done to the mitochondria.

This is what aging ultimately is: slow destruction and damage of our mitochondria, the results from nutrition deficiencies, low levels of antioxidants, exposure to toxins, infections and stress.

Oxidative stress causes:

• too much excitement (NMDA receptor over-activation) – Cortizol, Mercury, Aspartame, stress, etc; stay calm – take Magnezium, Zinc, GABA, Taurine, D6, D, green tea, red grapes (or red wine), peanuts, berries; Resveratrol supplements come from a herb called Chinese/Japanese giant knotweed (or Huzhang)

The SIR2 gene controlls longevity. It improves blood sugar balance.

Use a whole team of compounds to tune your body.

Zinc, Copper, Manganese => SOD enzyme

Selenium.

Chapter 12: Key #7: Calm Your Mind

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Thoughts are things that can heal or harm.

Adapt to change. See the glass half true. Know how to turn lemons into lemonade.

What is your meaning and purpose in life ?

Luckily, our bodies have an antidote to the stress response: the Vagus nerve – our natural balancing system. To activate it:

• take a deep breath into your belly
• count to 5
• pause for 1 second and breathe out slowly (count to 5)
• do it for 5 times with eyes closed

When you take a deep breath and expand your diaphragm, your Vagus nerve is stimulated, inflammation is reduced and also your Cortizol levels are reduced. It is a relaxation response, opposite to a stress response. It is necessary for your body to heal.

Tips:

• meditation
• read the relaxation tips in the Companion Guide

Do it everyday, five times a day, for five days and see what happens. When you wake up, before every meal and before going to bed.

The stress response is also affected by the food we eat (quality and type).

Part III: The UltraMind Solution

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Chapter 13: The Six-Week Basic Brain-Boosting Program for Everyone: A Simple Approach to Optimal Brain Function and Health

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You will change your body by:

• changing your diet
  
• taking a few brain-boosting supplements
  
• other simple changes

Some changes will take place instantly, others in time.

The 6-week plan consists of 4 basic components:

• a healthy eating plan designed to help you heal and optimize your brain
  
• basic supplements that you need to take in order to balance your brain chemistry
  
• lifestyle changes that include exercise, relaxation, sleep and brain or mental exercises
  
• living clean and green to reduce your exposure to environmental toxins

How the program works:

• the preparation phase (one week before the program starts): most of us are drug addicts and don’t realise it – sugar, junk food, caffeine and alcohol – get off them
  
• the 6-week program
  
• cleaning up your diet: get rid of junk food or foods you are allergic to and move to real, clean, unprocessed foods
  
• take a 2-week vacation from gluten and dairy – the two major food allergies; you can reintegrate them at the end of the program
  
• eliminate sugar, processed foods, toxic foods

The following chapters contain an overview of the program. Also look up the Companion Guide.

Chapter 14: Eating Right for Your Brain: A Science-Based, Whole-Foods Approach to Eating — Food as Medicine

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Basic principles:

• eat whole, real, fresh, organic and unprocessed food
  
• eat a lot of fruits and vegetables full of phytonutrients
  
• eat foods with plenty of fiber
  
• eat foods containing lots of Omega 3 fats

If you follow these principles, you are doing 90% of the things needed to stay healthy and improve your brain.

But the first step is to stop the factors that cause damage to you, the ones we’ve talked about.

For the duration of the program, eliminate:

• gluten (wheat, barley, rye, oats)
• dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream, ice cream)

After that, you can add it back and you will see if it affects you.

