Greatest Generation 2.0 – Column by Brian D. King
As I wrote in my last column, learning is physically making multiple connections and wrapping them with myelin in the brain. This requires repetition and proper nutrition. No matter how much practice, learning cannot take place without proper daily nutrition.
When an apprentice first learns how to use a new tool, the name, definition, words within the definition, image, video of its use, and the manipulation in the hand are all stored and connected in the brain. That first time the apprentice uses the tool all those connections are delicate with very little myelin and easily forgotten. This first use is slow and awkward. The thinness of the myelin sheath causes static and confusion from other close-by axons. The signal first travels down the axon slowly at only three miles per hour because the brain must filter out the noise.
If you are talking on a ham radio with a lot of static, much time is wasted asking to repeat the last transmission. In time, the ham operator will invest in better equipment and the transmissions are much clearer and communication is much faster. In our brain, we invest with practice to wrap the connections with more myelin and therefore experience less static.
After 10,000 repetitions the axon’s conductor becomes robust with a thick layer of myelin and the signal now travels at 300 miles per hour. The apprentice now has mastery of the skill, but this can only happen if practice is done with proper nutrition.
Some new students arrive struggling with physical and mental agility even with repetitive practice. Our camps are both physically and mentally challenging and the teens and staff must be on their “A” game.
To that end, each meal has the nutrients and vitamins necessary to make those connections and get another wrap of myelin.
Teens in our multi-week overnight camps may find their diet change radically. Most meals are some form of fatty meat cooked as a roast, steak, stir fry, or stew. The meals also include fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, cheese, yogurt, or ice cream.
Everything necessary to build the brain is a part of each meal. The morning omelet starts with grass fed eggs, greens, artichoke hearts, pickled beets, strips of tri-tip, and cheddar cheese all fried in beef tallow and all organic. For carbs, hash browns are also fried in beef tallow with yogurt and fresh fruit as dessert and washed down with chocolate milk. Those meals also contain vitamins B-12 and C. As the students are in the sun all day, they get their vitamin D-3.
By day two, the sluggish kids start to participate in tag in the rocky creek beds; laughing, demonstrating wit, telling funny stories, and demonstrating both physical and mental agility.
During a week into one camp, I posted a photo of a teenage boy laughing from ear to ear with his head thrown back. When his mom saw the photo, she said she never saw him laugh and smile like that. At home, his mom had considered him to be on a very healthy vegan diet, not understanding the roadblocks she was putting up. Many dads also don’t recognize their sons at the end of these camps. One dad said, “I dropped off a boy and I am picking up a man.”
The war on cholesterol and fat truly hurts brain development in children and teens. What we need to realize is gray and white tissue in the brain is cholesterol.
I asked my friend Trent Alvarez, the owner of Natural Health Center and professional whose occupation is human nutrition and health, to add his two cents as to what nutrition is needed for a healthy brain.
“The brain is a miraculous marvel, and a voracious consumer of fuel and nutrients. Every single day the brain demands healthy fats for myelin production,” shared Alvarez. “So what do we need daily? Omega 3 fats! The brain is approximately 70 percent fat and cholesterol and approximately 90 percent of that fat is made up of Omega 3 DHA. These essential fats are virtually non-existent in the plant world and must come from animal sources like fish, eggs, meat, milk, butter, cheese, etcetera.”
Lose the canola oil and go back to frying in tallow and butter. Aim for 30 to 70 percent of your meals to consist of fat.
