Thank you to Dina-Marie for sending me this guest blog on Foods to Improve your Memory. God knows that I need this type of thing right now! I feel as if my memory is not half of what it used to be years ago, and I cannot afford to lose that because my sisters rely on my memory for remembering long forgotten family members out of the blue. They actually depend on my memory quite a lot. Where would they be without me?!
Anyway, that’s a different blog, here’s Dina-Marie from Dimes2Vines, where she blogs about her family’s lifestyle change from the corporate world in Alabama to beginning a vineyard in west Texas. Her desire is to encourage others where they are with what they have.
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Being the home educating mother of 10 children (7 of whom are still at home), I can not afford to forget anything! Our children range from 3 years old to 27 years old. With 2 children married and 4 grandchildren (2 of whom are older than our youngest!), I really must maximize my memory. After all, just remembering all the birthdays can be a challenge!
A complete lifestyle change from the corporate world (in lower Alabama) to starting our own vineyard (in west Texas) has prompted me to do more reading on nutrition. I have decided to do what I can to help improve our family’s health from the inside out. I would like to encourage you to do the same.
Everyone has probably heard of Omega-3 Fatty Acids, but why are they so important? Omega-3 fatty acids compose a large part of brain material. So, if you consume foods containing them, you are specifically aiding the brain by increasing brain activity and promoting brain function. The result? Better memory and concentration skills. A great source of omega-3 fatty acids is fish – any fish such as, salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout.
What if you are not a fan of fish? There are also other sources of omega-3 fatty acids – walnuts, ground flax seed, flax seed oil and pumpkin seeds. There are also many quality fish oil supplements available.
Another food receiving merited fame is a group containing, Antioxidants. Antioxidants help improve concentration and memory by eliminating or decreasing the number of free radicals that occur in our body. Put simply, antioxidants protect your cells from damage from within. Foods rich in antioxidants include fruit and vegetables – especially fresh colorful produce, such as, leafy green spinach, broccoli, romaine lettuce, Brussels sprouts, beets, avocados, mangoes, apricots, cantaloupe, cranberries and watermelon.
While omega-3 fatty acids and foods containing antioxidants have made the news, there is another group which should receive equal fame. Those are foods containing Probiotics. Probiotics keep your gut healthy and able to absorb the nutrients from everything you eat. They feed the good bacteria in your gut keeping them healthy and able to protect against the bad bacteria. Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, in her research and practice, has found a direct correlation between brain function and gut health in her book Gut and Psychology Syndrome. Foods containing probiotics include yogurt with active cultures, kefir and homemade (or non-pasteurized) fermented foods, such as, sauerkraut.
“You are what you eat” is more than just a saying!
