Hey friend,

Mainstream nutrition often offers outdated clichés, such as “everything in moderation,” and promotes foods that harm the brain and body rather than support it.

Big Pharma sells pills as quick fixes for mental health and cognitive decline.

In natural health circles, people obsess over endless supplements and expensive biohacks… while completely skipping the fundamentals.

Meanwhile, the most powerful healing tool—food—is ignored.

Here’s the truth: if you don’t fix your diet, nothing else you try will reach its full potential.

With so much misinformation, fad diets, and gimmicks out there, it’s easy to get lost.

I know, I fell for the plant-based propaganda for years.

Then mold toxicity hit me hard, leaving me chronically ill, battling cognitive decline and neurological dysfunction.

I had no choice but to delve deeply into the research, transform my diet, and utilize food as medicine.

Here’s what I learned from years of trial and error so you don’t have to.

The NeuroNutrition Protocol: 6 Principles for Brain, Body & Mental Health

Today, I will show you how to use food as medicine to boost brain function and mental health.

The NeuroNutrition Principles, inspired by extensive cutting-edge research and brain health experts like Dr. Bredesen and Dr. Amen, reveal which foods are harming your brain and gut—and which can repair, energize, and nourish your body.

These six principles offer simple, clear, and science-backed guidelines for optimizing brain, body, and mental health with food.

And if you want to put it into practice, here's the exact grocery list I use to harness the power of food as medicine.

1) Prioritize Nutrient-Dense, Brain-Building Foods

Your brain is hungry for vitamins, minerals, essential fats, and amino acids.

Getting the most nutrients per bite fuels cognition, memory, mood, and repair.

To get the greatest nutrient-density bang for your buck, prioritize these foods:

• Pasture-raised proteins & organ meats: Beef, lamb, venison, elk, eggs → rich in choline, B vitamins, iron, CoQ10.
• Omega-3 fats (EPA/DHA): Wild-caught salmon, sardines, anchovies, mackerel.
• Healthy fats: Avocado, olive oil, coconut, beef tallow, MCT oil, nuts/seeds (macadamias, walnuts).
• Polyphenol-rich plants: Dark berries, green tea, cacao, colorful vegetables.
• Sulfur & cruciferous veggies: Broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, garlic, onions → supports detox.
• Herbs & spices: Turmeric, rosemary, cinnamon, saffron → neuroprotective compounds.

2) Reduce Inflammatory Foods & Neurotoxins

Chronic inflammation drives cognitive decline, mood disorders, and nearly all chronic diseases. Food is one of the biggest levers to reduce it.

Top inflammatory triggers to eliminate:

• Refined sugar & excess carbs: Promotes dysbiosis and energy crashes.
• Alcohol: Damages the gut lining and impairs brain function.
• Processed foods: Additives, emulsifiers, preservatives, etc.
• Artificial dyes & additives: Neurotoxic, inflammatory, gut-disrupting.
• Industrial seed oils: Canola, soybean, corn, safflower, cottonseed (oxidized, pro-inflammatory).

Limit / personalize:

• Lectins: In grains, legumes, pseudograins (quinoa, amaranth). Safe exception: white rice.
• Dairy: Especially conventional milk/cheese (casein, A1 beta-casein).
• Nightshades: Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, eggplant (glycoalkaloids can irritate).

Support anti-inflammation:

• Turmeric, ginger, gotu kola, cinnamon, licorice, rosemary, omega-3s, green tea polyphenols.

3) Optimize Gut-Brain Axis

Your gut is the control center for your whole body—especially your brain. It directly influences mood, cognition, and neurotransmitter balance.

Providing your body with essential nutrients (#1) and cutting inflammation and gut irritants (#2) sets the foundation for this principle.

Now, layer in these elements to optimize your microbiome-gut-brain axis:

• Eat a diversity of prebiotic fibers (asparagus, artichoke, leafy greens, avocado).
• Fermented foods, sauerkraut, kimchi, and kefir, for probiotics.
• Avoid gut-disrupting foods (gluten, alcohol, emulsifiers, pesticides/herbicide residues).
• Use antimicrobial herbs and spices—like rosemary, sage, oregano, thyme, and garlic—to keep harmful gut microbes in check.

4) Stabilize Blood Sugar & Insulin Sensitivity

Blood sugar spikes and crashes fuel brain fog, mood swings, fatigue, and long-term risks like diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s.

Even with the right NeuroNutrition foods, poor blood sugar and insulin sensitivity block results… nutrients aren't absorbed, inflammation stays elevated, and brain health suffers.

Do these things:

• Limit refined carbs, grains, and sugars → prevent glycation & “type 3 diabetes”.
• Favor low-glycemic carbs: leafy greens, crucifers, low-sugar berries.
• Pair carbs with fat and protein to blunt glucose spikes.
• Use intermittent fasting (IF) or time-restricted eating to enhance insulin sensitivity and autophagy. Choose from IF schedules such as: 16/8 (6 hours fasting, 8-hour eating window), 18/6, or 14/10.

5) Support Mitochondria & Energy Metabolism

Your mitochondria are your cells’ power plants. When they’re sluggish, you feel it—low energy, brain fog, poor focus, and faster aging.

When they thrive, your brain and body have the fuel to perform at their best. Here's how:

• Ketones as clean brain fuel → implement a cyclical low-carb/ketogenic diet phase and take MCT oil.
• Nutrients: CoQ10, magnesium, B vitamins, lipoic acid (found in high amounts in quality animal products)
• Avoid mitochondrial toxins (pesticides, heavy metals, mold toxins, processed oils).
• Strategic fasting or fasting-mimicking diet to enhance mitochondrial resilience.

6) Detox & Protect Against Environmental Stressors

The unfortunate reality of the modern world is that even "healthy" foods can carry hidden toxins, so prioritize these key components:

• Filtered water, low-mercury fish, organic foods as much as possible (to reduce herbicides, pesticides & heavy metals).
• Eat copious amounts of cruciferous veggies and herbs (cilantro, parsley) to support detox pathways.
• Avoid plastics (BPA), ultra-processed foods, toxic cookware (Teflon/non-stick), and high-mold containing foods (peanuts, dried fruits, aged cheeses, grains, coffee, etc.).

The bottom line

Any intervention—SSRIs, Adderall, psychedelics, supplements, herbs, exercise, or meditation—is only as effective as the food you eat consistently (90%+ of the time).

It’s easy to get lost in the noise: misinformation, outdated research, marketing tricks, and the tribal or political dynamics surrounding diet.

The NeuroNutrition Principles aren’t a fad or a diet.

They’re foundational, blending cutting-edge science with evolutionary human diet wisdom to support brain health, mental well-being, and whole-body vitality.

Start using these principles to cut through the bullshit and finally harness food as medicine.

And if you want to put the NeuroNutrition Principles into action and start healing your brain, body, and mind with food…

…here's my NeuroNutrition Grocery List that makes implementation easy (the exact shopping list I use myself).

See you next Saturday,

Onjae