The Art of Cuisine

My brain just does not work anymore….

I had a client inspire me to write this blog. She sent me and email stating she went to email me three times and got side tracked. It seems I do this all the time lately and I am hearing the same from more women in my circle. I ask myself is it the added stress we put ourselves under every day? Is it more stress these days because of the economy? Yeah, right let's blame the economy. I am so sick of hearing that! Is it our environment? Is it the foods we eat and the microwaves we use eating our brain cells? Alternatively, is it the cellular waves in the air interfering with our brains? On the other hand, is it just we are getting old and our brain is not producing as it was.

I am not the only one trying to figure out how to get smarter or at least keep what little smarts you have. I have given up on us getting smarter. I am looking for ways to boost our brainpower and let me tell you it is big business. In addition to ever-popular alertness boosters like coffee and Red Bull, pills like Focus Factor and Brain Advantage are hot items, with customers shelling out $70 per month or more to stay on top of their mental games. Ginkgo biloba, an herbal supplement billed as a memory enhancer, generates nearly $1 billion in annual sales in the U.S. alone. Some folks go even further: as the prestigious journal Nature recently reported, 20 percent of scientists responding to a survey admitted to taking so-called cognition-enhancing drugs like the stimulants Ritalin (to aid focus) and Provigil (to stay alert without caffeine’s jitteriness), without apology. “It is my duty to use my resources to the greatest benefit of humanity,” said one respondent. One-third said they’d even feel pressure to give their own children these drugs if other kids in their circles were also using them. No, I will not resort to doing that to my children or even myself.

There is no way I am ready to pump myself with drugs in order to remember something more quickly, I did want to regain control of my mind, and, if I could,head off cognitive decline. The main question I ask now is could improving my diet help? I began scouring the science to find out. I also wondered whether the American diet I’ve been spoon-fed (and am currently spoon-feeding my children) was to blame for my mental malaise. I wanted to figure out whether a smart menu at each stage of life could fend off dullness and make me—and my family—sharper.

I am still researching and testing these diets, but here is what I found.DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, a long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid in the omega-3family that’s found in fish and their roe (particularly fattier types like salmon and sardines) is the magic nutrient du jour. I have seen literally hundreds of studies investigating its power to prevent cardiovascular disease.Now the focus has turned to the brain: dozens of studies report that mother animals deprived of DHA have offspring with memory, sensory and visual problems, and that supple menting them with DHA improves their performance on learning, memory, and problem-solving tasks. This makes intuitive sense: DHA forms the back bone of much of the brain cells’ membranes.

So, I found that test have been done when the mother eats omega-3 foods, the baby is in the womb and after birth, could have the same positive effect on human infants. Researchers collected umbilical cord blood from 109 newborns. They analyzed the DHA concentration in their cord blood (a good measure of how much DHA the mother consumed during her last few months of pregnancy), and then tested how well the infants performed on tests throughout their first year. They found that at 6 months and 11 months, infants whose cord blood had the highest concentrations of DHA performed better on a number of different tests—such as recognizing faces—than those with lower levels. “The mother’s intake during the third trimester, when the brain’s neurons and synapses are developing at a veryrapid rate, is most important. When we focused on that period, we found the most evidence of beneficial effects,” researchers say. I say "Wow, that is huge to any of my clients that are soon to be mommy's". I will pass this info on to everyone I know, just another good reason to write this blog.

So what does that tell me? Yes, we are what we eat, and we need to really analyze what we are feeding our children even before they are born and even the first stages of life. So, I want to get this information out there to my readers and let you know it is not too late. Try these few changes to your diet and let me know the out come. 

Here is a list that I found on Eating Well’s website

Smart food for every age...

Are you getting enough of the right nutrients to support healthy cognitive function and improve memory? EatingWell’s quick guide to food solutions willshow you how.

1)      Go fish.

Women who eat fatty fish,such as salmon, during their third trimester of pregnancy have babies who tendto perform better on cognitive tasks. Researchers think the omega-3 fatty acidDHA is needed during this time to build neurons and their connections. Can’t do fish then take an Omega-3 supplement or even buy Omega Eggs. The whole family can benifit from this.

Food solutions: Salmon and other fatty fish, DHA-fortified eggs and yogurt.

2)    Infant/Baby

Add Iron. By 5 or 6 months,babies have used up the iron stores they’re born with and need to get iron fromfood or supplements to support brain development.

Food solutions: Iron-fortifiedcereals

3)    Child/Teen

Morning fuel. School-agedchildren should start their day with low-glycemic-index breakfast foods.

Food solutions: Bran cereals,oatmeal, or whole-wheat bagels.

4)    Young Adult

Got iron? 10 percent of women areanemic and new studies show that being even mildly iron-deficient affectslearning, memory, and attention. Luckily, restoring iron levels to normal alsorestores cognitive function.

Food solutions: Dark leafy greens,beans, meat, or soy.

5)    Older Adult

Eat your antioxidants. People who eat more brightly colored fruits and leafy vegetables have less cognitive decline than those who don’t; antioxidants in produce may mop up free radicals and protect neurons from damage.

Food solutions: Berries and other fruits, greens and turmeric (which contains curcumin).

So, what I have concluded from doing this blog is that I will be adding more Omega to my clients menus. I will now use Omega Eggs, and Add more Fish to my Menus. Plus, include a lot more Antioxidants on the menu too. This should help keep my family and my clients healthy. Which is my main goal.After all my family and I eat from the same menus as my clients.

Thank you for reading this blog. Please give me your input and if you know something that works, please share with my readers.

Healthy Happy Cooking,

Chef Linda