You Need Brain Food!
What you eat affects how well you think.
When you were growing up, I’m sure someone told you that you needed to ‘eat your greens’, ‘eat up your vitamins’? It won’t be new to you, then, to find out that there are lots of things in food, including minerals that you need in your body if you are to stay strong and healthy.
Just as your body needs to be in peak condition as you approach your 40’s and 50’s, to have a memory that keeps growing and never lets you down, your brain and neurons need the right foods also.
“One cannot think well, love well or sleep well,
if one has not dined well.”
Virginia Woolf (d. 1941)
What you eat directly affects the performance of your brain. Your intelligence, the way you move, your memory and even the beating of your heart, all rely on your brain cells. Research has shown that by eating the right food, you can boost your IQ, improve your mood, be more emotionally stable, sharpen your memory and keep your mind young.
The right nutrients will give your brain the power to think more quickly, remember for effectively, be better coordinated and balanced and have improved concentration. Unfortunately, with all of the food processing that takes place today, and because so many of the ingredients that are actively bad for your brain are used in almost everything edible in the supermarket, it is increasingly difficult to make sure that the foods you are eating are the right ones.
Think ‘balanced diet’ as you plan your meals for the week. Be sure to include at least 25 of the following in your shopping list.
Lean Protein
1. Fish – Salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring (also listed under fats)
2. Poultry – chicken and turkey (skinless)
3. Meat – lean beef and pork
4. Eggs – free-range and/or organic eggs are best
5. Tofu and Soy products
6. Dairy products – low fat cheeses, cottage cheese, low fat yogurt (sugar free) and low fat or skim milk
7. Beans and lentils – also listed under carbohydrates
8. Nuts and seeds, especially walnuts – also listed under fats
Complex Carbohydrates
1. Berries – especially blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries (keep frozen berries on hand as well)
2. Oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit
3. Cherries
4. Peaches, plums
5. Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts
6. Oats (the long cooking kind), whole wheat items, wholemeal bread with at least 3 grams of fiber.
7. Red or yellow peppers (much higher in Vitamin C than green)
8. Pumpkin squash
9. Spinach – for salad or cooked, adds fiber and nutrients
10. Tomatoes
11. Yams
12. Beans – also listed under proteins
Fats
1. Avocados
2. Extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
3. Olives
4. Salmon – also listed under protein
5. Nuts and Nut Butter, especially walnuts, macadamia nuts,
Brazil nuts, pecans and almonds – also listed under protein
Liquids
1. Water
2. Green or black tea
Remember to include minerals, too, as they are also critical to mental functioning and performance. Magnesium and manganese are needed for brain energy. Sodium, potassium and calcium are important in the thinking process and they facilitate the transmission of messages. Check food labels.
For more information, read Keep that Boomer Brain Growing
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This article was reproduced with permission of its author Gillian Eadie, founder of the Brain and Memory Foundation. Gillian is an award-winning educator with more than 20 years as a principal at several prestigious private schools and is a Churchill Fellow. For more free help and personal advice on brain food link to this article page using memory loss and improving your memory, please visit the http://brainandmemoryfoundation.org
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