Food as Brain Chemistry: Choline and Carotenoids

Max Lugavere explains nutrients like choline, lutein and zeaxanthin from eggs and leafy greens support cognition and eye health.

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💬“We intend to measure what we care about, but instead, we end up caring about what we can measure.” — Chris Williamson

If 2025 has proven something, it’s that modern lifestyles quietly push you away from good health - unless you build the habits, environment, and mindset that can pull you back on track.

This Greatest Hits episode is a highlight reel of the of the most powerful ideas from Chris Williamson, Nasha Winters, Mark Sisson, Cate Shanahan, Max Lugavere, Davinia Taylor, Claudia Muehlenweg, and Torbjörn Ogeus - spanning performance psychology, metabolic health, brain nutrition, eye habits, toxin load, and cutting-edge recovery.

In this episode, Tim brings together:

➡︎ Hard vs valuable (Chris Williamson): why high performers can accidentally chase “conquest” instead of meaning and how hidden metrics (peace, relationships, alignment) beat observable metrics (status, titles, money).

➡︎ Cancer as feedback (Nasha Winters): “cancer is the messenger” plus the “10 drops in the mitochondrial bucket” (epigenetics, metabolic health, toxins, microbiome, immunity, inflammation, oxygenation, hormones, circadian rhythm, and emotional health).

➡︎ Metabolic flexibility (Mark Sisson): the simplest lever: remove processed foods, added sugar, refined flour, and industrial seed oils, then watch appetite normalize.

➡︎ Seed oils & oxidative damage (Cate Shanahan): the shocking French fry comparison and the deeper point: heated, unstable oils create reactive byproducts that drive inflammation and accelerate degeneration.

➡︎ Food → brain chemistry (Max Lugavere): nutrients as raw materials for cognition - choline for acetylcholine, plus lutein/zeaxanthin from dark leafy greens (absorbed better with healthy fats) to support long-term brain and eye health.

➡︎ “Who’s got time?” (Davinia Taylor): the real-world gap between ideal nutrition and modern schedules and how to use practical food-format supplementation (without sliding into ultra-processed traps).

➡︎ Eye health without unrealistic rules (Claudia Muehlenweg): ditch perfect protocols, design your environment (desk facing a window, natural distance viewing, movement, balance boards) so the habit happens automatically.

➡︎ Repair, blood flow, and innovation (Torbjörn Ogeus): why healing follows blood and a mind-bending look at stem-cell activation pathways that hint at a more accessible future for recovery and regeneration.

➡︎ Tim Gray curates the sharpest takeaways from the year, connecting mindset, nutrition, modern toxins, and physiology into a single theme: your health is built (or broken) by what you repeat and what you’re willing to rethink.

Featured guests:

Chris Williamson - performance, psychology, and the hidden costs of achievement.

Nasha Winters - integrative oncology, terrain-first thinking, mitochondria and prevention.

Mark Sisson - ancestral nutrition, metabolic flexibility, and simplifying food decisions.

Cate Shanahan - fat chemistry, oxidation, and why modern oils can quietly hijack health.

Max Lugavere - brain nutrition, cognitive aging, and food as neurological input.

Davinia Taylor - family-focused health, and breaking addiction cycles.

Claudia Muehlenweg - vision training, eye health habits, and environment design that sticks.

Torbjörn Ogeus - regenerative concepts, stem cells, and why “trying new things” precedes evidence.

💡 Highlights

[01:23] Hard vs. Valuable: Chris Williamson On Chasing The Wrong Goals

[02:36] Risk, Reward, And Hidden Metrics That Really Matter

[06:37] The 10 Root Causes Of Cancer With Nasha Winters

[10:54] Circadian Medicine And Doing Chemotherapy Better

[13:23] What Paleo Really Means With Mark Sisson

[19:13] French Fries, Cigarettes, And The Seed Oil Problem with Cate Shanahan

[24:42] Food And Brain Health With Max Lugavere

[31:55] Supplements, Time Pressure, And Nutrition with Davinia Taylor

[36:39] Simple Habits For Eye Health With Claudia Muehlenweg

[39:53] Micro-Habits, Movement, And Making Change Automatic

[42:09] Stem Cells, Stress, And A Surprising Lab Discovery with Torbjörn Ogeus