The 6 Best Brain Foods According to a Harvard Nutritionist

There have been countless medical journals, books, and articles published on the correlation between gut and mental health, specifically for stress, anxiety, and depression. Seems easy enough to address right? But where does one start? How do you know which foods specifically help with anxiety and depression?

As a health coach, I believe in ‘crowding out’. In other words, incorporating more healthy foods into your diet, and eventually removing toxic ones, instead of restricting yourself by attempting to conquer unsustainable diets. Adding these six foods into your daily diet can help with your anxiety and provide calm throughout your day. Here are the six best brain foods according to a Harvard nutritionist:

1. Spices

2. Fermented foods

3. Dark chocolate

4. Avocados

5. Nuts

6. Leafy greens

Here are some examples of ways you can incorporate these foods into your daily diet:

1. Make your own trail mix with your favorite nuts, raisins, and dark chocolate.

2. Add avocados to your smoothies, tacos, toast, wraps, salads, rice cakes, or even make homemade guac.

3. Pack some pickles for lunch, add sauerkraut or kimchi to your salad or rice bowl, or use apple cider vinegar as seasoning or dressing.

4. Add leafy greens to your smoothies, and be intentional when making salads and rice bowls by choosing a variety of dark leafy greens.

5. Incorporate spices like cumin, curry powder, garlic powder, cayenne pepper on your potatoes, add turmeric to your quinoa, couscous or rice, put extra cinnamon powder into your smoothie, or put oregano, rosemary and thyme on your chicken.

6. Research clean and quality dark chocolate bars. My personal favorite is Hu which can be found at Whole Foods and many other major grocery stores.

7. Add nut butters to your smoothies, or pair them with fruit. For example: bananas and apples with almond/peanut/cashew butter.

For more information on the specific benefits of these foods, click on the link below:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/12/harvard-nutritionist-shares-the-best-brain-boosting-foods-you-are-not-eating-enough-of.html