the brain is by far the most metabolically active organ in the body because it's small it's only 2 or 3% of our body weight but it uses up about 25% of what you've eaten when you're really stressed or really focused it's using up a third of what you've eaten but I don't think that anybody wakes up in the morning and really thinks what should I eat today so I can make really good decisions so in this video we will focus on what foods we should eat that benefit our brain to stay healthy and young we will learn this from none other than DrTera wart top neuroscientist and former psychiatric doctor she is a senior lecturer at MIT in Kings College London and an executive adviser and Coach to world leaders in media and business her bestselling book The Source open your mind change your life has taught Millions on how to master our minds the neuroscientist continue to shares her knowledge on how to create the right conditions in the body to optimize the brain health people think I need to eat cuz I'm hungry I'll make certain choices about what to eat because I don't want to put on weight I'm trying to build muscle or I'm going to run a marathon I just sort of think that it's important to turn that round and think about the nutrition that's important for your brain we will first learn top five foods for brain health followed by three supplements excellent for the brain and nerve system we will study three surprising types of foods we should avoid and DrTera swart will also discuss how we can use intermittent fasting to help brain stay healthy and young first and most important for brain is DHA DHA Omega-3s because your brain is 60% fat and 90% of that is DHA which you can't produce naturally so this is a non-negotiable essential for your life where can we get DHA naturally DHA which is really only found in oily fish but now we know you can get it really sustainably from algae or seaweed as well if you don't eat fish then you pretty much do need to supplement it if you do eat fish you actually need to be eating three portions of oily fish per week that can be tricky for people it's you know it's one of the basic building blocks of many cells but brain cells particularly and that's why children are often given Omega oils most seaweeds contain Omega 3 fatty acids but the richest plant-based sources of DHA come from microalgae which are often consumed as supplements rather than as whole seaweed microalgae are the primary sources of DHA in the marine food chain oily fish obtain their DHA by consuming microalgae so microalgae supplements are a direct plant-based way to get DHA some seaweeds or macro algae such as Nori wakame and spirulina may contain small amounts of Omega including DHA and EPA but the levels are typically lower than in fish or microalgae for significant DHA intake from plant sources microalgae supplements are the most efficient next are colorful berries and vegetables that are full of anthocyanin at least 65 G half a small pack of blueberries black currants blackberries Cranberries or cherries for anthocyanins which are antioxidants that protect against the wear and tear processes of everyday life eating 30 different plant products a week and varying the color as much as possible anthocyanins found in colorful fruits and vegetables like berries and red cabbage are powerful antioxidants that promote overall health they reduce inflammation support heart health by improving blood vessel function and protect brain cells from oxidative damage potentially boosting memory and cognition additionally anthocyanins may help prevent cancer by neutralizing free radicals and inhibiting tumor growth next is green leafy vegetables which are hydrating and essential minerals for the nerve system leafy greens also have a lot of magnesium in them which is good for stressed people magnesium is essential for brain health supporting cognitive function by regulating neurotransmitters crucial for learning and memory it helps reduce stress and anxiety by managing the body's stress response and influencing serotonin production which improves mood additionally magnesium offers neuroprotective benefits by shielding brain cells from oxidative stress and inflammation potentially lowering the risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's it also otes better sleep by calming the nervous system further contributing to Optimal brain function and overall mental well-being magnesium rich foods include leafy greens nuts and seeds whole grains legumes avocados dark chocolate fatty fish and bananas next food great for brain is eggs eggs are also you know have choline in them so they're also good for your brain so trying to include one or most of those things like on a daily basis choline is important for brain health because it supports the production of acetyl choline a neurotransmitter involved in memory mood and cognitive function it also plays a key role in the development of the brain and nervous system particularly during pregnancy and early childhood choline helps maintain the structure of cell membranes and protects brain cells by supporting proper communication and signaling foods rich in Coline include eggs liver fish chicken dairy products soybeans cruciferous vegetables and peanuts eggs are one of the highest food sources of choline with an impressive 147 Mig per large egg that's about 25% of your day's choline requirement from just one egg next is water but I'm just really surprised by how many people hardly drink any water and certainly not close enough to what you should drink so the