http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
My now-husband and I learned we had a lot in common when we first met, from mutual friends to a creepy knowledge of an obscure horror movie to the fact that he actually knew my brother from a random sports-card club they were in together during the eighth grade. One more thing we had in common? Neither of us drank alcohol, or had any plans to.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Stacy and her husband found themselves with a very trying kitchen on their hands. After two years of living with not enough storage, poor ventilation, and lots of mice, they decided to take the plunge and create a kitchen that was clean, functional, and easy on the eyes.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
I’m not sure I’ve ever been screamed at in public the way I was in a small grocery store on the outskirts of Berlin. I had no idea what the woman was saying, but it came out of her mouth in one angry unbroken paragraph — and the fact that she was yelling in German just made her sound more mad.
There was nothing I could do except stand there dumbly holding a mango and waiting for her to finish. Apparently the mango was the problem: I later learned that some German shop owners take serious offense to anyone who helps themselves to the fruits and veggies instead of waiting for them to pick it up for you.
Assaulting the fruit in a misguided attempt to find the ripe one is number one on our list of things you need to stop doing in the produce section — yes, even in the States. Put down that apple — gently! — and check out my full rant-y list.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
You know who’s always ready to lend a helping hand when it comes to dinner?The freezer aisle. When it comes to serving homestyle lasagna with a fraction of the effort, our favorite trick is frozen ravioli. You just layer it in a slow cooker with a tangy marinara sauce and mild shreds of mozzarella cheese and, eight hours later, you’re digging into a bowl of saucy lasagna you barely had to lift a finger to make.
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As humans, our most important bodily endowment isn’t our claws, sharp teeth, powerful haunches, iron grips, prehensile tails, venomous secretions, or aerosolized musk. It’s the brain. We use it to shape the world around us, to bend physical reality to our will, to manipulate matter and create powerful technological terrors. These days, the human brain is more important than ever. If you want to enjoy life, pursue and succeed at your passions, to conquer your little corner of reality—you need a healthy brain. Brain health is key to total health—and quality of life.
By some analysis at least, however, neurogenerative diseases remain on the rise and take an ever more extreme emotional and economic toll. So, how do we keep our brain health intact? While much of it comes down to doing the things that keep your brain healthy and avoiding the things that harm it—exercising instead of sitting on the couch, breathing exclusively fresh air instead of tobacco smoke, sleeping instead of staying up—another big variable is the food we eat.
First, I’ll list the most important nutrients for brain health and function, keeping things brief to get through them all. To be honest, this isn’t even “all.” It’s likely that every single micronutrient we’re supposed to be consuming plays a role in brain health, so central is the brain to our basic functioning.
Then, I’ll highlight some of the most critical food sources of these nutrients.
Let’s go.
The B vitamins are co-factors in every pathway related to dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
Precursor to acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter involved in focus, memory, and processing.
Reduces oxidative stress and inhibits oxidation of fragile polyunsaturated fats in the brain. Also reduces lesion formation in brain white matter, a strong risk factor for cognitive decline.
Vitamin D is one of those compounds that interacts with seemingly every pathway in the body. Whether it’s immune function, hormonal production, musculoskeletal maintenance, or even UV protection, vitamin D plays an important role. Dementia patients tend to have very low vitamin D levels, and good vitamin D levels predict strong executive function ten years down the road. High-dose supplementation may even improve visual memory in D-deficient subjects. For those who need more in their lives, sun is key. Quality supplementation can help.
Magnesium and iron are two more nutrients that are involved with everything, including the brain. A recent study found evidence that patients with either mild cognitive decline or full-blown Alzheimer’s tended to have lower magnesium and iron levels and higher oxidative stress loads.
Regulates absorption of copper and prevents overloading, which can inhibit cognitive function. Along with magnesium and vitamin D3 (among others), helps testosterone production. Testosterone is critical for cognitive function, especially mental energy and drive.
Typically valued for their beneficial effects on eye health, these plant-derived carotenoids are also linked to cognitive function. Seniors with low levels of both exhibit lower neurological efficiency—their brains work harder during cognitive tasks. And a year of luten and zeaxanthin supplementation slows cognitive decline in community-dwelling adults. Even young healthy adults see improvements to memory upon supplementation, if their baseline levels are low.
Creatine doesn’t just enhance physical performance. Creatine is also found in the brain, where it maintains cognitive function by recycling ATP, the basic energy currency of the body. Studies show that vegetarians who supplement with creatine enjoy improved cognition and physical performance. Vegan brains and muscles, which have even less (small amounts of creatine are present in eggs), should benefit even more from supplementation. Creatine also provides quick ATP for intense, short-lived physical feats.
Having a good ratio of omega-3:omega-6 in our tissues sets us up for a healthy inflammatory response to oxidative insults—not too little, not too big. There’s evidence that balanced omega-3/omega-6 ratios can actually prevent the “initiation and progression” of many neurological disorders by improving the efficiency of our inflammatory response.
A great source of creatine, zinc, iron, and B vitamins. Its even got a little-known nutrient called carnosine, which acts as a brain antioxidant.
A great source of monounsaturated fat, which is critical for stable cellular membranes in the brain and other parts of the body. Spicy or peppery EVOO indicates the presence of high levels of olive phenols, which show efficacy in slowing the onset of dementia and preserving brain autophagy.
