How to Become Smarter (18 page)

The precise magnitude of the food restriction that you can achieve with this approach is unknown and further research is needed. You can use this food restriction method with any diet and when you are not dieting. You need to apply the four principles outlined above to all types of food.

There is another variation of this approach, where you chew healthy food in your usual manner, but you apply the extended chewing to unhealthy food (junk food). In this case, you can extend the chewing of junk food to 120 times each bite. You can apply the latter alternative approach to official food pyramids, and it can help you to reduce consumption of foods at the top of the pyramid (which you should avoid or consume sparingly). This approach is useful during holidays when there is plenty of palatable food. Gluttony seems inevitable for most people during holidays, especially for those who are on some kind of a diet most of the time. The above-mentioned four principles can allow you to eat everything and adhere to a healthy diet at the same time. You will be able to enjoy small amounts of junk food occasionally, keep your appetite under control, and not feel guilty about your transgressions.

Some Eastern health systems, such as yoga, contain similar principles. People with eating disorders also employ a similar approach, which consists of chewing and spitting out large amounts of food without swallowing. Readers need to familiarize themselves with common eating disorders (type “eating disorder” into your search engine) and be careful not to fall into this trap. If you suspect that you may have an eating disorder, it is best to seek professional help immediately.

When you are restricting your food intake using the proposed approach, it is best to follow a conventional food pyramid, such as Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate, without strict dieting. Self-experimentation suggests that the subjective benefits of the proposed food restriction regimen are the following:

• reduced fatigue and reduced apathy,
  
• improved mental clarity,
  
• reduced heaviness in the stomach,
  
• a smaller abdomen.
  

There is another food restriction approach that seems to facilitate social interaction but may worsen reading and writing performance. Skipping breakfast daily or every other day can make you more sociable and talkative, in other words, a less boring person. It may also improve your understanding of lectures in the morning, if you are a student. In my experience, listening to lectures and taking notes during lectures do not require significant mental concentration. But skipping breakfast will reduce your work capacity if you have to perform heavy manual labor or some reading or writing tasks in the morning. Some studies showed that skipping breakfast can impair performance of school-related tasks in children [
287
]. Other studies demonstrated that skipping breakfast can have beneficial effects on some mental abilities (reviewed in [
872
,
999
]). In my view, a good alternative to skipping breakfast is breakfast that consists of fruits and vegetables (a protein-free and fat-free breakfast). This approach has similar effects, in my experience. Keep in mind that you can use the above-mentioned chewing techniques to prevent compensatory overeating at lunch and at dinner.

I sometimes have high-protein breakfast and skip lunch at work, the habit that I developed since I started experimenting with various “strange diets” many years ago. This approach can be useful when you need 100% compliance with a diet and the food available for lunch at work does not meet the criteria of your diet. Skipping lunch is not necessary with most of the “smart diets” because you can bring normal-looking meals from home to work and eat them in the company of other people.

Skipping breakfast and occasional skipping of both breakfast and lunch can be beneficial (it may reduce fatigue and apathy and improve mental clarity). Yet fasting for longer periods, greater than 36 hours, has negative effects on health. Caloric restriction without fasting has beneficial effects on health, but fasting longer than 36 hours has several adverse effects. In particular, it leads to a loss of productivity, suppresses the immune system [
288
], and can accelerate growth of tumors [
289
]. Intermittent fasting (eating every other day) has almost the same beneficial effects on physical health as caloric restriction [
290
]. Yet intermittent fasting has negative effects on mental health: test subjects reported being irritable or cranky on fasting days [
291
]. On the other hand, two days of caloric restriction did not have detectable effects on mental abilities and mental state according to one study [
292
]. Another study reported improvement of memory in elderly people as a result of caloric restriction [
293
].

In conclusion, skipping breakfast and moderate food restriction without malnutrition [
287
] can have beneficial effects on some mental abilities, but may reduce the capacity for some types of work. The weight of available scientific evidence suggests that prolonged fasting has negative effects on health. It is best to avoid fasting and other types of severe dietary restrictions because they lead to overindulgence afterwards.

• Some studies suggest that it is possible to reduce consumption of food without reducing satiety level if you chew the food longer.
  
• It may be possible to achieve sustained food restriction (caloric restriction) in free-living humans based on the above observation.
  
• These four principles will help to achieve food restriction: {1} always taking average-sized bites of food, {2} avoiding mixing solid food with drinks during chewing, {3} avoiding hasty eating, and {4} chewing each bite of food 60 to 70 times.
  
• Numerous studies suggest that caloric restriction has a number of beneficial effects on health, such as extension of the lifespan. This approach also seems to reduce fatigue and apathy and to improve mental clarity without adhering to any strict diet.
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In addition to the possible adverse effects listed in the description of each diet above, there are some undesirable effects that are common to most of the diets described in this chapter. (Readers can skip the detailed discussion of this topic and jump to the key points: press the skip button or
this link
.) First, some of these diets can be considered “strange diets” and strict compliance with these dietary changes for an extend period of time may cause some problems in your relations with other people. These diets can affect your relations with your family, friends, or with colleagues at work. The modified high-protein diet and the depressant diet are an exception because they include meals that look “normal” and socially acceptable in most situations. For example, a meal can consist of cooked vegetables with cooked meat and fruit juice mixed with wheat extract (
Appendix I
). Of course, what is “normal” varies among different cultures. You will do well to behave within the acceptable norms in a given social context.

