These brain food tips from experts can help you think more clearly.

When we discuss fitness, we frequently focus on developing muscle, losing weight, and exercising for extended periods of time; however, mental fitness should also be prioritized for overall wellness. We need all the assistance we can get to increase our brain power, as well as to regain and sustain our motivation and mental energy, since burnout is becoming more common. Here, a number of specialists on brain health provide advice on how to maximize mental fitness through dietary choices and lifestyle choices.

How Do You Maintain Mental Fitness?

Mental fitness is a state of well-being where you have a sharp, active, optimally-functional mind with the capacity to handle stress, adapt to new challenges, manage emotions, and make wise, well-considered decisions, according to brain coach and New York Times bestselling author Jim Kwik of Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, And Unlock Your Exceptional Life.
Mental fitness is the state of having a keen and active mind at the peak of mental health. You are able to control your emotions, deal with stress well, adjust to new situations with easily, and make deliberate, well-informed decisions.

Your emotional and physical well-being are just two areas of your life that are impacted by mental fitness. For instance, it’s quite difficult to find the motivation to exercise or eat a well-balanced diet when you’re feeling extremely stressed out or if your troubles are keeping you glued to the couch, eating comfort food and watching television incessantly. As a result, you might observe a decline in your emotional and mental well-being when you’re not in an environment that supports your body. Kwik thinks everything is interconnected.

However, he asserts that maintaining mental fitness is more of a lifestyle than a destination. “There is undoubtedly a process, but there isn’t a magic pill.”

Why Eating Well Is Important

Our mental health can be significantly impacted by the foods we eat. To begin with, adopting a balanced diet helps avoid nutrient deficits that may have an adverse effect on the health of our brains. However, certain nutrients are also crucial for mental health, so we should focus on those.

It could be necessary to change your perspective on nutrition if you follow the “calories in, calories out” philosophy when it comes to food and exercise.Barbie Boules, RDN, a registered dietitian, certified health coach, meditation instructor, cognitive wellness specialist, and enthusiast for optimal aging, says that we do ourselves a disservice when we become unduly fixated on our physical appearance and the number on the scale and ignore the significance of our brain health.

“We wouldn’t have many of the health issues we do if the scale’s number served as our motivation,” she claims. “Having a genuine “why” behind these healthful habits keeps us motivated.”

She urges people to question themselves, “How do I want to live my life in 10, 20, or 30 years?” as they consider the future. It is far more concerned with maintaining the health of your body and mind from the inside out.

According to Boules, the chemistry, structure, and health of our brains are also influenced by the food we eat. It might be difficult to understand nutrition, especially if you turn for guidance on social media. Fortunately, there is a wealth of studies on long-term brain protection.

For example, research has demonstrated that nutrition contributes to the preservation of the gray matter in our brains, which is the main source of brain cells.Neuroplasticity, or the brain’s capacity to change physically and functionally in response to injury, new circumstances, and environmental changes, can also be influenced by diet and lifestyle choices. This process is essential to our growth and flexibility throughout our lifetimes and is also involved in learning, memory, and general cognitive function.

Additionally, she notes that many of the same good practices that promote brain health also support goals that are more focused on beauty. “A physical appearance that is probably in pretty good alignment with what we’re looking for will manifest if we’re taking really awesome care of our brains, exercising, eating really well, staying hydrated, going to bed on time, and managing our stress.”

Which is the Best Method?

Although there isn’t a single diet that works for everyone, according to Boules, most strategies that support brain and metabolic health share a few characteristics. “These methods are low in added sugar and low in saturated fat, limiting saturated fat to 7% or less of our total calories.”

Consuming a lot of plant foods high in polyphenols is another aspect of these beneficial eating habits, according to her. Plant-based foods contain chemicals called polyphenols, which are typically found in the colors. They have anti-inflammatory and anti-disease properties and are excellent for brain health. Even if you’re not vegan or vegetarian, making plants the main source of nutrition in your diet will help a lot.

Foods to Consume to Maintain Mental Fitness

Boules advises concentrating on what you can include to support brain health rather than obsessing over what to leave out. There are definitely some things that need to be limited, but over time, she says, you will do better if you concentrate more on include nutrient-dense foods than on what you should avoid.

Therefore, if you’re considering including meals high in fiber, high in polyphenols, low in added sugar, and low in saturated fat, your plate should primarily consist of plants. However, if you’re the kind that requires more guidance than that, there are also certain diets with scientific backing that are advised especially for brain health.

For example, the 2015 publication of the MIND diet—an acronym for Mediterranean interventions for neurodegenerative delay—was based on research conducted at Rush University Chicago. It can improve brain health by combining aspects of the DASH and Mediterranean diets.Here are a few more dietary strategies for mental health.

Consume leafy greens and vibrant fruits and vegetables.

In addition to nuts, seeds, oily salmon, and olive oil (mostly for vitamin E, which is extremely good for the brain), Boules stresses the consumption of leafy greens and vibrant fruits and vegetables.

Getting a rainbow of meals every day is difficult for most people, so she recommends consuming the reds, blues, yellows, oranges, and purples over the course of a week. But make an effort to eat greens every day. “My mantra is always leafy greens every day, and then a rainbow throughout the week,” she continues. Boules adds that beans are an excellent source of fiber, phytonutrients, and protein, and that berries are very healthy.

