If you’ve ever gone without eating for too long a period of time, you probably already understand how depriving the brain of nutrition can impair brain function and your ability to concentrate. So with that in mind, you might also give some consideration to how different kinds of foods could contribute positively or negatively to the health of your brain. Some of these effects could be short term and some doctors are now theorizing that our diets may be contributing adversely to some longer term brain health issues.
There’s been a tremendous amount of focus given to gluten-intolerant issues, mostly as they relate to stomach and intestinal problems. Recently however, there has been a new emergence of additional information speculating that some of the foods we eat, namely excessive sugars and carbohydrates, could result in causing inflammation in our brains.
Dr. David Perlmutter is a Board Certified Neurologist and a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition, who believes there is a direct correlation between our blood sugar levels and inflammation found in our brains. He also believes that the types of foods we consume can help to control the levels of inflammation in our brains.
He suggests that brain inflammation could result from eating the wrong foods, thereby potentially damaging the tissues in our brain. He also theorizes that brain inflammation might possibly be linked to the alarming increases that we’re seeing in neurological diseases like Alzheimers, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinsons.
And guess what he suggests we eat more of? Fats! Yes, you heard that right. After the past several years of being told we should work towards obtaining a “no fat” diet, he suggests that we might just be eliminating the one food that could actually help to keep our brains healthy….fat. He references what he calls “good fats” that are found in foods like olive oil, coconut oil, butter, nuts, seeds, eggs, wild fish & avocados.
If you’re interested to know more about the science behind his findings, he’s written a book called Grain Brain, where he explains in detail how he believes diet can profoundly influence nerve health and brain function. Additionally Dr. Mark Hyman, author of The Blood Sugar Solution, supports many of Dr. Perlmutter’s findings. Dr. Hyman concurs that maintaining balanced insulin levels through a controlled diet (in addition to several other elements like exercise, supplements, green living and maintaining a calm mind) can go a long way towards maintaining lifelong brain health and will hopefully result in having you spend less days where you feel like your brain is swimming in a dense fog!
