Healthy Foods for a Healthy Memory

You can have a powerful memory through your diet. Digesting very nutritious foods can help develop not only a healthy body, but also a healthy brain. Each and every cell in our body, including our brain cells, needs consistent supply of oxygen and nutrients to function properly. These very important substances are being distributed to the brain through the bloodstream. Anything that interrupts blood flow leads to brain cell starvation resulting to cognitive malfunction and memory loss.

For optimal brain health, you should check your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. You have to know your numbers and if they are elevated, immediately do something to bring them down. You can do exercises, eat a healthy diet, and if your doctor prescribes you medication, take it.

Researchers have shown that eating the right kinds of food can really enhance or boost your memory capacity. Here are some foods that you can include in your diet to keep your memory healthy and sharp.

  1. A healthy heart makes for a healthy brain. To lower down cholesterol levels, eat oatmeal, oat bran and high fiber foods. Oatmeal has soluble fiber that reduces your bad cholesterol or low-density lipoproteins. Bad cholesterol can accumulate in the walls of the arteries forming a plaque that would further result in obstruction of blood flow. This condition is called atherosclerosis. If the obstruction affects the brain, then memory loss is most likely to happen. Soluble fiber can also be found in foods such as apples, pears, prunes, barley and kidney beans. Olive oil is good too. It also lowers bad cholesterol.
  2. Eat foods rich with antioxidants. Antioxidants are elements that destroy harmful free-radicals which are natural byproducts of our body. Antioxidants also prevent brain cell damage which is essential for long-term memory function. Foods rich on antioxidants are strawberries, blueberries, red grapes, peaches, carrots, watermelon, tomatoes, and green leafy vegetables.
  3. Vitamin B6 and B12 enriched foods are important also. Examples are soy beans, eggs, shrimps, yeast, walnuts and dairy products. Vitamin B helps keep an amino acid called homocysteine at a healthy level. High homocysteine levels can lead to increased risk of Alzheimer’s and a faster rate of brain shrinkage in the elderly.
  4. Have fish oil and Omega 3 in your diet. Fish is rich with Omega 3, a very important fatty acid that lowers blood pressure and reduces the risk of developing blood clots inside the arteries. Omega 3 cannot be produced by the body so that is why we need to consume foods that are rich with this fatty acid. It is recommended by doctors to eat at least two servings of fish a week.
  5. Folate, also known as folic acid, can improve your memory. Studies show that people eating lots of foods rich in folic acid had faster information processing and memory recall. Foods rich in folate include fortified whole-grain breakfast cereals, broccoli, wheat germ, lentils, black-eyed peas, green peas, soybeans, spinach, artichokes, beets and oranges. Read more
2011
09/17
CATEGORY
Mental Health
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Obsessive Compulsive Thoughts – How To Overpower Them

Have you ever had an annoying song stuck in your head? You don’t even like the song and yet you can’t stop hearing it play in your head. It’s one of those where you “thanked” your friend for singing it. That’s the good side of obsessive compulsive thoughts. Yes the thoughts are annoying and you can’t seem to shake it but it’s not really a thought that does harm to you.

The other side of obsessive compulsive thoughts are those that do you harm. They cause stress, fear, anxiety and even panic attacks. While these thoughts may not even have the slightest chance of coming true they are true in your mind because you are living the experience. You may be feeling the feelings of something you fear coming true and you can’t shake it. You try and try but they just don’t seem to go away.

So what can you do to stop these terrible thoughts?

First let’s look at why they are so problematic. In your mind you are linking up emotions with the pictures or sounds in your mind. When you link strong emotions with these thoughts they become more real and they create a stronger bond. A negative thought will become stronger and the more you fear it the more you think about it. The more you think about it the more you fear it. As this cycle continues you are creating more stress and anxiety. This can create poor health, depression, lack of energy and put undue stress on your relationships.

When you have these obsessive compulsive thoughts you need to stop trying to get rid of them. By trying not to think about them you are causing your self to think about them more.

This is no different than someone telling you not to think of a blue car. See, your mind can’t picture the word “not” so it only sees a blue car. This example works for anything that you can picture in your mind. If the thought you fear is a violent act then picture something else. Don’t try to not think of the violent act. Read more

2011
09/17
CATEGORY
Mental Health
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