today I'm going to talk about

how to get rid of brain fog.

Brain fog is a symptom that is quite

common and it feels like you're

borderline getting dementia, getting

old, even though you're maybe in

your early forties or late thirties.

And it looks like forgetting things,

not having the concentration to

work through tasks it's basically

forgetting things all the time.

I kind of makes it really hard to work.

It kind of feels like you're

working with a head full of cotton

wool or something like that.

So my clients will say to

me, I can't get my work done.

It makes everything so much harder

because it's really then trying

to push and use a lot of mental

energy because that level of

concentration is just not there.

Besides being very frustrating and making

it much harder to work and be productive

and getting things done on time and

also remembering to do things and not

forgetting appointments, forgetting a

meeting, forgetting a deadline, right?

it can indicate some underlining

conditions may be going on.

So brain fog is a symptom and it's linked

to a couple of different, uh, situations.

So the first one being excess stress.

If you had a period of chronic stress.

Brain fog is very, very common.

So I see women who are exhausted,

anxious, burnt out and brain

fog is one of those symptoms

that they really struggle with.

thyroid disruption can

also cause brain fog.

So that's one of the classic

symptoms of thyroid disruption.

So thyroid is this gland, which is

the queen of the metabolism, but also

helps us with memory and concentration.

And so if there is any.

Disruption like low thyroid function

or autoimmune thyroid conditions.

One of the common symptoms is brain fog.

The third common reason

is poor gut health.

Gut health and thyroid

are very much linked.

Stress, chronic stress, and poor

gut health is also very linked.

And so, I'm going to talk

more about that as we go.

And the fourth one is perimenopause.

by the time a woman gets to her

40s, she could have perimenopause,

thyroid disturbances, chronic stress.

Which really kind of is very typical

for what I see because these women

are very driven, work very hard and

it can create imbalances in the body.

There isn't a test to test for brain

fog, but what you'd be looking at is

the conditions that I just mentioned.

So if there's a high stress situation.

So in the previous podcast, I talked

about what pathology tests you can

do to have a look at what imbalances

are creating your symptoms, what

imbalances are controlling your

energy, your mood, and your metabolism.

So stress can be a factor.

And so some of those tests are looking

at your stress hormones or the adrenal

response or stress response system.

So this is looking at

hormones like cortisol.

So, you know, if that's high or low

or it's impacted, it can indicate a

period of chronic stress, which can can

definitely create the brain fog symptom.

The second one is thyroid.

And I did go more into detail in the

last podcast, but the thyroid imbalances

can be detected on pathology testing.

So you've got a standard thyroid

panel and you also have your

antibodies that you want to have

checked as well, because sometimes

your thyroid panel looks normal.

, But your pathology or your antibody

tests are all over the place.

Perimenopause can't be detected on

a blood test, unfortunately, and gut

symptoms can show up different things.

So what are the things that you can

do to reduce brain fog and get your

memory back, get full concentration,

feel like you have that mental power

to get through your work quite easily

and effortlessly and not feel so kind

of drained at the end of the day.

So number one is really looking after

your blood glucose levels, because if

there's been a period of stress, what

tends to happen is As our blood sugar

levels fluctuate, if we miss meals,

we take too long to eat breakfast,

we're eating things with high sugar

or high processed foods, it's going to

disrupt our glucose levels, which will

also disrupt our stress hormone level.

And the other thing with our glucose

is that it affects our brain, right?

So our brain uses a lot of glucose.

We have insulin receptors in the

brain, which respond to glucose.

So it really does affect

our mental health.

So what you're eating day to day, what

you're doing as soon as you wake up in

the morning is having an impact to your

mental function for the rest of the day.

So the number thing that I recommend is.

Don't skip breakfast.

Don't go hours before having breakfast.

Don't wake up and have a cup of

coffee first and then wait two to

three hours before eating anything.

So what you want to do is have

your breakfast first, then have

any kind of coffee or anything

that you want afterwards.

So I normally recommend about

20, 30 minutes in the morning.

That's the only gap to wait

until you have your breakfast.

