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How to Increase Brainpower Through Your Stomach

Posted 8 years ago

One of the greatest lifehacks to increased brainpower could also turn out to be the most enjoyable– the food you eat! In today’s post on Platinum Rules for Success, hall-of-fame keynote speaker Dr. Tony Alessandra dishes (pun intended) on some of the most recent research tying ‘what we eat’ to ‘how well we think’. Could the key working smarter really be as simple as making a few smarter choices when we sit down to the dinner table? Tell us what you think in the comments section below the story!

How to Increase Brainpower Through Your Stomach

by Dr. Tony Alessandra

Yes, you can build brainpower through your stomach. For example, research in both animals and humans indicates that a calorie-restricted diet is helpful for both overall health and brain function. Eating wisely controls weight; decreases risk for heart disease, cancer, and stroke. It also triggers mechanisms to increase the production of nerve growth factors, which are essential to for brain function.
What you eat is just as important as how much you eat. That is why researchers use the acronym CRON — for “calorie restriction with optimal nutrition.” If you take in fewer calories, you have to make all of those calories count. For example, certain fatty acids found in fish also make up a large portion of the gray matter of the brain. Research has shown that diets rich in fatty acids can help promote emotional balance and cognitive function, possibly because they are a main component of the brain’s synaptic structures. In a similar way, studies show that fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of developing cognitive impairment. This is because so-called free radicals play a major role in the deterioration of the brain with age. When a cell converts oxygen into energy, tiny molecules called free radicals are made. Produced in normal amounts, free radicals rid the body of harmful toxins. However, when they are produced in larger, toxic amounts, free radicals can cause cell death and tissue damage. Vitamin E and Vitamin C and beta-carotene inhibit the production of free radicals — and the best natural sources for all of these are in fruits and vegetables.
If you have already done some reading on brainpower and function, you probably know that fish oils, fruits and vegetables can be good for you. That fact has become part of our public consciousness. However, there is an excellent chance that you are not aware of the single most important dietary factor for peak brain function. It is so important that the others are insignificant by comparison. You should really be willing to pay a significant amount of money for this element, but fortunately for all of us it is quite inexpensive — certainly a lot less than any vitamins. The essential substance I am referring to is water. The fact is, the human brain — like the human body as a whole — is more than 70 percent water. When a sufficient volume of water is not brought into the body, the process of dehydration begins, and this is potentially very damaging to good brain function. Most people do not drink enough water, and this is especially true as we get older. In fact, dehydration is often the underlying cause of symptoms of dementia in elderly people. It may seem like an excessive amount, but adults should drink eight 10-ounce glasses of water every day — and that water should not include artificial sweeteners, sugar, caffeine, or alcohol.


tony alessandraDr. Tony Alessandra has a street-wise, college-smart perspective on business, having been raised in the housing projects of NYC to eventually realizing success as a graduate professor of marketing, internet entrepreneur, business author, and hall-of-fame keynote speaker. He earned a BBA from Notre Dame, a MBA from the Univ. of Connecticut and his PhD in marketing from Georgia State University (1976).
Known as “Dr. Tony” he’s authored 30+ books and 100+ audio/video programs. He was inducted into the NSA Speakers Hall of Fame (1985) and Top Sales World’s Hall of Fame (2010).  Meetings & Conventions Magazine has called him “one of America’s most electrifying speakers”.
Dr. Tony is also the Founder/CVO of  Assessments 24×7.  Assessments 24×7 is a global leader of online DISC assessments, delivered from easy-to-use online accounts popular with business coaches and Fortune 500 trainers around the world.  Interested in learning more about these customized assessment accounts? Please CONTACT US.