Slashdot Mirror
Keep Fit Program For The Brain
merryprankster writes "New Scientist is running a
feature on 11 steps
to a better brain. While becoming a nun might be an extreme way to avoid
senility, there are lots of other tricks, techniques and habits, as well as
changes to your lifestyle, diet and behaviour that can help you flex your grey
matter and get the best out of your brain cells." From the article: "First, go to the top of the class by eating breakfast. The brain is best fuelled by a steady supply of glucose, and many studies have shown that skipping breakfast reduces people's performance at school and at work. But it isn't simply a matter of getting some calories down. According to research published in 2003, kids breakfasting on fizzy drinks and sugary snacks performed at the level of an average 70-year-old in tests of memory and attention."
I haven't eaten breakfast in years. I don't wake up early enough for it. I just eat a big lunch and dinner and snack during the whole day.
Am I missing out on something here?
Practically no fiber, and corn syrup and hydrogenated fat dominate.
I wouldn't be so sure about it. Right here I have a box of Kellogg's NutriGrain.
Ingredients:
whole wheat, sugars, vegetal fat (doesn't say partially hydrogenated), egg, calcium carbonate, iodated salt, sodium bicarbonate, color, (lots of vitamins go on in here); for the strawberry filling: corn syrup, sugar,maltodextrine,dextrose,strawberries (emphasis mine), water, glicerine, powdered apple, pectine, artificial and natural flavors, sodium benzoate, malic acid, vegetable oil (non-hydrogenated) and soy leticine, red dye 40, sulfites, polisorbate 60.
While it has chemicals, it does contain whole wheat and actual fruits. I think the article referred more to DONUTS, DINGDONGS, SWISS CAKE ROLLS and all those "junk foods" that contain nothing but sugars.
I do eat one nutrigrain a-day (at the job), but I do eat my breakfast at home, too. One glass of milk, 2 scrambled eggs with whole-wheat bread (and maybe some ham), and my orange juice.
If you still have it handy, check out the nutrition information box on the package. Does one serving contain a measurable amount of fiber? I have run into products made with 'whole wheat' that somehow managed not to have even a gram of fiber in them. I'm not sure how they manage that.
Nutrigrain bars are basically vitamin-enriched cookies. They are probably better for you than a regular cookie, or a donut, but they don't really qualify as healthy food either.
Gee, that's funny, essentially every nutritionist not moaning under a cultish trance over some Atkins variant would say dinner's the one to cut back on, but to get a healthy breakfast above all else. It's a conspiracy of experts, as you say. (Please ignore the obvious fact that Americans have never managed to follow this advice from the nutritionists all that well.)
All that is required is a diet with a reasonable amount of high quality protein.
I understand the appeal of contrarian positions, but you're just an Atkins fanboy. That diet, and all its many corollary marketed materials, exist for nutritionists on the same level that "intelligent design" does for biologists. You've successfully regurgitated your share of the sophisms, so call it a day. Go grill a steak.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
"Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper."
Anyway. Eat when you need the energy. Eating in the evening when you don't need the energy just leaves you hungry in the morning. Something with whole grain to provide energy for several hours and maybe fish.
Omega-3 fats have been shown to make a significant difference to heart disease and mental ability. Fish oils or flax seed oils. It seems that the human diet may have contained a lot of fish historically. A kipper for breakfast may not be a bad idea.
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I avoided going to the dentist for about 3 years because I didn't feel I needed to. My teeth were straight, white and my gums looked healthy. I flossed 3-5 times a week, brushed twice a day, and used listerine all the time.
I started developing headaches and went to go see a doctor. After trying a few things and nothing helping, he suggested that based on the region of my head pain, I should see a dentist to make sure I wasn't afflicted with grinding, or other teeth issues.
Lo and behold I had an itty bitty bacteria infection on one of my back teeth and gums. It never hurt. It never stank. The dentist remarked for not having been to the dentist in a while, my mouth was remarkably clean of plaque and tartar.
After recieving treatment I noticed an unsuspected side effect. I had more energy. I slept better. It was quite noticable too. My next visit back to the dentist, I inquired and his explanation was quite logical. Your mouth is obviously a breeding ground for bacteria both good and bad. What's in your mouth is basically in your whole body. If you have bacteria in your mouth, your immune system has to work just that much harder to keep you healthy.
An odd anecdote but I'd thought I'd share none the less. It might seem like a no brainer to keep your mouth clean, but even those who follow all the "rules" can experience bacteria spots that affect your overall health and energy levels.
In my filing cabinet, I have:
- A box of dry cereal (shredded wheat)
- A box of nonfat dry milk
- A canister of instant grits
- Several envelopes of dry soup mix
- Several boxes of flavored rice mix
- Rice cakes
- A loaf of multi-grain bread
- A jar of soy nut butter
- A jar of honey
- About a dozen cans of vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, green beans, mushrooms)
- Seasonings
And this is a pretty lean weekEverything but the bread is more or less non-perishable and will last for months with no refrigeration. Everything can be prepared in a typical break room, i.e. with just water and a microwave. And it's CHEAP, especially compared to eating out.
I still don't always eat breakfast and lunch every single day, but at least now I have no excuse.
true enough for this article. I guess I'm just commenting on a more general trend I see of bad neuroscience and psychology on slashdot and the mainstream media (as well as in the field). These studies aren't neccessarily bad but the way they are discussed often is.
http://www.jsmf.org/about/s/badneuro/archive.htm
Edison was also an anti-Semite, an arrogent conceited jerk and liked to take credit for other's ideas.
Also Edison may have invented the light bulb, but he did it, and had his patents protected by the work of Lewis Latimer, an African-American who later improved upon Edison's original invention.
