We Forgot How To Feed Our Brains

Dr. Rudolph Tanzi's SHIELD method gives us a brilliant acronym for brain health. But here's what most practitioners miss when they recommend it.

We're treating symptoms of a much deeper crisis.

Before industrialization, humans routinely lived past 100 with sharp, wisdom-filled minds. That's only if infections, war or another tragedy didn't kill you first. We didn't need acronyms to remember how to be human. We lived in tight social communities, moved our bodies for survival, ate foods that nourished our microbiome, and naturally recycled our NAD+ stores.

Then we collectively forgot, or better yet, the information wasn't passed down and eventually got buried.

The Energy Crisis Nobody Talks About

The real story behind brain decline starts in your mitochondria. NAD+ is how we produce energy through the Krebs cycle. It fuels ATP production and recycles glutathione.

But here's the problem: we lose mitochondrial function with age, and NAD+ synthesis decreases as we get older.

Your Krebs cycle needs three fuel sources. Amino acids from proteins require B vitamins and alpha lipoic acid. Carbohydrates need those same B vitamins plus magnesium. Fats only need B2 and carnitine.

Fats are our most efficient fuel source. Yet the same American Heart Association that educates on mental health tells people to avoid fats and eat fat-free diets, still to this day!

We've spent 100+ years letting medical and agricultural elites control the narrative around nutrition.

How We Broke Our Ancient Pathways

Our modern microbiome barely resembles what our ancestors had, missing a staggering several hundred species from our microbiome, less than 200 species out of what should be 400+ species. We don't play in dirt or get exposed to diverse microbes like people did 100 years ago, we don't eat food with nutrients of the same quality due to poor soil and modern agriculture.

When we're chronically stressed, we stop producing digestive enzymes. We can't neutralize normal bacteria in our throats or break down proteins efficiently.

Those undigested proteins ferment in the gut, creating neurotoxic sugar alcohols. They feed fungi like candida and bad bacteria like clostridia.

These organisms produce neurotoxins that leak across your gut barrier. If you have a leaky gut, you have a leaky brain barrier.

The molecules they produce, like LPS, create massive inflammation in brain centers associated with consciousness and cognitive stability. Clostridia forms oxalate crystals that deposit into muscles, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, and nerves rendering less flexible.

Your body becomes stiff and arthritic. Blood vessels lose flexibility. The tiny capillaries that pump oxygen-rich blood to the deepest parts of your brain stop working properly.

The Generational Inheritance Problem

Here's what makes this crisis profound: we inherit our mitochondrial production capacity directly from our mothers.

The baby boomer generation was convinced to eat fast food and ultra-processed convenience foods. They fed these same foods to their children. We're now several generations into severely blunted NAD+ production capacity.

Mental health comes from the ability to fuel mitochondria in your frontal lobe. The central executive cortex houses your attention, emotional management, and stress management centers.

When multiple generations have poor mitochondria, we get what we have now: the biggest mental health crisis in human history.

AND, we need acronyms to help people remember how to be human.

Why SHIELD Falls Short

Dr. Tanzi's method addresses the right components. Sleep, handling stress, intellectual stimulation, exercise, lifestyle connections, and diet.

But telling someone to "handle stress through meditation" is like telling an overweight person to "lose weight through diet and exercise." It falls massively short of providing actual tools people can use.

Most people we see are simply trying to get out of pain. Their lives are packed with activity and stress. They lack true community. Even with real-life guidance from a health professional, they won't utilize simple tools we give them.

The challenge isn't knowing what to do. It's developing sustainable practices that restore ancient maintenance activities.

What Actually Works In Clinical Practice

At The Dearing Clinic, we see the difference between patients who successfully restore these pathways and those who struggle.

Success comes through repetition and feeling good from that repetition. It's the only thing that motivates people to continue lifestyle shifts.

What works: morning and evening routines focused on movement and body awareness. Breathing exercises that evolve into meditative practices. Exercise routines that maintain freedom of movement without pain.

When patients develop healthy habits for these ancient maintenance activities, they begin to thrive. This motivates them to keep building, progressing, and learning about diet, herbs, and microbiome maintenance.

Those who struggle continue falling back on poor routines because of convenience or habit. They never achieve what should be our ancient birthright: freedom from suffering and feelings of clarity and balance.

The Restoration Protocol

We use advanced diagnostics like qEEG brain mapping and functional lab testing to understand each person's unique patterns. But the foundation remains simple.

Start with morning movement. Even five minutes of breathing exercises. Build slowly.

Address the gut-brain axis through proper nutrition that supports NAD+ production. Focus on easily converted fats, properly prepared proteins, and complex carbohydrates with the right cofactors.

Create genuine social connections. Social isolation increases dementia risk by 60%.

Use regenerative therapies like NAD+ infusions, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and targeted peptides to support mitochondrial restoration.

But remember: you can't spend your way out of debt, and you can't supplement your way out of poor lifestyle choices.

Breaking The Generational Cycle

The good news: we can maintain and duplicate healthy mitochondria at any age if we put these principles into practice.

We're not just treating individual symptoms. We're working to restore resilience that can be passed to the next generation.

The SHIELD method provides a framework. But implementation requires understanding the deeper mechanisms, addressing root causes, and developing sustainable practices that honor our biological design.

We didn't evolve to live the way we're living now. But we can remember how to feed our brains the way they were meant to be fed.

The question isn't whether these ancient pathways can be restored. It's whether we're willing to do the work to restore them.