Our brain is one of our most important organs, yet it is so often neglected. When you realize the importance of our brain’s function when it comes to the rest of our body working properly, you’ll want to make sure that your brain is as healthy as possible.
Here are four simple things that you can start doing right now to show your brain some much needed love!
With the immense advancement in portable devices like our cell phones and tablets we have an infinite amount of information at our fingertips. This is an amazing thing, but it also comes at a price to our health.
Our brain is like a muscle and if we don’t use it, we lose it. We are relying and have become more and more dependent on using our digital devices instead of the greatest intelligence machine that we have been blessed with – our brain.
Personally I love how EVOO tastes and I consume it with just about all of my meals, but it is more than just magic to my taste buds; it is also magic for our health!
Extra virgin olive oil contains two incredible anti-inflammatory and potent antioxidants called oleocanthal and oleuropein. Oleocanthal is so powerful that it is comparable to taking a small dose of ibuprofen, but without any of the possible side effects. And studies have also shown that it works great at clearing the brain of the dangerous amyloid plaques that are commonly linked to Alzheimer’s.
EVOO is also a great source of monounsaturated fat – the healthy fat that is needed to maintain the health of our blood vessels, health of our liver, and helps us to lose weight.
But unfortunately not every olive oil is of the same quality. As often happens in our industrialized food industry, shortcuts are often taken to fatten the pockets of the companies at the expense of the quality of their product. But no worries, below is a video on how to do a very simple test to let you know if the quality of your EVOO is good or not.
In case you’re wondering what gives good quality EVOO that peppery kick, it’s the oleocanthal! The spicier it is, the better quality it is.
Also, always try to get extra virgin olive oil that comes in dark glass or a tin so that it is shielded from light exposure.
There are many foods that we expect to see sugar listed as part of the ingredient list, but I bet that even if you are diligently reading labels, you probably are consuming more sugar than you even realize. The food industry has gotten pretty slick when it comes to how they name “sugar” on nutrition labels.
Here are just a few of the many popular names for sugar to lookout for:
The food industry literally adds sugar to just about everything because they know our brains are programmed to love sugar. The more addicted to it we become, the bigger their pockets get. Unfortunately the consumption of these refined sugars is starting at a younger and younger age. From cereals to juices and snacks, many of the things we are feeding our kids are jam packed with sugar and these habits get carried onto adulthood.
The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 25 grams of sugar per day and men no more than 37.5 grams per day. If you enjoy a glass of Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice in the morning, you are already consuming 22 grams of sugar in just a single 8oz serving. And let’s say that you drink a can of Coke for lunch, you can add another 39 grams of sugar to your daily consumption and this is just in TWO beverages! Not counting any food, you have already consumed 51 grams of sugar by lunch time!
Some US government surveys estimate that the average American consumes about 152 pounds of sugar per year (and I’m sure they low-balled it)! No wonder that cases of obesity, dementia, diabetes, heart diseases, depression, and cancer keep growing exponentially every year.
Get into the habit of checking the nutrition labels and be more conscious of your sugar intake.