Although not a total surprise to most, we often don’t really think about how our diet effects our brain functionality. We tend to focus more on how the foods we eat will affect our waistline more than how it contributes to how we think. And that’s ok too – but what if an optimized diet can do both: feed your body and fuel your brain? Surely, that is what nature intended! So setting an intention to adopt the best diet for brain health is what we’ve endeavored to determine at Milk and Honey Bee!
And lucky for us, more information than ever is making its way into the mainstream about the inextricable link between gut and brain health.
“Because about 90% of the body’s serotonin – a neurotransmitter that regulates mood and behavior – is made in the gut, it’s important to keep the intestinal lining healthy.”
LISA TURNER, Clean Eating Magazine
Yet the truth is, most of us are in the dark about how to improve this relationship. This is in part due to the commercialized food industry that lures us into products and foods that are “easy” to make. The other is deciding to make the time to learn and test ingredients, since they affect us all a bit differently. These are just a few of the many, many reasons why we begin to lose our innate understanding about the foods we prepare for our own personal productivity.
Think of this too: While it’s true that our grandparents may not have had the best diet due to limited access and (potentially) poverty, they probably knew more about the foods they were cooking and how it made them feel. With practically unlimited access to the world’s bounty of ingredients, we can and should do better for our holistic health, that which dramatically impacts our brain health. So, follow along with us and learn something valuable about the future of your gut and brain health!
Best Foods for Cognitive Health
Harvard Health has released many studies on brain health, and an article entitled, “Foods Linked to Better Brainpower,” published in March of 2021, highlights the specific foods that have been shown to contribute to cognitive health. This is an especially important topic in the field of anti-aging, as we know now that having a, well, mindful approach to aging can help you think better for longer. In fact, a brain-healthy diet and “brain exercises” may reduce or prevent cognitive decline and early onset of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease.
Their top foods for brain health are:
- Green, leafy vegetables like spinach, kale and broccoli
- Fatty fish, like salmon and cod, which provide a natural source of omega-3 fatty acids
- Berries like blueberries and strawberries
- Caffeine found in high-quality tea and coffee
- Nuts, specifically walnuts, which are high in alpha-linolenic acid (a type of omega-3)
Best Foods for Brain Fog
If you’re more interested in avoiding a mid-afternoon mental crash or optimizing the firing power of your brain from dawn till dusk, you’ll want to start incorporating some of these ingredients into your diet. The editors at Clean Eating swear by these lesser talked about superfoods:
- Cocoa: High in flavonoids and antioxidants to improve memory and overall brain power
- Nutritional Yeast: A favorite in vegan diets, this folate and B-Vitamin-rich ingredient can help deter neurological disorders such as depression, cognitive decline, and dementia
- Turmeric: Superpowered with antioxidant curcumin, studies show that it may prevent the development of plaque in the brain and may even stimulate new brain cell production
- Avocado: Rich in vitamin E and monosaturated fats, avocado consumption improves the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins from other foods
- Eggs: The incredible egg includes choline, a B-vitamin that is known to enhance memory and cognition
- Celery: Like in spinach, luteolin is linked to preventing free radicals and inflammation, but celery also can improve memory, learning and spatial awareness
- Rosemary: High in carnosic acid, this phytochemical reduces oxidative stress and prevents neuron damage, and may protect against neurodegenerative diseases
- Yogurt: Probiotics in yogurt super-power the gut with healthy bacteria, keeping the gastrointestinal tract healthy – critical in the gut-brain health exchange
- Zinc: Studies suggest that zinc may prevent the buildup of beta-amyloid plaques, which can lead to Alzheimer’s Disease
- Sage: Sage is, ironically(?), known to enhance memory
What’s The Best Brain Health Diet?
Of course, everyone reacts differently to different foods, and what works for one may not work proportionately for another. However, adopting the above ingredients, and foods similar to them in composition results in a a well-balanced diet that fuels the body and the mind. And there’s one that’s already been developed with this in, well mind. It’s the MIND Diet.
The MIND Diet fuses ideas presented in the Mediterranean Diet and the DASH Diet. In general, here is the daily and weekly blueprint for it:
- 3+ servings a day of whole grains
- 1+ servings a day of vegetables (other than green leafy)
- 6+ servings a week of green leafy vegetables
- 5+ servings a week of nuts
- 4+ meals a week of beans
- 2+ servings a week of berries
- 2+ meals a week of poultry
- 1+ meals a week of fish
- Mainly olive oil if added fat is used
When you visit Harvard’s School of Health website, you can see which ingredients fall under each category listed and learn more about the research and results of the MIND Diet.
Needless to say, what’s healthy for the brain is also healthy for the body. Adopting the MIND Diet can help reduce neurodegenerative diseases while reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, Diabetes and more! Let us know if you’re trying the MIND Diet and drop your favorite recipe in the comments!