Foods That Are Good For Your Brain

Food for thought literally could mean food for our brains. Yes, our brain needs actual food besides our thoughts.

You see we put our brains to use and make it work for us. Every time you think, look for solutions, try to retrieve information from the reserves of your memory; you are making your brain use up a bit of its energy each time.

And if the energy is being used/depleted, it has to be replenished too.

Our brains can’t just feed themselves. We have to make sure to feed it, in an indirect form of course. And this, we do by providing around 20 per cent of oxygen and blood that runs through our body at any given time.

This is the amount of ‘food’ our brains need and consume via us.

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It roughly means that we need to find some extra nourishment that will help us support our brains to function at an optimum level.

Before we think of some kind of meal plan for our brain, let us understand why is our brain health important?

Just like our physical body needs exercise to get strong and build muscles, our brains need stimulation and if not used, its health will deteriorate.

As we grow older we start losing a fair amount of its health in the form of attention span getting shorter, memory loss, some level of perception is lost as well, ability to learn declines so does acquiring new skills.

These observations are all based on various researches done by neuroscientists.

Another observation is— stress can damage our brain cells and we should work towards protecting it by combating stress by leading a balanced life.

That starts by eating well and staying physically fit and taking care of our overall health.

Get that circulation up and running. Sluggish circulation equals to lowering the functions of your brain.

Meditation and yoga, they say helps us to focus and control our mind.

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Physical exercise is a stress buster. Get active. It is excellent for the body and mind.

No wonder then, happy people seem to be having it all.

Let us get going with the actual food that we need to focus on and eat for maintaining our brain health.

As kids, we siblings were served okra for many meals in a week. If we complained about having to eat this vegetable almost on a daily basis, my mother would remind us that our good grades were because she was feeding us okra.

It seems she was right all the time. One of the special features of okra is protecting the brain neurons.

Vitamin E is another brain protector, so try and include it in your brain diet.

Almonds are another popular food/snack choice for people aspiring to ace most things.

Foods loaded with iron including green leafy vegetables like spinach, soya, lentils, shellfish, red meats, liver can help in improving memory, learning skills, etc.

Free radicals can cause a lot of damage to any and all body parts including our brain. Antioxidants are our so-called damage controllers. And without these chemicals, there is a big chance of our brain getting attacked. Let us load our plate with few items packed with antioxidants including walnuts, almonds, blueberries, Brussels sprouts, vitamin C and maybe a few pecans.

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The moment we think of breakfast, eggs are the first things that come to our minds. Because, it does have the essential nutrients to help us get started with our day. A 100-gram egg contains 13 grams of protein and 11 grams of fat. And fat is one of the key requirements for our brain. And rightly so because it consists at least 60 per cent fat.

Foods that contain healthy fats like salmon, arugula, mint, kale feed the brain with essential nutrients it requires to resist illness like Alzheimer’s disease and other memory related disorders.

Deficiency in omega 3 may result in dementia, depression, and aging of brain. Try and get this good fat from different varieties of oily fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel, etc.

Flavonoids is another good friend of your brain, because it may play a role in protecting it. Some reports even suggest that they help improve memory. Either ways, it is good to indulge in some goodies like dark chocolate, red wine, coffee (seems like we are really having a party here), bright colored vegetables and berries because these foods are high in flavonoids.

These are ways and means to protect our brains.

Having said that, we also realize that we cannot fight against aging, but we can try and protect our brains from degenerating by adopting a healthy lifestyle and focusing on the health of our brains.

Healthy food choices and mind activities play a vital role for sure. But caring for our brains has to be included in our daily routine. Try working on puzzles, learn a new language, many middle-aged people enroll in language classes just to sharpen their cognitive skills.

Pick one, pick all but do start taking care of that very valuable organ today and help it stay healthy.

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