7 Brain Foods That Will Boost Your Productivity and Brain Health
Support your brain and improve your cognition and focus with these foods.
You can significantly improve the health of your brain by incorporating a few key foods into your diet.
The main idea you need to understand is that we need a wide variety of nutrients in order for our brains to function optimally.
“We need the full spectrum of minerals and vitamins every minute of every day to fully optimize our brain function, especially under stress.” — Julia Rucklidge, The Better Brain
Here are 7 foods you should include in your diet to optimize the health of your brain and boost your productivity.
1. Fatty Acids
Fatty acids are crucial to brain health.
In particular, we need an optimal balance between omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. This is becoming increasingly challenging with the high levels of omega 6 fatty acids found in processed food.
“Ample data have shown that, ideally, the balance in our diets should be 1:1, or perhaps 2:1, of omega-6 to omega-3. But a Western diet that is very high in processed food and very low in fish usually has an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio that is around 15:1 or even higher.” — Julia Rucklidge, The Better Brain
Foods like nuts and seeds that are loaded with healthy fats are also really valuable for brain health. The brain is primarily made from fat, so if you want to build a high-functioning brain, you need to provide your body with high-quality building blocks. Nuts and seeds are also rich in antioxidants and vitamin E, which both support brain health.
2. Colorful Fruits and Vegetables
You want to be aiming to eat 5–9 servings of organic, colorful produce each day. (We want to eat organic because non-organic produce is often sprayed with pesticides which can actually damage our brains).
Eating a broad spectrum of fruits and vegetables ensures you’re getting a wide variety of vitamins and minerals to support your brain. Try to eat the whole spectrum of colors.
3. High-Quality Multivitamins
Vitamins are often said to just be “expensive pee”. However, if you can source a high-quality multivitamin with a large spectrum of nutrients, it can be incredibly beneficial for your brain health.
No one vitamin or mineral is going to have a big impact on your brain health. Rather, it’s the full spectrum of vitamins and minerals that will have a positive effect on your brain health.
The problem with the fruits and vegetables we buy at the store is that they’re grown in nutrient-depleted soil and the nutrients are usually not very bioavailable (meaning our bodies can’t effectively get the nutrients out of them).
4. Coffee
Coffee is a superfood for brain functioning.
The caffeine increases cognitive performance, and coffee is also rich in antioxidants and the amino acid, L-theanine, which can cross the blood-brain barrier and increase neurotransmitter activity.
Both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption has been correlated to a reduced risk of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. It appears that there are compounds in coffee that prevent the build-up of both beta-amyloid and tau — compounds that have been linked to the development of these diseases.
Coffee can also fix the blood-brain barrier. The blood-brain barrier regulates what goes into your brain, and protects the brain against toxins and pathogens. However, due to our sleep-deprived, alcohol-ridden, high blood pressure society, it can become leaky. This is a problem, as substances that definitely should not be in your brain are getting in. It can lead to depression and anxiety, brain fog, and even things like Alzheimer’s disease.
But luckily, caffeine protects the integrity of the BBB and therefore contributes to the prevention of anxiety and depression, as well as Alzheimer’s.
5. Fermented Foods
Fermented foods are incredible for gut health, and your gut health directly impacts the health of your brain.
Studies have shown that fermented foods increase cognitive performance and improve mood and anxiety symptoms.
They’re full of probiotics — which are the good bacteria we want in our gut. When our gut has adequate good bacteria (and a good ratio of good to bad bacteria) it can function optimally which will improve the functioning of our brain.
6. Eggs
Eggs are rich in B vitamins and choline, both of which will support good brain health and cognition.
Choline is a precursor to acetylcholine, which is a neurotransmitter playing a crucial role in regulating memory, mood, and intelligence.
Studies have shown that choline improves brain development and functioning.
7. Functional Mushrooms
Functional mushrooms have been used for over 5000 years around the world and are an ancient tradition in many cultures. Functional mushrooms generally grow on trees, whereas other mushrooms don’t.
They also have proven and studied benefits for humans, being loaded with antioxidants, and have numerous health benefits. In general, these mushrooms help our bodies to reset the stress response and achieve a greater sense of focus and balance, cope with stress, improve immunity, reduce inflammation, and fight oxidative stress. But these mushrooms all contain their own specific benefits as well. Lion’s Mane is the one with the biggest impact on brain health and cognitive performance.
Lion’s Mane can emulate the effects of a cup of coffee — without the jitters or caffeine addiction. It was traditionally used by Buddhist monks to increase focus during meditation. It is used for the following benefits:
- Focus
- Concentration
- Memory (and can help improve Alzheimer’s Disease)
- Creativity
- Mental clarity
- Improving depression symptoms
- Exercise recovery
Lion’s Mane also has neuroprotective benefits and increases levels of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF). BDNF promotes nerve growth, maturation, and maintenance, and is therefore very important for overall brain and nerve health.
This study showed that taking Lion’s Mane daily improved symptoms of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and that these effects stopped when the supplement stopped.
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