Nutrition for ADHD
October 7, 2017
In 2011 two million more U.S. children, ages 4-17 years old, were diagnosed with ADHD compared to 2003. Add onto that 5% of the adult population also struggling with distractibility, a short attention span, time management issues, disorganization, impulsivity or procrastination. Listen in as we share certain foods that can help the brain function better, resulting in fewer symptoms along with which foods don’t help.
For more support, consider signing up for our newest class, The Food Connection to ADHD Seminar to gain first hand knowledge of how eating real food, in balance, can support positive focus and so much more.
Similar Podcast Episodes
- Nutrition for ADD/ADHD
- How Food Affects Your Child's Behavior
- How Changing Your Lifestyle Can Help with ADD/ADHD
Transcript
KATE: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. I am Kate Crosby, nutrition educator and counselor. Dishing Up Nutrition is brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness, a company that understands food matters for the health of your brain.
BRENNA: I am Brenna Thompson, licensed and registered dietician and I’m co-hosting today’s show with Kate. We have a very interestingtopic to share with you today. We’re going to talk about nutrition for ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
KATE: I’m not sure how many of you realize that approximately 5% of adults struggle with ADHD, So how would you know? Some of the symptoms show up as distractibility, a short attention span, time management issues, disorganization, impulsivity or procrastination. Or as a new client of mine, who does have ADHD, explained it to me this week. That she’s in a TV control room with six to eight TV’s on and it’s impossible to focus on any one.
BRENNA: That sounds like an accurately description right there. ADHD can certainly affect children’s lives that might be what we first think, but adults, and even senior citizens. Here are a couple of interesting facts – two million more U.S. children, ages 4-17 years old, have been diagnosed with ADHD in 2011 compared to 2003. That bears repeating – two million more kids with ADHD between 2003 and 2011. And I hate to think what it is now. Two-thirds of those children are currently taking medication to treat their ADHD.
KATE: As a nutrition educator, I have to ask, “Do you think there could be a food connection to this significant increase of children being diagnosed with ADHD?” Definitely something to think about!
BRENNA: It also makes me think about when I was a kid, I remember there being maybe one girl in my elementary school or in my class, that probably had ADHD and we know that it’s way more than that right now. As nutritionists, we find that eating the right kind of foods can help the brain function better, resulting in fewer symptoms. Do we think just eating the right foods will take away all of the symptoms for all of the people who have ADHD? Of course not, but good nutrition and eating the right foods can absolutely help reduce symptoms, while eating the wrong foods can and, most likely, will increase symptoms.
KATE: For me I’d like to share how eating the wrong foods doesn’t help me. And how important eating the right foods is. For instance, if I eat too many of those Hail Mary Chocolate Tartlets – do you know what those things are?
BRENNA: I have seen them but haven’t tried them.
KATE: They’re nummy, sort of the almond based with chocolate, they’re delicious. However, if I eat too many of those I end up feeling really anxious and I get really impulsive and I end up talking all the time. On the other hand, I don’t have ADHD, but I know that if I don’t eat enough hamburger, eggs or fish – all sources of protein – throughout the day, I end up getting really spacy and I can’t think clearly, can’t get anything done. Not my usual enthusiastic motivated self and I also get really tired. And I’m always the person who is always looking for the next meal or snack, but it has to start with protein for me.
BRENNA: I’m kind of the same way, where I noticed several years ago that if breakfast got skipped or lunch got too late or I didn’t eat enough at one of those meals, I call it squirrel brain. It’s like “Oh, what’s that shiny object!” You can’t stay on task and it makes it really hard to work with clients. So let’s take a look at how fast food affects brain function. Listeners, consider this – you have all three of your kids lined up in their car seats directly behind you. To save time and energy, you pull into the fast food lane and order chicken nuggets, French fries and a fruit drink for each of your three children, but what exactly is in this fast food meal? Have you thought about that?
KATE: That was me many times growing up with my kids. So I hope you’re ready for this! The chicken nuggets sold in most fast food restaurants contain over 40 different ingredients. 40!
BRENNA: We have a slide where we list all of the ingredients in a lot of our classes and that’s not just at the fast foods restaurants. It’s also in school cafeterias. So over40 different ingredients in a chicken nugget? That’s a real eye- opener, so let’s break it down.
