Fortunately, you can make great changes in your brain health with improvements in your diet and lifestyle. Just adding a walking routine and increasing your consumption of fruits and vegetables can be beneficial. You can become motivated and find support online, with another person, or a group, so it becomes fun, gives you a sense of accomplishment, and helps prevent memory loss. You will see results with other health maladies as well, including chronic pain, high cholesterol, or insulin resistance.
The Basics
If you are feeling serious about protecting your brain health, an important step is to adopt an anti-inflammatory, low sugar, low-carbohydrate diet. Start with these simple changes:
➧ Eliminate all sodas, desserts, sugars, and even natural sweeteners (like honey, maple syrup, and agave). While natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup contain healthy phenolic compounds, they also are high on the glycemic index. Meaning, consuming these sweeteners can raise blood sugar levels.
➧ Eliminate “white” carbohydrates, like refined grains, breads, pasta, white rice, and pastries. Refined grains are low in fiber compared to whole grains. Unprocessed, unrefined complex carbohydrates do not raise blood sugar levels. Instead, try to eat small portions of whole unrefined grains such as brown rice, quinoa, or oatmeal.
➧ Stick to healthy fats, like coconut oil (especially good for brain health), salmon, avocado, and natural fats from organic and preferably grass-fed meats. Avoid processed vegetable oils and strictly avoid hydrogenated oils, or trans fats.
➧ Make changes gradually. If you eat a diet high in sweets and starches, pick one change to make each week. For instance, in the first week, eliminate soda. Overwhelming yourself with too many changes at once may set you up for failure.
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Supplements That Help
Transitioning from a sugar-burning to a fat-burning diet has its pluses and minuses. Eventually, most people will notice dramatically improved brain function, in addition to weight loss and a general improvement in health.
On the other hand, switching your brain from one type of diet to another can be difficult. You may feel more lethargic and “fuzzy-headed” in the beginning, as your body learns to burn fat for fuel instead of sugar. Many people report that these symptoms last for about three weeks.
Talk with your health-care practitioner or a nutritionist about the use of these supplements that can help with the transition:
- Fish oil and either evening primrose, borage, or black currant oils. These supplements provide necessary fatty acids for brain health. They can calm or eliminate carb cravings, enhance insulin sensitivity, curb inflammation, and enhance mood and cognition.
- B vitamin complex. Taken with meals, B vitamins can help reduce glycation and improve metabolism.
- L-carnosine. A powerful anti-glycating nutrient that protects the brain.
- Acetyl-L-carnitine. Helps transport fatty acids into cells where they can be burned for energy.
- Chromium. May normalize blood glucose levels.
- R-lipoic acid. Can help prevent and reverse glycation.
- Benfotiamine. Inhibits the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). AGEs form when protein or fat combine with sugar in the bloodstream. AGEs also can form in foods cooked at very high temperatures. AGEs have been linked to diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, Alzheimer’s, and advanced aging.
- Pyridoxamine. Counteracts the formation of AGEs.
- Trans-resveratrol. Improves insulin sensitivity and reduces inflammation.
- Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10 or ubiquinol). Powerful antioxidant that supports cellular energy. Some research supports its use for lowering blood pressure and for cardiac health.
- L-glutamine. Can reduce cravings for sweets, starches, and alcohol. The brain can use L-glutamine for fuel, temporarily.
- Gymnema sylvestre. This herb is believed to help lower blood sugar and eliminate cravings.
- Lipase. Take on an empty stomach to digest fats for fuel.
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Dietary Fats
Healthy dietary fats are vital to brain function and the prevention of dementia and Alzheimer’s. As surprising as it sounds, a low-fat diet can deprive your brain of essential nutrients.
Fats Make Up Brain Neurons
The fats you eat are broken down into fatty acid molecules, which eventually make up the membranes of the cells in your body, including brain cells.
A diet low in fats, or high in unhealthy fats—like the processed vegetable oils, trans fats, and hydrogenated fats commonly found in fast food, junk food and packaged food—leads to faultily structured cell membranes. As a result, cellular function and communication between the cells suffer, ultimately leading to an increased rate of cellular death and degeneration.
Healthy dietary fats help ensure the myelin sheaths (the covers that protect communicating neurons) are healthy, so that normal neural communication occurs and memory function is preserved.
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Acetylcholine
The brain chemical acetylcholine is the most abundantly used neurotransmitter. It is vital for a good mood, mental alertness, concentration, focus, and memory—qualities that begin to diminish when memory loss takes root. Acetylcholine plays a role in keeping primitive emotions like anger, fear, and aggression in check, so we don’t overreact to minor situations. It also helps maintain good blood flow in the brain, so the brain gets enough oxygen.
Acetylcholine activity and concentration are decreased in many people with Alzheimer’s disease; however, dietary strategy and supplements can support acetylcholine.
A diet low in healthy fat or high in unhealthy fat can lead to low acetylcholine levels. The most abundant dietary sources of choline (a precursor to acetylcholine) are animal fats—egg yolks, cream, fatty cheeses, fatty fish, fatty meats, and liver. Non-animal sources include avocado and almonds. Although you shouldn’t consume these foods to excess, depriving yourself of healthy fats on a long-term basis can rob you of brain function and increase your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Support Acetylcholine
A variety of nutritional compounds encourage acetylcholine activity and levels, including:
- Galantamine: Derived from the bulbs of snowdrop flowers, galantamine has been used for decades in other countries to treat symptoms of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Galantamine is a cholinesterase inhibitor, which means it inhibits the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine.
- Alpha-GPC (L-alpha-glycerlphosphor-cylcholine): Alpha-GPC is used in Europe for Alzheimer’s. It is derived from highly purified soy lecithin and delivers choline across the blood-brain barrier to function as a precursor to acetylcholine.
- Huperzine: Derived from Chinese club moss, huperzine acts as a cholinesterase inhibitor, raising acetylcholine levels in the brain. Research has shown it to be effective in improving cognition in people with Alzheimer’s and in enhancing memory.
- Acetyl-L-carnitine: This amino acid enhances the use of fatty acids for energy production and acts as a brain antioxidant. It is thought to contribute to the production and release of acetylcholine in the brain and improve learning and memory.
Acetylcholine Deficiency
How do you know if you might have an acetylcholine deficiency? If you eat a low-fat diet and your memory isn’t what it used to be, you are at risk. Common symptoms of an acetylcholine deficiency include:
- Memory loss
- Memory lapses
- Poor comprehension
- Loss of visual memory, such as matching a name to a face
- Difficulty learning and retaining new information
- Difficulty calculating numbers
- Excessive urination
Finding Good Fats
When eating to promote brain health, focus on choline-rich fats and omega-3 fats. Omega-3 fats come mainly from raw nuts, seeds, and cold-water fish, such as salmon.
Diets high in vitamins B, C, D, and E and high in omega-3 fatty acids were found to have larger, healthier brains and scored better on mental performance tests than those who ate mostly junk-food.
Omega-3s and vitamins C, D, and E are found in vegetables, fruits, fish, and raw nuts and seeds.
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