Our addiction to work and the internet is slowly wearing us down, and with that it’s dragging down our ability to think clearly and creatively.

Luckily there is the help at hand, and thankfully it comes in the form of food. Here are seven great foods that can get your brain back on track.

1. Seeds

Seeds, namely pumpkin and sunflower seeds, are fantastic sources of vitamin, with a quarter of a cup of the latter containing over 60% of your recommended daily allowance.

What’s the benefit of eating a food so rich in vitamin E? People with diets rich in the vitamin have been shown to have 67% less chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease in later life, and could even reduce or prevent brain damage in stroke victims.

Our tip: Sprinkle sunflower seeds on top of your salad and fried vegetables.

2. Avocado

Great news for the fans of the creamy fruit. Avocado is not only rich in vitamin E, but also in oleic acid. This fatty acid plays a key part in our cognitive power by building myelin in the brain, which helps boost the speed at which information travels in the brain.

Our tip: Crush some avocado on to toast and sprinkle either feta or goat cheese on top.

3. Cinnamon

Perhaps the most unexpected food (well, sort of food) on the list, but the power of this spice can’t be underestimated.

A study found that cinnamon helped improve participants’ performances in memory tests as well as visual-motor tests.

Additionally, cinnamon is high in a powerful antioxidant called manganese. In fact, just two teaspoons contains half of your recommended daily amount. Manganese is vital for good brain health.

Our tip: Sprinkle some on top of your breakfast oats to get your brain going first thing in the morning.

4. Oregano

Another surprise here comes in the form of the beautiful herb, oregano.

In a study in the British Journal of Nutrition, participants who took oregano extract twice daily for five days had noticeable increases in the brain waves associated with better mood and greater relaxation.

These brainwaves (beta-1) are also associated with greater cognitive processing performance and alertness.

Furthermore, the antioxidants present in oregano are greatly associated with protection and neuronal damage.

Our tip: Mix minced oregano into a marinade for chicken before roasting.

5. Sweet potato

Often regarded as a healthier source of carbohydrate than their white counterparts, there is now another fantastic reason to start stocking up on sweet potatoes: Carotenoids.

See, sweet potatoes’ rich orange comes from its abundance of carotenoids. Low levels of this powerful antioxidant are often associated with cognitive decline and impairment, particularly in the elderly, and so it’s thought that higher levels of carotenoids will see the opposite effect.

Our tip: Slice up some sweet potato and mix together with some apple and crushed kale to create a brain-boosting super salad.

6. Green tea

It’s no secret that green tea is good for you, with lower risks of diabetes and various types of cancer attributed to it, and its positive effects on your metabolism and skin complexion.

But now there’s strong evidence that green tea also increases blood flow, and therefore neural activity, in the key areas of the brain responsible for memory, reasoning and comprehension.

Our tip: Skip your morning coffee and have green tea with a bit of lemon to get both your metabolism and brain kick-started.

7. Dark chocolate

Rejoice – there are benefits to eating the dark stuff after all! No longer just the less fatty version of its milk counterpart, dark chocolate has now been proven to boast a string of health benefits, including better brain function.

Dark chocolate’s high flavanol content makes it easier for blood to flow to your brain, and has also been shown to significantly boost test participants’ scores in memory tests.

Our tip: Snack on a couple of squares of dark chocolate as a mid-afternoon snack for a quick kick to your energy and mood levels.
Start introducing these to your diet regularly and you’ll start to feel fresher, energized and inspired in days. Get going and enjoy your life

 

Source: dumblittleman

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Drinking water in the morning is a usual ritual of most Japanese women. And every time you think about females from Japan the image that appears in your mind is a petite svelte woman, right?

This is not unusual because women from Japan with weight problems are rare indeed. In the last few decades, through listening and reading about the Japanese culture, we have come to the conclusion that Japanese people have a different type of diet in many regards.

Notably, they also have a different lifestyle and daily routine when compared with the greater part of the Western civilization, where people are constantly dealing with weight problems.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that humans seem to have lost their ‘thirst sensation’ and the critical perception of the need to drink more water. So, the body’s biological thirst signals can be mistaken for signs and symptoms of other illnesses.

Most often the root cause of this misperception is – dehydration. We can avoid costly and unnecessary medical interventions, and enjoy a long-term wellbeing, if we go in the opposite direction, which is – hydration. Further confusion results when the body produces complicated secondary symptoms of dehydration.

Many doctors often misinterpret those secondary symptoms as conditions unrelated to dehydration or dryness of the body. These conditions include, but are not limited to: dyspepsia, rheumatoid arthritis, angina, migraine and headaches, colitis, gastritis, constipation, hypertension, anemia, obesity, sinusitis, pulmonary tuberculosis, asthma, kidney stones, cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, irregular menstruation, hemorrhoids, epilepsy, leukemia, uterine cancer, breast cancer.

