NEURO-NUTRITION: Discover How to Keep Your Mind & Body Nimble & Sharp

[continued from the Last Post.]

FISH:

The “brain food” of neuro-chefs, fish provides us with ingredients that help develop human intelligence. The flesh and oils from several cold water fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel, anchovy, lake trout, bluefish, herring, sablefish, Atlantic sturgeon, and others, such as herrings, and shark, are ideal items on the menu for a “brainfest.”

They provide the omega-3 fat, EPA (eocosapentanoic acid), which is used for building brain and nervous tissue. Fish liver oils are the richest natural source of vitamin A, needed for growth and to keep our body tissues healthy.

Shellfish can also be very nutritious as they are rich in protein, but first check out where they have come from: several sources are no longer safe because they have been contaminated by oceanic toxins and eco-pollution.

MEAT:

Meat can be highly nutritious, but be wary of what you buy.

Aside from the hazards of synthetic chemicals in meat, we have in recent years also seen the proliferation of deadly animal afflictions such as mad cow’s disease, chicken flu, SARS (from civet cats), and other, as-yet-unknown, bio-toxins.

If on the other hand, all is well with the meat supply, here are some considerations: if you wish to stay alert after a meal, stay clear of pork, beef, and turkey. The first two take the longest to digest, and turkey contains a chemical that makes you feel drowsy.

Chicken, in this situation, is fine.

Red meat is an important source of iron, zinc, vitamins B6 and B12. Unfortuantely, red meats are also implicated in cancer, heart disease, and inflammatory diseases such as eczema, asthma, psoriasis, and arthritis.

Wild game, being free of synthetic chemicals, is often recommended. The advantage of game meat is that it is free-range, and thus free of chemicals, including large amounts of antibiotics and growth hormones that are found in the meat of factory-farmed animals.

The fats in game meat are also completely different.

A word of caution: it is very important to remove any lead shot that may remain in game meat. Otherwise, game is an ideal substitute for any red meat recipe.

[To be continued in the Next Post. Excerpted from 'Unleashing Genius with the World's Most Powerful Learning Systems', by Dilip Mukerjea.]