several years ago someone conducted a study on the brain-boosting power of flax. grade school children were fed flax (I think in some kind of cracker/cookie) at a certain time every day, and the conclusion was that it increased their test scores. flax became the darling for a while, but later people grumbled and pointed out that any nutritional snack would have done the same thing.
a lot of food makes me sluggish and stupid. eat a baked potato for lunch? i'm an idiot until evening.
my current darling is spelt bread. no peaks, no crashes.
what do you eat to keep your brain from getting sluggish during the day?
what do you avoid?
11 comments:
Coffee.
Black.
Frequently.
(or is coffee not a food group?)
Refined carbs tend to hurt my ability to think, esp. in the afternoon. I go for protein in mid-day. South Beach diet makes these chocolate snack bars that have 10g protein. Yum.
I drink lots of green and white (decaf) tea, too. Don't know if that helps.
Does that guy in the picture have an impacted wisdom tooth?? Just curious.
I'm not sure if there is any one particular food that makes me sluggish in the afternoon. Everything we eat (carbohydrates, protein, fats) has to be converted to the simple sugar glucose before our body cells can utilize it for energy. Our brains use up to 2/3 of our daily glucose intake to function anyway, so does it really make a difference?
They say tryptophan does. Could that turkey sandwich I have for lunch make me sluggish and sleepy in the afternoon? Maybe, but it still tastes good and I can always down a couple of cups of tea or coffee to counteract it, right? :)
bethany, i knew somebody would say coffee! or at least caffeine.
christa: i also like the south beach refrigerated meals. not too bad for that kind of thing.
jason: the image was taken from a migraine site, but there does seem to be something going on the wisdom tooth area. maybe i should have posted the x ray of hitler's head instead.
jeff: that's probably one of the reasons you can do what you do. i am constantly at the mercy of what i eat. it can be almost instant. hypoglycemia.
I like tea. tea in the morning. tea in the afternoon.
I'm trying to avoid tea right before bed.
tea before bed. yeah, that's not good.
i've gotten SO addicted to caribou coffee's mango iced tea. yu-um.
what do you eat to keep your brain from getting sluggish during the day?
what do you avoid?
Anne, you are giving me WAAAAAY too much credit. I eat whatever the hell I feel like, whenever the hell I feel like it. Consequently, I often feel like hell. If you happen upon me around four p.m., you will find a slavering dolt, uttering a string of blogger word verification codes.
mary louisa,
i swear those verification codes aren't random but instead entered by somebody with a wicked sense of humor.
coffee
cigarettes
candy
and on good days
coffee
cigarettes
granola
soda
chocolate
but don't take my advice, i'm a sloth :D
i used to be on that diet!
Post a Comment