When you feel weak and unfocused, it’s time for brain food. These nine foods will improve your memory skills.Unconcentrated, tired and just not doing it. This could be because your brain is lacking essential nutrients. Like sports, things don’t go so well up there when the energy stores are empty—brain food time. If you eat the right foods, you can not only give your brain a quick boost, but you can also improve your memory performance over the long term.
What Is Brain Food?
Brain food includes foods that have a positive effect on your mental performance. In other words, anything that helps to supply your brain optimally. So you can think better, are more concentrated and can absorb and link information faster. The proper nutrients are required for this. With suitable energy suppliers and an optimal supply of nutrients, the connections between your brain and nerve cells run better. But brain food also includes foods that protect your brain and keep it fit over the long term.
Why Is Brain Food Important?
After the heart, the brain is the second organ without which nothing would function. It is part of the nervous system and not just a store of information. It processes all sensory perceptions, controls behavioural patterns and processes everything that you take in as information. With just 2 to 3 percent of your body weight, you don’t even see his peak performance. For everything to work, it takes a tremendous amount of energy – to be precise, almost 20 percent of your daily energy consumption.
It becomes problematic when the brain does not get enough energy. If there is a lack of essential energy suppliers such as glucose, omega-3 fatty acids, amino acids, vitamins, minerals or trace elements, your cognitive performance will suffer. This means that your brain can no longer work properly. Thinking becomes more complicated, and you can no longer remember certain things so well. So in order not to lose your mental fitness, you should always supply your brain with enough brain food.
These Nutrients Are Natural Brain Food
So for your brain to work, you have to provide suitable energy suppliers. These nutrients are essential:
Glucose: Glucose, or sugar, is high on the list. That explains why, when you sit at your desk a lot, you sometimes feel a craving for a chocolate bar. The brain demands quick energy. What seems plausible quickly ends in a vicious circle. Yes, the brain needs sugar, but not chocolate. Long-chain carbohydrates are better—the brain benefits from this in the long term and the long time.
Healthy fats: As part of the cell membrane, fat is an essential part of the brain. But please steer clear of bad fats. Unsaturated fatty acids, especially omega-3s, are on the menu. The essential fatty acid is a component of the nerve cell, an essential structural fat in the brain and is also involved in optimal stimulus transmission.
Protein: Protein not only makes muscles grow but is also indispensable for the brain. More precisely, amino acids, i.e. the most minor components of proteins. These are used, among other things, as building blocks for messenger substances required for transmitting stimuli. At the same time, they are critical enzymes for energy production and can thus positively affect brain performance.
Vitamins: B vitamins, in particular, have made a name for themselves as food for the nerves or brain food. Among other things, they are an essential part of nerve and energy metabolism and can improve brain performance and improve mood. Vitamins C, A and E make the brain work better as they act as antioxidants and thus protect the brain from free radicals. Free radicals are by-products of metabolism that can cause mutations in DNA, increasing the risk of many diseases such as cancer.
Minerals and trace elements: Trace elements are nutrients you only need in tiny amounts, but that is precisely what matters. The same applies to minerals, of which the body needs a little more in terms of quantity. Magnesium, iron, iodine and zinc are among the most critical brain foods.
Water: Although water is not a nutrient, it is indispensable for your brain performance. Nothing works without enough liquid. This is urgently necessary for the transport of oxygen. If the brain lacks oxygen, you quickly become tired, unable to concentrate and get headaches. Therefore, sufficient fluids are an absolute must. More precisely, that means at least two to three litres a day. The best thing to do is to put the water bottle right at your desk so that you can keep reminding yourself.
Which Foods Are Suitable For The Brain?
Long-chain carbohydrates for a long-lasting energy supply, healthy fats for solid nerves, essential amino acids that improve sleep or inhibit inflammation or vitamins that are even supposed to protect against Alzheimer’s. The effects of foods on the brain are varied.
Olives And Olive Oil To Protect Brain Cells
If you want to stay fit for a long time, you should make friends with Mediterranean cuisine. At least, that’s what many US studies say. Solid ingredients are – in addition to a lot of fruit and vegetables – olives and olive oil. They not only score points for healthy fats but also contain a crucial nutrient.
