Brain Food: Foods to Eat for a healthy Brain

[Pampy Profile]

The patient information leaflets, whilst generally excellent, don't always cover everything. My diabetes medication doesn't mention St John's Wort at all.
And a pharmacist will usually only give advice when asked. In fact, last time I saw my GP, she changed one of my meds. and said that the pharmacist should query the new one as she'd left the old one on my repeat prescription in case the new one didn't work but the two should never be taken together. Not a peep from the pharmacist!
This is an interesting article too (I make no claims as to it's veracity!) https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/ ... 9fd32916b5

[Wic Profile]

My MiL, normally very bright and intelligent, fell for every food fad she read about. It used to drive me demented, it was as if if it was there in print in a magazine it must be right.

It has rather sent me in the opposite direction, but I was that way inclined anyway!

[karadekoolaid Profile]

If turmeric is really as extraordinary as it is currently made out to be, then I, who have eaten turmeric regularly for the past 40 years, will be the next candidate for SUPERMAN!!

[Renee Profile]

Here's hoping!

[Pampy Profile]

I'm afraid that my sister has a tendency to fall for food fads (try saying that quickly!). Her latest one is that turmeric can cure diabetes - but if that's the case 1) why isn't it prescribed by GPs and 2) why is diabetes quite prevalent in people from the Indian sub-continent, when they probably use more turmeric than anywhere else in the world?

[dennispc Profile]

‘Drink eight glasses of water every day to boost the brain by 30per cent’, Dr Lisa Mosconi.

Nutrition expert Ian Marber, ‘eggs, salmon and chickpeas’.

Keep brain healthy, cook new, complicated recipes. Far better than doing crosswords, forget where I read that.

And turmeric, of course.

[Alexandria Profile]

Renée and Petronius,

This data comes from an airline magazine I had read enroute from Porto, Portugal to Barcelona yesterday ..

I have been eating chickpeas since childhood ! It is a Spanish staple .. And lentils as well ..

All of these are more or less part of a typical Mediterranean Diet.

So, it is nothing new ..

The key to good health is to exercise regularly and eat naturally healthy foods -- to your personal likes & taking into consideration one´s intolerances, etcetra ..

Have a lovely evening.

[Renee Profile]

Member 461, it is a well-known fact and has been for a long time that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest.
I try to follow this as much as I can.

How do you incorporate chick peas into a meal? I often use them to make hummus which I love.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Chickpea curry.
Chickpeas as the basis for a main dish salad.
Chickpea, carrot and tomato soup.
Chickpeas with chorizo, peppers and tomato.
Berber - style chickpeas, with chicken, lamb and veg.
Tunisian octopus stew with chickpeas.

Let´s get cooking, Renée!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

The best thing for the brain is surely to keep it in a healthy body - generally good diet, exercise, and enough sleep.

[Renee Profile]

Yes, thanks Sue! I just need to be reminded occasionally!

KK, thanks for those ideas. Chickpeas are something that I never used when cooking, but I'd like to use them more often.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Chick peas are a staple of Provencal food too. The version of . made here is called poischichade. A puree made with chick peas garlic and EVOO. Salad with chopped red onion, herbs and sometimes a hint of chilli - only being france, only a hint!
By tradition a bowl of chick peas was the fast-day dish on Good Friday.

[Alexandria Profile]

Renée,

Chickpeas ..

I either buy them, from an oak barrel, at the Le Mercat de La Boqueria Market or in linen sacks (1 kilo), from a company called:

LEGUMBRES LA FUESANTICA, S.A.
El Palmar, Murcia

They must be soaked for several hours before cooking them, slow flame until tender ..

1) Hummus ..
2) Chickpeas with Vegetables (If you are using blood sausage or chorizo, I prepare separate so that the beans are not greasy ) and those who want the sausages, they are on table in a big serving bowl ..
3) Chickpeas with pasta, Cecci e Ditalini for example .. With tiny pasta tubes or tiny Shell shaped pasta.
4) Salad with red bell, red onion or Green scallion or chives and ventresca ( or albacore tuna ) and tomato with Evoo & Balsamic vinegar.
5) Potaje Con Espinacas: this ancient dish is still prepared during Lent in Spain, and Italy as well: Spinach, cod fish, onion, bay leaf, Evoo, garlic and chickpeas. It is Delicious and many Spaniards eat it all year long.

Have a wonderful day .. Karakoolaide also mentioned several dishes too.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Not to forget of course as one of the components of cous couse au sept legumes - cous cous with seven vegetables.

[Alexandria Profile]

Joan,

Yes, a wonderful Moroccan Couscous with 7 Vegetables ..

Have a nice summer.

[Renee Profile]

Thank you so much for all the information! I would particularly enjoy the Potaje Con Espinacas.

Just one small question. After chickpeas have been soaked and cooked, how long do they keep for?

[dennispc Profile]

My post yesterday may not have made sense ….. because somehow I chopped off the start!

For a little while I’ve been having fun, collecting articles, mainly from the Saturday quality papers giving health advice. Feel sorry for your sister Pampy, because there are so many that frequently contradict each other.

Here’s a flavour,

Stephen Westaby, heart surgeon, “You can spend your life eating saturated fat and not get any plaques, there are people who don’t eat much saturated fat and then die from heart attacks.” (The Knife’s Edge).

Michael Roizen, ‘To help prevent dementia; salmon, leafy greens and walnuts. Avoid sugar as refined and processed food attack brain bridges as neural roadways become impassable.’ (What to Eat).

Dr Sabina Brennan; one in four post mortem bodies had enough plaques and tangles in their brain to qualify them for a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, yet displayed no symptoms. (100 Days to a Younger Brain).

Which led into the ‘advice’ proffered yesterday.

As for the eight glasses of water a day - a couple of years ago, a GP told me to restrict my water intake to 1 or 1.5 litres a day as I was washing away all my essential electrolytes - particularly salt.

They're going to get me what ever I do.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I understand that the 8 glasses of water (like 10 000 steps) has no scientific basis - it just sounds good and is plausible. Apparently when fitness trackers first came out someone selling them in Japan noticed that "10 000 steps" sounds rather good in Japanese and used it as a slogan, and it stuck.

When I did my training we were told that water intake is almost irrelevant except in special circumstances - as weight, activity, clothing, food and weather vary so much the best thing is to monitor output - if there's regular urine, and it isn't overly concentrated you are obviously drinking enough water. Nurses and medical students at some hospitals were taught at one time that the output should be "pale and plentiful" which seems sane to me

[Amyw Profile]

Yes , our health and safety trainer by the time you notice your wee is quite yellow you are probably already dehydrated . A lot of people I know barely drink . As I rarely drink hot drinks I always have a bottle or glass of sugar free squash or water .

I don’t really read these health magazines mentioned in the first post by Member 461 . Women’s health UK is pretty good but I think j using common sense we all know what a good diet should entail. It’s just sticking to it sometimes is the problem

[Alexandria Profile]

Amy,

I read the article in an Airline Magazine on a flight. It was not a health magazine.

It had just a 1 page filler article on health, fashion, restaurants, travel, wines, but all related to travel.