The first ingredient is white boneless chicken, ok, so we’ve got real protein which I would say is good for the brain, next is water, which again is good for the brain. The third ingredient listed is modified food starch.
KATE: Brenna, you’re the researcher, so what is modified food starch?
BRENNA: Modified food starches are typically used in foods to thicken, stabilize or emulsify them. Helping to keep the watery ingredients contained with the fatty ingredients. Food manufacturers sometimes use modified food starch to increase the shelf life of the product or to ensure the food product will withstand excess heat or freezing. It keeps the texture together. You think of a chicken nugget that comes in frozen and then will have to get fried, so heating and freezing.
The most common modified food starches are made from wheat, corn, potato or tapioca. Now think about this scenario – maybe your youngest daughter, who is sitting in the middle car seat, has ADHD and also a wheat or gluten sensitivity. You don’t know this yet but she’s got it! After she eats her chicken nuggets, she starts experiencing some ADHD symptoms which she has no control over it, such as hitting her brother and grabbing her sister’s toy, talking nonstop, screaming, kicking, maybe total meltdown, all because of this one single ingredient, modified food starch, which for her is very bad for her brain. Other people could eat that and no problem, but not for this little girl.
KATE: Remember there are over 40 different ingredients in a chicken nugget, so let’s take a closer look at the other ingredients. We see wheat starch, that’s a little more gluten, dextrose, which is a form of sugar and corn starch plus aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate and the list goes on and on – all in just one chicken nugget.
BRENNA: On that list, I don’t know if you’ve seen it, it’s an anit-foaming agent. And I always look at my class that I’m teaching and say “I don’t know about you, but when I cook chicken, it doesn’t get foamy.” Here is some fascinating research that was conducted in the Netherlands. This study published in The Lancet Journal in February 2011 found that 64% of all cases of children with ADHD were either caused by or connected to a food sensitivity. That’s huge! Of all cases of ADHD, were caused or connected to a food sensitivity. The lead author of this study, Dr. Lidy Pelsser, stated, “We have good news – food is the main cause of ADHD.” Which means we can do something about it.
KATE: As a parent of a child with ADHD or as an adult with ADHD, can you wrap your head around the fact that this study found food to be the main cause of ADHD? As nutritionists and nutrition educators, we do believe food may be one of the causes. The results of this study are worth repeating – 64% of the diagnosed cases of ADHD in this study were caused by or connected to sensitivity to certain foods. So when we come back we’ll talk about the fries and some of these other food sensitivities.
You are listening to Dishing up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. Have you been a yo-yo dieter in the past and now you struggle with your weight, because sadly you just can’t seem to get your metabolism to work? Stay tuned, because when we come back from break, Brenna will share some reasons why you may be having that struggle.
BREAK
BRENNA: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. In the past, did you diet, lose weight and regain the weight, then end up doing it all over again and again? We hear that from a lot of clients. The very act of losing weight on a low fat, low calorie diet sets you up to lose muscle mass which triggers your body to fight back by increasing hunger, slowing metabolism and encouraging fat storage. Two research studies conducted in 2012 and 2013 of female twins found the more frequent the cycles of yo-yo dieting, the greater the increase in bodyweight over time. At Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we encourage you to get off of the yo-yo dieting rollercoaster. In our Nutrition 4 Weight Loss classes, we teach you to eat more to maintain your muscle mass and your metabolism. Are you interested in learning more? Go to our website, weightandwellness.com or call 651.699.3438 to get the answers to your questions.
Kate, we have a caller this morning. Good morning Brandi, you have a question for us?
CALLER: Good morning, I do. I have a six year old boy who was recently diagnosed by a child psychologist with a mood disorder. Which, to a lot of people would look like ADHD and we haven’t completely ruled that out, but his diagnosis now is a mood disorder. So my question is, have you seen or are there any studies that show that a food can affect a mood disorder the same as ADHD and how do we get our children or the person tested or find out about the wheat sensitivity. We’ve done food testing, food allergy testing, and he doesn’t have the allergy but it doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the sensitivity.
KATE: Correct. I think testing is sometimes helpful but not necessary. I think your best bet is to take a food out and see how he does for a period of time.
BRENNA: And for ADHD I think the big two, or three, we would say would be gluten, dairy and sugar.
KATE: You might start just by making sure that he’s eating enough protein and that his meals are balanced with protein, some fruits and vegetables and some healthy fats. We’ll talk about these in the show today for sure. The idea of eating a balanced meal for someone with a mood disorder or ADHD is really critical in terms of helping the brain function properly.
CALLER: Ok, what does an elimination diet then look like for a six year old? I would consider our family, protein is really big in our family, we might stop at McDonald’s once a month, but it’s not an everyday thing.
KATE: Ok, great, what’s a typical breakfast for you? For him?
CALLER: Depending on the morning, yesterday morning I did homemade pumpkin muffins, coconut oil eggs, two for him. Breakfast is something I can control for him, but at school he won’t eat a cold lunch that I send him so he wants to eat what his friends are eating at school, so I can’t control that, but I really pack in proteins and healthy fats. Not that he never gets carbs or treats, because he certainly does but it’s the occasional.
KATE: So was the protein muffin made with wheat flour?
CALLER: Yes.
KATE: And that’s where I would probably make an adjustment, we have a great recipe for a protein muffin using some protein powder and almond flour and it’s in our cookbook that you can buy online and it is a fantastic muffin recipe. But you do, just like you did, add a little more profile to balance that breakfast. It could be sausage or your eggs.
BRENNA: Maybe just slowly working on that because if you’re going to do it you have to do it.
CALLER: So it has to be 100% gone, wheat would be 100% gone?
BRENNA: Yeah.
KATE: And I just want to emphasize the fact that this can often be a process. I know for myself that making a lot of these changes have taken years. As much as I’ve wanted to jump on the band wagon, there is some resistance for a while. So being patient is really critical.
BRENNA: But it can make a big difference. I’ve seen it in so many clients. Whether it is ADHD, or anxiety or depression, clients with bipolar disorder.
KATE: You’re really heading in the right direction and I applaud you for all the work that you are doing with your son, I think it will pay off.
CALLER: Great, thank you so much.
KATE: Thanks for your call! Before we went to break we were talking about that fast food meal and we were talking about the chicken nuggets, so let’s talk about the French fries.
Ask yourself, “Are French fries good for my brain or bad for my brain?” It probably will shock you to learn that the average fast food order of French fries has 19 different ingredients. It’s a potato! You heard me correctly, 19 different ingredients in an order of French fries! Brenna, please break it down for our listeners.
BRENNA: Thankfully, the first ingredient is potatoes, which we believe could be good for the brain; however, the second ingredient is vegetable oil in the form of canola oil, soybean oil and hydrogenated soybean oil, which are ALL refined, damaged fats. And they are terrible for our brain.
KATE: Really, really bad. This is a concern. When we think about the fact that our brain consists of 60 to 70% fat, we know for a well-functioning brain we do not want to put refined, damaged fats into our brain or our kids’ brains. So, the recommended fats, this is to our caller from a minute ago, here are some good fats, olive oil (that included olives too), coconut oil, butter (who doesn’t love that?), avocados (that can mean guacamole too), nuts, nut butter and Omega-3 essential fatty acid like fish oil.
BRENNA: Ok, back to the ingredients, a sugar known as dextrose (anytime you see "ose" at the end of an ingredient, that means sugar) is added to give the French fries their perfect golden color, then sodium and pyrophosphate is added to keep the potatoes from turning gray after they freeze them. Citric acid is also added to maintain freshness and the list goes on and on and on….
KATE: You really have to ask yourself, “Am I engaged in risky behavior when I feed my child/children fast food French fries?” As a nutrition educator, I would say, YES, absolutely. It’s time for break two.
You are listening to Dishing up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight and Wellness. On every show, we caution people to give up damaged refined fats and oil, so we are proud to have Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Fats: Why We Need Animal Fats for Health and Happiness joining us next week on Dishing Up Nutrition for a lively discussion with Kara and Cassie. Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig are the authors of the original Nourishing Traditions cookbook that many of you listeners may refer to regularly. Sally Fallon, founder and president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, will help us understand why we need animal fats for fighting infertility, depression and chronic disease. Be sure to tune in next Saturday…you don’t want to miss it!