What is the best way to hydrate your body? How much water should you drink?

Since Japanese people seem to have fewer problems than we do, we are going to reveal a ‘water delivery secret’ of theirs, and try to apply it to our everyday lives in order to reap water benefits and improve our general health.

How much water to drink throughout the day? Water intake should start right after you get up as the first drink on an empty stomach. It is one of the things the Japanese never forget to do first thing in the morning! Having plain water is a very effective healing routine since it creates a stimulating environment inside the body for preventing numerous diseases by way of flushing out toxins.

Scientists have studied this seemingly insignificant “morning ritual” and have unanimously come to the conclusion that water on an empty stomach eases all the health problems mentioned above. It also improves the general condition of the eyes and helps with uterine diseases (especially menstrual disorders).

Thus, the main point of this article is to encourage you to try and incorporate this simplest water therapy into your morning routine. This is how you can start applying it:

Each morning when you wake up and get out of bed, the very first thing you should do is drink about 640 ml (21 oz.) of water.

Over the next 45 minutes, do not consume any type of food or other liquids. Instead, continue doing your other practices like preparing your stuff for work or school. Only after 45 minutes can you start eating your usual breakfast

Elderly people, including those who are suffering from certain water-intolerable diseases, cannot ‘afford’ drinking of 3 glasses of water on an empty stomach, so they should reduce the amount of water to what their bodies can accept and slowly adapt their system to reach the recommended level – which is 640 ml (21 oz.)

If you manage to use this Japanese practice, after a certain period of time, you will begin to notice the first signs of improvement of your health parameters. You will also start feeling much more energetic and sturdier than you used to be.

As for how long should this “water therapy” last, the answer is: It depends on the kind of health problems you are beset with!

For instance:

• If you are suffering from gastritis, continue your water therapy for 10 days.
• In case of constipation, you need 10 days of water drinking in the morning.
• Diabetic patients need 30 days of morning water drinking.
• High blood pressure takes 30 days to get back to normal readings.
• Patients with tuberculosis should have this morning drinking for 90 days.

Once you have successfully introduced this “therapy” into your everyday routine, and felt the positive results of course, you should try to maintain it as long as possible. And it goes without saying that the better the quality of water you consume, the better the results you will experience from water therapy.

Note: An exception should be made for those who are diagnosed with arthritis. They should apply it only for the first 3 days of the first week. In the following period (starting from the second week) they should do it regularly, every day of the week, just like all the others.

Have plenty of water to lose weight

Just follow these easy steps and you will easily reduce that bulky waste line:

Step 1:
Drink before you eat. Water is an appetite suppressant, so drinking it before meals can make you feel fuller and therefore reduce your usual food intake.

Step 2:
Replace calorie-filled drinks with water.

Step 3:
Drink ice cold water, especially in the summer.

Step 4:
Hit the gym with loads of water in your backpack.

Step 5:
Make sure you get just enough food so as not to feel hungry.

Four water-drinking facts you should also know

1. Did you know water can make you smarter?

While you may not know it, dehydration can reduce your ability to focus and concentrate on completing intellectual tasks. In fact, a study, done by the University of East London, states that a simple glass of water can help boost brain function by 14%. The researchers think the water helped by freeing up the parts of the brain that were busy ‘telling’ the body it was thirsty.

2. Are you moody and tired more often than not?

The answer is – you just might be dehydrated. Water has a bigger impact on our bodies than just quenching our thirst. When we do not drink enough water, we can quickly become dehydrated, which can have a negative impact on our mood, energy levels and our capability to think clearly.

Researchers at the University of Connecticut’s Human Performance Laboratory discovered that even mild dehydration can cause people to feel anxious, tense or tired, affecting their ability to perform cognitive tasks and cope with stress during the day.

3. Water helps you look and feel your best.

Do you want to get in the best shape of your life? Water can help you reach your health and weight loss goals. Not only does it act as a natural appetite suppressant by helping you feel full faster, but also a great number of studies have shown that drinking a glass of cold water when you wake up in the morning speeds up your metabolism.

It even keeps your skin looking young and healthy by helping reduce those fine lines of wrinkles around your eyes [that can be caused by dehydration].

4. Drinking plenty of water can save your heart

Not only does water help you look healthy on the outside, but it also protects the most important ‘pumping organ’ in your body as well—your heart. According to a study done over the span of 6 years, those who drank at least 5 glasses of water per day were 41% less likely to suffer from a heart attack than those who drank only 2 glasses of water (or less) each day.

TO SUM UP: If you want to look, feel and function your best, make sure you drink enough water throughout the day. If drinking this much water is a challenge for you, check out other blog posts for helpful tips. You may discover new ways to drink more water that you might not have even heard of before!

 

Source: dietoflife

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