Did you know our brain only takes up 2% of our total weight yet it uses roughly 20% of our energy? That means for every 100 calories we eat, our brain needs at least 20 of them to perform optimally. And as we know, not all calories are created equally, making the phrase, “We are what we eat”, even more important when it comes to our brain.
Beyond simple caloric requirements, our brain needs 45 different nutrients for peak functionality. Many of these nutrients occur naturally in our body, but for the rest, they only come through our dietary intake. This makes the brain a unique organ with very specific dietary requirements.
When we choose to eat diets high in processed foods or refined sugars, we aren’t giving our brain the fuel it needs to function properly. Processes get shortened and depending on how often and the amounts of these types of foods we eat, can lead to long-term damage–both to our mental and physical health.
Knowing how important nutrition and healthy foods are to our bodies and brains, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite brain foods. While some foods may not be edible depending on specific dietary requirements, these ten foods provide specific nutrition ideal for the brain. If a particular food is restricted, try to find a suitable substitute that meets the same needs. And, if this list requires a lot of dietary changes, add one at a time, incorporating them into meals and snacks.
Avocados
Quickly becoming known as a versatile superfruit, the avocado is at the top of our list. Spread it on toast, mash it on a chip, whip it into a smoothie, there are any number of ways to incorporate this creamy food into many diets.
Beyond the versatility, avocados are busting with brain friendly vitamins and nutrients. They’re loaded with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat, making them one of the only fruits that have both of these healthy fats. Calorie for calorie, replacing other fats with avocados can improve overall heart health without sacrificing or reducing caloric intake. Improved heart health leads to healthy blood flow, which is vital for optimal brain health and performance.
Outside of these healthy fats, avocados are chock full of fiber, potassium, folate, and vitamins B, C, E, and K. These vitamins in particular are fat soluble, which when combined with the avocado’s high fat content means they are highly beneficial in helping our body absorb nutrients from other plant-based foods. Adding avocado oil to salads or vegetables ensures we get the biggest punch of nutrient absorption with our meals.
Finally, avocados are high in antioxidants. These little molecules fight against the build-up of free radicals, which when accumulated can cause damage to our cells and organs. Not only do avocados fight these free radicals, they work to prevent them from being absorbed into our body in the first place, working double time to protect our bodies from long-term damage.
Blueberries
Here at Kwik Brain, we affectionately refer to this powerful little fruit as brainberries because that’s how important they are for our brain health. Packed full of flavonoids, a powerful antioxidant, blueberries protect our brain against oxidative stress. In fact, this little berry contains more antioxidants than any other fruit or vegetable, making them an important addition to a brain-healthy diet.
Because of these high antioxidant levels, blueberries protect our DNA on a cellular level, fighting against premature aging. And this is particularly true in our brain cells. Blueberries improve cell signaling in our neurons, which can help maintain memory and cognitive functionality as we age.
Even though blueberries are sweet, containing up to 15g in one cup, they contain bioactive compounds that actually help blood sugar control. Adding blueberries to a daily diet can improve insulin sensitivity and regulate glucose metabolism, making them a delicious and sweet substitute without the dreaded sugar crash.
They help lower blood pressure, cholesterol levels, fight against heart disease, and can even help muscles repair after exercising. They’re full of fiber, manganese, and vitamins C and K. Grabbing a handful as a snack or adding a cup to a morning smoothie is an easy way to boost nutrients without adding sugar or calories, and will pack an energy punch to tackle any part of the day.
Broccoli
Broccoli contains a whole host of vitamins and nutrients, but the one that makes it such a potent brain food is the high levels of vitamin K. One cup contains over 116% of the recommended daily intake and because broccoli can be eaten raw or cooked, it makes this brain food an easy vegetable to add as a meal or a snack.
These high levels of vitamin K in combination with other bioactive compounds protects brain tissue, slows mental decline, improves cognitive function, and in some cases can reduce neural inflammation. It also assists in improving blood flow, benefitting not just the brain but our hearts, digestive system, and joint health as well.
A fiber-rich food, broccoli helps the healthy bacteria in our digestive system flourish, and healthy gut bacteria has been linked to good brain health so much so that we call it our second brain. The high levels of vitamin C protect our immune systems while the antioxidants found in broccoli have been shown to reduce blood sugar levels, lower cholesterol, protect against cellular damage, reduce inflammation, and oxygenate our entire body, including our brain.
Dark Chocolate
Got a sweet tooth? The good news is dark chocolate makes our list of best brain healthy foods. When we talk about dark chocolate, it’s important to choose a variety that has a cacao (or cocoa) content of 70% or higher.
Loaded with powerful antioxidants, dark chocolate can improve blood flow, which helps oxygenate our body and brain. Improved blood flow has numerous benefits and dark chocolate in particular has been shown to improve verbal fluency, improve cognitive function, and decrease risk of brain disease.
The antioxidants and nutrients have been shown to lower cholesterol, improve heart health, lower blood pressure, and improve our skin health. With low levels of caffeine and theobromine, dark chocolate stimulates our endorphins, giving us a boost in energy when we need it. This boost can also help improve our focus and concentration, making it handy to have on hand for study sessions or long work projects.
