What You Need To Know About Dairy Products

Dr Daniel Amen and Tana Amen BSN RN On The Brain Warrior's Way Podcast

In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen wrap up their content from The End of Mental Illness 6-Week Live Class and Challenge. This final episode features the Amens answering some of the most pressing questions from the challenge, hitting on topics such as hyperbaric oxygen treatment, the truth about dairy products, and food allergies.

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Daniel Amen, MD:

Welcome to the Brain Warrior’s Way podcast. I’m Dr. Daniel Amen.

Tana Amen, BSN RN:

And I’m Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body.

Daniel Amen, MD:

The Brain Warrior’s Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain SPECT imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

Tana Amen, BSN RN:

The Brain Warrior’s Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com.

Dr Daniel Amen:

Hi, this is Dr. Daniel Amen.

Tana Amen:

And I’m Tana Amen.

Dr Daniel Amen:

We’re so excited you’re with us. For this week’s series, what we’re doing is, we’re playing the live class from The End of Mental Illness.

Tana Amen:

We wanted you to join us on this journey because we had such a good time in our class. And the people who joined us just saw such incredible transformation that we wanted to share the challenge with our tribe. So we wanted to share this with you and we hope that you will join us in the challenge.

Dr Daniel Amen:

What are the tasks for this week? Um, detox negative people. We have a friends versus accomplices inventory. So write down who are your friends who support your mental health, versus those who support your mental illnesses. Or your brain health versus your brain health trouble.

Dr Daniel Amen:

Where can you share this information? I mean, ultimately, we’re doing this to create warriors to spread the message. We have evil ruler strategies in the book, The End of Mental Illness. I talk about if I was an evil ruler. And I’ve given you some of those strategies. If I was an evil ruler, how would I create mental illness in America? And so many of them are happening now.

Dr Daniel Amen:

Well, we wrote evil ruler strategies from the book. We also have good ruler strategies. I want you to download those, read those. Send a Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast to other people. We just did a podcast with Josh Axe; it was really great. We did one you’re just going to love on the book It Didn’t Start with You.

Tana Amen:

Yeah. So interesting.

Dr Daniel Amen:

With Mark Wolynn. That was really great.

Tana Amen:

It was really great.

Dr Daniel Amen:

We’ve done, how many podcasts have we done?

Tana Amen:

Oh, my gosh. I’m not even sure.

Dr Daniel Amen:

Like 600 or something crazy?

Tana Amen:

Mm (affirmative).

Dr Daniel Amen:

Share my viral video about Andrew. It’s one of the most important stories I’ve ever shared. And seven is, create a short video or an audio or an email to us on how this information has impacted you. And we’re going to pick… Goodness, almost 50 people. So you have a really good chance of winning if you follow the directions.

Dr Daniel Amen:

And then, on March 17th, so that’s three weeks from tonight, I’m going to come back, we’re going to come back. And we’re going to announce the winners and perhaps answer a few more questions about how you put this information in your life.

Dr Daniel Amen:

So we are thrilled you are watching. Let’s take time to answer a few more questions. “If someone has allergic reactions to fish oil, where… Would you suggest super-low doses to begin with?” Well, really high-quality fish oil, like we have at brain MD; all the fish proteins are filtered out.

Tana Amen:

Yeah, typically we-

Dr Daniel Amen:

We’ve not had anybody, at least that I’m aware of, that had an allergic reaction.

Tana Amen:

But I mean, it doesn’t mean you, like on a rare occasion they can’t, but usually, people who are allergic to fish protein don’t have a problem with fish, high-quality filtered fish oil.

Dr Daniel Amen:

But I would start with a very low dose. I mean, don’t start with four capsules at once. You can actually take a toothpick and poke the capsule and squeeze it.

Tana Amen:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Just a little.

Dr Daniel Amen:

Maybe into a shake.

Tana Amen:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr Daniel Amen:

And then, just have like a quarter of it. I think that’s how I would start.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“Is eating healthy fats okay, even if you’re trying to lose weight?”

Tana Amen:

We addressed that one already, and the answer… We addressed that one last week, and the answer is, absolutely. Especially if you’re trying to lose weight. Because it increases satiety. So for sure.

Dr Daniel Amen:

Satiety; your sense of fullness.

Tana Amen:

Yeah.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“You talked about the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen. How many sessions will it take to make a difference? Will I really be able to feel a change in my life? I was looking for mental acuity, but after four sessions, didn’t see any results.”