Also, Edison thought DC power was the way to go - but was proven wrong (Tesla's AC power was abetter solution, but Westinghouse gets all the credit, and everyone forgets and ridicules Tesla - history is not fair). Nowadays the only DC power distribution systems are for rail applications.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
1. Eat oatmeal for breakfast - if you must add sugars, make them complex, not processed (e.g. raw).
...
As someone else already pointed out, proteins and fats are better for your body/mental agility in the morning. There's a reason that you always hear older healthy people saying that he have eggs and bacon for breakfast. As far as sugar, not processing sugar does not make it more complex. Nor is raw sugar better for your body, there is 0 true scientific proof of this. In fact raw sugar is harder for your body to digest. Plus, add in that raw sugar tastes less sweet than processed sugar and now you're eating more of it to get the same taste (if the "raw" sugar you are eating tastes more sweet than granulated, then it is not raw. It is very common for the "raw" sugar that you buy in the States to have been mixed with a sweeting agent. I've lived in several areas where the locals only have access to completely raw sugar and it takes about 50% more raw sugar to sweeten food).
2. Get half an hour exercise each day, which basically means take the stairs or take the bus or if you drive don't park so close to work.
I guess if you lived at the top of a skyscraper it might take you half an hour to take the stairs
3. Get eight to nine hours sleep a night - this is the hard one for me. If you run a sleep deficit, sleep in Saturday morning, but wake up the usual time on Sunday.
Again, someone else already mentioned that the prevailing thought nowadays is to get 6-7 hours a night. Also, it's a complete myth that you can catch up sleep by sleeping longer on a certain day. The human body doesn't work that way. The mind can be tricked by sleeping in, but that doesn't have anything to do with how sleep you missed during the previous week.
4. For guys, drink one to two glasses of red wine with meals. For women, one-half to one, but depends on body mass.
This whole wine/alcohol-extending life idea has been disproven every time some new scientific group claims it. Any evidence to the validity of it is entirely ancedotal. Also, the long term effects of drinking any amount of alcohol on a regular basis are well understood and documented (while 2 glasses of wine a day wil probably pickle your liver, why take the chance). Also if you look at accounts of centarians (someone 100+ years old), very few drink alcohol on a regular basis and most that I have read about are teetotalers.
5. Stop watching the news. All those car chases and crashes five states away just add to stress and you can't do anything about them. If you must watch, choose a less exciting program like PBS or such.
Agreed
6. Ditch your watch and cellphone. Really.
Watch is gone and I never give out my cellphone number.
7. Do crossword puzzles or something that engages your brain most every day. You meet a lot of cute girls that way
Meet cute girls while you're doing crossword puzzles? What, are you stalking women wearing plaid skirts and writing words in the lighter sqaures?
8. Don't be in such a rush. Biologically, we're not built to live like that.
Actually, humans are biologically built like that. Not the way that I want to live, but the statement is still false.
9. Eat low on the food chain - how you do this is up to you, but avoid processed foods.
Humans already don't eat at the top of the food chain (i.e. predatory animals, lions, bears, wolves, hawks etc. While some humans hunt these types of animals, it is not a regular component of their diet). Technically speaking, ruminants (cows, deer etc) are lower on the food chain than say a chicken or turkey, yet we know that chicken and turkey are better for us. As far as processed foods, it would be better to say heavily processed food since even cooking processing (this is not a technicality, all types of cooking remove something from food, however eating raw red or white meat is of
salad: lettuce, carrot (peeled, then cut into thin discs with the peeler), sliced cucumber, fresh mushrooms, tomato slices, maybe a little bit of red cabbage for color, maybe a sliced boiled egg. Bottled salad dressings are cheap at Wal-Mart -- buy several to find what you like and what you don't.
:)
chinese-style stir-fried vegetables (bell pepper, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, onions, celery, maybe pea pods, maybe canned water chestnuts), with a little cooked chicken (boneless & skinless), in a sweet-sour sauce served over brown rice
bell pepper stuffed with rice and tomato sauce (then baked in a toaster oven) is good
fruit salad made from sliced apple, orange, grapefruit, and banana. it makes its own sauce
snack: sliced apple, peanut butter, saltines or generic Triscuits, and some sliced cheese
potatoes are cheap. cut a potato into wedges, bake in a toaster oven at 400 degrees until they're browned. leave the skins on (for fiber)
soups and stews are pretty easy to make, but maybe time-consuming. you'll want to get some bouillon to make these (or for making gravy)
fish is good for you. canned salmon is about a dollar at Wal-Mart. the cheapest whitefish is probably pollock (sp?). boiled pollock + cooked red cabbage in sweet-sour sauce (equal amounts of sugar & vinegar) + mac & cheese = good
start your own recipe book. get recipes from the Internet, magazines, newspaper, friends, and relatives.
maybe make a humongous batch of spaghetti (or stir-fry, or whatever) on the weekend, put it in single-serving freezer-safe microwave-safe containers, freeze it, and eat it during the week
When are the irresponsible reporters going to stop hyping this drug? ... that is a blatant and dangerous lie.
The brain-miracle theory is simply *not* true.
And being awake for over 40 hours without any ill effects
For inducing greater intelligent or concentration caffeine still rules.
While some mathematicians still swear the correct amount of beer makes them perform better.
I've noticed matein specially seem to have a better effect on the brain.
So there is no rule for everyone.
Something I think that is really missing from our diet is plain and simple water. Just good old tap water. Two liters a day make a huge difference in my physical and mental condition.
;) I started drinking water. I noticed a difference right away.
For the longest time, I got my beverage fill from soda and coffee, then after *MUCH* insistance from my female counterpart (Wife, not Mom
If we don't make light of everything, we are just stumbling in the dark - Blank