Brain Food

The food we eat gives our brain and body the nutrients to grow and function properly. Without the right nutrients, the way they function suffers.

Your brain is a bundle of nerves and liquids. If you took out all the liquid from your brain, most of its weight would come from lipids (fats). The rest of your brain matter is made up of glucose, micronutrients, amino acids, and proteins, all of which are fueled and replenished by the food we eat.

What We Eat Affects Brain Function

To keep your brain operating in top condition, try nuts, seeds, and fatty fish. The fatty acids are found only in those foods and help to create and maintain new cell membranes.

Eating high-quality foods that contain lots of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants nourishes the brain and protects it from free radicals which are produced when the body uses oxygen – think of free radicals as brain rust: it’s essentially what oxygen does to metal — the “waste” (free radicals) produced when the body uses oxygen, which can damage cells.

Think of your body as a high-performance car, your brain is the high-performance engine that it is must run on premium fuel. Unfortunately, just like a high-performance car, your brain won’t work as well if you consume anything other than the best fuel.

If low-quality fuel such as what you get from processed or refined foods get to the brain, it has little ability to get rid of them. Eating large amounts of refined sugars are harmful to the brain. In addition to wrecking your metabolism by worsening your body’s regulation of insulin, sugar also promotes inflammation and free radical production. There have been multiple studies which have found a correlation between a diet high in refined sugars and impaired brain function — and even a worsening of symptoms of mood disorders, such as depression.

Walnuts