I predicted there would be a mental health meltdown because no government or healthcare system is prioritising mental health and nutrition and pharma is running the agenda for most. In fact, the latest report in the Lancet shows that 43 per cent of the world’s population has disability due to a brain or neurological or psychological issue. Every three seconds someone in the world is diagnosed with dementia. The youngest age of a non-genetic Alzheimer’s diagnosis is 19. Autism diagnoses are going through the roof. In Scotland one in 14 schoolchildren are diagnosed with autism. In the UK we have about three million effectively addicted to anti-depressants. That’s the bad news.
The good news is that we really do now know how to prevent these problems and have found the way to do prevention on a major scale – to help people change their health behaviours for the better to be happy, healthy and mentally sharp. That’s the major part of my work these days at the charity foodforthebrain.org.
My new book Alzheimer’s: Prevention is the Cure makes this clear. Leading US neurologist, and five times New York Times best-selling author Dr David Perlmutter says: “Becoming an Alzheimer’s patient is almost always a choice. This book explains why.” The ‘almost’ relates to the less than one per cent of Alzheimer’s cases being caused by genes. It is not genes, but our modern lifestyle – both with a lack of nutrients, but also excesses of toxic substances, that is creating a ‘total load’ that exceeds so many people’s and children’s capacity to adapt. It is tragic to see what we have done to our children, which is why we have launched COGNITION for Smart Kids and Teens, a free service as foodforthebrain.org, as well as the adult version, to help all know how to regain mental health. My book Upgrade Your Brain is all about that.
On a personal front our children have all grown up – we have five grandchildren – and live in the Black Mountains in Wales, where we grow almost all our own food, except for fish. The alpacas protect the chickens. Life is good in our Forest Barn Mountain Retreat centre where groups of people seeking transformation come and stay. When I turned 65 I figured I should learn a new trick – retirement is bad for the brain – you have to keep learning. So I’ve graduated as a paraglider pilot and go flying across the mountains when the conditions are right.
