As important as it is, we tend to take our brain for granted. That is until we start forgetting things, this is one of the issues my stressed our super thyroid mums tell me about daily. Walking into a room and forgetting why you are there, stopping mid- sentence as the rest has suddenly disappeared or your brain just feels so foggy that it’s just too hard to concentrate.
Our brain needs the right fuel (food). Keep in mind that the brain sponges up 40% of all nutrients in our blood. So, if a particular diet is making you nutrient deficient, the brain will be starving and I see this all the time, when we eat foods that don’t agree with us or high in sat fats or carbohydrates and not the good ones.
Xenoestrogen and environmental toxins also can cause brain drain and inflammation, example would be fluoride in toothpaste, so if you can use a fluoride free one.
So, what does a brain like to ‘eat’? It thrives on high quality fats, antioxidants, and small doses of quality carbs spaced out through the day.
I would Recommend the following foods for your brain:
Avocado, blueberries, salmon and fish oils, MCT oil, nuts (especially walnuts), seeds, beans, chocolate and/or cacao nibs, garlic, green tea, olive oil, and oysters, to name a few.
You can also add Ceylon cinnamon to meals make sure it is organic though, coffee in small doses (if your gut and adrenals can handle it).
Turmeric also shows great promise for recovering brain function in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s which is increased with thyroid dysfunction. One of the compounds in turmeric, aromatic-turmerone, has the ability to increase stem cell growth in the brain helping to boost brain repair, while curcumin (another compound in turmeric) helps inhibit inflammation.
The health of our brain depends not only on supplementing with the foods listed above, but also on the overall health of our gut. Numerous studies show that gut inflammation leads to brain inflammation and vice versa. If you haven’t heard the term our gut is our second brain, this is what it is, brain on fire (symptoms of which can include the decrease of brain speed and an increase in brain fog). The Standard Australian Diet (SAD) is certainly not the brain’s best friend.
The SAD diet is a leaky gut promoting diet that promotes unhealthy gut bacteria. This leads to gut problems (including leaky gut), and in turn the inflammatory reaction in the gut turns on the glial cells (these are our brain immune cells) in the brain which in turn leads to brain degeneration. The biggest culprits of all in this unhealthy diet are gluten, GMO foods, and soy.
Here are my top tips on improving your brain health with thyroid disfunction- hypothyroid and hyperthyroid but also with autoimmune thyroid of hashimoto’s and graves.
- Be conscientious, and live with gratitude
- Surround yourself with a positive peer group
- Manage your stress
- Move your body, yoga, walking, pilates something you enjoy doing that you do every day
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Eat a healthy diet as noted above
- Get 8 hours of sleep at night
- Be constantly learning something new daily
- Avoid toxins.
Your Action steps today ….
- Support your brain with healthy brain food daily
- Reading a book, playing a strategy game, or solving puzzles and problems
- Learning a new hobby.
Would you like to work with Louise?
You can book an online consult with her here.
