Our brains, we saw earlier, are an energy hog. This 2% mass of our body accounts for up to 20% of our daily energy requirement. But what does it look like in terms of nutrient groups?
After taking out 80% mass that is water, the brains are mostly fat, followed by protein, glucose, amino acids, and traces of micronutrients like zinc, sodium, and more. It is a miracle how these atoms and molecules interact to make up the mighty human brain. But like any high-performance machine, our brain is sophisticated, and a slight change in levels of the constituents can have a huge impact on our lives, from occasional mood swings to prolonged conditions like depression and dementia.
Thankfully, nature is abundant in foods to maintain this sophisticated balance, as long as our diets are balanced. Keeping facts for later, let us first look at some golden (read: blue) rules.
In his book, “The Blue Zones: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest,” Dan Buettner talks about lifestyles of people at five Blue Zones, a term he uses for geographic regions that are home to some of the world’s oldest people, with the highest concentration of centenarians (people aged 100+ years). These are:
Icaria, Greece
Sardinia, Italy
Okinawa, Japan
Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica
Loma Linda, USA
While the mix of food items in their diets varies with the region, one thing common across the diets is the variety of food. For example, Okinawans (the birthplace of the concept of Ikigai) are known to consume up to 206 different types of food items per year! While it might not be possible to hit that number for everyone, we can try to adopt a few items for a better life:
Healthy fats: This mostly includes Omega-3 and 6 fats, found in nuts and fatty fish like salmon
Protein: Mix of fish, eggs, meat, and beans (Icarians are known to consume about 6 times more beans than an average American)
Antioxidants: Good sources are fruits, sweet potato, red wine, olive oil, carrots, and soya beans
Carbohydrates: Mostly opt for whole grains whether raw, cooked, or fermented. Avoid refined-grain based products as much as possible
Seems like a lot of effort? While it might seem tough to some of you, but if we can spend hours waiting in the shopping lines and chatting with friends, do our bodies not deserve just a couple of minutes of effort? The choice is yours, but we encourage you to adopt at least a few items from this list or research their local alternatives. Your future self will thank yourself 😊
What will be your small step towards a wholesome diet?