And then something like adding

collagen to your breakfast, like

a collagen smoothie, will help

to improve brain health, right?

So collagen contains a lot of glycine,

which is great for anxiety, but

it's also great for brain health.

brain fog as well.

The second thing is to eat regular

meals, and this goes back again to

making sure that there's no fluctuations

in the glucose level, which is going

to create more stress on the body.

And then you want to make sure

that you've got enough proteins

and fats that again, stabilize

the blood glucose levels.

And the third thing I want to

mention here with diet and the

glucose is to cut out the fat.

Sugar and processed foods, so even

if you're relying on them because

you're stressed, you're tired, you've

got so much to do and you're pushing

through it at the end of like 2,

3 o'clock, you're hitting the wall

because you're tired, cut that out

because that will again disrupt your

glucose levels and will create those

highs and lows of your energy anyway.

The other thing to look at is to

assess if you have any gut symptoms.

Things like bloating, wind, reflux,

indigestion, changes in your bowel

habits, all indicate that there can be

poor function in the digestive system.

Now, it is not uncommon to have no

symptoms from the digestive system

and still have poor gut function.

So one of the most common things that

we see is leaky gut, which is where

the Digestive lining is compromised,

which creates a lot of inflammation

throughout the body, including the brain.

And so this is where

we can get brain fog.

And this kind of gut derived

inflammation makes us feel like, I

don't know, like I kind of describe it.

Like if you're walking around with this

inflammation in the brain, it feels

like trying to work with a hangover.

If you've ever done that.

And I certainly have, you know,

that you're not getting much done.

You're just trying to get

through the work that you need

to just kind of the get by stuff.

Right?

And so poor gut function, again, comes

from stress, the foods that we eat

when we're stressed, the processed

foods, the alcohol, the caffeine, even

some medications can affect the gut.

And it creates an environment which

causes, uh, imbalances in our pH.

We can get gut bugs building up,

which create more more fermentation.

It affects the microbiome.

So, I would be looking at,

you know, number one, do you

have any gut related symptoms?

Those ones that you can identify already.

Like, do you already feel

like, actually, you know what?

I am bloated and I do get reflux after

I eat, or I don't feel a hundred percent

after it, maybe you feel nauseous.

Maybe you feel some of

those symptoms, right?

So whatever symptoms are out, they are

an invitation to do a bit more work.

And to look at what

could be going on there.

So doing gut repair to correct

the nutrient deficiencies

that can be creating.

The brain fog, one of the most

common ones is B12, right?

B12 is absorbed in our gut and

when we have poor gut function,

we have deficiency of B12 which

affects our brain, affects our

nervous system, affects our

mood, but can create brain fog.

The other thing to look at is allergies

with food or food intolerances.

So this is a big one.

There may be foods that you're having

that are actually causing an imbalance

in your gut and creating, you know, leaky

gut, which then creates inflammation,

which is then creating the brain fog.

So the most common foods which

people have reactions to, are gluten.

and dairy.

They're the two most common ones.

There are other ones, but they

are definitely the most common.

And so if you're not sure, I always

say cut them out, see how you feel,

see how your symptoms feel, see how

you feel with your energy, see how

you feel with your concentration.

So just to rehash what you can do

to get rid of brain fog is number

one, try to isolate the cause.

Like have a check to have a look at, you

know, stress markers, thyroid markers.

Are you in perimenopause?

What can you correct there?

Secondly, look at making sure

there's no blood glucose level

fluctuations, which is going to

place your body under more stress.

And so, as I said, you know,

brain fog is very common with

hot periods of high stress.

So we can use food and

habits and lifestyle changes.

to reduce cortisol and the effects

of stress on our body, even

though our life is very busy.

And the third thing is to make sure

that is there any gut involvement

and any thyroid involvement?

So have you had your thyroid checked?

Have you done all the

recommended tests that I talk

about in the previous podcast?

And what can you do to assess?

Can you assess your gut situation?

Do you have some of those

symptoms and can you look at

doing a gut repair protocol?