What should I eat and how should I eat it? – Eating principles (see Companion Guide for full details)

• food quality -> mind quality (in order of importance)
  
• real foods – choose real, whole, organic, unprocessed foods, as close to their natural state as possible (fresh vegetables, whole fruit, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds, small fish, chicken)
  
• clean foods – choose foods free of hormones, antibiotics, pesticides etc
  
• eat organic
  
• eat local foods that are in season
  
• when should I eat – meal timing
  
• besides avoiding flour and sugar, eating smaller, more frequent meals helps
  
• eat breakfast everyday and eat some protein for breakfast such as whole Omega 3 containing eggs, soy or rice protein shakes or nut butters
  
• eat something every 4 hours which helps keeping your insulin and blood levels normal
  
• eat a small protein snack in the morning and in the afternoon such as a handful of almonds
  
• when possible, avoid eating during the 2-3 hours before you go to bed
  
• how should I eat – composing the perfect meal is essential – choose something from each of the whole food categories:
  
• carbohydrates:
  
• beans
  
• soybeans
  
• cornucopia of fruits and vegetables (low-glicemic) – asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, spinach etc
  
• berries, cherries, plums, pears and apples
  
• kiwi, melons
  
• high fiber diet (30-50g / day)
  
• minimize starchy foods like potatoes, corn and root vegetables – they’re good, but in small ammounts
  
• fats:
  
• Omega 3 fats (cold water fish – wild salmon, sardines, herring, small halibut, black cod or sable; canned wild salmon, sardines, herring – great emergency food)
  
• Omega 3 eggs – up to 8 per week
  
• extra virgin olive oil – your main oil except for high temperature cooking – use unrefined or pressed sesame oil for that
  
• proteins:
  
• beans or legumes (including whole traditional soy products – edamame, tofu, tempeh)
  
• nuts like almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans
  
• seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, flax
  
• Omega 3 eggs
  
• safe mercury-free fish (see above)
  
• organic grass-fed hormone, antibiotic-free poultry
  
• small amounts of grass-fed hormone-free beef – no more than once or twice a week and no more than 4-6 ounces per serving
  
• avoid excess quantities of meat and eat organic, lean products when possible

Eating 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables a day can reduce your risk to almost any known disease of our modern civilization.

To get enough phytonutrients in your diet, try:

• focus on anti-inflamatory foods (plant sources of Omega 3 fats – walnuts or flax seeds; red and purple berries, dark green leafy vegetables and orange sweet potatoes)
  
• eat more antioxidant-rich and energy-boosting foods including orange and yellow vegetables and dark green leafy vegetables like spinach and berries, purple grapes, cranberries, blueberries, cherries – antioxidants are in all colorful fruits and vegetables
  
• include detoxifying foods in your diet like broccoli, chinese cabbage, green tea, garlic, cocoa
  
• use hormone-balancing foods like whole soy foods and ground flax seeds, ginger, garlic, onions, green tea, chocolate (but only the darkest, most luxurious kind and only one to two ounces a day with at least 70% cocoa)

Chapter 15: Tuning Up Your Brain Chemistry with Supplements

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• a high quality supplement that contains all the essential vitamins and minerals (2-6 capsules a day)
  
• Calcium and Magnesium (calcium citrate 600-800 mg total dosage per day from all sources of supplements; magnesium citrate 400-600 mg total)
  
• 1200-1500 mg of calcium total per day from supplements + foods; don’t go over it
  
• avoid magnesium carbonate, sulfate, gluconate or oxide – they don’t absorb well
  
• vitamin D3 – 2000 IU (international units) from foods in addition to multivitamin; monitor your vitamin D blood level (ideal 50-80 mg / ml)
  
• Omega 3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) – fish oil 1000mg twice a day (morning, evening, right before a meal) EPA to DHA ratio of 300:200
  
• folic acid (B9), B6, B12 – B complex vitamin or individually
  
• folic acid (B9) – 800 mcg with at least 400 mcg coming from L-methylfolate
  
• B6 – 50 mg (some people may need 250 mg)
  
• B12 – 1000 mcg with at least 500 mcg coming from methyl alamine; with age, B12 shots may be required (absorbtion deficit)
  
• probiotics – at least 10-20 billion organisms per dose once in morning, once at night

Not all supplements are created equal. Choose wisely.

Generally, take all your vitamins with food. Optimally, with the meal, or just before.

Also see Companion Guide.

