Fuel Your Brain as You Fill Your Plate

Fuel Your Brain as You Fill Your Plate

What do you fill your plate with? Interestingly, how we fill our plates affects mental acuity especially for folks middle age and booming. Include your snacks on the plate, too, because they are part of your brain fuel. A tell-tale discovery shows why...

When younger, I had a job with a lot of repetitive tasks. To pep up my day, I took a bag of tiny, wonderfully flavored jelly beans to work. You know the kind with lime, coconut, raspberry, apple, blackberry and so many tantalizing flavors? Once I put one in my mouth, I wanted more and before I realized it, the whole bag disappeared. I noticed my vision was a bit blurry and I also seemed to lose my pep. The incident put a real scare in me and I decided that I needed to concentrate on eating well. At that moment, I quickly changed my approach to sugar. The changes made a difference to my ability to both think and see clearly.  That was 20 years ago and the bonus is my working memory performs at the top.

Like me, have you had reason to drastically change the way you fill your plate?

10 Foods to Fuel Your Brain as You Fill Your Plate

Grains:

Barley - a chewy cereal grain with a nutlike flavor or... a great addition for homemade soups. Barley's rich with dietary fiber and selenium and is considered one of the world's healthiest foods.  Selenium works as an antioxidant enzyme to prevent cellular damage from free radicals. You benefit by improved moods, increased energy as well as increased cognitive function and clarity.

Oats - try nutty oat bread for delicious flavor and amazing texture or... fix a steaming bowl of oatmeal to start your day.  Oats are low in saturated fat and cholesterol... a good source of fiber, thiamin, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese.  Researchers are investigating the ways oats may help enhance cognition as people age.

Protein

Almonds High in Vitamin E, almonds also provide plenty of riboflavin, magnesium and manganese. Almonds can help lower your cholesterol level and provide increased protection against heart attacks. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that is valuable in protecting cell membranes, which adds to brain health as we age.

Wild Fish and Sea Food Natural Omega-3 fatty acids play a crucial role in brain function, plus they may reduce the risk of heart disease. Omega-3 fatty acids are highly concentrated in the brain and appear to be important for cognitive (brain memory and performance) and behavioral function. In fact, infants who do not get enough omega-3 fatty acids from their mothers during pregnancy are at risk for developing vision and nerve problems. Symptoms of omega-3 fatty acid deficiency include fatigue, poor memory, dry skin, heart problems, mood swings or depression, and poor circulation.

Vegetables

Tomatoes Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant found in tomatoes, which could help protect against the kind of free radical damage to cells which occurs in the development of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's.

Sweet Potatoes Not only do sweet potatoes have dietary fiber, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium, they also contain beta-carotene, which boosts your memory.

Fruits

Avocados Almost as good as blueberries in promoting brain health. Though the avocado is a fatty fruit, it's monounsaturated fat, which contributes to healthy blood flow. Healthy blood flow means a healthy brain. They also help lower blood pressure. Because hypertension is a risk factor in declining cognitive abilities, lower blood pressure definitely should promote brain health. Since avocados are high in calories, using only 1/4 to 1/2 an avocado works well to spice up a salad or serve as a side dish.

Blackberries Try this delicious fruit to boost your brain's ability to retain and recall information. They provide the necessary nutrition the brain needs, such as folate to stimulate the brain, omega-3 fatty acids to enhance the brain’s function, and tryptophan, which provides needed serotonin and can relieve depression and insomnia.

Besides, the anthocyanins found in blackberries can prevent degenerative brain diseases. The older we get the harder it is to learn new things.

The reason? In order to process new information our brain cells need to “talk” to each another. Yet, as we age those cells become inflamed making it harder for them to communicate with one another.

Blackberries can get the conversation flowing again. According to a 2009 Tufts University study blackberries have powerful antioxidants (polyphenols) that help to stop inflammation and encourage your brain to soak up new information.

