Do you hang out with someone who is super smart, nails those assessments with ease and seems to remember everything there is to remember?
While there is probably a part of you that secretly wishes to be more like them, standing next to these people hoping their special brain powers may seep into you by osmosis probably won’t work.
But there is a tried and tested way to boost your brain’s mental clarity, memory and ability to learn: Brain Food!
Read on for some of the best brain foods to eat throughout the day.
Breakfast—give your brain a morning boost:
- Porridge topped with blueberries will boost both your memory and focus.
- Yogurt sprinkled with nuts—delicious AND nutritious.
- Eggs—any way you like—are a brilliant start to your day. Eggs are little bundles of all things good for your brain. They increase your vitamin D which in turn increases your cleverness. They also protect your brain from the effects of junk food.
To snack on while you study (and throughout the day):
- Crack open an egg. Boiled, scrambled—any way you like—it’s ok to eat up to three eggs a day.
- Dark chocolate is great, especially if you’re a bit of a sweet tooth. Cacao is said to increase the blood supply to the part of the brain that is responsible for memory and learning. Some researchers reversed memory problems in snails by giving them cacao… interesting.
- Walnuts. These brain-shaped nuts are beyond good for your brain! They help the brain develop new connections. Their high level of omega-3 can help stabilise or improve mood and research claims that people who eat walnuts daily score higher in cognitive tests.
- Green Tea. There are two reasons Green tea is brain food. Firstly, it improves your working memory—that’s the memory which holds the information ready for processing. Secondly, it has a gentle amount of caffeine to give you an energy top-up.
Foods for lunch and dinner:
- Salmon is filled with omega-3s which increase memory and improve recall.
- Broccoli improves our ability to remember information said to us verbally (now that one will be helpful!)
- Peanut Butter on whole-wheat bread will not only give you energy to learn, but will also improve your brain power generally.
- Adding leafy greens to any-and-everything will give you a boost in all those fantastic nutrients that super-charge your brain cells (and in fact your whole body!)
End the day with:
- Camomile Tea is made from flowers and brings an oasis of tranquillity and calm.
- It soothes your nerves and relaxes your central nervous system so that you sleep well and stress less. It will also give your immunity a boost, so that you are less likely to get sick (no one learns well when they feel sick).
For more brain power foods, grab some dark chocolate and check out these videos:
