Advice needed: Brain food?

[Sarah_]

I know this is going to sound like a joke, but let me explain. I used to be a really smart kid. People would comment on how intelligent I was and kids in school would poke fun at me for speaking properly. I was quick witted and it was easy for me to carry a conversation. I caught onto things very quickly and I remembered everything. I was very good with spelling and grammar and such.

Now, I know I don't have the healthiest diet in the world. I live on chips and candy, mostly, because I'm poor and because I don't know how to cook. I started feeling slower and less....there...with things about my sophomore year in high school. I started feeling like it took me longer to grasp certain concepts. I stopped being able to memorize whole sentences by looking at them. I started forgetting how to talk to people and for the first time in my life I didn't have anything to say. I started noticing mistakes in my spelling, run-on sentences and weird errors in grammar that I would never make in my earlier years.

I'm probably at my worst right now. Now when I look at a poorly written sentence I can't even tell what's wrong with it. I don't read anymore. I've found some books to be difficult to read, whereas I've never had that problem before. I can't think critically in the slightest and I have no problem solving skills whatsoever. I can drive somewhere I've been a hundred times and I'll still need my navigator to tell me where to go.

I was thinking about it and wondering what might have changed that year when stuff started going wrong, and I remembered that was the year I went vegetarian. It's been getting worse these past few-vegan-years and the only reason I could think of that could explain my sudden ....stupidity... is a poor diet. Maybe I'm not getting some nutrient I need? Is there a certain vitamin or mineral I should be getting that helps with brain function? It seems dumb but I'm really depressed and sort of scared that I randomly lost a bunch of brain cells. I'm only 20 years old and I've never done a drug in my life. I just can't think of why else this would be happening.

Thanks in advance. You can laugh if you want, haha.

[Est]

It doesn't sound like a silly post at all to me. I'd be worried too {{hug}}

I think you already know the likely cause though - your diet isn't giving your body (and therefore your brain) the nutrients it needs. Now, if you improved your diet and in another 3-6 months there was no improvement, I'd say go for a check up. But honestly I think the first step is to change the diet.

I do sympathise... over here, I find that although veg and fruit are about the same price as convenience food, for me the extra prep time is a nightmare (I hate cooking!) This means that generally I go for pre-packaged health food which is expensive, and I realise this isn't an option for you at the moment.

But... could you make even small changes? Like have a banana for a snack (lots of potassium for your brain!) instead of candy? Have wholegrain rice and stirfry (very quick and cheap) twice a week for dinner? A handful of dry fruit and nuts with your lunch - even if you still have the chips too. I figure that small changes like that would probably cost the same or less than buying a vitamin supplement - and eating better food 're-educates' your taste buds (which are used to salt and sugar) so that it gets easier to keep choosing healthier foods.

Good luck x

[harpy]

Est is making a lot of sense. You could take vitamins but if you have a high-junk diet you might for example have a problem with blood sugar spikes and troughs - things like candy and chips are burned up fast so then your brain may be left without fuel. If you Google for "glycemic index" and "glycemic load" you will find lists of foods that are burned up more slowly but essentially it's "traditional" and less refined foods.

http://www.bda.uk.com/hot_topics_GL_GI.html

The good news is that blood sugar problems seem to be easily reversed - I heard a talk by a chap who worked with young offenders and thought diet was an influence. Getting them to eat a non-junk diet completely transformed their behaviour apparently (Not that I'm suggesting you're a juvenile delinquent Sarah )

Hope you feel better soon.

[harpy]

This article quotes the chap I heard, Bernard Gesch

http://www.newstatesman.com/200402160019

As mentioned there, some people think omega oils are important for brain function - for us that means flax, hemp, algae and so on, rather than fish. There are threads about that on the forum already.

[xrodolfox]

I do not think that any magical vitamin will help you out. No matter how many multivitamins you eat, that will not give you what you need.

The brain needs a steady stream of low-glycemic carbs, not spikes in blood sugars (ie. processed carbs) to work well. A brain needs fats to keep up. Healthy fats, not the fats you get in processed foods or chips.

No magical food will help get you back on track. No magical vitamin will help you out. If you fix your whole diet, you will succeed.

[RubyDuby]

I always assumed this happened with everybody to a certain extent.

[Sarah_]

To clarify, I didn't mean I wanted to take a pill to help my brain out. When I said vitamins i meant like stuff already in food.

[Korn]

I live on chips and candy, mostly, because I'm poor and because I don't know how to cook.

I think you gave the reply to your question in the original post.

Maybe I'm not getting some nutrient I need?

IF you live on chips and candy, there are lots. Just like with other diets, living on vegan diet is dangerous if you mainly eat junk food.
Please learn how to cook.

[harpy]

I think it would be possible to eat a healthy diet without cooking but it's certainly easier if you can, just at a basic level.

Sarah, if you search the Web you'll see that quite a lot of different nutrients have been more or less tentatively associated with cognitive function by researchers - there's a table here and I've seen other nutrients mentioned as well http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v9...rn2421_T1.html (A lot of these refer to studies in the elderly but that doesn't mean it only applies to them, it's just that they tend to get studied because of dementia etc.)

Rather than trying to identify particular nutrients that you're short of you would probably be better off making an effort to eat a varied wholefood diet for a couple of weeks to see if you feel better.

If you're really worried you could go to a doctor and ask for blood tests but I suspect they may give you similar advice. (A test for anaemia might be worthwhile though as a lot of young women have it and it can make you feel terrible.)

[EcoTribalVegan]

Maybe NOT doing drugs is your problem! HAHA j/k.

One thing that I've found that seems to be helping with me is exercising more. That and a raw, green smoothie every morning with ground flax seed, greens (usually a mix), hemp seeds or powder, lemon juice, blueberries and/or strawberries and a banana. Of course there are other variations as well. Put in what you like. Flax and hemp would certainly help with the omega fatty acids needed!