While dark chocolate tends to have low sugar content when compared with milk or white chocolate, it’s still high enough that we should limit our dark chocolate intake. Enjoy a square or two as a daily treat instead of the entire bar, and if we can’t resist indulging, always go for the darkest chocolate variety to get the lowest sugar and highest nutritional benefits.
Eggs
Containing a little bit of everything, whole eggs are an amazing nutrient dense food. They contain a wide range of vitamins, along with a solid serving of zinc, calcium, protein, and healthy fats.
Of all these nutrients, the one we tend to get the least of but is one of the more important for our brain health is choline. Generally lumped in with B vitamins, choline is directly responsible for producing acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter essential in mental focus and learning. Choline builds cell membranes and helps produce signaling molecules, so when we don’t get enough it can directly impact our memory, concentration, and mood.
Even though eggs are high in cholesterol, they’ve been shown to actually help stabilize cholesterol production in the liver, raise levels of HDL––the good cholesterol––and lower LDL––the bad cholesterol. They’ve been linked to reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke. And they contain high levels of amino acids, making them a high quality source of protein.
Green Leafy Vegetables
More than the latest health trend, green leafy vegetables like kale, arugula, and spinach are rich in brain-healthy nutrients. Loaded with beta carotene, folate, lutein, and vitamin K, these plants can help slow cognitive decline and improve memory. And some studies show eating these in part of a daily diet can improve our brain age by years.
Many of these vegetables are nutrient powerhouses. Kale, for example, is an extremely nutrient dense food. Beyond being packed with nutrition, the primary fat in kale is an omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid, a plant-based fatty acid that we need, but can only get through our diet.
Overall, these vegetables are high in fiber, filling us up by eating less, and are tremendous in supporting healthy gut bacteria. They’re also excellent sources of iron and calcium, supporting overall body and brain health.
Wild Salmon
Full of rich omega-3 essential fatty acids, wild salmon is one of the best proteins for our brain. Omega-3’s build brain cells, nerve cells, and play a significant role in preventing neurodegenerative diseases. They’re vital in learning and memory, reduce the effects of brain aging, and can improve depression symptoms.
And this isn’t simply limited to salmon. Wild fatty fishes such as caviar and sardines also have significant levels of these omega-3 essential fatty acids, along with a myriad of their nutrients such as choline, magnesium, zinc, and vitamins B and D.
Studies have shown that adding fatty fish to a diet twice a week not only improves overall body health, but can also protect the grey matter in our brain, where most of the nerve cells in our brain are. Maintaining healthy grey matter protects our memory, decision making skills, and mood.
Turmeric
Turmeric has been used as a spice and medicinal herb for thousands of years. We’ve learned it’s the compounds called curcuminoids that are responsible for these medicinal properties, and the most important of these, curcumin, is the active ingredient in turmeric.
Curcumin is a powerful antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals in our bodies while also boosting the production of our own natural antioxidant enzymes. It’s also a strong anti-inflammatory agent. In fact, it’s so effective it actually matches the performance of anti-inflammatory drugs naturally. It does this by blocking NF-kB, a molecule that travels through our body turning on the inflammation genes in our cells. These anti-inflammatory properties make it a natural remedy in maintaining joint health, fighting arthritis, and boosting our brains oxygen intake.
Finally, it increases our ability to create and multiply not just the connections between neurons, but new neurons themselves. This is because curcumin boosts the growth hormone brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF. Increasing the BDNF delays brain aging diseases, and in some cases can reverse them while improving memory and helping to fight against symptoms of depression.
Walnuts
Ever noticed that walnuts look like mini-brains? It’s nature’s way of telling us that walnuts are the ultimate brain food. And no wonder. Walnuts help enhance the signal transmissions between brain cells and develop new messaging links, improving the speed and efficiency of our cognition.
Walnuts have the highest amount of omega-3 ALA’s, which stimulates the production of new neurons. This neurogenesis — in the hippocampus in particular — can help fight against brain aging diseases, protect against age-related memory issues, improve depression, and help prevent neurodegenerative disease.
The nutrients and antioxidents in walnuts can help reduce oxidative damage as well as reduce inflammation in the body and the brain. Eating walnuts as part of a daily diet has been shown to improve processing speed, improve memory, and increase overall mental flexibility. In addition, the high levels of magnesium and zinc can be major mood boosters.
Water
We are primarily made up of water. Our muscles are 75% water, our blood up to 80% water, our skin 60% water. Even our bones are up to 30% water. So it’s no surprise our brain is 80% water.
Depending on activity levels, we lose anywhere between 10–15 cups of water a day. In fact, we lose up to two cups from sleeping and up to four cups just by breathing. Which makes it absolutely necessary to consistently hydrate throughout the day, starting when we wake up.
When we lose just 1% of the water in our brain, it impacts our cognition and brain functionality by up to 5%, causing brain fog, fatigue, increased confusion, and leading to an overall lack of focus and concentration. On the other hand, hydrating increases blood flow and oxygen to our brain. This improves focus, concentration, and memory, while also balancing mood and regulating our emotions.
Conclusion
The goal is to get our diet full of healthy, nutritious, brain-friendly foods. Start small and incorporate healthy substitutions and additions whenever possible. Be actively aware of what we’re eating, noting that every ingredient is either adding or subtracting from the fuel our body and brain needs. And most importantly––hydrate, hydrate, hyrdate.
What we eat matters, especially for our grey matter.
