This is not going to be an article about all the good foods
you should eat and the stuff you should avoid. Many
articles, including some of my own, have already beaten
that horse. Most people know that carrots are better than
cheeseburgers and I'm not going to get into that again at
this time. What I want to do instead is give you a
different perspective on the value of nutrition in
improving and maintaining brain fitness – and what that
really means.
Data supports the value of healthy foods for improving
performance on intelligence tests and for reducing the risk
of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Foods like
fruits, vegetables, red wine (or moderate use of other
alcohols), chocolate, soy protein, fish, olive oils, and
others you have heard about, seem to help your brain.
We don't know what we don't know
The difficulty comes when scientists try to break down
these foods and purify the specific natural chemicals
responsible for their good effects. Usually, these types of
experiments fail, although there are a few successes. But
do you really care that it's the polyphenols in fruits or
the bisdemethoxycurcumin in tumeric that seem to be the
active players? It's not like your going to take some
blueberries into your home chemistry lab and isolate the
'most important' ingredient – you're just going to eat a
handful of blueberries.
Imagine an alien coming down to Earth and trying to figure
out what the most important part of a car is. Is it the
wheels, the spark plugs, the axle, what? Obviously, all
these parts work together to make the car drive and none of
them work without the others. You don't need to understand
how an internal combustion engine works in order to drive
your car from point A to point B.
The real value of quality nutrition comes from all of the
good foods working together. Usually when we try to take
them apart, the effect disappears. I'm all for high quality
multi-vitamin supplements and take them daily myself.
However, when you see all of the ads for highly purified
specific components touting to improve your memory, your
sex life or whatever you have to be careful. We simply
don't know enough yet about all the different healthful
components of our food. Any good nutritionist or reputable
nutrition company will tell you that supplements are never
substitutes for a quality diet.
When it comes to brain fitness, good nutrition is simply
the way to supply raw materials to the brain so that it can
do the job it is designed to do. Eat the right stuff and
let your brain work it out. All of the foods listed above
contain hundreds or thousand of different kinds of
molecules that the brain uses to run smoothly. There is no
single ingredient that is better than everything else.
Good food for good thoughts
The more quality materials you give your brain, the better
it works. That translates to clearer thinking, better
problem solving and increased intelligence and IQ. The more
junk you give you brain, the more you gunk it up and that
leads to lethargy, increased odds for dementia later in
life and a general feeling of blah today – it's that simple.
You have heard all the healthy food advice in the past. You
know what's good for you and what's not. If you want to get
smarter now and keep your brain sharp into your older years
then quality nutrition is something you need. If you don't
care about maintaining your brain function then don't worry
about it. One of my favorite pieces of advice that I have
heard is "only brush the teeth you want to keep".
Here's another way to think about it. The brain is
constantly undergoing construction and demolition. You are
building new circuits and taking old ones down all the
time. If you are using high quality building materials and
have quality tools (through good nutrition) then your new
circuits will be stronger and last longer. As we age our
construction equipment and tools age as well. But if we
keep our repair shops stocked with quality raw materials
(good nutrition) then we keep our tools in good working
condition and continue to build good circuits. If we don't
(poor nutrition) then our construction equipment and tools
begin to fail, our circuits don't get built correctly, we
start to forget things, don't feel as sharp as we used to
and we increase our chance of dementia.
Nutrition is a key part of the brain fitness formula.
Simple errors in judgment about what to eat today,
compounded over time can only lead to regret. Whereas,
simple disciplines today to eat good stuff will lead to
life-long vibrant brain health.
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Master Brain Fitness techniques for you and your family.
The Brain Code is the key to unlock your maximum potential.
Dr. Simon Evans puts together the right ingredients in
right amount to create the recipe for success. Visit
http://www.thebraincode.com for FREE Brain Fitness
resources.
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