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Wellness Wednesday with Andrew Russell - Brain Foods (15.04.26)

14 Apr 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

1.583 - 24.759 Unknown

Wellness Wednesday with Andrew Russell for MIOK, the app that helps you stay on top of your mental health. Download it today. Henley Homes, we're hard to beat. Ask other builders, then come back to us. He's in the studio, Andrew Russell. It's great to have him. Someone says, have you ever been in a Zoom meeting, Gary? Did it stop you from making a proper decision? No, it didn't.

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24.819 - 39.065 Unknown

But I didn't have to handle 15 other cars on the road and stop lights and listen to the radio. No. Zoom meeting, you probably get away with that person. Driving your car, I wouldn't have thought so. G'day, Andrew. Gaz. Tim. Morning, Jack.

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39.445 - 45.595 Andrew Russell

How are you today? There's lots going on. Yeah, geez, isn't footy an amazing beast? What pops up in football every week.

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45.695 - 65.907 Unknown

I know, and you're going to get back on the diet, which blew up last week, and we didn't give you perhaps enough time, as much time as we would have liked. But I know you've got some thoughts on this, because one of the discussion points is how can two people be so adamant that they can be 100% I said this, the other person says 100% I said this. They're third party in this.

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66.287 - 71.233 Unknown

I think Ollie Wines also said 100% I heard this. How can they all be true?

71.713 - 87.793 Andrew Russell

Well, it's pretty predictable human behavior and we all deal with it every day in our life around in conflict with at work, with our partners. Probably the first thing is, let's go to a bit of the science and research behind this. So when we say we're 100%, Correct.

Chapter 2: What are the benefits of brain foods?

88.333 - 109.459 Andrew Russell

We're probably 70 or 80% correct. That's what the science says. So when you say, I am Adam, I'm 100%, we're not a lot of the time. Science tells us we're not. Science tells us that, which is fascinating, isn't it? So we as human beings are prediction machines, all right? So we take information from the environment, whatever information that is, and then we build a story, all right?

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109.559 - 129.352 Andrew Russell

And so there's probably four things, all right, when we look at cognitive research and neuroscience around this. So eyewitness research is, says that two people see the same event and give completely different information based on that event. So we know this has been around for years and years and years. So really, really powerful stuff. The second one is noisy environments.

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130.354 - 154.187 Andrew Russell

In a noisy environment, we catch fragments of the sentence and then our brain automatically reconstructs it and fills in the gaps. So our expectations shape what we hear due to our memory, past experiences, what's happened in our lives. So the umpire is alert for a challenge or an abuse or something along those lines. The player is alert

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154.167 - 176.204 Andrew Russell

to be not listened to by the umpire because they feel like... Past experiences. Past experience. So that expectation shapes everything. Then you've got a high stress environment. So under acute stress, the part of our brain that makes decisions, the prefrontal cortex, basically it's turned down or doesn't work very well. So... That means we go into fight or flight mode.

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176.224 - 194.992 Andrew Russell

And when we're in fight or flight mode, we don't make good decisions. We haven't got good attention to detail during that period. And then after something happens, after we had that big blow up, there's a whole lot of different information. We basically reconstruct that memory. And then we double down.

Chapter 3: How do fatty fish contribute to brain health?

195.393 - 214.123 Andrew Russell

And so the reflection, the conversation with teammates, the umpires talk to each other, then the media... jump in and give their perspective. And that all gets woven in to consolidate a story. And often we go into protection mode where we double down, all right? And that's all to do with neuroplasticity. Our brain says, this is the way, this is what it was for me.

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214.504 - 222.156 Andrew Russell

Then those neurons in our brain fire more, and then that says, yep, that's how it is, and it locks it in, and then we're done. And we do not change from that perspective.

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222.376 - 241.779 Unknown

I think... At some stage, you would have turned to Ollie Wines, I'm sure, and said, did I say that? Am I hearing this right? And I'm sure then Ollie would have thought, And so what you're saying, reaffirm. I was right. I said this. And then Ollie will say, yeah, that's exactly what I thought I heard.

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241.94 - 243.902 Tim

And it works both ways, though, too, doesn't it?

