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Nutrition for Mind
NUTRITION FOR MIND


How you think and feel is directly affected by what you eat. This idea may seem bizzare, yet the fact is that eating the right food has been proven to boost your IQ, improve your mood and emotional stability, sharpen your memory and keep you young. Here I discuss some tips which will give you the clue that mind needs food to work properly.
It can be said that:
  • Most people are achieving well below their full potential for intelligence, memory, concentration, emotional balance and happiness.
  • The right combination of nutrients work better than drugs, and without the side-effects.
  • Psychotherapy works best if you're optimally nourished.
  • Most mental health problems can be solved or, at least, considerably relieved with the right nutrition, together with the right psychological support and guidance.


    COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES-THE BEST BRAIN FOOD


  • Some guidelines to ensure you get enough slow-releasing carbohydrates, the best brain fuel:
  • Eat wholefoods - wholegrains, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds, fresh fruit and vegetables - and avoid refined, white and overcooked foods.
  • Eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Choose dark green, leafy and root vegetables such as watercress, carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, spinach, green beans or peppers, raw or lightly cooked. Choose fresh fruit such as apples, pears, berries, melon or citrus fruit. Have bananas in moderation. Dilute fruit juices and only eat dried fruits infrequently in small quantities, preferably soaked.
  • Eat four or more servings of wholegrains such as rice, millet, rye, oats, wholewheat, corn or quinoa in cereal, breads and pasta.
  • Avoid any form of sugar, and foods with added sugar.
  • Combine protein foods with carbohydrate foods by eating cereals and fruit with nuts or seeds, and ensuring you eat starch foods (potato, bread, pasta, or rice) with fish, lentils, beans, or tofu.

    SMART FATS- THE ARCHITECTS OF HIGHER INTELLIGENCE


  • Some guidelines to ensure you get enough brain fats:
  • Eat seeds and nuts - the best seeds are flax, hemp, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame. You get more goodness out of them by grinding them first and sprinkling on cereal, soups and salads.
  • Eat coldwater carnivorous fish - a serving of herring, mackerel, salmon or fresh tuna two or three times a week provides a good source of omega-3 fats.
  • Use cold-pressed seed oils - either choose an oil blend or hemp oil for salad dressings and other cold uses, such as drizzling on vegetables instead of butter.
  • Minimize your intake of fried food, processed food and saturated fat from meat and dairy.
  • Supplement fish oil for omega-3 fats and starflower or evening primrose oil for omega-6 fats.
  • A tablespoon of ground seeds - most days (five out of seven) Cold-pressed seed oil blend - on salad dressings and on vegetables Coldwater carnivorous fish - twice a week EPA/DHA/GLA supplement - once a day

    PHOSPHOLIPIDS-MEMORY'S BEST FRIEND


  • Some guidelines to ensure you have an optimal intake of phospholipids, the memory molecules:
  • Add a tablespoon of lecithin granules, or a heaped teaspoon of high-PC lecithin, to your cereal every day.
  • Or eat an egg - preferably free-range, organic and high in omega-3s.
  • Supplement a brain food formula providing phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl serine.

    AMINO ACIDS-THE ALPHABET OF MIND AND MOOD


  • Some guidelines to ensure you have an optimal intake of vitamins and minerals to keep your brain in tune:
  • Eat at least five, and ideally seven, servings of fresh fruit and vegetables a day.
  • Eat nuts and seeds regularly, and choose wholefoods, such as wholegrains, lentils, beans and brown rice, rather than refined food.
  • Supplement a multivitamin and mineral that gives you at least 25mg of all the B vitamins, lOmcg of B12, lOOmcg of folic acid, 200mg of magnesium, 3mg of manganese and 10mg of zinc.

    BRAIN ALLERGIES


  • Some guidelines to ensure you how to reduce, your allergic potential:
  • Avoid wheat and dairy products strictly for two weeks and see how you feel. In any case these food groups are best not eaten frequently.
  • Improve your digestion by eating plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables, seeds and fish, which contain essential fats and zinc.
  • Keep alcohol, painkillers and antibiotics to a minimum. These damage the digestive tract.
  • If you suspect you've got a food allergy, get yourself tested (see p. 361). A clinical nutritionist can both test what you are allergic to and devise a course of action to reduce your allergic potential.

    SOLVING SLEEPING PROBLEMS


  • Some guidelines to ensure you get a good night's sleep, with some dreaming thrown in:
  • Avoid sugar and stimulants, especially after 4pm.
  • Find ways of relaxing and de-stressing in the evening.
  • Make sure your supplement programme includes vitamin B6 lOOmg and zinc lOmg (up to 30mg if no dream recall).
  • Supplement 400mg of calcium and 300mg of magnesium in the evening and eat calcium- and magnesium-rich foods such as seeds and crunchy or dark green vegetables.
  • If you suffer from insomnia, supplement either 200mg of 5-HTP or two 2,000mg capsules of 1-tryptophan before bed; or herbs such as kava or valerian; or a combination of these herbs and nutrients.

