Top 11 Brain Foods

Having a healthy brain is key to have a good quality of life. Not only to prevent different diseases, but also for you to be able to do your activities in the right way, be more productive, feel better, and look better.

There’s no need to take pills or supplements to have a healthy brain, you can just incorporate different foods to your diet that will take care of that. Let’s talk about some of the top foods that boost the brain.

1. Oily Fish

Oily or fatty fish is considered without a doubt the number one food for a healthy brain because of the great amount of omega-3 fatty acids that it has. Over half of our brain is made out of fats, therefore, feeding the brain with omega-3s helps the neurons and boosts brain function. Additionally, it’s been proven omega-3 that omega-3s help improve your memory, enhance your learning process, and the way you retain information, and it can even help with your emotions.

2. Berries

All berries are well-known for being rich in antioxidants that boost your brain and keep it healthy. Berries are effective to delay short-term memory loss, delay brain aging, slow cognitive decline, improve communication among brain cells, and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. One of the main antioxidants that we can find in berries is rich in anthocyanins, a protective compound for the brain.

You can get this effect from blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, mulberries, and blackcurrants; but you can get similar benefits with other red, purple, and dark fruits.

3. Nuts

Nuts are another type of food that’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Two key components to boost the brain. Moreover, nuts like almonds, walnuts, and hazelnuts, are rich sources of vitamin E, which comes with countless benefits for the brain. For starters, vitamin E protects brain cells from the free radicals that cause oxidative stress when a person ages. Thus, vitamin E is a great nutrient that supports brain health in older people. Some other benefits that come from adding nuts to your diet are that they improve cognition and help reduce the risk of getting brain diseases like Alzheimer’s.

4. Coffee

It comes as no surprise that coffee is everyone’s favorite drink in the mornings to wake up and start the day with the right foot. Coffee has two main ingredients: caffeine and antioxidants, both of which are great for the brain. A cup of coffee can help a person boost their productivity and feel more focused throughout the day. This is because it increases brain entropy, allowing the brain to receive and process more information. Plus, it has the power of improving one’s mood making us feel good, happy, and less stressed.

5. Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and other foods rich in cacao are amazing and delicious options for a healthy brain. This is because cacao contains different brain-boosting compounds like flavonoids and other antioxidants.

It’s been proven that cacao with all its nutrients can stimulate blood flow in the brain, encourage neuron and blood vessel growth, help improve memory, and make people feel happier and in a better mood. There are even ongoing studies to prove that flavonoids can reverse memory problems.

6. Eggs

This is good news for breakfast enthusiasts because eggs are some of the most effective foods to boost the brain. They’re loaded with a bunch of vitamins and other nutrients including vitamin B6, vitamin B12, folic acid, and choline.

These vitamins help prevent brain shrinkage, delay cognitive decline and help regulate sugar levels in the brain. Vitamin B12 along with folic acid is good to minimize depression and other diseases of the sort.

Egg yolks are some of the best sources of choline, which is an essential nutrient for our brains if we want to have a good memory and be always in a good mood.

7. Broccoli

Broccoli is a vegetable that’s loaded with antioxidants. As we’ve mentioned before, antioxidants come with numerous benefits for the brain. Besides being rich in antioxidants, broccoli is high in flavonoids, vitamin C, vitamin K that boosts memory, and glucosinolates that produce isothiocyanates and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. Other vegetables that boost the brain in a similar way as broccoli are Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, and turnips.

8. Pumpkin Seeds

All seeds are great foods for the brain, but pumpkin seeds are considered to be even better. This is because they’re packed with all sorts of nutrients, vitamins, and compounds that are extremely beneficial for the brain and other organs. Some of the main micronutrients found in pumpkin seeds are zinc, magnesium, copper, and iron.

All of these nutrients have different effects and benefits for the brain’s health. They help prevent different neurological diseases, boost brain function, prevent migraines, and simply keep everything in order.

9. Avocados

Avocados are a great source of unsaturated healthy fat. By adding avocados to your diet, you will not only be able to cook delicious, healthy, and beautiful meals, but you’ll also be lowering the risk of cognitive decline. This is because due to the healthy fat contained in avocados, you can reduce high blood pressure, one of the main causes for cognitive decline.

10. Green Tea

Green tea benefits your brain in a similar way to coffee because of the caffeine that both drinks have. Just like coffee, green tea improves alertness, helps your memory, performance, and concentration. But unlike coffee, green tea has an amino acid called L-theanine that makes people feel more relaxed and less stressed. Moreover, this beverage is also high in antioxidants and polyphenols that help keep a healthy brain and reduce the risk of getting different brain diseases.

11. Turmeric

Turmeric is a yellow spice that’s well-known for being an essential ingredient when making curry. But what people don’t know it’s that it also has a myriad of health benefits for the brain.

Due to its active compound known as curcumin, consuming turmeric comes with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits for the brain. Moreover, it helps people improve their memory, medically it’s used on Alzheimer’s patients, it also helps when treating depression, and it can even help new brain cells grow.