Dairy

Low Fat Yogurt High vitamin D content found in yogurt boosts brain functions. for instance, metabolic pathways for vitamin D have been found in the hippocampus and cerebellum areas of the brain - involved in planning, processing and forming new memories. In one research study, 35% of participants with sufficient vitamin D levels had higher cognitive performance on brain function tests.

Low Fat Milk A low saturated fat/low glycemic index diet can reduce the concentration of a protein in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s disease, according to recent research. By drinking low-fat milk, improved performance on certain memory tests in both groups of study participants.

Ready to fuel your brainpower to increase your mental agility?

My mom used to say, "you are what you eat."  She was very careful to follow the original pyramid as I was growing up.  I can even remember having liver once a week because she thought it was one way to ensure that we had lots of iron.  But even that has changed as scientists have learned too much red meat does us more harm than good. Isn't that just one indication we need to stay tuned with new research and change old habits?

What would happen to your well-being if you kept these additional USDA recommendations in mind as you fill your plate daily?

• Balance calories by enjoying your food but eating less of it and avoiding over sized portions. 
• Increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables; make at least half of your grains whole grains; and drink fat free or 1% milk.
• Reduce the consumption of sodium in foods such as soup, bread, and frozen meals; reduce sugary drinks and replace with water.

Power Impacts Success and Performance

Power favors an executive's success... Power helps leaders maintain and pursue goals even when they face distractions. How so? Having authority can positively affect planning and performance. On the other hand, lack of power impairs people's ability to keep track of ever-changing information, to sort out what's irrelevant and to plan ahead to meet goals.

A low-power role often impairs a person's cognitive functioning... and ability to get ahead. Power is linked to ability to function well on the job and use problem solving skills effectively.

Interestingly, during an experiment to explore how power affects performance, folks in the low-power group were just as motivated and put forth just as much effort as executives and leaders. Differences appeared in their ability to focus on their current goal. They fell short in complex problem solving and generally demonstrated poor planning.

Implications of this study can make a difference in high-risk industries such as health-care. Here's how... employee errors can have fatal consequences.

What possibilities do you see to overcome the sense of powerlessness and dispossession that often accompanies low-power roles in many of today's organizations? Here're five to start...

1. Involve low-position employees in problem solving... When people's voices and ideas are heard and recognized, they find more satisfaction - leading to greater well-being

2. Empower low-power employees to take charge of a work activity... Empowerment helps the person to concentrate and function at a higher cognitive level.

3. Challenge low-position employees to volunteer in non-profits... Leadership roles are often open in volunteer organizations. Taking on a role can help change peoples' confidence level and sense of position.

4. Reward on-the-job performance... Recognition can help foster concentration needed to avoid mistakes.

5. Share lunch with low-position employees... Getting to know employees and discussing their interests builds a relationship that impacts performance.

What strategies would you add?

Blue Light Revvs Up Your Working Memory!

Blue light waves in particular help the brain to stay alert and support working memory tasks that take deep thinking or problem solving. Working memory … according to Ellen Weber it’s your mental capacity to hold onto a few different facts while you noodle them to solve a problem or to create something new…

Findings from a recent study show show we're influenced by wide ranging effects of light on how we perform and feel. Additionally there are implications for the development of better artificial light environments and a better understanding of the effects of light on the human brain in general.

Ready to make some changes in your lighting so you can ratchet up your working memory? How about energy efficient flourescent bulbs? Many produce blue light. Your brainpower can go green, too!

Thoughts?

10 Tactics to Jumpstart Creativity in Your Work

Creativity's placed at the highest cognitive level of thinking, analysis and reasoning skills by learning experts... A recent Gallop Poll reveals that 59% of workers say that their current job brings out their most creative ideas. To ante up your work products, why not try new approaches? Here're suggestions from other bloggers to kickstart your creativity!

1. Darren Rowse advises folks to stimulate your mind differently...

Stimulate yourself with a variety of new sounds, sights, ideas, conversations, tastes, people etc the more creative ideas that seem to come out.

