Brain Boosting Keto Foods

If you’re experiencing some issues with your mental health or emotional well-being, it’s really important to tackle it in multiple ways. Firstly, get yourself a great therapist who knows their stuff. If you’re not happy with them, find a different one.

But remember unless you are working on all aspects of your health, having a therapist can help with one area, but you need to also consider your body’s nutritional needs including, vitamins, electrolytes, minerals, good gut health etc too for it to be able to function well.

If you are neglecting your physical health, then it’s very difficult to make much progress with your mental health without addressing your body’s nourishment needs.

Think about your body like a well oiled machine. Now, lets imagine that one part of that machine stops working, what do you think would happen? The whole thing would stop functioning, or  it would only do part of the job, not the whole! It makes sense then, that our mind also needs all parts working too, so without the right nutrition going in, how will our brains function at it’s best?

Why our brains need nutrition

Our body’s need the right type of nourishment for us to process our food, which in turn nourishes all of our organs including our brains. Our brain is very complex, but it also needs nutrition and the right type of food to help it work at optimum level.

Did you know that when we are in ketosis, our brains work better, we have a better sense of ourselves, we have a better memory, and the brain fog lifts. This is because our brains are working at optimum levels – neurochemicals are able to do their thing more effectively which can reduce anxiety, depression and help us balance our emotions better. Here’s more information about how our brains can boost feel good neurochemicals.

  Our emotions are actually created in our brain by the amygdala and hippocampus. Without getting too scientific, when our brain isn’t working well, we can’t produce the correct levels of dopamine, serotonin, or oxytocin and endorphins etc. When we are stressed we have heightened levels of cortisol, the hormone which engages during the fight or flight response. So when we have experienced trauma or anxiety, for instance, this hormone is higher than usual which makes us feel stressed, anxious and on edge.

Consider doing counselling therapy, and at the same time, focus on brain nurturing foods to help you process and work through the psychological support, giving your physical health the best opportunity for it to work and help you feel better mentally.

Foods for our brain

So while practicing mindfulness, meditations and muscle relaxation among various other strategies and techniques, why not also consider incorporating these snacks and foods into your diet…

• Brazil nuts
• Avocados
• Salmon
• Cottage cheese
• Pepitas
• Sunflower seeds
• Walnuts
• Blueberries
• Turkey
• Yoghurt
• Chamomile
• Dark chocolate
• Eggs
• Meat
• Dairy
• Almonds
• Citrus fruits
• Turmeric (added to meals, smoothies or chai tea)
• Green tea

These are all foods that nourish the brain while not contributing to blood sugar spikes.

Ideally, it’s best to be eating real foods. This includes foods that haven’t had any flavours or artificial chemicals added to them. Ketogenic friendly flavourings that are ideal for adding flavour include spices and herbs such as turmeric, paprika, and himalayan salt to name a few making sure you keep the artificial additives to a minimum (preferably zero).

Role of inflammation

The role of inflammation is important here – when our bodies are under strain it impacts on its ability to function at an optimum level. In particular when foods that are high in omega 6 fatty acids while omega 3 fatty acids are low, it throws the balance out that our bodies require which causes inflammation over a prolonged period of time.

The optimum level for our bodies is a ratio of no higher than 4:1. Both of these fatty acids, or fats, are essential to our bodies since we can’t produce it ourselves, so we must obtain them from our diet. Unfortunately, the balance of these have become far too out of whack measuring at a whopping 16:1 in a typical western diet. It’s been attributed to many diseases seen in the west in particular Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, many types of cancers and heart disease.  While omega 6 fats are known as pro-inflammatory, omega 3 fatty acids are in contrast anti-inflammatory. The role of omega 6 fatty acids ensure we can fight infection and injury, so they are definitely essential.

Although omega 6 and omega 3 are both essential for our bodies, we need to work on reducing the ratio in our western diets to optimize our health which will in turn ensure our organs, including our brain, work effectively.

How to decrease inflammation

Through reducing the ratio of omega 6 and omega 3 fats in our diet we can reduce the inflammation our bodies have been experiencing, including supporting the brain at a cellular level.

Reduce the amount of omega 6 fats which are found in processed seed and vegetable oils such as vegetable oil, soy bean oil and canola oil. These all have very high levels of omega 6. It’s also found in most processed foods due to being inexpensive to manufacture and add to these foods.

A healthier, natural source of omega 6 is nuts and seeds.

If you’re unsure if it’s included in the item you’re about to buy, check the ingredients list on the back of the product and see what oils they have used. This may open a completely new awareness for you, in a good way hopefully :).

Keep it simple

To help keep things simple, try your hand at doing some home cooked, slow cooked and one pot meals to take the pressure off while keeping yourself focused on staying on track with your ketosis and healthy brain eating habits. Having a guide to recipes takes the stress out of every day meal prep and planning. Give these recipes a try…

Bottom Line

So if you’re looking at how to manage your mental health and how you respond to life’s challenges, consider going keto and work at nourishing your body with real foods, while increasing your omega 3 fats and decreasing omega 6 fats into your body.

It will take time for your body to heal itself so be kind to yourself in the mean time.

While you work through this issue that you’re facing, and be mindful with what you put inside to nurture yourself from the inside out.

Happy keto’ing friends