Tana Amen:

Can I answer this? I mean, you need to answer it from the scientific standpoint, but…

Tana Amen:

So it’s funny. So I’ve been doing hyperbaric oxygen. And when I first started doing it, I was like, “All right, I just… I’m so busy. Why am I taking the time to do this? I know… I’m doing it because I know it’s supposed to be good for me. I’m hoping it’s going to help my brain.” I didn’t really feel it until after the 10th one. And that’s when I really started to notice it. And I can’t say that I woke one day and went, “Whoo, I feel really good!” But what happened was, I all of a sudden noticed I was stronger when I was working out. And like I wasn’t as tired during the day. Like I noticed little things like that. And so then, after about maybe five or ten more, I started to notice like… Just, it was sort of subtle and it just sort of subtly started to… I noticed improvements. And what I, I just, I love going in there. It’s like I can escape the whole world and I can just tell people, “I didn’t hear you because I was in the chamber.”

Dr Daniel Amen:

So sometimes people notice it after a couple; sometimes they need 40 sessions.

Tana Amen:

Yeah.

Dr Daniel Amen:

There’s a great story.

Tana Amen:

So we typically tell people 40?

Dr Daniel Amen:

We do, but there’s a great story of a Super Bowl MVP quarterback, Joe Namath, who had a SPECT scan and his brain looked terrible. And he had 40 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen, and his scan looked better and he felt better. So then, he did 40 more. And after 40 more, his scan looked better still and he felt better. And so, he decided to do 40 more. He did a total of 120. His scan was normal. And at his age, he’s still doing product endorsements. And he just says, “It made a radical, positive difference.”

Tana Amen:

Yeah, I’ve heard people say all different things. I’ve heard some people say, “Oh, after about the fifth one, I started to sleep better.” I’ve heard other people say, “No, it took me like 15 or 20. Like I started to feel better, but I didn’t really notice a big improvement until after I had like 15 or 20.” I think it’s just different. I just started to notice a subtle improvement. And it was just very subtle little steps after that. But it’s definitely better, for sure.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“Is hyperbaric oxygen contraindicated for any conditions?” And then, another person is claustrophobic to it. It’s contraindicated if you can’t handle the pressure in your ears. If you have glaucoma, you should be careful because it can change the pressure in your eyes. Sometimes a person’s eyeglass prescription will change with hyperbaric pressure.

Tana Amen:

So my mom, when she hit her head, they didn’t pick up that she had a bleed. So if you have had a, like a recent head injury, you want to be sure you don’t have a bleed. Like you waited and you know you don’t have a bleed in your head, right? You don’t want pressure on your head if you’ve got a bleed. So for sure.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“Do CT and MRI scans necessarily show brain damage after a serious fall or injury?” The answer is, absolutely not. They are often normal.

Tana Amen:

So my favorite example that you give to describe to people, the difference between what we do and a CT or an MRI? You could take your computer right now and drop it. And the computer will look normal, right? That is an anatomical scan. It looks normal, it looks fine. But if you try and turn it on, it may not run normally. It may not function normally. That’s more akin to what we do. Like we check the function of it. Just because it looks normal doesn’t mean it’s running normal.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“What are your thoughts on venison?”

Tana Amen:

If it’s wild? If it’s wild, free range, you know? Like great; fantastic.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“What are your thoughts on whole milk?”

Tana Amen:

So that’s different for everybody. So we are generally, the reason we’re generally not a fan of dairy is, because we actually talked about that in one of our previous episodes. The caso, casomorphin…

Dr Daniel Amen:

Casomorphins.

Tana Amen:

Casomorphins. When it breaks down with stomach acid and it crosses the blood-brain barrier. However, the other reason is, because the majority of the population has an intolerant, is lactose intolerant. And even if they’re not lactose intolerant, they have a problem with some, breaking down some form of the dairy proteins, the milk proteins. So that’s the main reason we have people go off of it for a couple weeks. But not everyone has that.

Tana Amen:

And that said, there’s other issues with dairy as well. And I actually write a lot about that in our books. That said, the studies that show that people have severe allergic reactions to cow’s milk? When they actually did studies with children with severe milk allergies, and they had tested them with sheep’s milk, they didn’t have… Or goat’s milk, they didn’t have the same reaction. Most of the majority of them did not have the same reaction. So many people who can’t tolerate, it’s actually digested, the casing in it is different, the protein is different, and many people who can’t tolerate cow’s milk have a different reaction with sheep’s milk or goat’s milk.

