Food For the Brain

In a world where tons of foods are available in the market, we wonder how come we still end up with so many illnesses, many of which are life threatening and fatal. I’m sure you all know the general answer to this. A while ago, I just read an article that fast food can cause Alzheimer’s later on in life. I’ve also read about the top 5 cancer causing food. To wit: hot dogs, bacon, donuts, fries, chips/cookies. Many of our modern day food are cancerous. Thus, it is about time that we go back to the basics.

On this post, we will focus more on those foods that feed the brain and help increase its power and abilities. Some of the famous ones are:

– Right amount of caffeine (1 cup of coffee a day is enough)
– Gingko Biloba
– Fish – rich in omega 3 fatty acids that hinder that blockage of in your blood vessels. When your blood vessels are free from fats and cholesterol, blood flows freely, bring more oxygen to the brain and therefore fuels your brain to work better. Eat fish at least twice a week to help lower cholesterol for better brain power. If you are one of those people who dislike the taste of fish, better take an omega 3 fatty acid supplement.

However, these are not the only ones that do a good job in being able to boost your IQ.

The following are some more examples of brain foods. I call them brain foods because they enhance your brain function, makes you think more clearly, improves your memory and helps sharpen your thinking and processing skills. They are: Yogurt, Wheat germ, Turkey, Tuna, Spinach, Soybeans, Salmon, Romaine lettuce, Potatoes, Peas, Peanut butter, Oranges, Oatmeal, Milk, Legumes, Flaxseed oil, Eggs, Collard greens, Chicken, Cheese, Cantaloupe, Brussels sprouts, Brown rice, Broccoli, Brewer’s yeast, Lean Beef, Bananas, and Avocados.

These foods have low glycemic index (GI) and are therefore considered healthy. This means that they help slow down the sugar distribution in your blood stream. Fruits, even when sweet, have low GI. They prevent one from having “sugar rush” and “sugar crash”. Whole fruits have a lot lower GI as compared to their juices because their natural fiber aides in further slowing down the absorption of fruit sugar. Examples of these fruits are grapes, oranges, cherries, apples and grapefruits.

Other kinds of foods low in GI are grains, cereals, and bran. Spaghetti and rice are okay too. They have relatively low GIs as compared to white bread, white flour products and sugar-coated cereals like that of Kelloggs. Foods with higher GI release sugar a lot faster into the blood stream causing the so-called “sugar rush” and minutes after that follows the “sugar crash”. This makes you feel lethargic and sluggish. It will prevent you from working well on your mental tasks or those tasks that involve a great amount of thinking.

Here are some more brain foods that you should take note of:

Vegetables, for those of you who are still not in the know, contain the lowest levels of GI. They are the green leafy vegetables, soybeans, kidney beans, lentils, and chick peas. Potatoes and carrots on the other hand have higher levels of GI so take them in moderation.

Milk and dairy products, you might be surprised to find, have lower levels of GI than fruit but a bit higher than those of legumes. But they’re still considered as brain foods.

Now that you know the right kinds of food for you, you must also be conscious of the way you eat them because this also has an effect on the way your brain and your body will process and digest these foods. For instance, if you eat legumes first then consume sugary food after, the legumes will prevent the fast absorption of sugar into your system. Ice cream and fats do the same thing as opposed to having low fat yogurt with sugary fruit. One more thing to take note of is to not burn or overcook your starchy foods because doing so will cause them to become pre-digested and as such will quickly release sugar into the bloodstream once ingested.

Proteins are also good for your brain. They release amino acids that help improve brain power. Tryptophan and tyrosine are two of the amino acids that are considered as the building blocks of neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters serve as the carriers of signals from one brain cell to another. When they are properly fed with these amino acids, they transmit messages a lot faster and better.

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