So you hereby have permission to take yourself to see a movie, to read a book, treat yourself to a magazine, to make a new friend, to buy yourself a new CD, to try a new radio station and even to take a trip and visit a new culture!

2. Drew McLellan collects creativity triggers to "twist the common into something fresh and brainwipes...ways to clear your head of that the expected, to make room for new ways of looking at something." Here's one of Drew's favorites:

Be like a reporter. Query the situation, problem, product that you're needing to be creative about. Not a who, what, where, how kind of an interview, but more of an in depth character study. Do it out loud if you have to, but really dig in. Ask probing questions. Assume the persona of your interview subject to "feel" the answers. I know it sounds a little silly but you'll be amazed at the interesting insights. Give it a spin and let me know how it works for you.

3. Seth Godin wisely looks beyond a creative idea:

99% of the time, in my experience, the hard part about creativity isn't coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you've thought of.

The devil doesn't need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics.

4. Frank Roche tells us to take a child's approach to your task without any fear of the process...


5. Ellen Weber asks, "How do people who problem solve creatively … differ from noncreative counterparts?" Here's two main differences researchers at Drexel University found...

Firstly, creative solvers tend to show greater activity in several regions of their right hemisphere. Apparently, creative individuals even daydream with more remote associations, than noncreative peers. There’s more than making links or connecting unusual pieces though. How so?

Secondly, creative workers differ in areas of the brain that process visual images. Interestingly, their “alpha” and “beta” brainwaves showed diffused rather than focused visual attention. They also create unusual connections ... that less creative people miss.

Maybe you do not realize that Einstein's teacher called him a bonehead at school, but he later visualized the theory of relativity by "riding the curve of the arc."

6. Joanna Young finds that just the right music can help her achieve writing flow...and cut down on writers' block...

This morning I've been experimenting with baroque music. It's supposed to be great for learning and concentration.

7. Daniel Sitter shares how to unleash selling creativity... For creative people the end results might not play out as you anticipate. Daniel says...

Years ago I had a bright idea. I wrote a compelling sales letter and decided to mail it to a hundred prospects which I had identified through an industrial directory.

I decided that my letter would focus upon the core question "Do you suffer from industrial indigestion?" I cleverly glued a Tums® tablet to the page, knowing that I had a marketing winner in my hands! I could hardly wait to print the letters and mail them off.

The letters were mailed on a Monday morning and I began the follow-up calls the following Thursday...My bubble was soon burst by the news that I was hearing from many of the prospects. When they opened my letter, a small pile of mint-scented powder dumped on their desk. Oh yeah, they remembered me alright! It seems that the antacid tablets were crushed by mail-handling machinery; something I had not considered.

While some of the prospects were obviously bothered, most that I spoke with were not and the mailing ended up being quite successful. One way or another, I created an interesting, unforgettable first impression. The effort led to many new customers.

8. Bill Parks tells us that we can actually increase creativity by setting deadlines. Begin by asking: Why might a deadline make a difference to me and my idea? Bill says, "Have you noticed as you get closer to a deadline, you become more creative? Deadlines cause our thoughts and imagination to become active giving us ideas to get the job done before the deadline." Try it... it has made lots of difference for me.

9. Braingle suggests that folks might find more creativity by taking ideas apart. Here's how it works...

Elaborating on an existing idea is a great way to come up with new and better ideas. One way to do this is by taking an idea apart and looking at its components. By looking at one part at a time, you might be able to ignore your preconceived notions about the idea and come up with some interesting improvements.

Start by listing the attributes of the idea. Just the act of listing the individual pieces will get your mind thinking about improvements or modifications. For example, if someone asked you to design a better bird feeder, you might be at a loss about where to start. It's a little overwhelming to tackle a large project all at once. To take it apart, you might list the individual attributes like this:

1. Hook for hanging
2. Container for seeds
3. Covering to shield feeder from rain
4. Perch for birds to sit on
5. Tray to collect fallen seeds
6. Device to prevent squirrels from eating seeds

10. To stir even more uniqueness in your work, check David Airey's collection of creative resources just posted today. David, our minds are running with synchronicity today! And I'm certain Brad Shorr will love that word!