Vitamin E acts as an antioxidant, and it protects your cells from free radicals. This is precisely what it does in your brain. Vitamin E ensures that the brain cells are not damaged and lose their performance in the process. Snacking on a few olives regularly can therefore help keep the brain fit in the long term.
Also Read: IS OLIVE OIL PERFECT FOR YOU?
Chickpeas Ensure A Good Night’s Sleep
Chickpeas contain the amino acid tryptophan. As a precursor to the happiness hormone serotonin, it ensures a good mood, improves concentration, and increases thinking ability.
Tryptophan keeps serotonin levels at one level during the day. This is important so that melatonin can be formed in the evening when you want to sleep. The hormone ensures restful sleep. Sleep is urgently needed so that your brain can return to the top form the next day. Since chickpeas also contain long-chain carbohydrates and many proteins, they provide the brain with long-lasting and sustainable energy.
Raw Cocoa Stimulates Thinking
Cocoa should not only increase memory performance but also protect against age-related memory loss. This is due to nutrients that drive blood circulation in the brain. They are particularly abundant in raw cocoa.
Cocoa is also extremely rich in flavonoids. These phytochemicals protect the brain cells from harmful free radicals through their antioxidant effect. So eating cocoa is worth it. But not necessarily in the form of chocolate. Depending on the variety, there is far too much sugar and fat in it. The better alternative: cocoa nibs , i.e. broken cocoa beans, the perfect snack for in between.
Blueberries Keep Your Brain Cells Fit
The good news: Our local fruits are at least as good as exotic goji, Hawaii or Aronia berries. What they all have in common: lots of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. These protect your cells, prevent cell aging and thus also keep your brain fit. Wild blueberries, in particular, are rich in phytochemicals. But when it’s not in season, you can find them frozen all year round in the freezer.
With Cabbage Against Alzheimer’s
Kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, red cabbage or broccoli are natural power foods for brain performance. They should even be able to prevent Alzheimer’s. This is due to the sulforaphane it contains, a secondary plant substance found in substantial quantities in cabbage. There are now even Chinese studies that deal with the effects of sulforaphane. The studies show that the phytochemicals support the breakdown of beta-amyloid and tau protein. Both are proteins that are no longer broken down due to faulty reactions, are deposited in nerve cells and can destroy them, as is the case with Alzheimer’s.
Cod Keeps Our Brain Young
A Swedish study gives hope that proper nutrition can even prevent diseases like Parkinson’s. Eating fish regularly should help with this. In addition to omega-3-rich fish such as mackerel, salmon or herring, cod should also end up on your plate now and then.
Cod contains the protein parvalbumin, which is said to protect against nerve disorders. Cod has omega-3s and is also rich in vitamin D.
Nuts, The Classic Brain Food
Nuts contain good fats and essential minerals that stimulate brain performance. Since omega-3 is part of the nerve cells in the brain, healthy fat is necessary to keep communication between the brain cells running – and can even increase memory capacity.
Walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts are particularly rich in B vitamins. Behind it, there is a whole range of vitamins that are all involved in nerve and energy metabolism. A US study shows that walnuts, in particular, keep the brain fit for a long time.
Tempeh For More Memory
Tempeh is made from pressed soybeans. This makes it not only a good source of protein but also high-quality brain food. This is because soybeans contain the essential nutrient choline. This is needed in many places in the organism. Choline plays a significant role in the brain as it is required to make acetylcholine. This neurotransmitter is responsible for the transmission of stimuli between the brain cells and affects your memory performance. Choline is also needed for the construction of DNA and the development of the brain.
Dried Fruits Boost Intellectual Capacity
Instead of chocolate and cookies, which contain simple sugars and thus only briefly supply your brain with energy, you should snack on dried fruits instead. They also deliver sugar, but in the form of fructose, which is bound to fibre. To utilize it, your body needs at least a little longer. In addition, dried fruits are rich in vitamins and minerals. Apricots, figs, dates and cranberries are therefore a healthy alternative to classic sweets. Only when it comes to calories do dried fruits hit the mark.
Brain food has it. These foods provide your brain with the nutrients it needs. Nothing stands in the way of your maximum mental performance.
Also Read: THE NINE MOST DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES OF LACK OF SLEEP