It’s no secret that a healthy lifestyle can impact you in all sorts of positive ways. We all know that we should eat fresh, good food, but we sometimes don’t understand why exactly we need to. The term “health” can sometimes feel nebulous, and we aren’t sure what we are pursuing. This can cause some people to feel unmotivated when it comes to dieting. But here’s one major reason why having a clean diet might be a good goal: it can make you smarter. Don’t believe it? Let’s take a look at the facts.
The Brain/stomach Connection
You may not think this is true, but the brain and the stomach actually have a pretty powerful connection. Many people have noticed that they get angry or upset when they are really hungry, but it goes deeper than that. What you eat - and how much of it you are eating - changes certain hormones in your body. Those hormones in turn affect your brain in multiple ways, ranging from mood swings to changing focus levels to stress.
Another way that the brain is connected to the stomach - or, more specifically, eating - is through something called leptin. The fat in your body causes leptin to be released into your bloodstream, and your brain monitors these leptin levels to make sure that you are eating enough. If your leptin gets too low, your brain chemistry starts to change. It’s a survival mechanism that we have evolved to have so that we don’t starve to death.
This leptin reaction is just another example of how connected your eating patterns are to your brain. But does that mean that a diet can really make you smarter?
This leptin reaction is just another example of how connected your eating patterns are to your brain. But does that mean that a diet can really make you smarter?
Overeating Can Harm Your Cognition
Now that you understand how the brain and eating are connected, let’s look at a concrete example of unhealthy diets on cognition. While it may not be fully understood yet, multiple studies have begun to discover that overeating and obesity are linked with lowered cognition over time. This means that a healthy diet can help save your brain from symptoms like memory less and attention deficit. You don’t even need to overthink your diet here; simply avoiding obesity can help.
If you’re looking for more specific advice, you can look to studies that target sugary and fatty foods. Even those who aren’t overweight can experience the negative effects of these unhealthy foods on their brains. Those who eat saturated fats have been found to have worse memory than those who prefer healthier fats like olive oil.
Healthy Foods Result in a Healthy Brain
So, yes, cutting out fatty foods can help with cognition, and avoiding overeating in general is also quite helpful. But there are also multiple kinds of foods that you should add to your diet to help keep your brain sharp and functioning as well as possible.
Remember when we said that saturated fats are bad? It’s true, but that doesn’t mean that you should completely cut fat from your diet. We need fat to function, after all. Instead of processed foods filled with unhealthy fat, you should aim to eat foods like nuts that contain the kinds of fats that are good for you. You might see improvements on everything from memory to verbal acumen from eating nuts.
Remember when we said that saturated fats are bad? It’s true, but that doesn’t mean that you should completely cut fat from your diet. We need fat to function, after all. Instead of processed foods filled with unhealthy fat, you should aim to eat foods like nuts that contain the kinds of fats that are good for you. You might see improvements on everything from memory to verbal acumen from eating nuts.
And, of course, it’s incredibly important to eat your vegetables. Veggies can actually make your brain much more powerful over time if you eat them regularly. A vegetable-heavy diet has been found to slow down the natural cognitive decline caused by aging, and foods like broccoli and kale are shown to be particularly powerful.
If you want to make sure that your brain stays as healthy as possible throughout your life, the best thing that you can do is have a solid diet of natural foods.
If you want to make sure that your brain stays as healthy as possible throughout your life, the best thing that you can do is have a solid diet of natural foods.