BREAK
BRENNA: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. I want to share some old, but very relevant research that was reported in the journal Lipids 14 years ago in 2003. This research found that 50 children with ADHD, whose diets were supplemented with 480 mg of DHA daily, demonstrated fewer behavioral problems. We know that omega-3 DHA (I always remember that depression, hyperactivity and anxiety) is critical for neurotransmission (for brain health) and can help to reduce aggressive behavior, impulsivity, depression and hyper-excitability. When buying a DHA supplement, we recommend buying an algae source of DHA oil and that helps if you are someone with a fish allergy you can still take that DHA. At Nutritional Weight & Wellness we have both a liquid and a capsule form, so taking two to three of those DHA per day can really help your brain. Give us a call at 651.699.3438, if you would like more information about DHA and the front desk staff can answer your questions or they can get a nutritionist to answer that as well.
KATE: Before we went to break we were talking about that fast food meal, specifically the fries in it. It might be interesting to know that the average American child consumes a fast food meal one out of every three days. And I think that’s a little low.
BRENNA: Like I say, I think a lot of school lunches are basically fast food.
KATE: I would agree with that too. This statistic is even more frightening. 25% of American toddlers consume French fries or fried potatoes each and every day. So a quarter of our little toddlers have French fries, tatter tots, hash browns, every day. Most likely made with bad oils, those refined or hydrogenated oils or those additives. Our children today are now having fast food brains and fast food bodies. It’s really no wonder the number of children diagnosed with ADHD has sky rocketed over the past 11 years.
BRENNA: Let’s talk about juice drinks. Juice drinks with grapes, apples, raspberries maybe sounds better than a soda but really ounce for ounce, juice has just as much sugar in it as a soda. That’s a good 12 teaspoons of sugar. Would you go to your pantry with a glass, put 12 teaspoons of sugar in it and hand it to your child? But that’s what we’re doing with juice and soda.
KATE: So how does it affect their brains?
BRENNA: A study conducted by the University of South Carolina found that the more sugar a hyperactive child ate the more destructive and more restless he or she became. Another study at Yale University found that when children with ADHD ate an excessive amount of sugar, many of these children became more inattentive.
KATE: Sugar can really pull your brain off.
BRENNA: It just reminded me, I have a client who I saw recently and when she was a kid, she does struggle with ADHD, and all her years growing up she would have night terrors and sleep walking. And working with her, within a month we got her not eating sugar, especially before bedtime and she doesn’t have night terrors anymore.
KATE: Wow, that’s fascinating. So maybe that sugar did a scramble on her brain chemistry.
In the state of Minnesota, we know ADHD affects 11.5%of children between the ages of 4-17. I used to be an elementary school teacher and if I were a teacher today with a classroom of 26 children, I could potentially have three students with ADHD out of those 26 kids. With such a large classroom, it becomes a problem for the teacher and a problem for the child with ADHD.
BRENNA: So, let’s go back to the ingredients in chicken nuggets, because I don’t think most people realize they contain some chemicals that could cause ADHD symptoms to occur. There is a sneaky ingredient in the chicken nugget seasoning called autolyzed yeast extract and what that really means is that it that contains MSG, monosodium glutamate.
KATE: Some people know that they are sensitive to MSG, but at least 15% of us have an MSG sensitivity. After eating a food containing MSG, we might experience symptoms like a headache, nausea, heart palpitations, or facial swelling. A child or adult with ADHD who has an MSG sensitivity may lose focus, get agitated and become irritable. Not great.
BRENNA: I had a client one time and it would cause body pain. Just horrible body pain.
Ok, we’ve discussed the ingredients in chicken nuggets, French fries and juice drinks and why these foods are not good for anyone’s brain function especially for those with ADHD, someone with sensitive brain function. There’s another food I think a lot of people, a lot of kids, like, pizza? Many of you pizza lovers may recognize that pizza is one of America’s favorite fast foods, but I bet you didn’t know that 93% of Americans eat pizza at least once a month. That breaks down to 23 pounds of pizza consumed per person per year and translates to nearly 40 billion dollars of pizza sold every year. I’m not surprised, think of all the pizza commercials!
KATE: Many of us are pizza lovers, but there can be a downside to eating pizza for a large number of people and particularly for those with ADHD. As listeners, you may be thinking, “How can pizza have a negative effect on brain function?” Let’s examine why eating pizza could cause more symptoms for a child or adult with ADHD.
BRENNA: First of all, most pizza crust is made from wheat flour. Unless it’s labeled gluten free. We all know that wheat and gluten are two of the most common food sensitivities and for people with ADHD, gluten can be a big problem. Often times, a food sensitivity creates inflammation in both the body and the brain. So when a person with ADHD has this food sensitivity that causes more inflammation in the brain, he or she will experience more symptoms.
