Smart Eating for Smart Brains

When your day is packed with classes, assignments, and studying, not to mention a social life and maybe a job, who has time for healthy eating? While sometimes low on the list of your priorities, being smart about food has many benefits. Eating regularly and choosing healthy portions of nutritious foods means having more mental and physical energy, feeling good about yourself and enjoying better health. day. If you usually eat lots of fruit and veggies, whole grains, and lower fat protein-rich foods and milk products, then why not enjoy a candy bar or a couple of cookies? Go ahead and indulge in your favourite treats – just watch how much and how often!

While your brain may only take up 2% of your body mass, it utilizes up to 20% of your energy. Brains need a complex mixture of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals to function and grow. If you feed your brain the right food, it will perform better academically and enjoy improved memory functions.

A balanced diet combines carbohydrates, protein, and a little fat and not only provides you with the nutrients you need to stay healthy but also helps to keep your energy levels up. The term balance also means complementing a less healthy meal or snack with nutritious choices the rest of the • Green leafy veggies: like spinach, kale and cabbage are packed with vitamins B6, B12, iron and folate. • Pumpkin seeds: just a handful a day is all you need to get your recommended daily amount of zinc, which helps develop your cognitive and memory skills. • Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines and albacore tuna: packed with essential fatty acids (Omega-3), oily fish are a good source of protein. • Whole grains: bran, whole wheat, oatmeal, brown rice and wheat germ all contain lots of vitamin B6 and folate which increases the flow of blood to the brain. • Seeds and nuts: provide Omega-3 and

Here are some of the best brain foods to help your brain work at it’s very best:

Omega-6 fatty acids which help to improve your mood while their thiamine and magnesium ramp up your memory. • Akai berries and blueberries: These amazing berries are packed with anti-oxidants, vitamins and protein. Akai berries even have omega-3 fatty acids. • Broccoli: a wonderful source of vitamin K, which improves cognitive function and brainpower. • Tomatoes: these happy fruits contain lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that fights free radical damage to cells which contributes to the development of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s. Tomato juice is also a good source of iron.

Where possible, try to choose healthy fats. Eat foods that are grilled, baked, steamed or broiled and use small amounts of heart-healthy fats found in canola, olive and soybean oils, non-hydrogenated margarine, salmon and other fish, peanut butter, nuts, and seeds. Where possible use coconut oil or butter.

Healthy eating on a budget:

Many South African households are on a tight budget, but that doesn’t mean that healthy eating is off the cards

• Make the meat in your dishes go further by mixing in kidney beans, mixed beans, lentils or even baked beans. When cooking mince meat add soya, lentils, beans, oat bran and/ or vegetables to bulk it out. You can also add beans, lentils, potatoes and other veggies to stews, casseroles and curries. Mix mashed, cooked dried beans with mince or fish to make meat loaf, fish cakes or meatballs.

• Prepare stews from tough and more affordable cuts of meat. By using moist cooking, these cuts will become more juicy and tender. • Tinned fish, such as pilchards, mackerel and tuna, are often cheaper than buying fresh fish. Make sure to buy it tinned in water rather than oil where possible. Frozen fish is also a sometimes cheaper option than fresh, so always compare prices. Making your own fishcakes with pilchards can be very economical. Flake fish and extend it by making a stir fry with rice and vegetables

• When fruit is very expensive you can save money by buying more vegetables, especially those that are nice to snack on when raw, such as carrots, celery, cucumber, tomatoes and fresh green beans.

• Don’t dismiss frozen vegetables. Frozen veggies are usually frozen fresh after harvest and can work out cheaper than the fresh produce as you can keep it in the freezer. Just make sure that no sugar or salt was added.

• Self-selected vegetables and fruit are cheaper per kilogram than those that are pre-packaged for convenience

At the end of the day, you are responsible for your choices and for doing the best you can for your body and well being.

By Michelle Geel