Top 5 Brain Foods List for a Healthy Diet

What are the best brain foods you can eat to improve your focus, memory, mental energy and intelligence?

Believe it or not, almost everything we eat is a form of brain food. Human biology is inextricably linked to the nutrients contained in common food sources. The question is, do you know how the foods you eat impact your mental health?

By learning about the specific effects and benefits of the best “mind food” we eat, it’s possible to specifically target cognitive functions like memory, learning, and mood.

Let’s explore some basic food sources and see how they interact with brain chemistry. Supplementation of these nutrients in the form of nootropics can also be a viable way to improve neural health and longevity.

Here’s a quick guide to the secret cognitive benefits of the food you eat everyday, and how to maximize their effects for dramatic brain boosting.

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1. Eggs – The Original Brain Food

Eggs are a worldwide staple food, with good reason.

In addition to being a renewable, easy to prepare protein, eggs are the primary source of the compound choline.

Choline is perhaps the most valuable brain food we know of. It regulates blood homocysteine, maintains the integrity of cell membranes, and is the direct pre-cursor to acetylcholine.

Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitters which is connected to the nerve signaling and neural tissue growth required for learning, reasoning, and memory formation. Each egg provides up to 100 mg of choline, but with daily requirements closer to 500 mg, you’d have to eat 5 eggs every day to generate enough acetylcholine.

For nootropic cognitive effects above and beyond the bare minimum, egg intake must be augmented (or replaced) with a substantial choline supplement. Called “cholinergics,” such supplements include CDP Choline and Alpha GPC.

2. Fish

There are countless health benefits to a diet rich in seafood. Fish is primarily known as brain food because of its high Omega 3 fatty acid content. The Omegas are known to maintain the integrity of cell walls and permeability. Healthy cells which have the ability to transport nutrients and waste effectively are at the center of healthy brain function.

If fresh fish isn’t always available, it’s better to take a concentrated Omega 3 supplement daily.

Many types of fish also contain GABA, the natural inhibitory compound which controls over-firing nerve and dilutes stress reactions. While helpful, the GABA in fish is not able to cross the blood-brain barrier, and thus does not make an effective anti-stress supplement.

Nootropic compounds like Picamilon, Phenibut, and L-Theanine are bioavailable, and are able to deliver the same GABA effects as consuming fish, at far greater intensity.

3. Nuts – the Perfect Brain Snack

Nuts are also an excellent source of protein as well as “good fats.” They deliver amino acids and B-complex vitamins which can eventually make it to the brain, where they help regulate glandular function.

These compounds also perform potent anxiolytic and anti-depressive action, stimulating the release of balanced levels of serotonin and dopamine to enhance mood.

While nice for the kind of light “lift” that eating a nutritious meal can deliver, for more substantial mood imbalances such as clinical depression, the active ingredients found in nuts can be extracted and taken as standalone supplements. These include Tyrosine, Tryptopan, and Inositol.

4. Beef Liver

Many traditional brain foods are not as widely consumed as in the past, due to taste, economics, and current ideas about healthy diet. Beef liver is one such food.

Once a common staple food that routinely made its way onto dinner menus, beef liver is now considered either antiquated or reserved for expensive fancy restaurant fare.

This is unfortunate for brain health, because beef liver is loaded with essential neural nutrients like choline and GABA.

With the dual ability to stimulate the learning neurotransmitter acetylcholine while boosting stress-reducing GABA, beef liver is great for creating a cognitive boost with stable emotion and clear mental focus. Unfortunately, you’d need to eat approximately 6 ounces of beef liver daily to receive these benefits.

Luckily there are some options that don‘t require eating liver. Stacking a cholinergic nootropic supplement like Acetyl L-Carnitine with an anxiolytic like Phenibut can provide similar benefits – and is 100 percent vegetarian friendly!

5. Herbs

The classic apothecary’s cabinet was stocked with herbal extracts from all over the world, each with specific medicinal benefits. Many of today’s cutting edge nootropic therapies are built upon this legacy of natural remedies from the earth. Supplements like the popular Ginkgo Biloba are famous memory-enhancers.

Other time-tested herbal extracts with brain food benefits include Bacopa Monnieri for hippocampus memory support, Oatstraw for attention span, Vinpocetine for brain circulation, and Pterostilbene for reducing brain fog. All of these extracts, gathered from distinct climates and regions around the world, are combined into the popular Alpha Brain combo stack supplement.

Brain Food Review

Chances are you’ve already had some form of smart food today. That’s no accident. Our brains are evolved to maximize the nutritional potential of everything we consume.

But recent research into why these brain foods provide heightened cognition, better concentration, and enhanced mood allows us to zero in on the exact active compounds they contain, and supplement with them directly. This is what the whole nootropic movement is about – enhancing mental power by building upon the natural chemistry and processes our bodies already employ.

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