Brain foods
 

Lots of different info out there about nutrition for your brain.

Just thought I'd share and seek other ideas of what we should be eating. Please feel free to correct my choices if I'm misinformed.

In the past 9 months since husbands heart attack we changed our diets and began exercising regularly, but then 4 months ago with my head injury life changed again. Since injury I've since lost even more weight without really trying and no exercise.

I used to eat whatever I wanted. And I weighed over 200 lbs in those days. (Like in my avatar pic when my son was just wee!) Yikes. I never want to go back there!

Now I avoid sugar when possible (I am careful, it's lurking in SO many prepared foods that grocery shelves are a nightmare!) and I avoid artificial sweeteners except for Xylitol and Stevia. I eat only the good fats like walnuts (my new snack of choice) and raw almonds. I avoid sodium as much as possible too.

So my top regularly eaten foods are:

• Grilled salmon
• Roasted chicken
• Roasted pork
• Whole eggs
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Whole grains (and some sprouted grain bread, so much better)
• Walnuts
• Raw Almonds
• Spinach
• Bananas
• Low fat Greek yogurt with raw honey (and blueberries! So good)
• Drink lots of water (pretty much all I ever drink)

My indulgences are:

• Dark chocolate
• Decaf coffee with fat free (yeah, sugary) flavoured creamer
• Baked lentil chips with low fat tzaziki
• Beanito chips (non GMO, no corn, hi fibre black bean chips!)
• Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (when my son and I bake, diet schmiet, it's butter and sugar time, in moderation!)

For a sweetener if I need it, I use Xylitol or Stevia sparingly, in decaf tea.

I never drink soda anymore, nor water flavouring. Even tho water is boring.

So what's missing? Any critiques? Glaring mistakes? What do you eat for brain food?

The only thing that seems to be missing is veggies but I'm assuming you just didn't add all these. Spinach is great but also try Swiss Chard, Collard Greens, Kale, Bok Choy, etc. Very good greens!

Here is a link for information on foods and brain health from the Brain Injury Association 2012 conference. Hopefully you find it informative. It's not a hard read.
http://www.bianiagara.org/files/Kyli...esentation.pdf

Have you watched the documentary Forks over Knives? Very interesting. The book The China Study is also very interesting with chapters on heart issues. These are part of what made me adapt a whole foods, mostly vegan lifestyle but even if you don't want to go that far they are great to help make informed changes in your life. "Food Matters" and "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" are also informative.

The part about diet that is common to head injuries as well as heart issues (and diabetes, arthritis, and most health conditions!) is that you want to reduce inflammation and eliminate/limit foods that increase inflammation. These documentaries and books have good info on that. Some things cause more inflammation in certain people due to allergies, sensitivities or illness so each person needs to adjust their own diet and no two people are the same.

That didn't really answer your question but I hope it gave you some places to look to make your own decisions!

Take care,
CC

Thanks CC and yes we eat a lot of veggies and fruits but I didn't want to list too many, just the ones most linked to brain function from what I have read. Plus I'm also really struggling with listing things! Lol, this brain.

Thanks for the resources.

Also I have just ordered the book "Salt, Sugar, Fat- How the Food Giants Hooked Us" by Michael Moss. Excerpts I've read on how consumers are duped, are staggering.

Michael Moss was just on Dr. Oz talking about this book. Very interesting stuff. In a nut shell processed foods add these ingredients in just the perfect quantities to make your brain eat more, crave more and become addicted. Yet another reason to just avoid processed foods altogether!

I also wanted to mention that if you find water boring add lemon. It makes it taste better and is really good for you! You can freeze a whole lemon and then just zest/grate the whole thing into water or over soup, salads, fish etc. Very good for you!

CC

Brain foods
 

Very good information here. Thank you. I have found green tea to be helpful and can replace coke as it does have a little caffeine in it. I also get absolutely high after eating yellow squash. I find my mood and concentration to be noticeably helped. Spinach and mushrooms also. I like your tip on the yogurt. I have found honey and oatmeal to be helpful also. Apples, peaches,pears, and all berries. I drink minute maid pomegranate, cranberry, raspberry or something that also gets me high. I have heard pomegranate is very good and I agree. It is a noticeable difference after drinking this. Lemons and lemon aid also.
Hope you are all having a good day. I actually got out and did some exercise today! Yeah!
Brain :)

MsRriO,

Your diet sounds good. The worst thing on it is the fake coffee creamer. Real butter and animal fats are good for the brain, especially pork. Don't try to substitute processed vegetable oils for animal fats. Zylitol is OK but the Stevia is better. Monk Fruit sweetener (in Splenda's natural sweetener formula) is OK too. Coconut oil is also good for the brain.

I hope you know that dark chocolate is a health food. I like it too. Some good sweets are better at satisfying hunger and a sweet tooth than non-sugar sweeteners. I have a 80 calorie (2 pieces) Heshey's Dark Chocolate for my fix.

Little indulgences help us feel satisfied. Just don't over do it.

My best to you.