How to feed your brain in LA

I’ve spent the better part of a decade obsessed with one question: What does the brain need to stay sharp? 

It started when my mom — the most important person in my life — was diagnosed with a rare form of dementia at 58. 

That’s when I discovered that much of what we’re told about “healthy eating” has almost nothing to do with protecting the organ that matters most.

Since then I’ve spent years synthesizing what the science actually says about food and cognitive longevity.

I’ve interviewed hundreds of experts in science and medicine, and published a trilogy of books describing in detail how to eat for better brain health.

Here’s the headline most people miss: Dementia is not mainly a genetic disease. 

The 2024 Lancet Commission identifies 14 modifiable risk factors that together account for an estimated 45% of dementia cases — and that’s likely conservative, since it doesn’t include emerging contributors like micronutrient deficiencies. 

The real number is probably significantly higher. Either way, a huge proportion of the risk is in your hands. 

And a surprising amount comes down to what’s on your plate.

Your brain makes up only about 2% of your body’s weight, but it burns through 25% of your resting energy. It’s a metabolic furnace running on fatty acids, amino acids, and micronutrients.

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Starve it of those inputs — or flood it with ultra-processed junk — and you’re accelerating a decline that begins decades before any diagnosis. 

A meta-analysis of over 860,000 adults found that the highest consumers of ultra-processed foods had a 44% greater risk of dementia.

So what should you eat instead? I’ll keep it simple.

Eat more fatty fish. DHA, the omega-3 concentrated in salmon, sardines, and fish roe, is the primary structural fat in your neurons. 

In the Framingham Heart Study, people with the highest blood levels of DHA had roughly half the Alzheimer’s risk. In LA, I hit Sugarfish regularly for this reason — their salmon and ikura are as delicious as they are neuroprotective.

Eat your colors. Dark leafy greens are loaded with lutein and zeaxanthin — pigments that accumulate in your brain and shield neurons from oxidative damage. 

One study found that daily greens consumption was associated with the cognitive equivalent of being 11 years younger. I love the Farmhouse Scrambled at Dialog Café on Holloway Drive —eggs for choline, market greens for carotenoids, add avocado, and you’ve built a brain-health plate without trying.

Don’t fear quality red meat. This is where I lose some people, but the data backs me up. 

In a UK Biobank study of nearly 500,000 participants, unprocessed red meat was linked to a 19% lower risk of all-cause dementia. Beef delivers creatine, B12, iron, zinc, and choline—nutrients critical for brain energy and genuinely hard to get elsewhere. 

Grass-fed packs roughly three times the vitamin E of conventional beef. Palms n’ Patties latest outpost by the Grove does a grass-fed smash burger that’s proof brain food doesn’t have to taste like penance.

Use extra-virgin olive oil. In a large U.S. cohort, just half a tablespoon a day was associated with a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death. 

True Food Kitchen in Century City (one also in Pasadena) cooks exclusively with avocado and olive oil — one of the rare spots where I can skip the interrogation about what’s in the pan.

Prioritize protein. Muscle is a metabolic organ that regulates blood sugar, reduces inflammation, and secretes compounds that directly benefit the brain. 

Losing it as you age is a cognitive risk factor in its own right. Aim for at least 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight daily, spread evenly across meals, and pair it with resistance training.

This is simple stuff. Real food — colorful, protein-rich, minimally processed — prepared with good fats and eaten consistently. 

The path to a sharper brain at 70 starts on the plate. And if you’re in LA, it starts at some pretty great restaurants.

Max Lugavere is a health and science journalist, host of The Genius Life podcast, creator of Little Empty Boxes (the world’s first and only dementia prevention documentary), and New York Times bestselling author of Genius Foods.