Eating healthily is one of the most basic and important things you can do for your body and mind. Get the lowdown on the harmful foods that will damage your brain and what you can replace them with in this article.
What is a Brain Healthy Diet
- Eat more omega-3 fats like fatty fish, walnuts, and Chia seeds
- Reduce unhealthy sources of fats like butter, processed foods, and meat which is high in saturated fat
- Pay attention to nutritional content because the type of fat affects brain health
- Take folic acid supplements because it prevents cognitive decline
- Reduce trans fats even if low quantities are found in food, they contribute to inflammation
How to Eat a Brain Healthy Diet
It’s important to eat a wide variety of different food groups. We recommend having 3 cups of fruits and vegetables, 6 servings of beans or other legumes, 2-3 servings of whole grains, nuts, seeds, healthy fats (i.e., 1 tablespoon of olive oil), and omega-3s (i.e., 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil). We also recommend taking a vegan Omega-3 supplement every day because it’s hard for vegans to get all the essential fatty acids they need when there are no animal sources in their diet.
Foods that Can Damage Your Brain
The Human Brain is really just an oversized, super-expensive organic machine. Millions of neurons are computing information every minute in these machines. Simple foods can either increase or decrease the efficiency of your brain by increasing or reducing the fuel your brain needs to do its job effectively.
Complex carbohydrates are more difficult to break down and convert to simple sugars, they have low glycemic index, so they fuel the brain for longer cycles, they feed healthy gut microbes which produce hormones that reduce inflammation in the gut. Oils are converted into high glycemic blood sugar that your brain then quickly releases into the system.
Brain and memory-damaging foods and drinks include:
- Alcohol
- Cured meats, such as bacon and ham
- Refined sugars and sweeteners
- Fructose rich drinks and sweets
- Canned food that contains BPA, such as canned tomatoes or peas
- Fried foods like french fries and deep fried chicken or beef
Foods that are high in sugar, fat, and heavy in calories can seriously harm your brain. These foods can cause or worsen diabetes, gallstones, obesity, and heart disease.
Conclusion
For your Nutrition & Wellness best of interest, it is absolutely vital to understand what we put in our body and know the consequences it could have on our brain’s health. This idea of knowledge should be promoted by society and implemented in education so we can continuously reconstruct and better ourselves and others around us.
Here are some tips on how to to take care of your body & brain’s health.