Unlock Your Brain’s Power: Optimal Nutrition Guide

Julie Gregory

That’s a great question. About 11 years ago, I learned I was genetically blessed. I have two copies of the APOE4, which puts me at a very high genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s. At that time, my overall health was not good, but I wasn’t focused on my cognition too much until I learned about that. Then I started to realize, Wow, I’m struggling. I did cognitive testing. I was in the mid-30 percentile for my age group. I’m a wonderful example of how slowly and insidiously this can come on, and you accept it as normal. Of course, I applied all the strategies in the Bredesen protocol. A year later, I repeated the same cognitive testing, and I was in the mid-90 percentile for all that said the most important strategy for me is nutrition. I was insulin-resistant at the time, and I didn’t even know to test my blood sugar. But I started testing it not because I was worried about high blood pressure but because I was hypoglycemic. Yes, we’re imagining that this was preceded by spikes and then drops, and I was on this rollercoaster all day long. Being APOE4 hypoglycemic, I know my brain is already struggling for fuel. With the insulin resistance, it was just so much worse. For me, once I learned to give up the inflammatory foods, which are sugar, simple carbs in most grains, and conventional dairy. Then I started eating this plant-rich, mildly ketogenic diet. I got the blood sugar stabilized, and it was a huge part of my coming back. I’ve been thrilled to work with you and your wonderful wife. Dr. Bredesen, I created KetoFLEX 12/3. 

Dale Bredesen, MD

Yes, I appreciate that. Of course, the response that we got, and after you wrote, you and I, wrote the handbook for the second book, The End of Alzheimer’s Program. Of course, a lot of people said, Okay, where do I get this stuff? How do I do it? We’ve been excited to work with Jennifer Maynard and her group from Nutrition for Longevity. Of course, Valter Longo is a colleague of mine from many years ago. We published papers together many years ago. I am excited to be working with this group that is focused on how to get optimal nutrition for optimal health outcomes. Jennifer, could you tell us a little bit about the birth of N4L, how things are going, and how you have built something that’s nutrition as a medicine program?

Jennifer Maynard

Absolutely. I spent 20+ years in the pharmaceutical and biotech arena, so a lot of people are surprised when they hear my background. I spent a lot of time in the specialty medicine space, and loved what I did as an executive in that space, but just felt like an industry, and through personal experience with family members, there were not enough solutions that were validated by science for food as medicine. I always tell my team. I tell people that listen to our story. 2,400 plus years ago, we were presented with this incredible secret to health, and that came from Hippocrates’ famous quote, Let food be medicine and medicine be food. We took that as the premise of our mission to say, How do we bring this to life and not just have food pushed to the side? 

This is only for prevention. This is only for the wealthy class. This is something that should be part of our healthcare system. It should be in our toolbox, and it should be at the forefront, not pushed to the side. I love working on research-backed companies. Dr. Bredesen, the research is incredible. If you haven’t reviewed it, you’ve got to look at his papers and his book, because they validate what people knew 2,400 years ago. But now we’re proving it with science, and we’re showing it through studies and efficacy. That’s what I wanted to be a part of: legitimizing that space and bringing solutions to the market that are easy for people to adopt, help with compliance, and have phenomenal results behind them. 

Nutrition for Longevity is a medically tailored meal company. We focus on tailored nutrition that impacts specific chronic illnesses, and it’s very much focused on low-inflammatory ingredients and high-potassium foods. The things that Dr. Longo’s research and Dr. Peterson’s research show should be the foundation of our diet. With that, we can combat a lot of inflammation-based diseases. That’s really at the core of Hippocrates’ philosophy: let’s bring nutrition and food as our first line of defense and then complement them with other things as needed. That’s what we focus on. We also, this past year, pivoted into medical insurance coverage. In a lot of states across the country, we have Medicaid and Medicare coverage. We’re working on some incredible projects with Dr. Bredesen and his team to bring KetoFLEX to life, as well as in the peer coverage space. There’s a lot of exciting movement in the food and medicine space, and there’s a lot of fuel behind everything that we’re doing.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Yes, great point. Could you tell us a little bit about your sourcing? Of course, one of the things that comes up a lot is that people say, Well, I want to make sure that these ingredients are non-toxic. We keep hearing about issues with various exposures we have. Of course, the latest is such a surprising result that people who had carotid plaques removed look the same, except if they had microplastics in them. You had a much higher incidence of vascular problems down the road than if the same-looking plaque had no microplastics in it. It’s a striking result that just, again, shows our environment, what we’re putting in our mouths, what’s going on with our gut microbiome, and what’s going on with our systemic toxicity and exposure is huge. How do you ensure that your sourcing is going to be the best for people who are eating N4L’s versions of KetoFLEX 12/3?

