Brain food and exercise keeps you healthy and happy
You know the brain is probably the most important part of your entire body. It only accounts for 2% of your body weight, but consumes and uses more than 20% of your daily calorie intake. This is another reason counting calories is bad, but I’ll save that for another time. It’s important to keep your brain running optimally throughout the day. This will help you stay focused, be more productive, and have more energy.
The main fuel supply for your brain is glucose. Glucose comes from things like fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts. Your brain needs glucose to function properly, and only uses backup sources in extreme circumstances such as lactate. When you exercise your muscles produce lactate as a byproduct, and new studies show your brain can use that lactate for fuel, which is why people ran run for miles without eating.
The frontal cortex of your brain is extremely sensitive to low glucose levels, while the parts of the brain that regulate vital organ functions are not very sensitive at all. This is why you feel dizzy and tired when you don’t eat, instead of having an irregular heartbeat or breathing pattern. It’s also a warning to get some food that is high in carbohydrates in your body as soon as possible.
You have to be careful not to over-do it though. High glucose levels can kill your cells, including your brain cells, just another reason soda is bad for you. See, when your body is flooded with glucose, it tries to get rid of it like it was a pathogen. The resulting response from your immune system can cause serious damage to your body, and cause problems with cognition that can result in Alzheimers disease.
What can you do? Eat smaller meals more often. Instead of the usual 3 meals a day, try to stretch it to 5 meals a day but lowering the amount of food per meal. Your brain functions the best with 25 grams of glucose in your bloodstream, that’s about the amount you’ll find in a banana. So eat a banana when you wake up, a granola bar for brunch, eat a hardy lunch, have an apple after work then eat a good dinner.
You can also eat raw carrots and wheat bread in the morning. Your body takes longer to break down the carbohydrates from these, and can therefore provide a steady stream of glucose for your body. Any food low on the glycemic index is good if you can’t eat again for a few hours.
Related posts:Tags: Body, brain, exercise, health
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