Our ability to choose how to react to the world around us is a direct reflection of our cognitive health — and in these uncertain times, it has never been more important to stay mentally fit. So I wanted to share this episode with Dr. David Perlmutter and Dr. Austin Perlmutter, a father-son duo who combined their neurology and internal medicine expertise to write Brain Wash: Detox Your Mind for Clearer Thinking, Deeper Relationships, and Lasting Happiness. This new book exposes how our health, our relationships, and even our thinking have been damaged by modern culture and offers a practical plan for healing. And in this episode, the doctors have a ton of additional lifestyle, diet, and mindset recommendations to help you keep your head right. These dudes are incredibly smart, but they’re also just really cool, down to earth people who bring a huge amount of empathy and love to this conversation — and after listening, you’ll know exactly why that empathy is so critical for both our individual health and society as a whole.   09:00 — What inspired David and Austin to write a book together? Austin saw patients were struggling to followthrough on recommended lifestyle changes; patients were getting the information on how to live healthier, but it wasn’t sticking They decided people need to know how to make better decisions for their health and happiness outcomes They focused not on what decisions you should be making, but the decision-making process itself The prefrontal cortex’s role in decision-making The more we make crappy decisions, the worse our ability to make good decisions becomes Zenbunni Biodynamic Coffee   14:20 — David’s previous book, Grain Brain, and the myths it dispels about our diets Debunking the low-fat scam — a scam propagated by the sugar industry How this contributed to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases The aggressive efforts being made to influence our mindset and choices We’re not fat because we overeat, we overeat because we’re fat More than 60% of the foods in the grocery store have added sweeteners Why sugar is so bad for your brain How a high-carb, high-sugar diet negatively impacts your mood How diet influences our decision-making   27:55 — Our dietary choices should be based around one core unifying idea: what can we do to lower inflammation in our body? The nuances of what fats are good or bad for us More processed foods cause more inflammation How our diet compounds emotional trauma and limbic system loops What is inflammation and how does it affect our brain? How inflammation from any cause affects our mood Providing a bridge between information and action   37:33 — The core message of Brain Wash: we need to cultivate empathy Are there any good sweeteners? How companies are taking advantage of our desire for sugar and our desire to be in a tribe Why going on social media is opting to be socially manipulated How we become addicted to our devices and how to break free from those addictions Narcissism Vs. Empathy How narcissism affects your health Why your prefrontal cortex is so important   52:53 — How inflammation affects the brain How our understanding of inflammation and the brain has evolved rapidly over the last few decades How depression relates to inflammation How inflammation affects our decision-making and what we can learn from that Inflammation and brain fog Dr. Kelly Brogan and the global mismanagement of depression   01:05:49 — When it comes to things like depression, how much of it is being caused by inflammation vs. trauma? Trauma seems to hurt the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala “Stress signalling pathways that impair prefrontal cortex structure and function” The best quick fix to break free from a fight or flight nervous system response Helping people manage unnecessary stress over time Luckily, we can nurture and repair the connections in our brain using empathy and gratitude   01:11:22 — What we can