    MOOD SWING AND MANIC DEPRESSION


  • Some guidelines to ensure you to stabilise your mood swings:
  • Avoid sugar, stimulants, cigarettes and excess stress.
  • Check yourself out for food allergies (see Chapter 11).
  • Increase your magnesium intake by eating plenty of vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds and consider supplementing 200mg a day, found in good multivitamin/mineral formulas.
  • Take fish oil supplements providing between 1.5 and 4g EPA.
  • Supplement a good multivitamin and mineral every day, plus I.OOOmg of vitamin C.
  • Become more aware of what triggers your mood swings and how to control your thoughts to improve your stability.
  • Consult a clinical nutritionist who can advise you about nutrients and herbs that can help keep you in balance, as well as explore potential food allergies or intolerances.

    DEMYSTIFYING SCHIZOPHRENIA


  • The starting point to tackling a diagnosis of schizophrenia is to:
  • Balance your blood sugar.
  • Check for, and correct, essential fat imbalances.
  • Up your intake of antioxidants and especially vitamin C to 3g a day.
  • Consider high dose niacin, B12 and folic acid supplements. " Get checked for pyroluria and, if so, supplement zinc and B6.
  • Check yourself for wheat and other allergies.
  • Check your histamine status. If low, try high-dose niacin, B12 and folk ai If high, don't take large amounts of folic acid or B12.

    BEATING ADDICTION


  • The starting point to tackling with addiction:
  • Get professional help and guidance.
  • Deal with psychological issues with a psychotherapist.
  • Increase your intake of nutrients, including a high strength B complex plus niacin 500mg, pantothenic acid (B5) 500mg, vitamin B6 lOOmg, folic acid 1mg; vitamin C 3 to 10g a day spread throughout the day.
  • Take L-glutamine powder, 5g am and pm, plus enough essential fats including GLA , EPA and DHA, and minerals including calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc.
  • Eat an extremely healthy diet that supports your brain.
  • Come off slowly, replacing your addictive drug with natural relaxants/ stimulants as appropriate.

    FITS, CONVULSIONS AND EPILEPSY


  • The starting point to tackling fits, convulsions or epilepsy and haven't been checked out by a clinical nutritionist, there is plenty of room for hope.
  • Have your vitamin and mineral levels checked. If low in folic acid, B6, magnesium, manganese or zinc, supplementation may well help.
  • Make sure you are getting enough essential fats, from seeds, fish and their oils.
  • Other brain-friendly nutrients, including amino acids, choline, DMAE, taurine and vinpocetine may help, but they are best taken under professional guidance.

    PREVENTING AGE RELATED MEMORY DECLINE


  • The starting point to tackling age-related memory decline means:
  • Eat oily fish three times a week.
  • Eat plenty of antioxidant rich fruits and vegetables.
  • Supplement a high strength multivitamin and mineral.
  • Supplement between 3 and 8g of vitamin C a day, increasing your intake with age.
  • Supplement 100iu of vitamin E daily for each decade of your age.
  • Supplement 2 fish oil capsules giving 1,000mg of EPA/DHA.
  • Supplement phospholipids (phosphatidyl choline, citicholine and serine).
  • Supplement a brain food formula giving phospholipids, pyroglumate, DMAE, pantothenic acid, ginkgo biloba and/or vinpocetine.
  • Keep fit.
  • Keep learning new things.
  • Reduce the stresses in your life.
  • If you do all this there is no reason why your memory and mental powers need decline with age. As Leonard Larson, president of the American Medical Association in 1960, said, 'There is no diseases of the aged, but simply diseases among the aged.'

    SAY NO TO ALZHEIMER


  • Alzheimer's is not inevitable, is almost certainly the long-term consequence of diet and lifestyle, is preventable and, to some extent, reversible with optimum nutrition. The key steps are:
  • Eat a diet high in antioxidant nutrients and supplement large amounts of antioxidant nutrients such as vitamins A, C, E, selenium and zinc, as well as a multivitamin containing B vitamins, especially folic acid.
  • Ensure an optimal intake of brain fats, especially omega-3 fats from fish and flax seeds or fish oils and phospholipids.
  • Reduce your cortisol load by reducing your level of stress and anxiety.
  • Reduce your exposure to aluminium and mercury.
  • Supplement acetylcholine-supporting nutrients such as phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl serine, DMAE and pyroglutamate.



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    Ijaz Clinic
    5- Race Course Road,
    Opposite Circuit House, Lahore, - Pakistan.
    Phones : 6304923, 5720730 Fax : 7586440
    email : shamailaijaz@yahoo.com

    © Site designed and maintained by Shamaila Shafqat
    All right reserved. 2003



    • top

    Ijaz Clinic
     5- Race Course Road,
    Opposite Circuit House, Lahore, - Pakistan.
    Phones : 6304923, 5720730 Fax : 7586440
    email : shamailaijaz@yahoo.com

    © Site designed and maintained by Shamaila Shafqat
    All right reserved. 2003