YOU THINK WHAT YOU EAT

You might have noticed that after eating a large, starchy meal, a mental lethargy tends to set in. This is because carbohydrates have been found to indirectly raise levels of a brain chemicals that retards the firing of neurons and promotes relaxation. Therefore, a starchy diet is most suitable if you plan to got for a snooze or sleep. But if you tend to launch into a challenging task like studying a textbook or some project, you would better have a diet which is protein rich and less carbohydrates.

When we go to sleep and are ready to take meals at breakfast time, the level of our blood sugar has already dropped considerably. The brain burns two-thirds of the body glucose and it is highly dependent on the blood for a steady spply of this fuel, day and night. Its billions of electrical circuits are always turned on, whether or not we happen to be involved with a complicated problem. Glucose generates the 20 or 25 watts of electricity needed to conduct the brain's electric business. But another fact is that brain keeps very little glucose in its store. This is because glucose is stored as glycogen, a bulky substance for which there is very little room in the brain. The actual glycogen storehouse is liver. If our brains had to accommodate their own fuel, we would probably walk away from a big meal with balloonlike heads.
Thus coming to recouping the brain for its sugar level drop, do you think we should eat a lots of sugary and starchy foods in morning. The answer is no. This would in fact foul up the delicate mechanisms that the body employs to iron out extreme levels of sugar in the blood. In order to better maintain a constant level of blood sugar, youshould choose protein foods(meat, eggs, cheese, nuts, tofu and other soyabean products) over starch and sweet foods. Moreover, instead of restricting yourself to two or three big meals in a day, eat protein rich snacks between the meals.

In addition to glucose, brain requires other nutrients as well to make the neurotransmitters that regulate the thought processes. Tryptophan is an active ingredient in food from which brain synthesizes serotonin. This amino acid is particularly plentiful in meat and dairy products and we can plan our meals and working hours so that we won't be drowsy at work, or full of ideas when our head is on the pillow. Another neutrient in the vitamin B complex, known as Choline, has been identified as a key to memory function. Levels of choline characteristically drop as we age. Good sources of choline include eggs, beef liver, lecithin granules, fish etc.Vitamines and minerals also have their own importance for the brain function.