By Amanda Cole
After his mother was diagnosed with amysterious form of dementia at 58, Max Lugavere put his thriving media career as the“core expert” onDr. Ozand host of a showon Current TV on hold.He began a decade-long journey tostudy the inner workings of the humanbrain—information that he wasn’t gettingfrom doctors. Lugavere condensed hisfindings into the New York Times best-sellerGenius Foods, a practical road map to optimal brain health, as well as a documentary,Bread Head, the first film about dementiaprevention through diet and lifestyle. Integrative health coach Amanda Cole breaksgluten-free bread with the author.
You dedicated your book to your mom,who you call “the first genius you ever met.”And you began this rigorous research questfor conclusive answers when she was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative condition.What are some of the lessons your momhas taught you?
MAX LUGAVERE:She taught me to not fearauthority, and to always challenge whatI was being served. I do feel that in manyways my mom was victimized—that’s why I am happy toconfront haters or skeptics. When people ask me howit’s my place to be a voice in health, it’s because thepeople we’ve trusted for so long really were complicit inleading the country astray when it came to dietary recommendations. Our current dietary guidelines are not evidence-based. That’s why there’s a part of me that is angryand wants to try to improve the system.
The title of the book,Genius Foods, indicates that there are some diet-based solutions that will help readers become “smarter, happier, and more productive.” Yet foodis only one ingredient to the solution youpresent.
ML:InGenius Foods, I highlight 10 foods—olive oil, avocados, blueberries, dark chocolate, eggs, grass-fed beef, dark leafy greens,broccoli, wild salmon, almonds—with arobust body of evidence showing that theywill enhance your brain function. Whetherit’s the nutrients in those foods or the foodsthemselves, these are the foods that arethe most nutrient-dense. What is cool aboutGenius Foodsis it is not just a diet book. It’smore a guiding philosophy of health for themodern human. It’s deeper than “eat more blueberries.” InGenius Foods, we look through the lens of evolution. We lookat the conditions and the diet that our ancestors might haveconsumed during the time in which our brains evolved.Obviously, there are certain foods that have fundamentallychanged since our evolution, but it’s about emulating thatdiet and lifestyle in the modern world with a specific focuson brain function.
Why are neurodegenerative diseases so prevalent today?
ML:The brain has specific needs that are being unmet bythe modern diet and lifestyle. Healthy brain function shouldbe a right given to everybody, yet today it is a privilegeafforded to very few. Everything from diet to how we liveour lives is so far removed from the conditions in which ourbrains evolved. On one hand, we are highly adaptable,which is why humans have been so successful as a species. On the other, it’s also the reason why one in six adultsis on, or has taken, some sort of psychiatric drug; why onein seven young people complains of memory problems;and why ADHD is ever-increasingly diagnosed.We try so desperately to fit our brain into the modernworld, and appease the modern demands during theweek, and then during the weekend we go overboard withescapism. We binge, we drink, we go overboard with crazyfestivals. We sit in isolation at our desks and then on weekends we indulge in self-destructive behavior to essentiallysmash our separateness. I think that’s a shame. We can beso much more, and feel so much better, if we just adhereto a few simple principles.A while back, I learned about Jiddu Krishnamurti.His whole idea is that conditioning is the death of truth.Culture and allegiance to tradition is there to blind you toreality. I became really obsessed with him all throughoutcollege, and I never thought of that obsession in contextof what I’m doing today, but it had to have helped me withrevolting against the dietary conditioning I grew up with.I was told for decades certain things were good for me orbad for me. This philosophy helped make it really easy forme to just question everything. He’s a spiritual philosophical teacher who informed my dietary quest.
The last sentence in your book, before the delicious recipe section, encourages the reader to “challenge yourassumptions regularly, be unafraid of authority, and question everything—even what you read in books (includingthis one).”
ML:How do you guide someone to think critically andbecome their own health advocate and detective? I reallythink it’s all about asking questions. Don’t be afraid to askquestions and seek answers. That’s what science is. Scienceisn’t owned by academia or universities or physicians. It’ssimply a method, the scientific method. It’s a way of askingquestions and finding answers. Anybody can do science.
What does the instant success of your book tell us aboutthis moment we are in?
ML:I think it says that people want more than the 15 minutes they are getting in the room with their doctors. Theywant more than the click-bait headlines we see come atus from every direction on the internet. They want morethan the food marketing that is able to say almost anythingthese days, or even food-like products it sells us. We live ina time where it has become way more difficult to put onepast society. It takes 17 years for scientific findings to betranslated into medical practice. I think people really getmy mission.
Find Max Lugavere’s ultimate brain-boosting recipe featuring arugula, brussels sprouts and wild salmon here.
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