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As we all learn more about how our diet impacts our life in general, and the science backs it up, we’re also hearing plenty about how certain foods and diet can effect our cognitive abilities. Below are exerpts from and article on exactly this topic!
Food for brunch (Photo: Unsplash/Rachel Park) SYDNEY: Trying to keep up with what constitutes a “healthy” diet can be exhausting. With unending options at the supermarket, and diet advice coming from all directions, filling your shopping trolley with the right things can seem an overwhelming task. For a long […]
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DIET AND BRAIN FUNCTION
The Mediterranean diet has been associated with better brain health and maintenance of cognitive abilities into older age. A Mediterranean diet is based on vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts, with healthy fats such as olive oil. Intake of red meat, saturated fats and sugar is limited.
While at home we try and stick to the mediterranean diets, I believe that there should be room consume more red meat and protein where appropriate. Just me opinion.
VEGETABLE, NUTS AND BERRIES
But emerging evidence indicates diet quality also plays a critical role in our cognitive function.
We’re learning some of the best things to eat in this regard include vegetables, nuts and berries, foods containing “good fats” and, possibly, fermented foods.
As well as potentially improving our brain function, eating these sorts of foods could improve our mental well-being – and could even help the planet, too.
Emerging evidence in humans suggests consuming nuts within a Mediterranean-style diet improves measures of cognition, such as the capacity for verbal reasoning.
Capacity for verbal reasoning? Well some people are just not good at this no matter what their diet.
HEALTHY FATS
Healthy diets such as the Mediterranean diet are also characterised by foods such as oily fish, avocados, olive oil and small amounts of animal-derived fats (such as from red meat).
My note above about consuming more red meat where appropriate is justified here.
FERMENTED FOODS
Interest in the potential cognitive effects of fermented foods stems from emerging evidence for the importance of the gut microbiota in cognition and health.
Evidence indicates eating more vegetables slows the gradual decline in cognitive abilities that occurs naturally as we age.
The explosion of product like Kombucha is evidence of this. Is it a fad or something with substance. Potentially I think it’s both.
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