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243.942 - 244.903 Unknown

Yeah, no, of course it does, yeah.

244.923 - 259.639 Tim

So the umpires are thinking exactly the same thing, that, okay, I'm going to double down. That's what I heard. I'm not going to retract any part of that because I'm 100% certain that that's exactly what he said to me at that time. They both believe that they are correct. Yeah.

259.619 - 271.332 Unknown

All right, well, we'll take a break on that. So it does make some sense that it is a fascinating case. On the other side, we'll reopen the diet debate, diet, health, nutrition, that we talked about last week with Andrew Russell.

271.552 - 275.857 Gary

Breakfast with Gary and Tim. Well, it's all right.

276.718 - 281.604 Unknown

Andrew Russell's in the studio. We've got three questions for him about diet, health, and nutrition, which we're happy to share with him.

Chapter 4: What role do nuts play in cognitive function?

281.624 - 287.23 Unknown

You can 043-918-1116, send through some questions. We'll try and get to as much as we can. We're going to jam it in.

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287.665 - 302.451 Tim

And just very quickly, Gary, those five points you made are the most sensible things I've heard all year. I wouldn't expect the AFL hierarchy to think of them. They should employ you and Tim as consultants. Tim, what do you have to do? What are the three things that you want to talk about today?

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303.055 - 318.523 Andrew Russell

Well, I want to go through brain foods in a bit more detail. What are brain foods? What are they? Well, firstly, our brain basically takes up 2% of our body weight, but 20% of our daily energy use our brain. So it's so, so important.

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318.543 - 319.545 Tim

Just repeat that again.

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319.525 - 338.785 Andrew Russell

It takes up 2% of our body weight, but 20% of our energy that we consume. Right. So we have to feed the brain. We have to feed the brain. And then obviously then all the chemicals are released that then feed our whole body. So you're saying there's something you can eat that's going to make you sharper. Absolutely. What is it?

338.805 - 359.014 Andrew Russell

Decrease inflammation, make it sharper, and lead to less cognitive decline over time. Tim's got his pen out. He's got to write these down. Pretty important. So fatty fish, salmon, sardines, mackerel, any fish that is fatty is extremely good to reduce inflammation in the brain. Not just fish, though. Not just fish. More of the fatty fishes.

Chapter 5: How can eggs enhance memory and attention?

359.375 - 361.197 Andrew Russell

Mackerel, herring. Mackerel.

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361.578 - 383.755 Andrew Russell

So blueberries. My dad loves sardines. Blueberries. Blueberries. Oh, snap. Antioxidants. Again, reducing inflammation in the brain. Quantities we need here. Yeah, that's a really good question. So we're looking at 250 grams, so a cup. Like a punnet a day. Not a punnet. No, no, no. Maybe half a punnet. Okay. All right.

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383.735 - 385.559 Unknown

He must be making a lot of money.

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386.721 - 402.995 Andrew Russell

Nuts are so important. Brazil nuts, almonds, basically any nuts. Aren't they fatty? Not peanuts, salted peanuts. Yeah, but it's good fat. It's the fat that we need in our diet. And again- you know, one big handful. A handful a day. You know, a handful a day.

Chapter 6: What is the importance of legumes for gut health?

403.015 - 404.938 Unknown

What about the pistache? That's what I'm talking about.

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404.958 - 414.616 Andrew Russell

Pistachio, yeah, well, absolutely. I mean, they all have slightly different effects. But, you know, again, it's like fruit. You know, you go the wide range of colours. Nuts is exactly the same thing. Cashews?

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414.636 - 416.659 Unknown

What are you laughing at with the pistachio anyway?

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417.22 - 419.785 Andrew Russell

No, I was thinking about mustachios, not pistachios.

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419.805 - 419.985

Oh, shit.

420.826 - 435.209 Andrew Russell

All right, moving on, eggs. All right, eggs are really good. I love all these things. Really good for memory and attention, all right? There's a thing called choline in eggs, which is outstanding for us. Is it the white and the yolk or not? Well, it's actually the yolk is the choline that's so important for us.

435.47 - 438.455 Unknown

What about egg white omelettes for protein?

