Eating brain health friendly food may seem strange because no one follows any diet plan especially for brain power, but science has proved there are ingredients and foods which plays an important role in improving brain functions and helps to regulate the cognitive functions which include memory power, mental responding time, decision-making ability and mood.
There are some foods which contain nutrients and antioxidants which helps to protect the brain. These particular foods also contain important fatty acids which strengthen and stimulate brain cells.
Here are the important ingredients to include in your daily diet to improve brain health.
Olive oil
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Olive oil offers many health benefits which you can include in almost all diet plans. Many people do not know that olive oil is best for brain health.
The olive oil contains polyphenols which protect the brain from many health ailments.
The content of antioxidants in olive oil helps to enhance brain function and reduce the risk of brain disease. Adding olive oil to your daily diet helps to reduce dementia and depression. It also contains anti-inflammatory qualities which improve the entire health and speed the healing process.
Important things to know while using olive oil in your daily diet.
Check the label for extra virgin oil and avoid light or virgin olive oil which contain other oils.
Make sure to buy fresh olive oil because it is perishable. As the oil becomes old, it loses omega-3 fatty acids and brains healthy antioxidants. Check for selling and harvest date on the bottles. If packing information not available, then consider checking another brand of olive oil.
Avoid using olive oil in more than 350 degrees heat. Use olive oil raw or light heat dishes. High heat may turn olive oil into harmful substances.
Keep olive oil in the dark place. An unopened olive oil stays until two years. Try to avoid keeping it behind your stove or windowsill.
Avocado
Avocado also describes as stone fruit containing creamy texture. It grows in warm climates and provides excellent health benefits such as preventing cancer risk, digestion healing and reducing depression risk.
Take avocado with soybean fats to prevent oxidation and nerve damage.
Avocado comprises of healthy unsaturated fats, and it assists to keep your brain cells flexible. It also holds a high amount of monounsaturated fatty acids.
According to the study of Federation-of-American-Societies-for-Experimental-Biology discovered that monosaturated fat helps to protect astrocytes which are nerve cells in the brain which signals between the brain and nerves.
You can also get avocado oil which protects your brain functions by stopping the high blood pressure occurred by stroke, discovered by the study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology in April 2005.
Avocado oil provides similar benefits like olive oil for reducing bad cholesterol by its content of monosaturated fats.
Salmon & Tuna
Fatty fishes such as tuna and salmon contain good fats which help brain health. These fishes contain natural oils such as omega-3 fatty acids which is necessary for brain health. It helps to stimulate the brain cell development.
Adding fish to your daily food can relieve stress and improve your mood and help in enhancing cognitive ability.
The content of omega-3 in tuna and salmon help to decrease the risk of memory disorders and cognitive ailments such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Soy
Soy is another essential source of omega-3 fatty acids and one the lean proteins. It provides similar benefits like tuna and salmon which helps and improves brain functions.
Soy contains a rich amount of iron which is necessary for entire body health. When an individual has an iron deficiency, then he may experience learning ability problems, reduced attention span and memory power.
You can include soy protein with edamame, tofu in your daily diet to help brain cells for maintaining cognitive functions and memory power.
Almonds & Walnuts
Add walnuts and almonds to your daily diet to get the best benefit for brain power. Eat these nuts to improve your health and brain cells.
Walnuts are other options of Omega-3 fatty acids which are necessary for brain cells and its protein content stimulate brain cells and cognitive functions.
Eating walnuts during later pregnancy protect brain health of babies. Among adult, walnuts stimulate cognitive performance and stops ameliorate which is an age-related cognitive decline.
According to one study, a mother who gets enough Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) will have smarter children.
Adding walnuts to your diet helps to manage the resting blood pressure and reduce blood pressure response to stress.
Almonds contain a good amount of vitamin E and it is full of antioxidants which are good for protecting the brain. Almonds and hazelnuts can be an amazing snack in your diet. It helps to reduce age linked cognitive decline. The content of vitamin E improves memory power and verbal measures. A cup of hazelnuts and almond contain 50% of RDA (Dietary Reference Intake) for vitamin E.
You can also add peanuts to your daily diet. Some studies prove that peanuts are not much healthy for the brain, but it contains niacin which is a vitamin B, it helps to prevent Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s.
Other brain healthy nuts include chestnuts, pecans, and cashews.
Eggs
Eggs are best power food for brain health. They are full of nutrients which helps the brain in different ways. The content of choline in eggs is an essential component to make up the neurotransmitters in the brain.
Eggs are the best source of good cholesterol which supports brain cell membranes and cell structures by strengthening it.
Additionally, eggs contain protein, antioxidants, and healthy fats which aid in brain protection.
Egg also contains vitamin B-12 which plays an important role in brain health. The vitamin deficiency can increase the risk of memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease.
Eggs also contain vitamin D. You can eat grass raised chicken’s egg which contains 50 IU per egg.
Warning: If you have cardiovascular disease, then you need to limit the egg consumption to 2 to 3 every week as it causes to thicken arteries.
Coconut Oil
The coconut oil is good food for brain health. Using coconut oil helps to enhance the brain function. The fat content of coconut oil helps to break down the ketones and promote brain to use the energy.
The coconut oil contains healthiest saturated fat which preserves the brain and declines the neurological ailments risk.
Including coconut oil to your daily intake helps to decrease the free-radical-damage in brain cells and influence on cognition.
Greens vegetables
Combine leafy green vegetables such as kale and spinach hold powerful brain promoter. These vegetables are loaded with nutrients and antioxidants which develops brain capacity.
The content of vitamin A, K, and C help to stop free radicals and promote brain power.
These green vegetables comprise lutein and folate which stimulate brain cells healthy. The content of iron and potassium in spinach enhance the oxygen to brain cells and improves in efficiency.