Chapter 16: The UltraMind Lifestyle: Exercise, Relax, Sleep, and Train Your Brain

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• exercise: walk vigurously for 30 minutes everyday or play some sports; get a step counter (pedometer) – see if you get to 10k steps per day
  
• relax: the simplest is soft belly breathing (5 times a day: morning, before each meal, before bed)
  
• Soft belly breathing
  
• put hand on belly and allow abdomen to relax
  
• close your eyes or soften your focus by looking at the floor a few feet in front
  
• inhale through nose and exhale through mouth
  
• breathe deeply into abdomen and feel it expand to the count of five
  
• pause for a count of one
  
• exhale slowly to a count of five
  
• repeat for 5 breaths or until you feel relaxed
  
• the UltraBath – fill a bath with hot water, add two cups of absynth salt, a 1/2 cup of baking soda and 10 drops of lavender oil; get in and soak for 20 minutes; you can light a candle, put some nice music
  
• Other options: exercise, massage, yoga, sauna, journaling
  
• sleep: 7-9 hours per night; go to sleep at 10 or 11 pm tops
  
• train your brain: paint, write a journal, try a new hobby, do math in your head, memorize, travel, play word games, crossword puzzle, practice mental aerobics etc

See Companion Guide.

Chapter 17: Living Clean and Green

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• drink clean water: drink a minimum of 6-8 8-ounce glasses of clean, filtered water per day (2 liters)
  
• drinking tap water is less than ideal – use carbon filters (the best water filter is a reverse osmosis filter)
  
• drink mineral or still water in glass bottles, not in plastic bottles if you can
  
• limit your exposure to chemicals and metals: get rid of mold, install an air filter, avoid second-hand smoke and other toxins
  
• avoid microwave food
  
• have houseplants
  
• avoid dust
  
• use natural incandescent light bulbs if possible, not bright bulbs
  
• keep your body fluids moving: have 1-2 bowel movements per day, drink 2l of water, sweat with exercise and saunas
  
• reduce your exposure to electro-pollution or electromagnetic radiation: use caution with mobile phones, PCs

Chapter 18: The Preparation Week: Preparing Your Body and Mind for the Goodness to Come =====

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This week, get rid of bad habits that interfere with your brain. Items to eliminate

• caffeine
  
• processed & refined carbohydrates and sugars (all flour-based products like bread and pasta and all forms of sugar)
  
• avoid high fructose corn syrup
  
• hydrogenated or trans fats (baked goods, chips, fries – almost any packaged food)
  
• alcohol
  
• gluten
  
• dairy

You may experience withdrawal symptoms. Stay on track.

See Companion Guide.

Chapter 19: The UltraMind Solution: Boosting Your Brain Power for Life

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No restriction is put on the amount of calories you eat. Counting your proteins, fats and carbs is unnecessary.

Pay attention to how your body feels and what works for you.

Stick to a ritualized schedule as much as you can. Do everything at the same times everyday. It makes the program easier.

The UltraMind Solution revols around simple principles:

• eat healthy
  
• take supplements
  
• exercise
  
• relax
  
• sleep
  
• train your brain
  
• live clean and green

Chapter 20: What to Do When the Six Weeks Are Over: Achieve an UltraMind for Life

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Listen to the wisdom of your body. Go slowly and monitor your responses. You have two options:

• continue the program (without dairy and gluten); you can add a treat sometimes, with moderation
  
• reintegrate dairy and gluten: eat them at least 2-3 times a day for 3 days unless you notice a reaction; if so, STOP and get off them; don’t integrate them both at the same time, leave a 3-day space; keep a log and track your symptoms

Part IV: Balancing the Seven Keys and Optimizing the Plan

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Chapter 21: Creating an UltraMind: Balance the Seven Keys to UltraWellness and Optimize the Six-Week Plan

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After you completed the quizzes in the Companion Guide, you will have three options:

• UltraMind: follow the Part III normally
  
• Self-Care: use suggestions in the Companion Guide
  
• Medical Care: follow the normal program with the additional Self-Care suggestions for 6 weeks, then retake the quizzes. If you still qualify for Medical Care, see a practitioner.

See Companion Guide for details.