Second, many of the diets proposed in this chapter lack culinary finesse and some people may find this food bland. In actuality, the taste may seem unusual at first try, but after several days, it can become enjoyable, especially if you observe beneficial effects on your mental abilities. For example, the antidepressant diet consists of low-fat milk, unprocessed unsalted cheese, water extract of wheat and fruits with vegetables without any seasonings. Although these foods are not gourmet fare, they have a pleasant taste and it is feasible to spend several days on this diet. In the case of the modified high-protein diet, a great variety of delicious recipes are possible, and you can copy many of them from the Paleolithic diet or the Atkins diet with some modifications. You can find some recipes in
Appendix I
. If you decide to give these diets a try, the expected change is from “overly tasty” to “just tasty,” rather than from tasty to bland.

Third, radical dietary changes can cause character changes, based on my personal experience. Some of the character changes are positive, but other changes may appear to be undesirable. In particular, the person may become less talkative in some situations and more talkative in others. My advice is to ignore these changes and act naturally; you should not feel compelled to keep talking in any situation, except when your job requires it. The change that is common to all of the above diets is reduced emotionality. By emotionality here I mean what psychologists call “trait neuroticism.” The person may become less prone to vivid displays of both positive and negative emotions. This change does not mean that the person will experience fewer emotions; it means that the person will be less likely to display strong emotions. The outward manifestations of some emotions may become more subtle. With respect to internal feelings, the strength and amount of negative emotions such as anger, sadness, resentment, and hostility will decrease. In regards to positive emotions, some may increase, but others may decrease. For example, the amount of laughter may decrease. The person may feel happy but laugh less than usual. Some people may interpret the reduced manifestation of positive emotions as being “less happy.” Yet the reduced amount of personal problems and improvement of internal mood will result in “more happiness,” not less. Another positive change characteristic of the “smart diets” is that it becomes easy for you to crack jokes and make people laugh. These diets, especially the fruit-and-vegetable diet, can sharpen your wit. On the other hand, it will become much harder for other people to make
you
laugh. It is possible that increased mental clarity leads to a more refined sense of humor, such that most types of comedy will seem silly and unfunny.

People with a history of bipolar disorder should be careful with the antidepressant diet and the modified high-protein diet because these diets carry a small risk of hypomania. Please note that I am the only test subject who tested the antidepressant diet and I have never had a diagnosis of a mood disorder. Therefore, it is unknown if the antidepressant diet is effective in depressed patients.

Another possible change that may seem undesirable is a loss of interest in some activities that you previously enjoyed. There is a simultaneous gain of interest in other activities. Put another way, the interests and priorities can change and this may be a good thing. In any case, you need to know what to expect. In addition, the antidepressant diet and the fruit-and-vegetable diet may increase sweating. All of the “smart diets” presented here are elimination diets because they allow a
small
number of food products. In patients with food allergies, elimination diets can result in the development of hypersensitivity to offending food products. Finally, high-protein diets can cause constipation or hard stool, especially at the extremes of age (more details in Chapter Three). It also bears repeating that people who have a chronic medical condition or are taking medication should consult a qualified healthcare professional before attempting any of the lifestyle changes described in this book.

• The diets presented in this chapter can make a person less emotional outwardly (but not unemotional). There may be other character changes.
  
• Some people may interpret the reduced manifestation of positive emotions as being “less happy.” Nevertheless, the reduction in the amount of personal problems and improvement of internal mood will result in “more happiness,” not less.
  
• Some of the proposed diets may appear to be “strange diets” and can be inconvenient in social settings.
  
• In patients with food allergies, strict elimination diets can result in the development of hypersensitivity to offending food products.
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In addition to the intelligence measured by IQ, also known as academic intelligence, there are two other major types of intelligence: emotional intelligence and social intelligence. Each of these three types of intelligence consists of two components: fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence reflects how well the brain works regardless of knowledge, whereas crystallized intelligence is a measure of accumulated knowledge and skills. An alternative definition of fluid intelligence is the ability to understand and solve novel problems. A related concept, mental clarity is a measure of how well the brain performs various kinds of tasks, regardless of knowledge. This text defines “mental clarity” as the sum of fluid dimensions of academic, emotional, and social intelligence.

A number of studies have shown that consuming artificial ingredients, such as various food additives (refined sugar, food coloring, nitrites, nitrates, and others), in high doses can have negative effects on mental abilities. Other studies have shown that cooking of animal products (meat and fish) at high temperatures leads to the formation of mutagenic chemicals. These chemicals can have adverse effects on physical and mental health, when taken in high doses. The same is true of chemicals formed by cooking of some plant products (grains) at high temperatures. Some of the above chemicals can have noticeable negative effects at doses present in food. In theory, a “natural diet,” which consists of raw food only and is free of any artificial ingredients, should have none of these negative effects. Some researchers have shown that children who consumed their mother’s milk (“natural” food) during infancy have an IQ about 5 points higher than children who subsisted on a baby formula (“unnatural” food).