Include Turmeric, Green Tea, and Eggs in Your Meal Plan

Eggs are another brain-healthy meal. Kwik claims that the choline found in eggs is a precursor of acetylcholine, which is critical for cognitive function and health.

Additionally, he promotes the use of turmeric, whose active ingredient, curcumin, has been demonstrated to help lessen systemic inflammation. Furthermore, he points out that the antioxidants in green tea and the amino acid L-theanine, which has been linked to increased focus and feelings of calm, make it an excellent beverage for brain health. Moreover, it contains less caffeine than coffee. It’s also a terrific option for those who feel that coffee makes them too jittery but still like the slight increase in attentiveness.

Make Hydration a Priority

Lastly, maintaining adequate brain function also requires being hydrated, especially with water.The majority of medical professionals advise consuming 64 ounces or more of water each day if you are an active person. You can lose your energy, mental capacity, and clarity when you’re dehydrated.

Naturally, this is by no means an exhaustive list of foods to eat, but according to Boules, if you’re trying to increase the amount of brain-healthy foods in your diet, these are a wonderful place to start. “You’re doing fine if you’re including these along with some foods that are just enjoyable and pure pleasure.”

Foods That Strengthen the Brain

• Olive oil
• Oily seafood
• Eggs
• Avocado
• greens with leaves
• Other cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli
• Berries, including blueberries
• Additional fruits and vegetables
• Nuts such as walnuts
• Hemp seeds, flax seeds, and chia seeds
• Ginger
• Verdant tea
• Water

Why It’s Important to Eat Mindfully, Too

According to Kwik, eating thoughtfully is crucial for fostering mental health. “So many people never take a moment to relax and digest during their meals because they’re stressed out or overworked. Slowing down, chewing, and truly tasting your meal are all parts of mindful eating, which can help with digestion. Better digestion also guarantees that the brain gets the nutrition it needs to function at its best, he adds. Because stress can impair brain function, mindful eating can also help lower stress levels, encourage relaxation, and lower cortisol levels.

Kwik also advises being more mindful of the food you eat in order to increase your likelihood of choosing healthier options. It also facilitates improved understanding of hunger and the signals that indicate when we are satisfied or full. Thus, we avoid overindulging as it is evident that doing so may have a detrimental impact on our health and produce obesity and metabolic problems, all of which may impede cognitive performance.

Additional Well-Being Practices to Enhance Mental Fitness

According to Boules, there are additional healthy lifestyle practices than diet that can enhance mental fitness. A wonderful starting point is having a healthy diet. You won’t, however, experience a noticeable daily improvement. That’s a longer-term strategy for preserving your brain’s chemistry and structure.

Engage in Regular Exercise

Boules places exercise at the top of the list, ranking it equally important to sleep. “The best thing we can do for the health of our brains is probably exercise.” Exercise helps promote quality sleep, which is necessary for a healthy brain. Without proper sleep, we cannot have a healthy brain. Thus, movement is essential to maintaining both metabolic and mental health.”

She adds that exercise is a fantastic method to control blood pressure. “Blood pressure is one of the most significant modifiable changes that we can make to keep our brain in good shape.”

Create a Mental Reserve

Boules suggests developing a cognitive reserve as well. We can do this by acquiring and applying new knowledge. Consider your brain to be a muscle, and exercise it. Learning a new language and making friends who speak it, organizing a vacation and not using a GPS, becoming a regular cook, discovering all there is to know about plants, and creating a garden are a few activities that might increase cognitive reserve.

These activities are similar in that, according to her, you’re not simply absorbing knowledge; you’re also putting it into practice, which is good for your brain’s health.

Control Your Stress

For his customers, Kwik places a strong emphasis on stress management. It has been demonstrated that prolonged stress causes the human brain to shrink. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline cause our bodies to go into fight-or-flight mode, imprisoning us in our survival brain and preventing us from using our creative, problem-solving, and executive functioning skills.

He continues, “Emotional disturbances, mood swings, irritability, and feelings of hopelessness can also result from chronic stress.”Additionally, since stress and sleep are strongly correlated, concentrating on stress management can enhance sleep.

According to Kwik, stress may also interfere with our sleep cycles, making it harder to go asleep or stay asleep. “And then, it creates a vicious cycle wherein getting too little sleep exacerbates stress levels and damages mental toughness and cognitive abilities.”

Assess Your Current State of Feelings

It can also be crucial to be truthful about when you’re feeling burned out. According to Kwik, being burned out increases the likelihood of mental health problems like depression and anxiety disorders.
Sometimes it could be helpful to look at what you could be doing more of, he says, but other times you might have too much on your plate and need to unload what you can. “We get burned out sometimes not because we’re doing too much, but because we’re not doing enough of the things that keep us alive and nourished.”

In summary

A vital component of general health is mental fitness. To achieve optimal mental, physical, and emotional well-being, incorporate brain-healthy practices and eat a diet that promotes brain health.Consult with a licensed dietitian who has received training in this strategy if you need assistance creating a meal plan to improve brain health. Together, you can create a strategy that will benefit your mental health and work for you.