KATE: My ADHD clients who are gluten sensitive have told me they love eating pizza so much that they scrape the topping off of the crust and just eat the topping. Unfortunately, that really doesn’t work well for gluten sensitive people, because the topping is contaminated by the gluten in the crust. For many people with ADHD who are gluten sensitive, even a small amount of gluten will cause a cascade of inflammation throughout the body and brain, which can lead to distractibility, more procrastination and more depression. It’s a sad cycle.
BRENNA: Pizza also includes cheese and we referenced a study earlier in the show talking about how 64% of kids with ADHD have a food sensitivity and what they actually found was the number one sensitivity was dairy. I’m finding it to be a really big problem for people. What is dairy, cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream – if it came out of a cow’s udder it counts as dairy.
KATE: Personally, I think one of the biggest issues with pizza is the amount of sugar that is in each piece. Because that crust is full of carbs and those carbs turn into sugar. Would you ever guess there is 9 teaspoons of sugar in each slice of pizza? If you eat 3 slices, which is typical for most people, you would have consumed 27 teaspoons of sugar!
BRENNA: When I was in high school I could eat three to four slices of pizza and then I could eat another two to three slices of dessert pizza. How do you think I felt after that? Pretty spacey, not great, very tired. So when people eat too much sugar from cookies, donuts, candy, soda, pizza, chips or cereal, over time they may encounter more trouble processing information, memory problems, depression and anxiety; all of which many adults with ADHD are prone to experiencing on a daily basis. They just feel a little out of it, not grounded. I think we should be getting onto our last break here.
KATE: You are listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. I want to remind you of our Menopause Survival Seminar on November 4th from 10:30am to 3:30pm. I will be teaching with registered nurse, Diane Forselund and Dar Kvist, who has studied peri menopause and menopause for the past 20 years and is the founder of Nutritional Weight & Wellness and Dishing Up Nutrition, as many of you listeners know. Between the three of us, we will have all of the answers to your menopause questions and we will bring fun and joy to the day. As an added bonus, we will serve you a delicious organic lunch and snack.
Call 651.699.3438 to sign up now and save $50. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have as well.
BREAK
BRENNA: Welcome back to Dishing up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. Today Kate and I are discussing Nutrition for ADHD. We believe ADHD is a serious health condition and we understand the value of real food to help reduce symptoms. We also want to help YOU to understand the value of real food, so we are offering our very first Saturday ADHD seminar, The Food Connection to ADHD Seminar on November 18th from 9:30am to 1:00pm. Register by November 11th and save $20 with our early bird special. Questions? Call 651.699.3438. Food will be provided and it won’t be chicken nuggets and French fries.
KATE: Speaking of chicken nuggets, you were talking about all the sugar in foods and how that affects people with ADHD.
BRENNA: Yes, so people with ADHD, or people just with sensitive brain chemistry do not respond well to these high carb, high sugar foods, so things like pizza crust and bagels and cookies, cereal. So you eat those foods, those carbohydrates turn into sugar in your body. You get a blood sugar spike and a big insulin push from your pancreas and then all of a sudden that sugar comes crashing down. And you feel anxious, spacey. And I’ve found that when my blood sugar is high, it’s not shivering and shaking, I get so tired. It’s way too much. We talk about the food coma, it’s an hour after that high carb food and you feel like you need a nap? That’s because you have high blood sugar. It’s probably over 150, not good. And I think as a society, we think of sugar as being harmless, yet there is nothing harmless about some of the health symptoms it can cause those who have ADHD, such as hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, and memory problems.
KATE: We, at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, have to say food matters, when we are addressing ADHD symptoms. We have discussed what people who have ADHD are NOT to eat, but now let’s look at what foods you should be feeding your kids who have ADHD and what foods you adults with ADHD should be choosing. Because this is the important stuff.
BRENNA: At Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we believe that eating only protein and only fat, which is kind of that super low carb Atkins type approach, might help with weight loss, but it’s not always a good long term solution for your body and your brain. Many people do really need fruits and vegetables in our diet to stay healthy and to keep us from getting bored with our food and diet. We need a good balance of protein, eggs, meat, fish and beneficial fats, such as olive oil, butter, nuts, coconut oil, avocados, olives and nut butters along with carbohydrates of vegetables and fruit while eliminating processed carbs and sugar.