formula is half a liter for every 15 kilos of your body weight per day and if you drink quite a lot of caffeine or alcohol then you need to add in an extra glass of water to make up for that because they actually make you release water from your cells they're diuretics I always say to people you wouldn't drive your car to work if you hadn't filled it up with oil and water but you get out of bed in the morning grab a coffee don't drink any water and expect to be a really great manager or leader today you've got this huge digital transformation on your hands and your brain cannot work properly without water you know it's like it underpins all of the electrical and chemical processes that go on between our neurons and other cells muscle cells and you know gut cells and things now let's explore good health which plays a crucial role in supporting brain health there's a lot of neurons in the the gut and there's a strong nerve connection between the gut and that limbic part of the brain which is the emotional and intuitive part of the brain what we know now is that there is actually a three-way communication between the gut neurons the gut bacteria and the Brain the gut bacteria obviously has an effect on the gut neurons itself and the gut lining but it also separately sends chemical messages in the blood directly to the brain so the gut bacteria to the gut neurons and the Brain directly all three of them communicate with each other so if you're stressed if you eat a lot of processed food if you drink a lot of alcohol sugary drinks if you take an antibiotics and it's damaged the quality and diversity of your gut bacteria then basically it sends the wrong signals to the gut neurons and the brain and that starts to create brain fog and an inability to trust your intuition because it may just be taking shortcuts for your survival all the time now rather than using the wisdom that you've picked up in your life and you know putting patterns together that can guide you doing all the right things to build up you got microbiome like Prebiotic Foods probiotics fermented foods like kimchi and sauerkraut and cafe and kombucha is also a good way to like future proof yourself against those problems for probiotics DrTara has a couple of tips on selecting probiotics but any Capsule that's got over 50 billion strain strains of bacteria that will be good there are a few strains of bacteria called psychobiotics that if you take them for a month you have improved insomnia less anxiety people have even been able to lower the dose of their anti-depressant medication or come off it completely just by taking a probiotic so some of the research that's been done with probiotics they are doing a trial at Kings College London on probiotics for Parkinson's Disease probiotics have been used the treatment not an adjunct the treatment for urinary tract infections in addition to probiotics and Omega-3s Drterara also recommends some vitamins vitamin D A lot of people in the western world and particularly closer to the holes are vitamin D deficient and a lot of countries fortify milk or cereals with vitamin D but still we are vitamin D deficient we just simply don't get enough sun which is our natural way of manufacturing vitamin D inside our body if we're not getting it through our nutrients the UK government and NHS is now saying that we should all be taking vitamin D for N9 months of the year it used to be sort of three months six months when it's winter kind of thing but now we need to be building up those levels proactively vitamin D has you know we've always known that it's protective against certain cancers later in life and the B vitamins you know they're sort of for the whole nervous system the B6 the B1 the B12 the folet all of those good things they're required for our entire nervous system not just the central nervous system and they combat things like fatigue so basically if we take antioxidants they mop up those free radicals and reduce the damage that's caused by the severe prooxidant processes but also just the natural aging processes so basically ome Omega oils antioxidants the B vitamins those are kind of the top three now DrTera swart will discuss on three types of foods that cause oxidative stress first the processed foods particularly if we eat processed food or smoked food um or under a lot of stress that is are pro oxygen processes that release these free radicals um and these free radicals cause cell death so cell death to neurons but just general cell death and that's what aging is really and that process of cell death is called apoptosis just for the science Geeks up second is burnt or smoked foods not eating smoked food so smoked food is very prooxidant so that will undo a lot of the good of taking antioxidants and you know I used to love smoked salmon but I stopped it at the age of 30 when I started that reverse aging diet third is foods that cause glucose spikes which we have discussed in depth in the previous video here what your brain uses to think your cognitive resources are glucose and oxygen and glucose is the breakdown products of a healthy diet it's not refined sugar because that would completely spike your glucose level and then the insulin would work quickly to bring it down so then you wouldn't have resources left for your brain but if you eat low GI low glycemic index Foods a decent amount of glucose is going to last for longer lastly intermittent fasting may help with the brain health I only eat between 12:00 noon and 8:00 p. m. but you could do 8:00 a.
m. to 8:00 p. m.