Jennifer Maynard

Absolutely. Again, our philosophy is to Do Not Harm. We want to make sure that the foods that we’re putting in the body are not adding toxins to this toxin buildup that happens to a lot of people. We start with ingredients that are farm-fresh and from growers that are using organic practices. They don’t have synthetic pesticides or herbicides. I mean, I am a farmer. I also come from that industry because I have a passion for farming and the amount of chemicals that are sprayed on unconventional produce. I mean, I think that the average highly pesticide-sprayed vegetable can have up to 13 different pesticides sprayed on them in one season. This is a pretty high toxin load that you can put in your body. 

We want to start with the clean ingredients that don’t have those. Also, our meals, in addition to not having those toxins, don’t have any synthetic additives, preservatives, fillers, sweeteners, etc., because all of those can have an impact on your digestion or your gut microbiome. That’s first and foremost: let’s not introduce those toxins to the body because we already have a lot of things around us that we can’t control, such as environmental toxins. Let’s not have the food; be a source of that. 

The second is just low-inflammatory ingredients in general. Julie mentioned some of the things you start to take out of your diet: dairy and some grains. There’s also a lot of connection to GMO products, and we don’t use any GMO products because they can also have a lot of chemicals sprayed on them. Usually, the affiliation with GMOs is glyphosate and things like that. We again try to make sure none of that is introduced. Since a lot of chronic illnesses, Julie mentioned insulin resistance, things that can be heavily impacted, but they’re heavily impacted by inflammation. We also try to make sure we’re not introducing that to the body. 

We also focus on keeping a lot of the major food allergens out of the diet so people can eat this clean nutrition, knowing exactly what is in their diet. It’s very minimally processed as well. The body still has a lot of fiber, roughage, and other things that are feeding your gut microbiome. Those prebiotic fibers, which are great for stabilizing blood sugar, are also great for feeding the gut microbiome. Those are the cores behind the diet. We also bring in a lot of colorful vegetables. of that broad spectrum of phytonutrients. Those are some of the things that research has shown. Phytonutrients, like fiber, are key to the health of the gut microbiome.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Yes, I appreciate that. Professor Stephen Cunnane, of course, showed several years ago that even ketones alone can help bridge that energetic gap. We want to get people to be insulin-sensitive, and we want to get people to be able to get into ketosis. This is one of the, I think, big advantages to KetoFLEX 12/3 of these other diets that aren’t so good at getting you into ketosis, although they may make you insulin sensitive. Julie, could you then talk a little bit about how you translate this now that you’ve got all this wonderful food that can be delivered, typically you’re delivering it once a week, correct? Jennifer, how do you now translate this into what I am doing? How do I order this? Could you talk to us a little bit about that?

Julie Gregory

Yes. You have two options. Now you can do what we call our KetoFLEX 12/3 Bundle, which is our best value. You get 10 of these fully prepared meals, and they’re delicious. I think what I love so much about these is that when you’re eating a whole-food diet, it’s the sauces and the salad dressings that make all the difference. When you’re not using dairy, it can be tricky. But your chef is amazing. She is nuts and makes it taste like Alfredo sauce or something. The food is delicious. If you get the bundle package, you get 10 meals and two bottles of this high-polyphenol extra virgin olive oil. I think this comes from Dr. Valter Longo’s hometown. Is that right, Jennifer?

Jennifer Maynard

That we sourced from Sardinia? It is one of the blue zones of the world. It has some of the highest polyphenol content, and we buy it directly from the farms. I’ve seen these olive orchards. They’re incredible. Are groves never touched with pesticides? We call them centenarian olive groves because they’re quite old themselves. This olive oil has five times the polyphenol content of an average olive oil on the market. We do test the polyphenol. We get the first press. 

These are hand-picked olives, so they’re not bruised by mechanical production. It’s a premium, very high-quality olive oil. That’s what we try to do with all of our sourced ingredients: whenever possible, go directly to the source, bringing those pure and healthy ingredients. Even the fats that you’re bringing into your diet that are helping you get into ketosis are very high-quality, very healthy fats for the body.

