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Brain Food
What You Eat Affects How You Think
By Carma Haley Shoemaker
Considering the enormous increase in emotional, learning and immune system disorders in our population today, one can't help but wonder what effect this widespread nutritional deficiency is having on the breakdown in people's health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the most frequent complaint resulting in doctor visits is fatigue – either mental or physical. Some feel that this reflects the old saying, "You are what you eat."
"The neurons in the brains are like all other cells in the body, requiring delivery of nutrients and oxygen, as well as removal of waste," says Diane Roberts Stoler, a licensed psychologist and author of Coping With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (Avery Penguin Putnam, 1998). "Adequate nutrition is a major consideration for mental function. The brain is a relatively small organ, but it's a hungry one – the brain typically eats up about a quarter of the energy produced by the body. As such, it's exquisitely sensitive to nutrient deficiencies."