KATE: That’s the key Dr. Daniel Amen, in his book, Making a Good Brain Greatquoted some research that he undertook at the Amen Clinic. He actually did a study with five ADHD students including his own son. Dr. Amen had them follow a diet, which included protein balanced with real carbohydrates (by that we mean fruits & vegetables) and healthy fats. He also supplemented these students with Omega-3 fish oil.
BRENNA: Dr. Amen found that all five students performed better in school and their brain scans also showed positive changes. The brain scans showed more calming in the overactive areas in their brains. These areas were involved in mood control and supported the concentration centers of their brain. That is pretty impressive.
KATE: So actually those foods, and the omega-3’s, helped to let these kids focus.
BRENNA: Yes. Which is important for them when they are sitting in their classrooms.
KATE: Yes, so this is critical for kids with ADHD.
BRENNA: Dr. Amen found that a balanced diet along with Omega-3 essential fatty acid helped balance brain function. The additional good news was there were no negative side effects; only clearer skin, less body fat and more energy and probably better grades.
KATE: Let’s wrap up this show with six ways to feed your brain.
#1 – Start with a great brain-building breakfast would be two organic eggs cooked in butter, a couple of slices of nitrate free bacon, a cup of spinach or broccoli sautéed in coconut oil and ½ cup of wild rice. That would be one option.
BRENNA: A little different than what people might think.
KATE: Another choice might be, and I mentioned this before with our caller, the protein muffin, which is in our cookbook and you can order that online. So have a protein muffin, which includes some protein powder. Whether it’s our animal protein powder called Paleo Protein Powder, which would probably be the best choice for people with ADHD. And then a couple ounces of sausage, nitrate-free sausage on the side. So that’s one idea.
BRENNA: #2 – Eat 1 or 2 servings of berries daily. We like to call blue berries brain berries because they are a wonderful source of antioxidants that help to prevent free radical damage to your brain cells.
KATE: Another way to feed your brain, #3 – In place of bread, cereal or oatmeal, include a serving of sweet potato or winter squash, again these are full of antioxidants and is an excellent source of carbohydrate that helps to keep blood sugar balance.
BRENNA: #4 –Popeye ate spinach to build his muscles and strength, so we suggest eating spinach or kale or Swiss chard to get lots of vitamin C, folic acid and is important for good moods, memory, learning, and overall brain function.
KATE: Those nutrients are really critical for brain function. And it’s worth repeating that spinach, and a lot of vegetables, are going to be really really helpful for getting your neurotransmitters to work properly. And that’s what we’re after when we have issues with brains, whether it’s ADHD, anxiety or depression.
BRENNA: Kate, I think we have a few minutes here and we have a caller.
CALLER: Ok, I have a question. I suffered a concussion and traumatic brain injury in a car accident and have been told that food can help with brain healing with that matter. Have you guys ever addressed that?
KATE: We have lots of clients with concussions. Food for sure, but again I think you need to start with our balanced food, eat protein, fat and carbs and especially these healthy fats will help to heal your brain and the neurons in your brain will function better. I would also recommend that you take the DHA supplement, possibly as many as six a day for a short period of time.
BRENNA: And I was just listening to our show last week with Shelby and Lea and they were talking about brain health and they talk about brain health. And I think a year and a half ago we had Dr. Walsh on our show and he talked about traumatic brain injury. So does that help you out there Cathy?
KATE: No, but in your situation I think it might be helpful to do a nutrition consultation because there might be other factors that we could addresses with you individually. Each person has little specifics that we’re much better at addressing at an individual consultation.
Another way to improve your brain, #5 –Feed your brain with mackerel, salmon, herring and anchovies, which are good sources or Omega-3 fatty acid that has been found to improve learning and behavior.
BRENNA: #6 – Many studies suggest that eating an almond-rich diet improves memory and may guard against Alzheimer’s disease. Many nuts also contain zinc, and essential nutrient for brain health.
KATE: There you have it – Six Ways to Feed Your Brain. Study after study has found that Food Matters when brain health is discussed. Whether it’s for ADHD, depression, anxiety, addiction, Alzheimer’s or dementia… FOOD MATTERS.
Our goal at Nutritional Weight and Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It’s a simple, yet powerful message. Eating real food is life-changing.
