Brain health: Food and nutrition

About the raw material for creating and maintaining a
healthy brain

Second only to the muscles as a consumer of energy in the body, the
brain suffers when there is a chronic oversupply or undersupply of energy.
Since all energy comes from what we eat, nutrition is a vital factor in brain
health. However, the brain needs much more from food than calories.

First thoughts

God gives every bird its food, but he does not throw it into the nest. ~ J.G. Holland

In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires. ~ Benjamin Franklin

A full belly makes a dull brain. ~ Benjamin Franklin

It’s incredible how much the mind can do to sustain the body. ~ Goethe (…And vice versa. ~ Cloyd)

Key findings from research

(section under development – it is critical that every statement made
here be well documented, which is not yet the case.)

General principles

• The healthiest people, who live the longest, eat a low-calorie, nutrient-dense diet.

Macronutrients

These are the foods we eat in large amounts – proteins, carbohydrates,
fats. They are the source of the calories in our diet. Proteins, in addition,
supply the building blocks (amino acids) for the creation and repair of our
body’s structure [1].

• Proteins matter. Some sources are much healthier than others.
• Carbohydrates matter. Athletes never go on a “low-carb” diet. That said, there are distinct benefits to paying close attention to the kind and amount of carbohydrates you consume.
  
  
  
  • The digestible carbohydrates we consume are of two basic types: sugars (simple carbohydrates) and starches (complex carbohydrates). [3].
  • Carbohydrates vary as to how quickly they are converted to the basic sugar which powers the muscles and brain – glucose. [2] There is a measure of this rate of conversion – the glycemic index. Attending to the glycemic index of your foods and meals can have profound health implications.
• Fats matter. Some are markedly bad for your body and brain health; others are distinctly good and in fact are essential for good health. [4]

Micronutrients

(under development)

Vitamins, minerals, polyphenols, and other things we consume in small amounts.

Core foods

On the core foods page you will find a list, compiled from several highly respectable sources, of the best foods for a “healthy brain diet”.

This immediately useful information will be supplemented by a handy shopping list form you can print and keep handy, until your next food shopping trip; by references to the Food Notes page; and by Prototype recipes which feature these core foods.

Prototype recipes

Here they are – by popular request (I’m not kidding!) – recipes showing how to make good food from healthy ingredients – and promote your brain health in the process.

Food notes

Assembled on the foods notes page will be interesting and valuable information concerning foods in the core foods list, as well as other important foods and nutrients.

Notes

1 See Weil (2000), p. 31 for more on macronutrients. The author is a professor at the U. of Arizona medical school.

2 Weil (2000), p-. 40-42.

3 Weil (2000), pp. 38-39.

4 Weil (2000), pp. 34-35.

References

Weil, A. (2000). Eating well for optimum health: The essential guide to food, diet, and nutrition. New York: Knopf.