Foods that keep our brains healthy

Nowadays, we are surrounded by all these unhealthy fast foods that we obsessively consume, because they taste delicious and have an addictive effect. As our lives become more stressful, we tend to ignore the importance of healthy food or even if we keep a healthy diet we still skip meals. Our tendency is to eat more in less time, which make these unhealthy foods more appealing, but by indulging in this habit we don’t consider the damage it brings to our health and mostly, to our brain.

Tiredness, dizziness, memory loss or the incapacity to store important data into our brains, happen to healthy individuals that don’t eat foods that contain the most precious nutrients their brains need.

The brain needs enough energy, without it having to steal it from other organs, energy has to be abundant. The main source of energy is glucose. The brain doesn’t have the capacity to store glucose so it needs a continuous supply. The richest foods that contain glucose, which we could add to our everyday meal, are beans or oatmeal. These foods are very common and besides bringing a boost of energy to the brain, they also keep our digestive tract healthy.

Another nutrient that improves our brain’s function is unsaturated fat, mostly omega 3 fatty acid. This type of fat has a benefic effect on the blood flow, so that signals can travel faster. Also, they make memories easier to recall and improve concentration. These unsaturated fats are found in high amounts in avocados, salmon and walnuts. Walnuts are great because besides omega-3 fatty acids, they contain antioxidants which makes the brain more alert and increase its capacity to store information. Other antioxidants rich foods are blueberries and chocolate, mostly dark chocolate because it has more cacao.

Vitamins and minerals are also important, because they make us more perceptive, by having a positive effect on our cognition. Our everyday meals should include yogurt, which contains vitamin B and calcium and spinach that contains folate. Folic acids are very important for maintaining red cells healthy and active, so they can carry other important nutrients to our brains. Last, but not least eggs are impressive memory boosters that should be consumed at least five days a week.

These are some of the foods we should always consume, but having an eating schedule and not skipping meals is as important. To increase our ability to think, we only need these common foods to become part of our daily meals.