No-carb diet, vegan diet, low-fat diet, high-protein diets, etc... It would take a whole day to list all the diets in the world!
Thus, people devotedly followed these régimes in order to lose weight or obtain top physical condition. However, we only focused on what's right for our outer appearances that we tend to forget about our internal health and most importantly, our brain.
The brain is the reason why we can feel, think, move, and basically all the things that make us human. We all know that the brain is the vital organ in our body, yet we are guilty of taking it for granted. But it's never too late!
Unlike following various diets, taking good care of your brain is not complicated at all. You just have to avoid these foods that we listed, and you're guaranteed to have a healthy brain life. Then when you get older, you'll probably thank us.
People have been steering away from foods with fats labeled on it, and that's good. But we should be aware that there's a particular type of fats that can cause damage to your brain.
These are called trans fat, and we can consume them through the foods that we least expected.
Trans fat or hydrogenated oil is a kind of unsaturated fat that can trigger a cognitive decline or dementia, which usually occurs during old age. It can also decrease brain volume and cause faulty memory.
Foods like crackers, chips, margarine, butter, salty snacks, sweets, preserved meals, and creamy beverages have a considerable percent of trans fat.
Sugary drinks always have a special place in our heart (or belly to be exact). Whenever our cheat day comes, we will grab boba teas or Starbucks first. However, let's just keep it that way.
Because if we consume sweetened beverages daily, it will negatively impact your brain. Here's why...
Sweetened beverages contain fructose – these are the type of sugar found in plants such as honey, berries, root vegetables, vine fruits, and flowers.
It might sound like a wholesome ingredient but it's actually the exact opposite.
Huge consumption of fructose will lessen your comprehension, memory, and other brain functions. Plus, it can result in inflammation of your brain, type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and Alzheimer's disease.
So watch out for every sugary drink because even a mere fruit juice can contain a tremendous amount of fructose.
Foods that aren't sweet doesn't necessarily mean it's healthier. Because there are foods with refined carbohydrates, or also known as "processed carbs." These types of carbohydrates stripped down the nutrients and fibers, then stuffed the product with empty calories.
The refined carbs made the food digest into our system so rapidly that it can be too harmful to our body down to our nervous system.
It's impossible not to have even a slightest of sugar in the food, so when it breaks down, the sugars are included. Therefore, absorbing the sugar too quickly will cause your glycemic index or blood sugar level to rise.
You might be wondering how the earth it can be damaging when there's only a small amount of sugar involved? The answer is simple...
When a small amount of sugar broke down hastily, it became equal to consuming straight sugar. This will generate the same effect on our body and, most notably, our brain! There was a study about children who took refined carbs on their regular foods.
And it turned out these children got the lowest scores for the nonverbal intelligence test. Experts also linked refined carbs to mental impairment and dementia. So let us avoid consuming too much of these foods as much as we can:
Refined carbs can be found on products that have ingredients of white flour, white bread, pizza dough, pasta, and white rice.
Therefore, foods like pastries, sodas, snacks, bread, and everything you think that are processed can contain a handful of bad carbohydrates.
Just like refined carbs, overall processed foods are definitely detrimental to your brain. These are foods that are usually packed and often called "convenience food." Because these products offer to alter the process in preparation of the food.
Although it does save your time and effort, the consequences are tenfold.
To extend the shelf life of convenience food, the manufacturers had to add ingredients like salt, sugar, and fat. Except these ingredients will replace the natural nutrients of the food, making it totally unhealthy.
Therefore, consuming excessively processed products will cause damage in your brain tissue and reduce your brain volume. It can also create disturbance to the wall between your brain tissues and flowing blood, which protects your brain against harmful substances.
In just one intake of alcohol, we can already see the effect on our cognitive behavior. Having trouble walking, slurred words, blurry vision, bad headache, and memories from last night we couldn't recall.
Clearly, alcohol has a negative influence on our nervous system. So drink moderately or else you'll have to face these severe brain complications:
Binge drinking alcohol wouldn't just affect you for one night. In fact, it can damage your brain permanently.
Your brain will start to shrink, and the chemicals that transmit communication signals will be in disorder. You'll also develop a deficiency in vitamin B1 that will cause you to have a neurological disorder called Korsakoff syndrome.
Fish will always be a part of a healthy diet. There is no doubt that this food offers a lot of benefits to your body.
However, you still have to pay attention to every single fish you'll consume because some of these contain a chemical element that can poison your brain.
The mercury or also known as "quicksilver" had a unique liquid form metallic components. These can be found from various things such as rock, soil, and your seafood meal.
Marine life got the highest mercury concentration in the world because fishes have a natural tendency to carry quicksilver from their flesh. But don't worry because there are only specific kinds of seafood you have to avoid...
These are mackerel, swordfish, tilefish, tuna, orange roughy, and shark. Patients with mercury poisoning had trouble with their senses – some went blind, some became deaf, and some couldn't even speak.
They also developed neurological diseases like Minamata disease and Hunter-Russell syndrome. All of these happened just because they consumed one of those fishes.
Humans kept formulating healthier replacements for natural sugar. However, it is beyond impossible to create an artificial sweetener that is actually healthy.
So when people invented and distributed aspartame, they had no idea of cognitive damage it can cause to its consumer.
Fortunately, studies had risen against aspartame. The researchers claimed that regular intake of this artificial sweetener could destroy your cognitive skills and affect your behavior. The participants who took aspartame for eight days felt more depressed and aggravated.
They also saw a tendency for stroke and dementia. What's more shocking is that aspartame can be found in your can of diet soft drinks, powdered beverages, sugar-free ice creams, yogurts, and zero-calorie juices. So it isn't true when they said that your food is much healthier if it has zero calories because the truth is, these foods highly contain synthetic sugars.