Dale Bredesen, MD

I would just like to add that the study was published showing that extra virgin olive oil alone had a better outcome than Locanda brand, which has been approved, came about, and has been approved by the FDA, but didn’t have as positive an effect on cognition as EVOO alone. Great that you’ve got a high polyphenol extra virgin olive oil.

Julie Gregory

Yes, I think this is around 6,600 for the polyphenol count, which is very high, but it doesn’t have that bitter taste. We encourage folks to put up to four tablespoons in each of the meals, all the sources and all the salad dressings are designed to complement the olive oil. In that value bundle, you also get two clamshells of cruciferous vegetables, a very seasonal offering; sometimes shredded red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, or whatever. Cruciferous vegetables are so important. They’re full of fiber and new nutrients, but they’re also high in an antioxidant called sulforaphane. It helps us detoxify and attack reticence. We’re constantly exposed to microplastics, herbicides, pesticides, BPA, and BPS. The best we can do is eat our cruciferous veggies, drink clean, filtered water, and sweat every day. 

Also included in that value bundle are six pastured hard-boiled eggs. We love the eggs because they’re high in choline, the precursor to acetylcholine, which is necessary for memory formation. There are other ways to get choline, of course, through liver and organ meats, but it’s wonderful just to throw an egg on a salad or eat it as a snack. Two things are included in the bundle that I want to mention: leafy greens. We ask everyone to get a big pack of organic, leafy greens. Research shows people who eat leafy greens have a slower rate of cognitive decline. They’re high in folate, and they upregulate nitric oxide. They’re lowering blood pressure, and they’re also increasing the blood circulation throughout your body and to your brain. 

The other thing we ask everyone to include at least once a day is fermented food. I’ve got some sauerkraut here, so please, everyone, add these two extra ingredients to your diet. This bundle value, with the two bottles of olive oil and all these ingredients, is $169.50 a week. We also have a meals-only deal. That’s one $137.50, and it just comes with the 10 meals, but that’s why I wanted to show you all these other things that we want you to include in your diet, to eat alongside the meals. If you don’t mind, I want to share my screen, and I’ll show folks how to order at ketoflex123.com. You can choose the KetoFLEX 12/3 bundle for $169.50 or the meals only for $137.50. We have a discount for new customers only 15% off, Apollo15 is the code, so please check it out. It’s so wonderful that you’ve made this easy for us, Jennifer. I can’t tell you at the end of a long day of work, it’s a delight to open the refrigerator, not worry about sourcing or cooking, and just have a fully prepared meal and all the extras ready. 

Jennifer Maynard

We are thrilled with this, and I’m so happy to be sharing it.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Thank you very much, Julie. I’ve enjoyed the meals, and I would say meals. My favorite is the bolognese. I love it. That was a great one, as well as some of the chicken, some of the chicken dishes, and some of the broccoli dishes, which I enjoyed. I would mention that I think it’s important to point out that these are not the typical inflammatory eggs that you will buy at a typical grocery store. These are pastured eggs. They are high in omega-3s. They are high in choline. These are the eggs that are healthful instead of anti-health. I think that, again, that’s another very important distinction here. 

So, Julie, thank you very much for showing us. I think this has made a difference. One of the things that we found in our first trial is that when people started doing the right things, they changed their diet, got it, and switched to a plant-rich, mildly ketogenic diet. They started showing improvements within the first month. They were seen, even though we know now that the changes that lead to Alzheimer’s go on for decades before you get a diagnosis. These people are noticing differences very quickly. 

Also, Jennifer, I know that you’ve been very interested in aging. You’ve been very interested in cognition. If you have any other things that you’d like to say about this, I think that we’ve gotten a great idea from you and Julie about what can be done. We’ve seen it ourselves. I’ve tasted it myself and enjoyed it. Thank you very much for that. But there are other things that we should say before finishing up here.

Jennifer Maynard

I just mentioned it a little bit: the high-quality proteins that we use because we do focus on a plant-forward diet, but there are very high-quality protein sources, and people get to pick their meals every week. We’re adding another five SKUs each week, and we rotate the menu. I think that’s important to avoid flavor fatigue and allow you to enjoy the dishes. I also have some favorites. Some people are like, Well, where’s my pasta? We have this incredible artichoke heart pasta made from strings of artichoke hearts, and it’s delicious. It gives you that feeling of eating pasta but without the grains. We have some very clever ways that we still bring people’s dishes that they’re looking for, that they might eat at a restaurant, or that might be a favorite dish. 