Tana Amen:

So everyone’s not the same. It’s a smaller percentage of the population, and some people can tolerate certain types of milk better than others. We write extensively about that in Brain Warrior’s Way and Omni Diet.

Dr Daniel Amen:

When my babies quit breastfeeding, the pediatrician recommends whole milk several times a day.

Tana Amen:

Mm-hmm (affirmative). Of course.

Dr Daniel Amen:

What do you think?

Tana Amen:

That’s because it’s just been, it’s always been said.

Dr Daniel Amen:

It’s the habit.

Tana Amen:

It’s, it’s…

Dr Daniel Amen:

But if your child develops a lot of earaches, they may be sensitive to dairy.

Tana Amen:

Or phlegm or sinus problems.

Dr Daniel Amen:

And so many people, so many people.

Tana Amen:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr Daniel Amen:

I think you were one of them, had a lot of antibiotics.

Tana Amen:

Yeah.

Dr Daniel Amen:

And often, when you just get rid of the dairy, their ear infections got significantly better.

Tana Amen:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr Daniel Amen:

“Is decaf coffee okay?”

Tana Amen:

I would make it organic. But yes.

Dr Daniel Amen:

It has a lot of antioxidants.

Tana Amen:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr Daniel Amen:

“So you say to avoid bread. I understand this in regards to white bread, bagels, et cetera, but what about whole grain organic bread? In particular, my favorite, Dave’s Killer Bread, 21 whole grains and seeds. Thank you for all your amazing information.”

Tana Amen:

So I, we don’t have a lot of time. And that’s going to take a little time. Again, we write about this extensively. I’ve written about it extensively in Omni Diet; Brain Warrior’s Way. So if you want more information-

Dr Daniel Amen:

I write about it in The End of Mental Illness.

Tana Amen:

Yeah. So if you want more information-

Dr Daniel Amen:

In fact, there’s a whole chapter called Food Made Insanely Simple.

Tana Amen:

So yeah; if you want more information, you can actually read more about that. But the quick version is, it still has gluten. And believe it or not, on the glycemic index, it’s not much better than sugar or white bread. So if you’re going to have bread, and you’re going to do it, then Dave’s Killer Bread is probably better because it’s organic; I will give it that. But it’s not technically all that much better for you as far as the glycemic index or regarding gluten. And we’ve already discussed, in one of our previous episodes, why we’re not fans of gluten. So, and we go extensively into it in some of our other books, so.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“My DCFS social worker is giving me a hard time about keeping my kids away from cows milk.”

Tana Amen:

Yeah. We just did this.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“Doctor has noted that they have mild milk intolerance. And he said, ‘That doesn’t mean anything.'”

Dr Daniel Amen:

Yeah, no, there are people that don’t have this information. And so, because they were raised on cow’s milk, they’re like, “Oh, it’s all fine.” And…

Tana Amen:

So then, it’s also the difference between traditional medicine that’s been taught one way forever, and functional medicine, which is more progressive. You know it’s, I would never suggest you’d go against what your doctor teaches, but I would suggest you do some research on your own. I tell people to be their own best advocate. When it comes to health, do a little research on it.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“Does a postmenopausal woman need to have her iron levels monitored?” Absolutely.

Tana Amen:

Absolutely.

Dr Daniel Amen:

Because you don’t know unless you look.

Tana Amen:

Even men need to have them.

Dr Daniel Amen:

And low iron is a problem. But high iron.

Tana Amen:

Yeah. Even men need to have it checked.

Dr Daniel Amen:

Is a problem.

Dr Daniel Amen:

All right; last question. We are so grateful for all of you.

Tana Amen:

Thank you.

Dr Daniel Amen:

“What are your thoughts on drinking alcohol and how much? Does it hurt the brain?”

Tana Amen:

How much, how often?

Dr Daniel Amen:

So if you have one or two normal-sized drinks a week, it’s probably not a big deal. People who drink every day have a smaller brain.

Tana Amen:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Dr Daniel Amen:

And when it comes to your brain, size matters. I think we talked about alcohol. But less is better if you want to keep your brain healthy over time. A little bit’s not a problem; a lot is a disaster.

Tana Amen:

If you’re enjoying the Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, please don’t forget to subscribe so you’ll always know when there’s a new episode. And while you’re at it, feel free to give us a review or five-star rating as that helps others find the podcast.

Dr Daniel Amen:

If you’re considering coming to Amen Clinics or trying some of the brain healthy supplements from BrainMD, you can use the code podcast 10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com or a 10% discount on all supplements at brainmdhealth.com. For more information, give us a call at 855-978-1363.