Brain Food - Lisa Mosconi

After running into the article on the connection between Alzheimer's and menopause, I picked up the interviewee's older book, Brain Food, which takes a look at - duh - the connection between brain health and nutrition.

You can see the articles on this:
NYT op-ed here
Interview surfaced on Medium here
My doodle-y food notes on the Medium article here

But while reading this book, I took a bunch of notes about:

things I wanted to add to my diet (flax seeds, walnuts, Brazil nuts, hemp seeds, chia seeds)

things I wanted to be mindful of (the ratio of omega 6's to omega 3's, which should be 2:1 (2x omega 6's to 1x omega 3's)

what the hell are vegan omegas?
3: flaxseeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, black walnuts (whut?), raw soybeans
6: grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, sesame oil, walnuts, peanut oil

that your brain doesn't really need much fat as it can make its own saturated fat - but it does need omegas (which are also fatty so...?)

it's important to hydrate - like really important. even if you hate it so so much. you also want salt and minerals as you're hydrating so mineral water is a good idea. you can also eat your water (cucumbers, strawberries, peaches, celery - also disgusting melons and grapefruit)

stuff that helps serotonin (my serotonin needs help, dudes): chia, raw cacoa, wheat, oats, spirulina, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, prunes, edamame (is it just me or is this the least joyful list of foods as far as actual taste enjoyment?)

your body and brain want glucose, not sucrose: spring onion, turnips, rutabaga, dried apricot, kiwiw, grapes, onion, whole wheat bread, red beets

here is your sugar but with less spike: sweet potatoes, berries, grapefruit (?!), pumpkin, butternut squash, carrots, legumes (lentils, chickpeas, black beans), whole wheat

treats without a sugar load: popcorn, dark chocolate

then my notes just run into a herbalist and food for self care and female body reproductive systems woo woo workshop because that's how I roll these days, I guess.

But overall, this book basically says hey, do the Mediterranean diet - more whole foods, less processed foods for the brain. Eat more seeds and cold pressed oils. Ratio your omegas properly. Hydrate (coffee restricts blood flow so that's not hydrating and why you get wicked caffeine headaches when you don't have it - woosh - blood!).