438.495 - 446.45 Andrew Russell

Well, yeah, actually, I mean, the protein element of the white. But for the brain, the yolk. But for the brain is the yolk. I like it. How many, Jack? Three to four a day.

446.53 - 457.937 Tim

Because some people, there is contrary view to this in terms of how many eggs you can have in your diet and it's not good for you. With this cholesterol or something that builds up as a result of this or not?

Chapter 7: How does diet affect serotonin and dopamine levels?

464.413 - 466.918 Andrew Russell

It's dose dependent. Yeah, two, three eggs a day. Absolutely.

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466.978 - 471.328 Unknown

I'm going to keep driving us because otherwise we're going to get abused for a long time.

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471.769 - 472.61 Andrew Russell

Dark chocolate.

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472.771 - 474.455 Unknown

Sorry, quickly, frozen berries are fine.

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474.595 - 480.668 Andrew Russell

Frozen berries. Yep. Amazing. Yep. All right. Dark chocolate. It's got to be 70%, above 70%.

480.648 - 484.533 Unknown

This is not essential to eat, but if you're going to have chocolate, eat dark chocolate?

484.733 - 490.96 Andrew Russell

Absolutely. Or are you saying go out and eat dark chocolate? No, dark chocolate is good for you. Nice. Very different to milk chocolate. Yep. All right?

491.361 - 492.863 Unknown

Very different. Doesn't taste as good.

493.063 - 505.618 Andrew Russell

Green tea, very calming. All right? There's a chemical produced. Our brain's called GABA. It increases serotonin. It helps dopamine, and it helps us to calm ourselves down. Green tea, yep.

Chapter 8: Why is the timing of meals important for health?

505.998 - 507.78 Andrew Russell

Yeah. Extra virgin olive oil.

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507.881 - 518.064 Unknown

Yep. Oh, Cobham Estate. Mmm. Extra virgin olive oil. Some people say, in fact, Brent says, just have a little shot of Cobham Estate extra virgin olive oil.

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518.385 - 528.869 Tim

Start your day. I would support that. Yeah. 100% I would support that. And before you go to bed at night too, just maybe just a twist of lemon in there. Beautiful. Keep going. I love the detail there, Tim.

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528.889 - 541.524 Andrew Russell

What about- I do all these things. Castor oil in your belly button. Have you heard that? No, I haven't. I don't know about that one. I'll chase that one up for you. I want you to do some homework on that. I will. I'll come back to you. I'll come back to you. Don't laugh at me. Maybe you're suggesting hamsters next. No.

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541.925 - 557.282 Andrew Russell

And the number one thing in terms of probably, it covers so many different areas, and I've talked about this before, is legumes. Beans, lentils, chickpeas. You just cannot go wrong. Really? Really. We all need this in our diet. Really? All right, let's get in. Amazing for our gut bacteria.

557.302 - 567.113 Unknown

Is that for gut and what we eat and drink, how it affects our gut? Because I've got a son who's got a crook gut, always is crook. Tim, I've got a workmate who's always crook in the gut. Always.

568.314 - 594.286 Andrew Russell

There are 500 million neurons that connect our brain to our gut. It is so, so important. All right, so let's look at what matters in terms of the way that we think about life, in terms of mood, about anxiety, depression. 95% of our serotonin is in our gut. 95% of our serotonin and serotonin is basically what we need to regulate our mood, our appetite, sleep. It's absolutely critical to us.

594.526 - 621.62 Andrew Russell

So that's the first thing. Second one is dopamine. Dopamine is about motivation and reward. So chicken, fish, eggs, almonds, avocados are really, really good. All right, for the dopamine. And then I talked about it before in terms of the calming chemical GABA from green tea, yogurts, legumes, nuts. Greek yogurt? Citrus fruits, yeah. Not the stuff full of sugar. No, exactly.

621.64 - 645.509 Andrew Russell

And it's worthwhile looking at the levels of sugar. Very high. There is a massive difference between sugar levels with yogurts. And then melatonin. So melatonin is amazing. There's 400 more times melatonin in our gut than there is in the brain. So our melatonin is being driven, all right? So the melatonin is what we need to trigger us to go to sleep.

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