What do I Eat? Brain Foods: Based on the book "This is Your Brain on Food"
B: Berries and beans
R: Rainbow colors of fruits and vegetables
A: Antioxidants
I: Include lean proteins and plant-based proteins
N: Nuts (almonds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and cashews)
F: Fiber-rich foods, fish, and fermented foods
O: Oils
O: Omega-3-rich foods
D: Dairy (yogurt and kefir, certain cheeses)
S: Spices
Berries and Beans Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries all make great additions to your day and double as a dessert. Eat berries that are in season. When you buy fresh berries, make sure to eat them soon—good ripe ones won’t last long, even in the fridge. At times of the year when fresh, ripe berries aren’t available, frozen berries are fine to use as long as you make sure they do not have added sugar or other additives. Beans, legumes, and lentils are important staples for your brain. A healthy source of nutrients, vitamins, and fiber, beans, legumes, and lentils are easy to prepare and can be a main course or an appetizer, can be added to a salad, or can even be made into a dessert.
Rainbow Colors of Fruits and Vegetables Eat as many different colorful vegetables as possible. From red cabbage to radicchio to green and yellow bell peppers, expand your palate and maximize the range of nutrients that are beneficial to your brain. This is particularly true of micronutrients, like vitamins, polyphenols, phytonutrients, and flavonoids. The same applies to fruits! Berries, apples, and citrus all come in a wide variety of colors. Just be careful not to overdo it with sweet fruits like grapes and cherries. Even though I want you to chase color, don’t forget the most important color: green. Though eating a broad range of colors is great, you have to make sure you’re getting enough dark, leafy greens such as arugula, romaine, Bibb lettuce, endive, and bok choy. Add microgreens when you can find them; they add a flavorful nutrient-dense punch to my meals.
Antioxidants We’ve covered many kinds of antioxidants throughout the blog, including berries and the polyphenols in colorful vegetables we’ve just discussed. Dark chocolate is a great source of antioxidants, as long as you stick to the dark stuff and make sure that it doesn’t include too much sugar. While cocoa and chocolate are delicious—aim for natural or non-alkalized for the highest antioxidant levels. Many vitamins are crucial antioxidants. You can get vitamins from a broad range of dietary sources. This is one of the most important reasons to eat a diverse diet. But get a recommendation for a multivitamin supplement from your doctor; this is a great way to make sure you’re not missing anything.
Include Lean Proteins and Plant-Based Proteins Well Sourced lean poultry, seafood, and occasional grass-fed beef are good choices to ensure you are getting plenty of protein and the essential amino acids that your brain needs to function. For plant-based sources of protein, organic tofu and tempeh can be enhanced with spices for flavor.
Nuts Nuts have healthy fats and oils that our brains need to function well, along with vitamins and minerals, for example, selenium in Brazil nuts. Eat ¼ cup a day (not more—it’s easy to overdo it with nuts!) as a snack or added to your salad or vegetable side dish. Nuts can even be combined into a homemade granola or trail mix that contains much less sugar and salt than store-bought versions.
Fiber-Rich Foods, Fish, and Fermented Foods Beans, legumes, lentils, fruit, and vegetables are great sources of fiber. Fiber is important as a prebiotic, can help keep your weight down, and decreases inflammation in the entire body. As we discussed earlier, fish such as salmon add healthy omega-3s to your nutrition plan. Fermented foods like kefir, miso, and kimchee are great for your brain and gut since they’re a natural source of active-culture bacteria.
Oils While you want to avoid an excess of saturated fats and other unhealthy oils like the omega-6 oils used for frying, you want to ensure you’re getting enough healthy fats from sources like olive oil, avocados, and oily fish. Even with healthy fats, be aware of portion size and try not to eat too much. All fats are calorie dense.
Omega-3- Rich Foods We’ve talked about omega-3s so you know well by now to ensure you’re getting plenty of them. The most important source of omega-3s (especially docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid) is oily fish, like salmon, mackerel, and tuna. Omega-3s (largely alpha-linolenic acid) can also be found in plant-based sources—chia seeds, Brussels sprouts, walnuts, and flaxseeds to name a few.
Dairy (Yogurt and Kefir, Certain Cheeses) Yogurts and kefir with probiotic cultures are great for your gut, providing you with helpful bacteria and protein. Grass-fed dairy products are better options for you and your brain. Remember that certain conditions, like ADHD, can be aggravated by dairy, so be aware of its negative effects.
