If you want to know how your brain is working, I suggest going beyond a standard IQ test. These tests measure your innate intelligence at a given moment in time, but there’s more to brain function than just IQ. Besides cognition and rational thinking, your brain controls just about every important function in your body, including metabolism, emotional regulation, fat storage, endurance, immunity, memory, coordination, balance, organ regulation, sensory input, speech, and many other functions.
A New Pattern of Brain Dysfunction
Over many decades of medical practice, I noticed a distinct pattern of brain dysfunction in many of my patients. These brain dysfunction symptoms were consistently associated with excess body fat, and this combination seemed to fit the pattern of a disease. I eventually identified 22 symptoms that are associated with this disease that I call Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. Over time I also recognized that this disease is triggered by long-term exposure to ultra-processed food. This type of toxic food is made from three components:
- Excess sucrose and fructose.
- Excess high-glycemic carbohydrates like white flour and white rice.
- Excess omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable oils relative to omega-3 fatty acids.
Take the Test
Folks with significant CARB syndrome have impaired overall brain function, adversely affecting all the areas listed above. How do you know if you are a victim of CARB syndrome? I have developed a simple test based on the 22 symptoms of CARB syndrome. Go through this list and rate each item 0-5, with 0 equal to no symptom, and 5 indicating a very strong symptom. Go to this article for more details about each symptom. Now, let’s go through the list:
| 1. Strong cravings for sweet and starchy food: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 2. Excessive hunger that persists after consuming food: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 3. Excessive mental and physical fatigue: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 4. Difficulty concentrating and focusing: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 5. Poor impulse control: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 6. Feelings of depression or low mood: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 7. Excessive anxiety: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 8. Excessive mood swings: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 9. Insomnia: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 10. Lack of proper sensory filtering: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 11. Low self-esteem: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 12. Poor self-image: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 13. Loss of cognitive function: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 14. Increase in chronic pain: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 15. Impaired short-term memory: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 16. Internal restlessness and jumpiness with racing thoughts: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 17. Poor listening skills: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 18. Obsessive-compulsive tendencies: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 19. Intestinal symptoms (gas, bloating, excess flatus): | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 20. Increased communication lag time (CLT): | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 21. Frequently thinking about eating and food even after eating: | 0 1 2 3 4 5 |
Get Your Brain Test Score
Total up your scores. Use this list to give you information about your current brain function:
0-20: Normal brain function with no CARB syndrome.
21-40: Mild brain impairment with Stage I CARB syndrome.
41-60: Moderate brain impairment and Stage II CARB syndrome.
61-90: Moderately high brain impairment with Stage III CARB syndrome.
90-110: Severe brain impairment with Stage IV CARB syndrome.
If you suffer from a classical psychiatric disorder like depression, your overall score will be low, likely less than 20, because you will only accumulate scores in a few of the above areas. The same is true for other traditional psychiatric disorders. Most folks diagnosed today with these classic disorders actually have CARB syndrome causing their symptoms. The medical and scientific communities have completely missed the CARB syndrome disease, creating massive diagnostic and therapeutic confusion. Hopefully this test will help straighten out this mess.
It’s Time to Fix Your Brain
If you take this test and end up in one of the stages of CARB syndrome, don’t expect your physician to understand this disease concept because it’s so new. I’m trying to spread the word, but this type of radical new concept will take decades to be accepted. Currently your only choice is to arrange for your own diagnosis and treatment of your CARB syndrome. This test will allow you to make a tentative diagnosis. When it comes to treatment, my book “Brain Drain” outlines how to do so in detail. The basic treatment approach involves these simple and low-risk steps:
- Consume a healthy, whole foods diet with minimal sugar, vegetable oils, and high-glycemic carbohydrates. I personally like The Zone Diet by my friend Barry Sears.
- Avoid all ultra-processed food.
- Exercise regularly to include both aerobic and strength training.
- Take a high-quality omega-3 supplement to get your AA/EPA ratio between 1 and 3. I like Omega Rx2 by Barry Sears.
- Take four capsules daily of a maqui berry supplement containing Delphinol like Maqui Rx.
- Take a neurotransmitter precursor product like CARB-22 to rebuild your depleted levels of monoamine neurotransmitters that are causing these 22 symptoms.
- Set your goals high! A good example is my high school classmate Andy Steinfeldt, who manages to run marathons, set world planking records and sing professionally in a dozen languages in his mid-seventies–while most of our surviving classmates are curtailing their pursuits.
These steps are very low risk, and are easy to implement, so if your score is higher than you would like, go for the gold, and do what it takes to get your brain function back where it belongs. Now the ball is in your court, and I wish you the best!