They’re rich in vitamin E, lutein and zeaxanthin.
A great source of minerals like magnesium and carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin. Also, we can’t just eat multiple avocados every single day (can we?).
They’re rich in every B-vitamin except for thiamin (still have thiamin, just not as dense as the other B-vitamins). They are loaded with zinc and iron. They’re a good source of cholesterol, which can help repair damaged brain junctions. And despite being an organ meat, they’re very mild. I like marinating chicken hearts in lime juice, garlic, onion, cumin, and olive oil, spearing them with skewers, and roasting over open flame.
The intense red color indicates the presence of astaxanthin, an “animal carotenoid” with . Farmed salmon producers even dose their flock with synthetic astaxanthin; otherwise, the fish will be grey. Salmon is also a good source of (highly bioavailable) vitamin and, of course, long chain omega-3 fatty acids. Those omega-3s and that astaxanthin probably have a synergistic relationship, each increasing the effect of the other. Here’s a quality option for those who prefer a supplement to regular fish intake or want the added assurance a supplement provides.
Not only do they have tons of choline and additional folate and other brain-supportive micronutrients, they contain long-chain omega-3 fatty acids bound up in phospholipid form. When an egg is formed inside a bird, many of the fats come embedded in phosopholipids—highly bioavailable vehicles that deliver fats and nutrients directly to the brain. DHA-rich phospholipids enable faster, more fluid transmission of data across brain synapses. A good pastured egg will also have appreciable amounts of vitamin D in a form 5 times more bioavailable than vitamin D3.
A number of studies in both young and old, healthy and cognitively impaired, find that eating normal amounts of blueberries can improve cognitive function. Just a single dose of a blueberry drink (made with actual blueberries) triggers an acute boost to memory retention in children; a single dose of freeze-dried wild blueberries triggers boosts performance in children engaged in a cognitively demanding task. Older adults with cognitive impairment who eat blueberries improve their cognition. Older adults without cognitive impairment who eat blueberries improve brain activation. Plus, they taste great.
Look for blueberries that stain your mouth, an indication of high polyphenol content. Wild Boreal blueberries from Trader Joe’s have been the best I’ve found to date (and they’re quite affordable without being overly sweet).
In case you needed another reason to eat some high quality high-cacao dark chocolate, cocoa flavanols enhance cognitive function in the elderly with and without cognitive decline.
That’s a pretty strong start. For further discussion of this topic, do your brain a favor and pick up a copy of Max Lugavere’s Genius Foods, in which he lays out a definitive guide to eating right for brain health. And be sure to check out his recent chat with host Elle Russ on the Primal Blueprint Podcast.
If you have any questions about supplements, nutrients I might have missed, supplemental foods, and brain health, feel free to ask down below. Thanks for reading!
The post Supplements For Brain Health: What Nutrients and Supplemental Foods Make the Most Difference appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Don’t want to spend more on a blender than you would on, say, your monthly car payment? I totally get that. That’s why I whirled through a bunch of options that were $100 or less in order to find the best budget-friendly choice. My ultimate pick is a legitimately good model — and it’ll cost you less than even a night at the movies.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
“Give (frozen) peas a chance.” When I was a kid, my mom had the coolest way to get us to eat our veggies: She’d pack frozen peas. Wherever we went — whether it was in the car, to school, or even to the movies — the three of us toted around little plastic containers filled with frozen peas. We were obsessed.
In hindsight the weirdness is evident (does anyone else do that?), but also ingenious on my mom’s part. Frozen peas are nutritious, perfect for on-the-go snacking, and easy-peasy — all thanks to the magic of the freezer aisle.
However, when you looked beyond those magical peas, the freezer aisle of my youth didn’t have much for the food-lover — basic vegetables (always cubed!) and colorless TV dinners. But oh how things have changed. The number-one rated customer product at Trader Joe’s for the last two years comes from the freezer aisle. Frozen brands are jumping on the smartest healthy-eating ideas, like the cauliflower trend — creating cruciferous pizzas, french fries, and tater tots. And the biggest change? Frozen food sales are up for the first time in years.
Suddenly, when we weren’t looking, the grocery store freezer aisle started giving shoppers (especially us young millennials) exactly what they actually want. Here are a few reasons the freezer aisle is having a comeback moment.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
Someone has to say it, so it may as well be me: As great as the other sections are at Trader Joe’s (it’s my go-to for wine, cheese, cut flowers, frozen foods, and snacks), the produce section is just so … meh.
Why, though?
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
I took a 23andMe test last year because, like most people who do it, I was curious about my ancestry. The results were not terribly surprising. (Looking at the sea of blonde-haired people in our family reunion pictures, no one would be shocked to learn that I’m mostly British and Irish.) I did, however, learn a few interesting things about my other favorite topic (other than myself, that is): food.
http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain
The hotly anticipated Incredibles 2 smashed box-office records last month, including being the biggest opening for an animated movie ever. A sequel to the 2004 tale of a family of superheroes with real-world problems, the film finds Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl (Holly Hunter), and the rest of the Parrs in a world in which citizens with superpowers are forced to hide their secret identities. Not cool!
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