Can Eating Smarter Make You Smarter?

While they won’t make you smarter, certain types of foods may help reduce cognitive decline as you age.

Diet & Brain Health

According to Vince Andrich, Executive Vice President at Xact, a new dietary supplement designed to help you gain a mental edge, researchers are now making a direct connection between what you eat and how your brain functions.

Essentially, reducing carbohydrates and simple sugars will not actually enhance your brain function, but doing so may limit damage and inflammation.

Andrich recommends the Mediterranean diet, which is rich in fruits, vegetables, nuts, whole grains, healthy monounsaturated fats such as olive oil, and lean proteins like fish. You don’t need to follow a specific diet plan, but make sure you’re eating a variety of these foods, focusing on leaner proteins. Minimize red meat in your diet, and moderate your consumption of alcohol and whole grains.

This way of eating is far different from the traditional food pyramid, which suggests plenty of grains and a limitation of fats.

Energy & Activity Level

A fitness enthusiast and former body builder with over 25 years’ experience in Performance Nutrition, Andrich says the government’s RDAs (recommended dietary allowances) are outdated and probably not providing for enough protein, especially for those individuals who are more active.

Your target should be a minimum of 0.75 grams of lean protein for each pound of body weight, or one gram or more per pound of body weight for those who exercise more vigorously. This level will help satiate you and fuel your neurotransmitters for brain health. Eating protein builds your amino acids, which keeps your immune system healthy and primed to fight infection.

Andrich advises that it’s best to eat a little more protein than you think you need and fewer carbs than you want.

Start NOW

It’s never too early to start kids on a healthy eating plan, one that will build brain health now and into the future.

Teenagers can benefit from extra protein due to their metabolic rates, hormones, and other factors. Andrich, who has a teenage daughter, says that today’s teenagers lead extremely stressful lifestyles due to technology and social pressures. He believes extra protein may be necessary, because anxiety causes cortisol levels to rise, and amino acids (your brain and body building materials) to be lost.

So, are you getting enough protein for optimum brain health?

You don’t have to be a genius to make just a few small changes or smart substitutions in your eating habits… habits that could lead to a reduction in cognitive decline as you age. It’s literally a “no-brainer.”

For more information on brain health, visit xactmind.com.