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The recent breakthroughs in nutrition studies have shown that a purposeful, conscious selection of dietary intake can aid in your body’s recovery from a simple cough or hypertension or even anxiety. But even if you’re already in good health, there are food choices you can make to improve your condition. For some, especially college students, the act of food preparation and cooking can be a deterrent. However, when school is your full-time job, keeping your brain functioning at peak capacity should be a priority. Luckily, there are some foods that require very little effort to get ready, but which can have substantial positive impacts on your natural ability to learn.
Water
If you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated, and did you know that even mild dehydration could impair your ability to concentrate? Just a 1% to 2% loss in body weight will start to degrade your focus. Additional levels of dehydration will affect how well your brain processes your environment and can impair short-term memory. And that’s just your brain. Hydration is essential to all the basic functions of the human body, so the better hydrated you are, the better you will feel on the whole. Fortunately, drinking water is relatively easy to obtain. Nothing could be simpler than filling a bottle at the water fountain, drinking it, and then repeating the process regularly throughout the day.
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Eggs
Eating healthy always seems like less of a chore at breakfast. You’re fresh from a decent night’s sleep, the day ahead is still full of potential and you’re ready to make good choices to start your day out right. Use that momentum to spend 2 minutes at the stove scrambling or frying an egg or two. Egg yolks contain choline, which is a nutrient essential to memory recall. If you like the taste of yolks, fry the eggs and then toast some whole-grain bread to dip into the wholesome gooeyness, if not, just scramble them and maybe add a couple tablespoons of shredded cheddar cheese for a flavorful, brain-fueling morning meal.
Oatmeal
Full of fiber, B vitamins, potassium, zinc, and vitamin E, oatmeal is another power-packed breakfast option; they even have it at fast food restaurants, although theirs is usually loaded with sugar and fat. It’s worth noting that the regular (not instant) Quaker oats take less than 5 minutes to make, and it’s hard to beat the comfort of spooning up some hot cereal on a cool morning. Oatmeal is a whole-grain, so it digests slowly, allowing for a steady release of energy to your body throughout the morning, helping you maintain a feeling of satisfaction and stay focused until lunchtime. Depending on your tastes, mix in a spoonful of honey or raisins or a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor.
Blueberries
Rinse, eat, repeat. That’s the recipe for getting your two daily servings of this memory-enhancing super food. If you buy them frozen, berries are even less work: toss a handful in the blender with some Greek yogurt, and some of your other favorite smoothie ingredients, to drink your way to blissful brain health.
Low-fat dairy
As mentioned above, Greek yogurt is a terrific smoothie base. Low-fat dairy such as yogurt and milk contain protein and B vitamins, both of which are crucial to concentration and focus. Yogurt and cottage cheese are quick snacks for long-stretches of studying and they’re easy to modify to suit your preference. Want sweet? Stir a teaspoon of cocoa powder into your yogurt bowl for a healthy treat. Craving salty? Satisfy your taste buds by cutting up a tomato, sprinkling the wedges with salt and pepper and topping them with a serving of low-fat cottage cheese.
Walnuts
Even easier than berries, shelled walnuts can be eaten straight out of the container you bought them in. Because of their high protein content, all nuts have brain benefits, but walnuts in particular contain both the omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. One study found that students who regularly ate walnuts were better at deductive reasoning tasks. As good as they are for you, don’t gorge on these tree nuts because they are also high in fat, but a handful a day is all you need to reap their benefits. Crumble them into your morning oatmeal or mix them with dried fruit and pretzel sticks in a homemade trail mix to eat on the go, and keep moving and grooving.
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Cocoa
Yes, that means chocolate. It actually increases blood flow to the brain. Like walnuts, the optimum daily serving is small, about one-half ounce of bittersweet or dark, but it’s still a delicious reward. Adding a teaspoon of cocoa to a cup of skim milk is not only a simple process (and obviously tasty), but also restorative. You can even melt a couple baking squares and have your own at-home fondue, skewering some of those fresh blueberries with toothpicks and dipping them into the chocolate sauce. That’s healthy eating at its most decadent.
Beans
Bring on the burritos! Chipotle and Moe’s and even Taco Bell may be standard fare for college students, but did you know that beans are essential to good health and brain nutrition? They contain high concentrations of fiber and complex carbohydrates, which means they provide the body and mind with sustained energy, along with helping to keep your hunger at bay. They also contribute plenty of protein, magnesium and B vitamins. The ideal serving is about one-half to two-thirds cup per day—so about one burrito. And even if you’re not into southwestern flavors, beans (from the can, rinsed) can be tossed into a salad or incorporated into most soups to add a brain-boosting, meaty punch to your lunch.
Ingredients to Avoid
While you’re at it, being all health conscious and everything, it never hurts to cut out some bad foods while you’re adding in the good ones. Mindy Green, the director of education for the Herb Research Foundation, recommends avoiding sugar and aspartame. Anything with simple carbohydrates and foods made from white flour are actually brain drains. So if you didn’t already suspect that consuming diet sodas and doughnuts was doing more harm than good, now you know: they can actually inhibit your efficiency when it comes time to churn out those term papers.
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