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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Brain Food summary
Lisa Mosconi
How to Eat Smart and Sharpen Your Mind
27 mins
Brief summary
Brain Food by Lisa Mosconi explores the link between nutrition and brain health. In an accessible way, it offers practical tips to improve our diet and ultimately our cognitive function, even as we age.
Table of Contents
Brain Food
Summary of 8 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 8
Food can be medicine – or it can be poison.
When you think about getting older, do you worry about wrinkles? Well, think again. Nothing compares to the scale of Alzheimer’s, which 5.3 million people live with in the US alone. Around the world, more than 46 million people have dementia. That number is estimated to climb to 132 million by 2050.
Luckily, the cure is at our fingertips.
The key message here is: Food can be medicine – or it can be poison.
Alzheimer’s was historically thought of as an inevitable result of aging or bad genes. But it’s been shown that fewer than 1 percent of people actually develop Alzheimer’s on genetic grounds.
Instead, most cases boil down to lifestyle choices. And this isn’t unique to Alzheimer’s – it’s estimated that 70 percent of all stroke cases, 80 percent of heart attacks, and 90 percent of type 2 diabetes cases in recent years have been due to an unhealthy lifestyle! In short, your DNA is not your destiny.
So why aren’t doctors talking to us more about the power of personal choice? Well, Western medicine tends to treat symptoms with surgery or drugs over less-invasive preventative approaches. There are a lot of things you can do to help your neurons stay strong. Being physically and mentally active are among the most important. But what tops the list? Eating well.
Think about it. You might exercise a few times per week or take medications now and then. But you probably eat multiple times every single day. You’re continually exposed to food, which makes diet the most influential element affecting your DNA. The interplay between food and genes is even the focus of a whole new discipline called nutrigenomics.
Of all the organs in your body, your brain is most easily damaged by a poor diet. To function optimally, it requires more than 45 nutrients, most of which are obtained through the foods you eat. These are used to replenish your brain’s depleted storage and facilitate cellular reactions; they’re also incorporated into brain tissue. Your brain really is the product of what you eat.
Alzheimer’s demonstrates the most extreme responses of the brain to the nutrients you provide. But getting smart about food applies to every aspect of your cognitive health, whether you want to boost your memory, beat depression, or maintain your brainpower into old age.
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What is Brain Food about?
Brain Food (2018) highlights the role nutrition plays in your brain’s health. It explores the incredible brain-gut connection and reveals exactly what to eat and drink to maximize your cognitive power and prevent stress, dementia, and memory loss.
Who should read Brain Food?
- People who want to transform sluggish minds into sharpshooters
- Health nuts seeking simple hacks to achieve long-term well-being
- Those who feel their brains could use a little TLC
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