Eat Your Way to Better Brain Health

Keeping our brain healthy is extremely important, especially as we start to get older. What a lot of people don't know, is that we can help keep our brains healthy by eating more of certain foods, and less of others. Keeping your brain healthy helps to prevent from getting brain diseases, memory loss and cognitive impairment.  Even if some of these things have already started happening to you, you can change tings in your diet that can stall or improve them. It is never too late to improve your brain health!

• Cut Back on Red Meat and Dairy
• Red meats and dairy contain higher levels of saturated fats that tend to increase blood cholesterol levels. Try to eat no more than one serving of red meat or dairy, no more than 5 times per week. 
• Avoid Refined Grains
• Focus on eating whole grains like brown rice, quinoa and millet. Your body will break down healthy carbohydrates into sugars that your brain needs for its energy supply.
• Eat Three Meals and Snacks Each Day
• To keep your blood sugar stable, eat three meals a day with healthy snacks in between. Your brain needs a slow and steady blood sugar supply, so properly spacing out meals and snacks will allow your body to do this. 
• More Fruits and Vegetables
• Vegetables and fruits should make up 80% of your diet. Additionally, try to incorporate a wide variety of fruits and vegetales to get a lot of different nutrients in your diet. 
• Change Your Cooking Oils
• Try extra virgin olive oil over canola or vegetable oils. The fats from olive or coconut oil digest differently in your body than other oils and do not have the harmful side effects of too much saturated fat.
• Avoid Artificial Sweeteners
• Things like aspartame and succralose are artificial products and have been linked to brain, and other types of cancers. While you should keep sugar and sugar substitutes to a minimum, if you choose an artificial sweetener, Stevia, or whole food sweeteners are your best option. 
• Reduce Your Sugar Intake
• Try to cut back on all sweets and sugars. While fruit is fine in moderation, sugars should be avoided as much as possible. 
• Take a High Quality Multi-Vitamin
• Your vitamin should be free of copper, iron, sugar and additives. Be sure to get a multi-vitamin that is high in B vitamins, as they can halve the rate of brain shrinkage that is associated with aging.