Brain Foods:
Nutrition Tips for Peak Mental Performance
Eating brain foods - foods that deliver vital nutrients - plays a crucial role in achieving optimal mental performance. Avoid brain foods and no amount of mental training will bring high performance.
It seems the old adage "you are what you eat" is not that far off the mark, particularly when it comes to your brain.
 Why? Because, surprisingly, although your brain makes up only 2% of your body weight, it uses 30% of your daily calories.
Because the way you eat disproportionately affects your brain, when you don't eat right or don't eat at all, mental performance suffers immediately.
To eat right, your brain needs the same major nutrient groups as the rest of your body, (proteins, carbs, good fats). Not surprisingly, the best brain foods happen to also be the foods you'll want to eat to keep the rest of your body healthy.
The Crossfit workout routine nutrition prescription we presented on our diet and nutrition page applies:
- Eat lean meat and veggies, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar.
That prescription will keep you eating healthy foods overall. In thinking of brain foods, there are certain other best practices to consider.
Tips for Eating Brain Foods
- Eat Breakfast: Your brain is a hungry organ and, as mentioned above, it consumes 30% of your daily calories. Skipping a meal deprives your brain of the energy sources it needs to fuel it for the day. The result is usually a bad mood (irritable, lethargic) and impaired concentration, memory, and learning. That said, what you eat for breakfast is also important. A doughnut may be worse than nothing at all.
- Eat Complex Carbs, Avoid Simple Carb: Complex carbs from less processed foods (vegetables, legumes, and whole grains) provide a steady stream of energy to your mind, because you digest them more slowly and steadily. On the other hand, simple carbs - heavily processed foods with lots of sugar (candy, chocolate, chips, soda, most breakfast cereals) - will cause a sugar and insulin spike. After this spike, your energy sharply declines and you often feel worse than if you had not eaten.
- Eat Good Fats: "Good fats," which include essential fatty acids, are important brain foods. These good fats can be found in olive oil, fish, avocados, and many types of nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans). Eating meals high in "bad fats" or saturated fats such as those found in fried foods, chips, cakes, etc can decrease mental performance, as blood leaves your brain to move to your stomach to digest it all, leaving you feeling lethargic.
- Use Supplements Sparingly. Instead Seek to Eat Better: There's a raging debate over supplements. Some argue that supplements remedy deficiencies in our modern diets. Others argue that most supplements are flushed out of your body, and can even be harmful for you. Aim to get most of our nutrients from eating good brain foods. If you do want to supplement, check with your doctor to determine the proper nutrients and dosage.
Nutrients - The Core Component of Brain Foods
The nutrients core to brain health appear in naturally occurring foods. Below lists some of the major nutrients and the foods you can eat to get it.(1)
- Beta-carotene: peppers, spinach, apricots, and pumpkin, and other dark green fruits and vegetables
- B-vitamins: whole grains, meat, eggs, beans, peanuts,
- Magnesium: dark leafy green vegetables, brown rice, sunflower seeds, peas, and beans
- Zinc: oysters, lean meats, poultry, fish, dairy products, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds
- Iron: meat, eggs, dark green leafy vegetables, particularly spinach and kale
- Folic Acid: leafy green vegetables (spinach and turnip greens), citrus fruits, beans and peas
- Calcium: dairy products, spinach, beans, nuts, peas
- Potassium: root vegetables (potatoes, parsnips), melons, peaches, avocados, bananas
You might also want to check out Web MD's section on foods to optimize brain function. They discuss several "superfoods," including blueberries, wild salmon, nuts and seeds, avocados, and whole grains.
Conclusion
Foods fuel physical and mental performance. Not surprisingly, the best brain foods are also the best foods for your overall health.
So, as a general prescription, aim to eat:
- Vegetables and lean meats, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar.
Make sure you eat a healthy and well-balanced breakfast. Avoid skipping meals, but if you do, resist the temptation to grab some cheap junk food to keep you going. The crash is inevitable.
Good luck with your nutrition and remember, even if you fall off the wagon occassionaly, just dust yourself off and get right back on. Eating right 80% of the time is infinitely better than eating junk most of the time.
Bon appetit!
Adam
References
(1) Levy, Joel (2010). The Brain Power Workout. NY: Cico Books.
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