How Food Affects Your Brain

 

Junk food is something that everyone can get consumed in, but it really isn’t something that is healthy for you. When you experience things like brain fog, it can be a direct effect of eating too much junk. A healthy diet is needed to boost brain health and eliminate brain fog. 

When we choose to eat healthy, we are making a choice to use food for brain power. It is best to have a diet that contains fatty acids, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals to ensure that you are giving your brain everything it needs to thrive. Some of the recommended foods to eat for optimum performance are salmon, kale, garlic, blueberries, and olive oil.

How Junk Food Affects the Brain

When you are the consumer of a bad diet of junk food, you are putting yourself at a greater risk of high cholesterol and high blood pressure. There are two things that can negatively affect your overall health with some major side effects. Dementia has been linked to being a side effect that is brung on from high cholesterol and blood pressure. 

Junk food can work against you when you are trying to use your brain to study and retain information. You may feel more sleep or tired when you consume foods that aren’t healthy. Eating foods that are healthy and a good source of brain power is going to help you more. 

What Foods are Bad for Your Brain?

When you think about taking care of your mind and body the food that you consume should be high on your list. Your brain is the organ within your body that tells the body how to function and keep you alive. Reminding your lungs that you need to breathe, your heart it needs to beat, and all others functions that go on inside of you. Your brain health is highly affected by nutrition and negatively affected by sugary drinks, refined carbs, and processed foods. 

 

Uncooked red meat on wooden table that negatively impacts people with Alzheimer's Disease

What Are the 5 Worst Foods for Memory?

Foods that are bad for your brain and memory are ones that have inflammatory components in them. If there is a food that you just love, but it isn’t exactly healthy for you, there is probably a swap that you can make. Here are some of the ones that you shouldn’t consume when you are trying to be more conscious of your health.

  • Refined bread and pasta don’t contain the nutrients that are needed for your body and are connected in studies of memory loss. If pasta and sauce are a favorite of yours, try replacing it with whole carbohydrates or a zoodled vegetable. 
  • Red meat: Alzheimer's disease, which causes a lot of problems with memory for people, is at higher risk to people who consume large amounts of red meat. Another great source of protein is beans, you can swap out the red meat on your plate with this vegetarian option. 
  • Vegetable oils: There are several foods that cause excessive amounts of inflammation within our bodies, vegetable oils are one of those foods. It contains a high amount of omega-6, you want to try and avoid this fatty acid. A better one to consume is Omega-3, and you can find that in walnuts. 
  • Cheese is very high in saturated fat. When you consume too much saturated fat it can negatively affect brain vessels by clogging them. This puts a lot of stress on the brain and puts you at a greater risk of memory loss and other major ailments. A great food to experiment with to get potassium and folate in your diet is avocados. 
  • Refined sugar is the highest consumer ingredient in the american diet. Most of it is probably consumed by people who are unaware how much is in what they are eating. It causes a lot of inflammation and blood sugar rises, while also being very addictive to the human body. Try curbing that sweet tooth with some fresh fruit. While it still has sugar in it, it is natural sugars. 

What Foods Are Linked to Dementia?

There are a variety of foods that cause memory loss. Most of them are probably something you consume on a daily basis. There are many foods that raise blood sugar and cause inflammation in the body, and are more likely to be connected to dementia. Some of those foods are:

  • Processes Cheese
  • Processed Meats
  • Beer
  • White Foods
  • Microwave Popcorn

What Foods Kill Brain Cells?

Food is food, is what many believe. But, what we put into our bodies is what gives us nutrition. If we are putting only junk food into our bodies, it is going to leave us feeling lethargic and tired. There are several foods that can have negative effects on our bodies and we should try to avoid them.

  • Sugary Products - These can have lasting effects on your memory and brain function.
  • Alcohol - Brain fog is a real thing and it can be brought on by alcohol consumption. 
  • Junk Food - Dopamine is a hormone inside of our bodies that helps us to have feelings of happiness. Junk food can keep you from having a good production of this hormone and leave you with anxiety, lack of motivation, and memory loss. 
  • Fried Foods - These foods contain a lot of additives that can increase symptoms of hyperactivity. The oil in which you are frying these foods in can be the most harmful of all to your brain cells. 

How to Keep Your Brain Healthy

Foods that increase blood flow to the brain, Brain healing foods, Brain food snacks

A good way to keep a healthy active brain is to exercise your body and brain often. Moving your body regularly helps in the process of growing new cells and playing games that make you think can help decrease memory loss. Keeping up an active social life can help you to stay thinking and active. When you are engaged with new people often, you tend to try and learn new things. 

There are a lot of ways to keep your brain healthy with the food that you feed it with. A good variety of foods that increase blood flow to the brain, brain healing snacks, and brain food snacks are all things to consider to help the reduction of memory loss. Eating lots of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and salmon are all good choices. 

 

Bowl of berries that are good for brain function

Which Food is Best for the Brain?

Along with choosing a healthy diet for your brain, protecting your blood vessels and heart is always important too. The best foods for brain growth are green leafy vegetables, fatty fish, berries, tea, coffee, and walnuts. These are all foods that contain caffeine for energy, reduce inflammation, contain omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin K. All of which are foods that improve memory and concentration.

Supplements that Keep Your Brain Healthy

There are many different supplements that you can research to take for brainpower. As we age our brain health becomes more and more important to people because it affects our memory abilities. It is something that is very frustrating when you begin to have trouble remembering certain details. 

 

 

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  • Don Moxley - Director of Applied Science

    Don Moxley is the Director of Applied Science at Longevity Labs. Moxley draws upon his career as an athlete, a sports scientist, and an instructor to lead and educate on the science of autophagy and longevity.