Then those proteins, we have sustainably wild-caught fish. and we focus on fish that don’t have high levels of heavy metals. Again, not bringing that into the body. Incredible salmon from Alaska was sourced carefully. I’m from Alaska. I’m, as I think I’ve mentioned before, a little bit of a fish snob, but we make sure we bring in high-quality fish, poultry, and beef. Those are coming from sustainable sources as well as clean sources in the way that those animals are raised. I think that’s a really important thing to a lot of our clients, and just really making sure, I think people are also surprised at how filling the dishes are. It’s a lot of food, and it’s a lot of vegetables. Only one in ten Americans eats enough vegetables. We know that that’s linked to a lot of our chronic illnesses. 

Having this fulfilling meal that makes you feel full when you’re finished—it’s good quality food, but it’s also a good amount of food. You’re not feeling you’re hungry after your dish. I love it. We’d love for people to try it and give us feedback. We are also constantly listening to feedback and making sure that we address it on the market. I would tell people to keep their eyes open. We are working on coverage through insurance with this program, then adding it to all of the other programs that we offer for Medicaid and Medicare.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Fantastic. Julie, could you go ahead and show everyone a dish there that looks fantastic? I’m coming to your place for lunch.

Julie Gregory

So, so good. This is the wild-caught salmon that you were talking about. This is a sweet potato curry with miso salmon. Look at all the broccoli that comes with this. Serving sizes are huge. We want everyone to eat 6 to 9 cups of non-starchy veggies a day. Between these two meals and your extra leafy greens and cruciferous, you’re easily getting there. 

Of course, we want you to eat veggies from every color of the rainbow, and you guys do a wonderful job of having a huge variety. The meals are so easy to make, too; there they are, always fresh, never frozen. You just warm them up. Never use the microwave because we don’t want you to microwave plastic, but you can saute them or put them in the oven for five or 10 minutes. It’s quick.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Fantastic. More and more literature has been coming out, even recently, on ultra-processed food. Eating the wrong things does have an impact on your longevity. It does make an impact on your cognition, your heart disease, and your cancer risk. It’s remarkable how damaging ultra-processed food has turned out to be. This is not get-this-is not gas station sushi. This is a very, very high-quality, appropriately sourced food that does make a big impact on your health. 

There are some excellent questions that people have brought up, and we thought it would be a good idea to address those things. Maybe we start with you, Julie. Tell us a little bit about the term KetoFLEX 12/3. What does that mean, and what’s looking at this together? What is the reason you call it KetoFLEX 12/3?

Julie Gregory

That is a great question, and it’s a mouthful. Keto refers to the fact that the diet is mildly ketogenic, and that’s to help fuel the brain. Flex refers to the fact that it promotes metabolic flexibility. We want people to be able to burn both fat and glucose as fuel to optimize fuel for the brain. 12/3 refers to the minimum amount of time that we want people to be fasting every day. a minimum of 12 hours, with at least 3 hours before bed. We like to say that it’s a diet that becomes a lifestyle.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Yes, absolutely. As we and you’ve talked about before when we think about the place of nutrition, we’re talking about it as part of the seven basics, what I think of as the seven basic things. So, diet, plant, rich, mildly ketogenic diet, exercise, sleep stress, brain training, detox. You talked a little bit before about that. Again, the diet helps with that. then some targeted supplements depending on whether you have insufficiencies or deficiencies. I think that’s an important thing to broach. 

Then, Jennifer, maybe you could talk a little bit about what you talked about before about the fish; talk about how you chose where you got the chicken and the beef. I mean, the good news is that I like some meat in my diet. As we’ve said from the very beginning, you don’t have to do that. You can do KetoFLEX 12/3 as a vegan if you want to. But I need to have some chicken. I have some pastured chicken. I do have some grass-fed beef. I want to have some fish. You’ve got all of those in your diet.

Jennifer Maynard

Yes. Again, we focus on a lot of sustainable proteins, and I know a lot of people are looking at that from an environmental standpoint. But the benefit of the way we source our proteins is that it’s also good for the environment. Your wild-caught fishes. We also follow essentially the Monterey Bay Aquarium standards, which are some of the strongest standards for sustainably caught fish. They make sure they’re not over-harvested. They monitor it very closely. We’re working on that environmental side, but we’re also making sure it’s single-line wild-caught. For our poultry, if you want to think about it as the clean source of food that those animals or fish are consuming, that’s the way you should look at it as wild-caught salmon, for example, is eating the natural food that it would normally eat in its environment. If you look at poultry, it’s pasture-raised, so it’s out in a field; it’s eating the bugs, and if it’s eating grain, it’s those natural grains. 

