Chapter 9: Mental Clarity at 77—How Carnivore Rewired My Brain After Decades of Fog

Chapter 9:

Mental Clarity at 77—How Carnivore Rewired My

Brain After Decades of Fog

A vegan diet shattered me over thirty years—triggering panic attacks, forcing me to rely on psychotic drugs, and trapping my mind in a persistent fog. For decades, I bought into the plant-based myth, wandering through life with a brain that waded through molasses. I remember sitting in board meetings in my fifties, desperately grasping for words that should have come easily, watching younger colleagues exchange worried glances as I fumbled basic concepts. My wife would repeat herself three or four times at home before information penetrated the haze. The panic attacks began in my late forties—first striking at night, jolting me awake with a racing heart and a certainty that death loomed imminent, then creeping into daylight hours, ambushing me in grocery stores, during client meetings, once even while I drove on the highway (I had to pull over and wait forty minutes before I could continue).

My doctor prescribed Xanax, then Zoloft, then a cocktail of medications that left me functional but disconnected, as if I watched my life through frosted glass. "It's just age," they told me. "It's natural cognitive decline." At fifty-five, I believed them. At sixty-five, I resigned myself to a life of pharmaceutical dependency. I dutifully consumed my "healthy" plant-based meals—leafy greens, whole grains, legumes, and not an ounce of animal protein. I preached the gospel of veganism to anyone who would listen, even as my brain betrayed me daily.

Even as late as February 2024, I gave Bryan Johnson's vegan-heavy "Don't Die" Blueprint a shot. What a bust that proved—no team of 30 doctors as advertised, just a 29-year-old running the show, and within days, the program dragged me back to the cognitive haze I had fought so hard to escape. The fatigue hit first, and then the brain fog rolled in like a thick San Francisco mist, obliterating the mental clarity I had painstakingly cultivated. After two weeks, I abandoned the experiment, watching my $5,000 investment disappear along with my energy. It confirmed what my body had been telling me for decades: plant-based diets and I remained fundamentally incompatible.

My real salvation came through a 14-year battle across different dietary approaches and supplement regimens that not only burned through stubborn fat deposits but handed back my youth—both physically and mentally.

The Dietary Journey: From Fog to Clarity

It started in 2009 with Atkins (as detailed in Chapter 5)—I shed 65 pounds in three months, torching visceral fat from my frame. I remember the morning I realized my belt needed tightening by four notches, how I stood before the mirror in disbelief at the re-emergence of cheekbones I hadn't seen since my thirties. But the mental shift surprised me more—a subtle clearing, like someone wiping windows after years of grime accumulation. For the first time in decades, I could read a novel three times without re-reading the same paragraph. I could follow conversations without that slight delay in processing that had become my routine.

I plateaued, though, and eventually regained 30 pounds. The fog didn't return ultimately, but it lurked at the edges of my consciousness, threatening to engulf me again. That partial mental clarity, that glimpse of what might be possible, drove me to continue searching.

In 2014, keto (Chapter 6) struck again—I dropped 35 pounds over six months as subcutaneous fat peeled away. The mental effects exceeded those with Atkins. I remember sitting at my computer one morning, working on a complex programming problem that would have stymied me for days in my vegan years, when suddenly, the solution appeared in my mind with crystal clarity. I implemented it in twenty minutes and sat back, laughing out loud at the sheer joy of having a brain that worked efficiently again.

I began to suspect that my decades of cognitive struggles weren't an inevitable age-related decline but resulted from how I had been feeding—or rather, starving—my brain. The research I devoured during this period revealed the critical role of dietary fats in brain health. The human brain consists of nearly 60% fat, with a significant portion being omega-3 fatty acids like DHA, which remain notably absent or poorly converted from plant sources. My vegan diet had likely left me in a state of chronic brain malnutrition, lacking not just DHA but crucial nutrients like vitamin B12, choline, and bioavailable iron—all essential for cognitive function and primarily found in animal foods.

Then, in 2023, carnivore (Chapter 7) delivered the final breakthrough—I shed 35 more pounds and erased deep fat reserves I didn't even know I still carried. But the physical transformation paled in comparison to what happened to my mind.

Carnivore's Cognitive Revolution

The mental clarity that arrived with the carnivore diet didn't creep in gradually—it hit like a thunderbolt about three weeks after I eliminated all plant foods. I woke one morning with an almost startling alertness, as if someone had finally turned the lights on in a dim room. That day, I wrote 5,000 words of this very book without a single break, ideas flowing with an ease I hadn't experienced since my twenties.

Most remarkably, memories began surfacing—crystal clear recollections from early childhood that had remained buried for decades. I suddenly remembered the linoleum pattern in my grandmother's kitchen, where I had played as a two-year-old. I recalled the smell of my father's aftershave as he had leaned down to kiss me goodnight in 1949. The neuroscientific explanation for this phenomenon likely involves the clearing of inflammation in neural pathways—the elimination of plant anti-nutrients like oxalates and lectins that can contribute to what's colloquially called "leaky brain," allowing inflammatory compounds to breach the blood-brain barrier.

