Boosting Brain Health: Foods and Practices to Enhance Memory

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Improving memory and brain health is a slow process but there are plenty of foods that can help on your journey. Stay tuned for the last tip for a quick meditation that can exponentially grow your memory!

First, we have salmon, cod liver oil and other fatty fish such as tuna and herring. These fish are high in omega 3 fatty acids, which have been show to be highly beneficial to the brain. These acids provide more oxygen to the brain, thereby helping to improve memory.

Next, walnuts are also high in omega 3 fatty acids! In Chinese medicine, walnuts have been used for brain health long before omega-3 acids were known. In herbology we have the theory of the ‘doctrine of signatures’ in which plants are beneficial to the organs, or parts of the human body, that they resemble. In this way, because walnuts look like brains, they are good for your brain!

Continuing the omega 3 fatty acid train, fish eggs are also great for your brain and memory! They also contain eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are both beneficial to cognitive function and brain health as well. I personally take wild caught fish eggs from Ancestral Supplements and I feel a huge difference in my studying when I am consistent! (Check out their website here and get $5 off: http://rwrd.io/oz0opkz?c)

On the Chinese Medicine front, we know that the brain is the ‘Sea of (Bone) Marrow.’ This comes out of our division of memory into long term memory being an aspect of the Heart (to know something “by heart”) and short-term memory being an aspect of the Kidneys (who control the bones and bone marrow). So, if we want to hit all three of these aspects, Heart, Kidney, and Bone Marrow, we can do it easily. We do this by including grass-fed beef heart, kidney, and bone marrow into our diet!

Beef heart is just like eating steak, its easy to cook and it tastes great. Kidneys are a little harder to figure out and can take some getting used to. There are tons of recipes out there for both of these nutritious organs so have fun experimenting! Bone broth has been trendy for a while but we can take it a step further by focusing on stewing the long bones that contain marrow. This marrow will give you a huge nutrition boost and your brain will love it!

An herbal support for brain health is gingko biloba. It has been studied and used for years to benefit the brains of people with everything from Alzheimer’s to depression. It is high in antioxidants and improves blood circulation to the brain, both characteristics can improve our brain gains.

Do your own research with this, especially since it can have bad side effects when combined with blood thinners and anti-depressants.

A mental game that can help with memory is to “walk through” your day every night before you lay down in bed. Start with a few minutes of meditating to get into an unrushed headspace, follow your breath and allow your mind to settle. Then ask yourself “what did I do today” and try to picture everything you did that day in sequential order.

When you first try this game, you might not be able to remember much. Be patient and with time you will be able to recall more and more of the details of the day. I find that, when I am consistent with doing this every night before bed, my ability to recall information becomes very strong and my sleep is improved. (I think of this as putting a period at the end of my day.) If you try this out, let me know how it goes for you! Feel free to leave a comment or send me a message!

And that is how we build up our brain health and get our memories to stay!

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