It’s really, I have chickens myself. They’re naturally scratching, and they’re getting that natural diet. They eat a lot of vegetables. A lot of people don’t realize they’re eating a lot of grasses and different things in their environment. Same with the beef. For a lot of people, there’s been ups and downs about the health benefits of beef. But a lot of beef is heavily grain-finished. It’s fed with a lot of other ingredients. We focus on that grass-fed beef that is out in a pasture, eating what its natural diet would be. I think that’s what’s different about those sourced proteins: we’re trying to get them to eat the diet that they would eat if they were a grazing animal, a forager, a chicken, or a turkey. That’s, I think, the most important thing. Then, of course, they’re hormone- and antibiotic-free. We’re making sure that those toxins aren’t introduced through the proteins either.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Yes, it’s a great point. I think it’s important to talk for a minute about fasting because there are so many issues surrounding it. There’s no question that fasting can be very helpful. But we have to remember that there’s a little bit of a paradox here, which is that when you develop cognitive decline, you are sacrificing synaptic connections because you don’t have enough energy to support them through blood flow, oxygenation, nutrition, and all of that. Because you have an increased requirement, a drag due to the inflammation, you’re having to move your resources from supporting connections to fighting various insults, or because you have toxins that interfere with these pathways. 

Anything that’s breaking down the optimal utilization chain in your brain is going to give you a problem. Therefore, when you now start to have a big fast without supporting the brain, you can get into problems. Please be careful. For those of you who start with a BMI of 20 or lower, please be very careful. Start with a shorter, fast, and certainly, Julie has written about this, how to do this, and how to get into it. This is why I tend to use some exogenous ketones at the beginning because of Stephen Cunnane,’s work to bridge that gap. then slowly, over a month or two, you can get into some endogenous ketosis. There’s no question that the fasting part helps your insulin sensitivity. It helps with your inflammation, and it helps with your detox. 

There are a lot of things that help. It helps with your blood pressure on and on, but we have seen frail people who start with too much go backward because, again, this is about what you can support in your brain. That’s the tricky part. again, having the meals at the appropriate fasting time. If you’re an APOE4 negative, we typically recommend 12 to 14 hours. Again, if you’re frail, you can work up to that. If you’re APOE E4 positive, we typically recommend 14 to 16 hours. 

Julie, I know you’ve become an expert on fasting over the years, and you’ve interacted with many people on your website, ApoE4.Info. If you could talk a little bit about what you’ve learned from your years of working with so many people, about the pros and cons of fasting,

Julie Gregory

Yes, you brought up some really good points. Fasting is most dangerous for people with insulin resistance because they can’t get into ketosis when the brain is in the blood. For that reason, we asked them to extend the fast by three to five minutes a day. We don’t want them to develop hypoglycemia. By switching to this low-carb diet and extending their fasts slowly and carefully, they can do it safely. Also, if you’re taking medication for diabetes, you cannot do this without speaking with your physician. You need to be taught how to tight trade the medication down as you heal so you won’t develop hypoglycemia. 

You mentioned the most important thing. People who are too thin: being too thin puts you at risk for cognitive decline. We don’t want people to do those long daily fasts unless they’re in an optimal state with strong muscles and they’re healthy. We ask them not to even fast until they achieve a healthy weight.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Yes, it is interesting to me as someone who is trained in medical school to say, Well, diet’s not that important. Get out there and eat what you want to eat, but make sure to take your medicine. The reality is that diet plays a huge role. It’s tricky because it’s about sourcing. It’s about whether you can eat good chicken or bad chicken. You can eat the right beef for the wrong beef. You can eat the right eggs or the wrong eggs. You can eat the right greens or the wrong greens. 

There are a lot of things you can do to get the optimal benefit from you. That’s where I think that N4L plays a huge role because they’ve done all the work ahead of time. Thanks again to Nutrition for Longevity. We will be happy to answer further questions if there are other ones. But again, thank you to Julie, and thank you to Jennifer. I look forward to seeing you next time.

Julie Gregory

Thank you.

Dale Bredesen, MD

Bye.