Food For Memory

In the age of information, we need all of the mind power we can get. All of it.

While all skills of mind and cognitive process are very important, memory is the most critical. If your memory becomes seriously hampered, the rest of your life and career go with it. Period.

There are a lot of people who believe that memory decline is age related and a natural part of life. Sorry…I don’t buy it.

While there are any number of causes of memory decline and other cognitive impairments, “age” by itself is not one of them.

If age isn’t responsible for memory decline, why do mostly “old people” suffer from it? Simple: because the bad habits of mind and diet and exercise are cumulative. They build up over time.

Here in the west we eat S.A.D. (Standard American Diet), rarely get up from in front of must see TV, and don’t put enough in to challenging our minds.

That’s not to say we are stupid, it just means we don’t challenge our minds beyond what we already know.

How long has it been since you started a new hobby, or kept abreast of advanced math, or learned new subjects that were not closely related to what you already knew?

There are lot’s of ways to train our memory to be “Johnny on the Scene”. We are going to focus here on the all important diet.

Food is the First Component of a Healthy Memory

Perhaps the most effective means of strengthening all of our cognitive capacities is food. By food, I mean nutritional food.

The brain is a chemically based computer. For it to function properly, it needs the proper chemicals. Memory function is no different.

Much of the brains function is in Omega 3 fatty acids. That’s the soft fat that allows for effective firing between neurons. Most of the fat in the American diet is Omega 6, which is a hard fat.

Too much hard fat in the brain is like a dart board with a lot of concrete mixed with the cork. The darts simply are not going to stick so well. The neural transmitters will not be able to stick in to the neural receptors and inject their chemical packets.

The factor here is not how much Omega 3, but rather the ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6.

The generally accepted ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 is 1:3. That is, roughly 1/3 of our fat intake needs to be Omega 3.

The best source of Omega 3 is cold water fish, with wild caught Alaskan Salmon leading the charge.

Other fine sources include Flax seed oil, fish oil and Walnuts.

Eat the Rainbow…Just Not Skittles

There is more to brain healthy food than Omega 3 Fats.

The general principal here is to “Eat the rainbow.”

Wide varieties of colorful fruits and vegetables tend toward a healthy brain. The reason is clear: We get our antioxidants primarily from fruits and veggies. Different colored fruits and veggies have different antioxidants, which protect the brain and (by extension) the memory from Oxidative Stress.

One 25-year study of more than 13,000 subjects conducted at Harvard Medical School showed that the subjects who ate relatively high concentrations of vegetables over the years had less age-related memory decline. Crucifers and leafy green vegetables were the most effective in helping to protect memory during the course of the study. In another study, the phytochemicals Anthocyanin and Quercetin, actually reversed some of the age-related memory deficits in laboratory animals.

Some of the best crucifers and leafy green vegetables include bok choy, Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower Brussels Sprouts.

Mustard Greens, Collard, Spinach, kale and Swiss Chard.

Some of the best foods for Anthocyanin are Plums, Berries (all varieties), Cherries, Black Currents, Eggplant, red, black, and purple Grapes, Rhubarb, red Apples, red/purple Cabbage, red Onion, and red Beets.

Some of the best foods for quercetin: Onions (red, yellow, white), kale, Leeks, Cherry Tomato, black Grapes Broccoli, black Currants, Elderberries, Apricots, Apple with skin (Red Delicious), and Blueberries.

While there is a great deal more about nutrition and brain function that could be covered, such as the importance of eating your fruits and veggies raw, I’m going to keep this real simple for right now.

So here is the takeaway:

*Replace at least some of your meat with fish…up to 3 times/Wk.

*Eat a wide variety of raw fruits and vegetables as much as possible

*Sprinkle Walnuts on your salads and other foods as much as possible…or eat straight out of the bag.

*Take a Flax seed oil or a fish oil supplement daily.

*Do further research, which is great mental exercise in its own self.

Here’s to retaining all of those happy memories!