The carnivore diet provides a perfect storm of brain-supporting nutrients in their most bioavailable forms: choline for acetylcholine production (essential for memory formation), creatine for energy provision to neurons, DHA and EPA for neural membrane integrity, zinc and iron for neurotransmitter synthesis, and complete protein containing all essential amino acids for neurotransmitter precursors. Add to this the stable glucose regulation that comes with eliminating carbohydrates, and you get a brain operating in its optimal neurochemical environment for the first time in decades.

My daily life transformed in ways both subtle and profound. Conversations with my grandchildren became joyful explorations rather than exercises in frustration—I could follow their rapid topic changes, remember details they had told me weeks earlier, and engage with genuine presence rather than the half-attention of my foggy years. My hobby of chess, abandoned decades ago when strategic thinking became too difficult, returned with surprising force. At 77, I began competing in online tournaments, holding my own against players decades younger.

The panic attacks and pharmaceutical dependencies? Gone entirely. Within six months of strict carnivore eating, I worked with my doctor to taper off the last of my psychotropic medications. The anxiety that had accompanied me constantly since my forties simply evaporated. Current research suggests multiple mechanisms for this effect: the stabilization of blood sugar, the elimination of cortisol spikes that can trigger anxiety, the provision of abundant glycine from animal collagen, which has inhibitory effects in the nervous system, and the elimination of plant compounds like salicylates that can provoke neurological reactions in sensitive individuals.

I had layered in NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) and a targeted supplement stack (detailed in Chapter 4) since 2020, refining my approach in 2023 based on the latest longevity research. The NMN serves as a precursor to NAD+, a coenzyme essential for cellular energy production that declines precipitously with age. Combined with resveratrol for its sirtuin-activating properties, quercetin for senolytic effects (clearing senescent "zombie" cells), and fisetin for neuroinflammation reduction, this stack complemented the carnivore diet's cognitive benefits by addressing the cellular aspects of brain aging.

By 77, I felt 17 again—not metaphorically, but in the literal sense of having a mind as quick, curious, and capable as it had been six decades earlier.

The Vegan Detour and Final Confirmation

When I tried Johnson's much-hyped Blueprint in early 2024, the experience was a powerful control experiment. Within days of returning to plant foods, even in the carefully calibrated proportions of Johnson's program, the old symptoms began creeping back—first subtle brain fog, then sleep disturbances, followed by the familiar anxiety that had tormented me for decades. My body sent an unmistakable message: carnivore's meat-only clarity had already won the battle for my brain's optimal functioning.

The experience hammered home what became increasingly clear: the conventional nutritional wisdom that guided my vegan decades contained fundamental flaws, at least for my genetic makeup. We now understand that genetic factors like MTHFR variations, which affect methylation pathways, can dramatically impact how individuals process plant versus animal nutrients. My 23andMe results, analyzed in 2022, revealed several key polymorphisms that likely explained my poor response to plant-based diets and my thriving on animal foods.

The mainstream narrative that cognitive decline inevitably accompanies aging—that senior moments, memory lapses, and diminished mental capacity simply represent the price of longevity—proved entirely false in my experience. My septuagenarian brain now outperforms the brain I had in middle age by every measurable metric. I now believe that much of what we attribute to "normal aging" results from the cumulative effect of decades of suboptimal nutrition, particularly for our brains' enormous energy and nutrient demands.

Age means nothing when your mind lives this vividly. I wake each morning with ideas, projects, and a zest for intellectual exploration that would exhaust many people half my age. My calendar brims with speaking engagements, consulting work, and writing deadlines. At 77, I produce more professionally than at 57, with a clarity and confidence that makes each day an adventure rather than a cognitive struggle.

The contrast with my vegan years couldn't stand more stark. I lost decades to mental fog, believing it simply represented my lot as an aging human. How many others remain trapped in the same nutritional prison, their cognitive potential dimmed by well-intentioned but misguided dietary choices? How many resign themselves to pharmaceutical dependency when their symptoms might respond to fundamental dietary interventions?

These questions drive my work now. I share this journey not as a prescription for everyone but as a possibility to consider for those suffering similar symptoms. The dogmatic attachment to any dietary philosophy, whether plant-based or animal-based, serves no one. My experience demonstrates that individual variation represents the only consistent rule in nutrition.

In the next chapter, I'll unpack my refined supplement protocol and explain how specific compounds synergistically support the cognitive benefits I've experienced on carnivores. I'll also explore cutting-edge research on NAD+ precursors and senolytic compounds and how these interventions intersect with diet to potentially extend not just lifespan but cognitive healthspan—because what good are additional years if you live them in a mental fog?

See the full story at Age Reversal Journey.