Spices Spices are a no-calorie, guilt-free way to boost flavor in all your food while adding beneficial brain effects as well. In particular, spices like turmeric, black pepper, saffron, red pepper flakes, oregano, and rosemary should be part of your brain armor.
SET UP YOUR KITCHEN LIKE A CHEF! Just as your brain and gut need certain nutritional building blocks in order to operate at peak efficiency, your kitchen also needs certain equipment before you can cook a great meal. You don’t need a whole lot of fancy equipment—no need for single-use tools like avocado cutters or mango pitters—but you do need some decent-quality basics. Here is a quick list of the tools you’ll want to have before tackling the recipes that follow. Large knife and small utility knife. The large knife should be a chef-style knife that you feel comfortable using. The smaller knife is for smaller jobs in the kitchen. Once you find knives you’re comfortable with, make sure to keep them sharp. A sharp knife is less likely to slip and cut you. Knife sharpener I prefer the countertop sharpeners, where you just guide the blade through a slot, rather than the large handheld sharpening steel used in professional kitchens. Vegetable peeler. I use a vegetable peeler both to remove the skins from vegetables and to create easy ribbons for salads. You’ll need a chopping board, either wood or synthetic. The board can be used for all your prep. Start with vegetables on one side, then flip it for your meat prep. Be sure to keep it clean and sanitized. Instant-read thermometer. Eyeballing the doneness of your meat can easily lead to it being undercooked and dangerous, or overcooked and dry. With the ease and accuracy of modern instant-read digital thermometers, there’s no reason to guess. Lemon or lime zester. An easy, inexpensive way to add the vibrant bold flavors of citrus rind from lemons, limes, oranges, and clementines to salads, side dishes, and even baking. Measuring cups. These are used for measuring dry ingredients and are helpful to measure out portions for meal planning. Measuring pitcher and measuring spoons. The measuring pitcher is for liquids and the measuring spoons are useful in both cooking and baking. Medium and large stainless-steel or glass bowls. Having plenty of bowls in a range of sizes allows you to be flexible and efficient during food prep. Mini mise set. This mini prep bowl set helps to organize and set up your ingredients—see more about the importance of mise en place in the next section. Kitchen towels and paper towels. These are useful for drying dishes and for drying vegetables or fruit after washing. Moisture can breed bacteria, so keeping your workspace and equipment dry is key to a clean kitchen. Sanitizer spray. Mason jars. These are handy for mixing salad dressings, storing foods, and building salads for meals or snacks. Half sheet pan/baking pan and glass casserole dish for oven-baked dishes. A simple aluminum sheet pan is an inexpensive workhorse in the kitchen. No need for nonstick coatings. For recipes that need a higher-walled vessel, use a glass casserole dish. Parchment paper makes baking on a sheet pan very easy, as it provides a nonstick surface and allows for browning. It also makes cleanup much easier, since you can throw out the parchment paper. Stainless-steel pots and pans. If you have not invested in a set of pots and pans, I’d recommend looking at a good quality stainless-steel set at your local kitchen store. If a whole set is too pricey, the most important components are a large stock pot, a medium-size saucepan, and a 10-to 12-inch sauté pan. Cast iron is cheaper than stainless steel, and often its heat retention and superior browning make it the right choice whether on the stovetop or in the oven. I recommend a 10-to 12-inch skillet. A cast-iron skillet can last a lifetime as long as it’s properly cleaned and seasoned. You can find instructions for proper cast-iron care online. A Dutch oven is a large cast-iron pot with a tight-fitting lid used for soups and stews. Dutch ovens are often enameled (like the classic Dutch ovens from French brand Le Creuset). Food processor. Food processors take a lot of the labor out of mixing, chopping, and blending food. An 11-cup food processor is a good basic size for any kitchen. Mini food processors (sometimes called mini food choppers) are best for chopping small herbs or pulverizing foods like garlic or ginger. Blender. Blenders are similar to food processors but are intended to blend liquids rather than solid foods. They are perfect for pureeing wet ingredients or making smoothies. Immersion blender. An immersion blender is a handheld blender that allows you to blend food in the pot you’re cooking in—much more convenient than pouring everything into the bowl of a traditional blender. They’re great for smoothing out soups or giving lentils a more even consistency. Ice pops are a great way to make your own healthy frozen treats for dessert. I prefer stainless-steel molds, which are usually dishwasher safe, making cleanup easier. Salad spinner. This is a very useful item if you eat lots of leafy greens (as you should!), because you can wash your greens properly without worrying about waiting for them to dry. It’s helpful to prepare a large quantity of lettuce, spinach, or kale for a few days at a time, and store the extra in a tightly sealed container.
