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Eat to Nourish: Brain, Heart and Body!

by Richard Boettner

The human brain is a very complex packaged made up of fragile cells easily damaged by free radicals, too much alcohol, high blood sugar and excessive artery clogging cholesterol. These same things damage your cardiovascular system. Unlike the rest of the body, the brain does not recover as rapidly from injuries, abuse or neglect. When a nerve cell dies, it remains dead, in some cases it takes quite a while for the body to create news ones around the damage.

Your brain and your heart have a lot in common, the brain is dependant on the heart to deliver it much needed nutrients. If arteries clog with cholesterol, oxygen cannot get to the brain, your thinking processes suffer, which increases your chance of memory loss or results in even more permanent damage.

If heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes get out of control, you could damage blood vessels in the brain, which leads to further complications. This is a set up for dementia, brain damage, blood clots, or burst blood vessels. To sum this up, what hurts the heart hurts the brain and the body as a whole.

People with risk factors are encouraged to make better choices and modify the ones they are currently making, by eating a healthier diet and getting exercise on a regular basis, daily is best of all. Evidence now shows that doing so will helps control disease, even preserving the power of the brain as a bonus.

A Healthy Lifestyle is a combination of the following:

• two to five servings of fruits, every day
• seven to nine servings of vegetables, every day
• one or more choices of whole grains, every day
• about 2.4 ounces a day or 16 to 20 ounces a week of protein from healthy sources, including beans and vegetables
• a small amount of raw, not roasted or toasted, nuts and seeds, daily
• exercise daily - take long walks, yoga, tai chi or other forms of simple exercise to keep the body moving

This diet / Lifestyle has proven successful in lowering markers of disease, of all kinds. Positive results have shown themselves in as little as a few weeks. Reducing caloric intake by one to three hundred calories a day also helps to alleviate excess weight, in a manageable way. In addition, this diet contains a variety of heart healthy and brain-protective nutrients, including antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamins C, D and E.
(Note: to lower some disease risks you need to lose just ten-percent of your bodies weight).

While resting, your brain is using approximately 20-percent of your total body supply of oxygen. Processing that oxygen comes at a high price: it creates free radicals that can damage and prematurely age cells, including neurons. Neurons are the specialized cells that carry messages to your brain. A few antioxidant rich foods like blueberries, strawberries and cooked spinach help fight antioxidants as well as Vitamins C and E, both potent antioxidants. Vitamin E may also protect against dementia in the same way that eating healthier oils does. The recommended daily dose of vitamin E is 400 IU. Even doctors who are not fond of supplements have stated Vitamin E to be beneficial.

Other vitamins also play an important role in the health of your brain. A daily recommendation of Vitamin C, about 1,000 to 5,000 mg is beneficial to the brain, and body. In addition, Vitamin B12, appears to protect neurons. B12, in its natural form, is found in animal products or some supplements and in smaller amounts within our large intestine, but only if a healthy diet is maintained. It has been found that people past the age of 50 benefit from a B12 supplement. If a person eats an unhealthy diet all their life and once past the age of 50, or so, the body loses its ability to absorb B12. An source of B12 can also be found in fortified cereals. Foliate also aids in short-term memory loss, dementia and acts as an antidepressant. Fruits and vegetables are also rich in these nutrients.

People should be using their brains more often instead of sitting in front of the television or mindlessly listening to music and become engaged in life, instead of removed. Upon autopsy, Einstein's brain was found to be filled with more neuron clusters than the average human brain is found normally. Reading, studying and trying to figure things out creates more neural pathways. Being imaginative, keep a journal or write for the fun of it. The more you use your brain the healthier it remains and the better they become. Try solving one of the worlds problems, locally, like hunger, poverty, homelessness, spousal abuse, child abuse, global warming, pollution, garbage everywhere, among many others. Then go beyond solving the problem and bring it to reality.

Fish - Brain Food?

Not always, anymore. Omega-3 fats found in fish have been shown to protect the brain from the effects of depression, which could keep the memory center of your brain from shrinking - literally. About half of all people suffering with major depression release large amounts of glucocorticoids into the blood stream, the same steroids released by prolonged levels of stress. The longer the depression, the more severe the shrinkage. The rate of depression in the U.S. is increasing, namely due to a diet lacking in a variety of nutrients. The increase in depression coincides with the desertion of omega-3 fatty acids, among other nutrients, for eating more processed foods, usually low in healthy nutrients, and omega6 fatty acids, the kind found in meats and manufactured fats like hydrogenated oils, even partially hydrogenated.

People everyday are living undernourished. Saturated fats, hydrogenated oils are the major oil in processed and junk foods. To boost Omega-3and other healthy fat intake eat olive oil, sesame seeds and oil, or flaxseed meal. Sources from fish come with their own problems, like mercury, among other heavy metals and toxins, which are mainly damaging to the brain and nervous system.

Some Quick Tips:

• Strawberries may reverse memory loss and blueberries are good for the eyes, windows to the soul.
• Cheese made the traditional way, as in Europe, fight the brain robbing high blood pressure.
• Research on diet and the brain is still ongoing, but Vitamin E is emerging as a hot prospect for brain-health.
• Have a high carbohydrate breakfast of whole grains. Tired people need glucose to help wake-up. Try: whole grain pancakes with real maple syrup, fresh fruit, and nut milk of choice.
• The omega-3 fats protect you from depression, which could shrink your memory center. So, eat your ground flax seeds.
• Enjoy come common raw nuts and seeds.
• Find grains you haven't tried before and explore the numerous ways in which to eat them.
• Try ethnic dishes that incorporate a variety of ingredients to increase your knowledge.

Eating in a healthy way is not all that hard, it takes some commitment. When you know that eating and living in an unhealthy way ages you faster and creates disease, then the choice of living better is much easier.

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