The food of the mind...

Links between mind and plate

The food of the mind...
14/01/2015 | 13:20
2 Votes
 

There are many connections between food and the brain Obviously, the best-known ones are eating disorders, which affect adolescents: anorexia, bulimia... But there are other links between mind and plate: stress, dejected mood, memory, attention... When our head is 'out of sorts', our meals are not properly balanced either!

Omega 3 fatty acids 
Neurons need energy to work properly. In actual fact, few foods contain these essential fatty acids... This explains why intake through food does not suffice. However, choosing the right products is enough. Thus, these acids are to be found in rape seed oil, vegetable oils from nuts or soy, fatty fishes such as sardines, mackerel, tuna, herring or salmon, hen’s eggs (provided that the poultry has been properly fed), ham and milk.

Antioxidants
These are: vitamin E present in vegetable oils, beta-carotene from carrots, spinach or certain fruits, vitamin C, citruses and other trace elements such as selenium or copper.

Glucose 
Glucose is the brain’s main source of fuel. It comes from the carbohydrates, which should account for more than half of our daily energy intake. To use this glucose, the vitamin B1 contained in cereals, fresh and dry pulses and dried fruits and nuts acts as the spark plug that starts the engine.

Oxygen 
It is the brain’s fuel. In this regard, iron is closely related to intellectual capacity as it transports oxygen by means of blood haemoglobin to the brain. Some studies have also demonstrated that the intellectual quotient of babies born of mothers with iron deficit was lower.

What you should know:
One of the main dangers lies in eating snacks and pecking: this causes reactive hypoglycaemia, or in other words low blood sugar, reducing intellectual capacity by 30% to 35%. Proteins above all must be present in each meal, as they play a role in neuron interconnection. Moreover intellectual activity is directly dependent on hours of sleep and sleep quality. So we have to get enough hours of sleep and avoid reductions in blood sugar during the night by eating, for example, carbohydrate-rich foods in the evening.

What do you think?

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