Asparagus
Asparagus provides powerful benefits to the brain and body. The healthy content of asparagus prevents heart disease, cancer, and dementia.
Add asparagus to your daily diet to get multiple benefits from a single food.
Asparagus contains nutrients such as chromium, folate, vitamin B, K, A, glutathione, and saponins which helps in protecting the brain and heart from various cancers. Its nutritional value protects against stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline.
The value of folate and vitamin B helps to support brain function. When you have a folate deficiency, it may increase the risk of dementia. Vitamin B12 and folate creates better mental flexibility and response speed to test.
Folate helps your body to maintain the elevated homocysteine which can cause Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and stroke.
Blueberries
Blueberries are super ingredients for brain power. It contains an antioxidant which helps in maintaining brain function and preserve neural tissue from oxidative stress.
According to studies, blueberries improve learning and memory by decreasing the depression symptoms.
Use ripe berries which contain more antioxidants. You can check its color for the ripe berries which are dark blue in color. It also contains phytonutrients such as resveratrol, pterostilbene, tannins, and flavonols. These all components in blueberries prevent the growth of cancer cells.
The polyphenol- antioxidants in blueberries helps to enhance the growth of good microbial species which support fat burn, absorb nutrients and removes wastes.
The content of anthocyanin in blueberries removes the damaging influence of exposure from UV radiation.
Add blueberries in salad or shakes and smoothie in your diet to get the benefits of improving memory, cognition, and mood.
Turmeric
Turmeric is a spice to add amazing flavor to many foods. It provides excellent benefits to the brain health by its high anti-inflammatory power and boosts memory power.
According to one study of diabetes patients, the individuals who had breakfast containing turmeric shown the improvement in the memory after one hour of eating the breakfast.
Turmeric provides potential benefits of natural antidepressant. It acts as promoting neurotransmitters associated with serotonin, depression, and dopamine. Adding turmeric to your daily food intakes helps to reduce the inflammation in the brain cells.
Dandelion Greens
Dandelion greens belong to plant family of daisies, thistles, and sunflowers. It is popular for medicinal purposes for preventing digestion, gallstones and blood purification.
Add dandelion greens in your daily diet to get many health benefits. They contain low calories and full of anti-oxidants with vitamin C and A (beta-carotene).
Dandelion green contains rich prebiotic fiber which helps to nourish the brain growth and good for gut bacteria.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a healthy diet friendly food which contains two important nutrients such as vitamin K and choline. It helps to improve brain functions such as cognitive abilities and memory power. Individuals who eat more broccoli are able to perform best during memory tests.
Broccoli also has folic acid which helps to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. According to studies, folic acid deficiency causes depression and broccoli help them keep away.
Dark chocolate
Add dark chocolate with daily diet to make it delicious and get additional benefits to brain health. Cocoa in chocolate helps to improve cognitive functions in seniors and speaking fluency in children. Eating chocolate every day shows improvement in the blood flow to the brain. But you need to rinse your mouth after eating chocolate to save your teeth health.
A senior individual who has more flavonoids intake such as chocolate, perform better in cognitive tests. Additionally, chocolate contains caffeine which helps to boost your brain health and increase concentration power and enhance mood.
The magnesium content of chocolate reduces your stress level and make you more relaxed. The chocolate contains an important mineral which lowers the stress by suppressing cortisol (stress hormone).
Apart from brain health, dark chocolate is more satisfying food to reduce your short cravings. The diet containing dark chocolate is helpful for lowering calorie intake and supporting weight loss.
Pumpkin seeds
Pumpkin seeds contain best nutritional values which are beneficial for brain and body health. It is the best ingredient to add in your daily diet to prevent the risk of cancer and boost immune systems with its antioxidant content. It promotes brain energy for better functioning of brain cells.
Sometimes people experience brain fog which makes hard o think or concentrate clearly. Adding pumpkin seeds in your daily diet helps to clear the brain fog and enhance concentrating power.
Pumpkin seeds are another replacement for omega-3 fatty acids which is helpful for brain growth. Its content of zinc, amino acid helps to reduce the depression and anxiety and promote mental health in relaxing way. It also helps in good night sleep which is necessary for reducing stress and control moods.
Beets
Beets are beetroots which have a high number of nitrates. It helps to open the blood vessels and promote oxygen and blood flow in the entire body and brain.
A study discovered that adding beet juice to your daily diet increase mental performance. Drink beet juice before exercise to get benefits of brain connectivity similar like younger adults.
Jicamas
Jicama is nutritious tuberous roots similar like potatoes. It also describes as Mexican yam bean. It contains vitamin B6 which associate with improving cognitive abilities and brain function. Also, jicama helpful for breaking down the proteins into essential amino acids for the human body.
Tea
Almost all people have tea to refresh the mind. Yes, it’s true, a soothing warm cup of tea provide benefits to your brain health. Tea helps to boost the brain function instantly. Additionally, there are varieties of herbal teas which support cognitive functioning and memory power. You can include the teas in your daily diet which made with herbs such as
- Green Tea
- Ginkgo Biloba
- Gotu Kola
- Rosemary for Relaxation
Red Wine
Red wine is one of the ingredients to increase brain power. The resveratrol available in red wine and the red grapes skin contain an essential antioxidant. It helps to reduce aging cycle and cell damage. It also protects from plaques formation in the brain. A woman can drink one glass of red wine and men can drink two glass of red wine every day. It is not advisable for drinkers, and only healthy people can add it in the daily diet.
Enjoy the above ingredients in your daily diet to improve your brain power. If you find side effect of any food than talk to your health expert. Maintain an active lifestyle for better blood flow to the brain and its functioning.