It's Time To Go Nuts for Your Brain Health

Living beyond your retirement years is one of the top goals that many people have. But to be able to enjoy your days as you age, you need to make the right choices while you’re younger, especially when it comes to your health.

If you want to live healthily and actively in your retirement years, you need to have a balanced diet. Aside from having a strong heart, healthy kidney, and clean lungs, you also need to have a powerful brain. This is because having a healthy brain is the key to living a full life even in your 80s or 90s.

So how do you maintain your brain health?

It’s in the nuts

While dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are not reversible, there are ways you can prevent these health problems when you get older. Eating nuts has been proven to help keep the brain healthy and working optimally even through your senior years.

Nuts are brain foods

They are a delicious way to improve brain power and make sure that you’ll be as sharp when you’re over 60 as when you were much younger. So if you want to keep having a smart brain even when you reach 60 and beyond, make sure to make nuts your go-to snacks. Whether you prefer it sweet or savory, you can munch on different kinds of nuts not only to fight hunger pangs but also to sharpen your brain.

Research shows that nuts can help you combat brain fog, especially when you’re in the office doing mundane tasks. Nuts can also help you lose weight since you’ll feel full after eating. They have lots of healthy fats that can help fill you up between mealtimes, which is especially useful when you’re trying to focus at work.

Some of the best kinds of nuts you should snack on include:

1. Walnuts – rich in DHA, omega-3 acids, vitamin E, and polyphenols.

2. Almonds – have the highest amount of vitamin E and can help fight against age-related memory loss and cognitive decline.

3. Peanuts – are high in niacin and have been known to lower low-density lipoprotein levels.

4. Hazelnuts – have high amounts of manganese, folate, thiamine, vitamin E, and fatty acids, which have shown to slow cognitive decline in aging individuals.

Key nutrients in nuts

Studies reveal that nuts improve cognitive function, enhance memory and learning, and uplift your mood. In fact, this food can help lower the risk of depression.

Nuts contain a combination of healthy fats, phytochemicals, nutrients, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory properties that improve the brain’s vital functions and blood vessels.

Here are some of the key nutrients that you can score for your body and brain from eating nuts:

• B-group vitamins - These vitamins help in the production of neurotransmitters, cell structure, and other brain components.
  

• Polyunsaturated fatty acids - As critical components of neuronal cell membranes, they are responsible for maintaining fluidity and communication between cells.
  

• Vitamin E - It’s an antioxidant and helps protect the nerve cell membrane.
  

• Magnesium and calcium - They help in neurotransmission or the regulation of brain cell communication.
  

• Zinc - It’s an essential component for brain cell communication, along with proteins, hormones, and hormone receptors.
  

• Iron- It’s an important mineral that helps with brain oxygenation, as well as with the neurotransmitter and myelin synthesis.

Other trace minerals include manganese and copper, which are part of enzymatic mechanisms that help protect the brain again free radical damage. Phytonutrients, like Flavonoids, carotenoids, and other phytonutrients are antioxidants and are responsible for the neuroprotective function. And, of course oleic acid which is a fatty acid found in animal and vegetable fats and oils. It was discovered that oleic acid can reduce inflammation and may even help prevent cancer.

Let's go nuts!