If you’ve been reading this blog for a while or if you’ve poked around in the archives, you know I am interested in brain health and functioning and its relationship to nutrition.
I recently read a few articles on this and thought I’d share what I read. Perhaps you can use this information to help you as you study for the bar exam.
Eat Greens and (the right) Fats
Delia McCabe, a Nutritional Neuroscience Researcher, says that the most important things we can eat for brain health are leafy greens and fats, especially Omega-3 fats. These fats can come from nuts and seeds — flax and chia — or from fish oil.
As McCabe explains:
[M]ost people are completely oblivious to the fact that what they eat every day, has a short- and long-term impact on their brain functioning, mood, memory, learning and capacity to be alert and focused. Each day, the brain requires raw materials for both functioning and structure maintenance. People take it for granted that they are getting the right nutrients for those amazingly complex and super-important tasks. But over time, the brain not only becomes less and less efficient at performing the tasks that we take for granted, it also becomes less and less capable of keeping itself structurally sound. What we eat affects our brain in a real, profound way.
Other Foods Your Brain Loves
McCabe provides a list of foods that can help with brain function and performance. Those foods are:
- Fats (see above)
- Water
- Protein (from animals or grains & legumes)
- Vegetables (for sustained energy to the brain)
- Herbal teas (in place of caffeinated drinks)
Action Step:
Have you noticed any adverse reactions to foods you eat? Have you noticed an increase in mental fog or a decreased ability to concentrate after consuming certain meals? If so, are there foods you need to eliminate from your diet?
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