What do you do to ante up new products where you work? I'd enjoy hearing tactics you use to catch a great idea and take it to "out of the box" results. Please provide a link for me and I'll post a sequel.

Reading Unleashes Your Brain's Thinking Box

A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy. ~Edward P. Morgan

Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labeled "This could change your life." ~Helen Exley

How many books have you read in the last couple of months? I notice many bloggers include favorite books on side columns of blogs. What might happen if you read books and blogs more? Reading offers both the imaginative and the practical...

Imaginative In The Uncommon Reader, British writer and actor Alan Bennett, imagines what might happen if the queen read more. Hmmm... bet your mind never went there... does that rouse your curiosity?

As Bennett pictures it, the queen was not big on books, and one day discovers how much she likes them. She "gets so absorbed in reading that even while riding in a carriage," as Bennett characterizes this, "she is reading a book with one hand while waving to her subjects with the other."

Through her reading, Bennett's queen becomes more aware of the political world and the world in general.

"She starts having opinions and she starts really for the first time in her life putting herself in other people's shoes," Bennett says. "She'd never really imagined what it was like to be one of her subjects. And now she does. Books really humanize her, I think."

One gem in fiction is character... What is behind peoples' choices? Historical fiction opens a window to both imagination and fact so that history's fascinating. Does fiction capture your interest?

Practical On the other hand, non-fiction draws readers, in different ways... "How to..." books, science, history, business, technology... Non-fiction helps folks navigate all the practical aspects of today's world.

Women Read More Interestingly, research shows that women read more than men...

A couple of years ago, British author Ian McEwan conducted an admittedly unscientific experiment. He and his son waded into the lunch-time crowds at a London park and began handing out free books. Within a few minutes, they had given away 30 novels.

Nearly all of the takers were women, who were "eager and grateful" for the freebies while the men "frowned in suspicion, or distaste." The inevitable conclusion, wrote McEwan in The Guardian newspaper: "When women stop reading, the novel will be dead."

McEwan's prognosis is surely hyperbole, but only slightly. Surveys consistently find that women read more books than men, especially fiction.

Maybe biological differences between male and female brains affect these choices, or guys' magnetism to technology or the way girls and boys are introduced to reading at a young age... No matter what: Americans—men and women—are reading fewer books.

People Reading Less Last month The Associated Press and Ipsos, a market-research firm, released poll results revealing that Americans on the average "read only four books last year, and one in four adults read no books at all."

A National Endowment for the Arts report found that only 57 percent of Americans had read a book in 2002 a four percentage-point drop in a decade. Book sales have been flat in recent years and are expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

Young people, in general, read less than older people, and that does not bode well for books and the people who love them.

Reading Stirs Higher Cognitive Processes What advantage is there for folks to read? For openers, it affects ability to reason at higher cognitive levels. Here's what goes on in your brain as you read...

The large mass of white matter, consisting of bundles of fibres, links the white matter of your brain's two cerebral hemispheres. The corpus callosum carries a large number of fibres from one cerebral hemisphere to the other and is the major route of communication between the two hemispheres to control cognitive and motor function.

White Matter Matters in Reading Performance The white matter is basically the wiring in the middle," Dr. Christian Beaulieu, Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering in Alberta, Canada, explains.

"The way I see it, the grey matter is the computers and the white matter is the wiring or the Ethernet cable that connects them all up and lets them communicate."

His research team concentrated on the "wiring" that connects different parts of the brain and observed that measurable differences in the wiring can be found in children... They found that the stronger the connectivity of the white matter "wiring," the better the child's reading ability. Since our brains have remarkable plasticity, as you begin to read more, you build more reading acumen.

Reading opens your mind to a world of new ideas you would not otherwise explore... whether by book, magazine, newspaper or blog... And, like Bennett's Queen, you'll have new opinions and you'll step into the shoes of other people and see the world differently...

To compete in tomorrow's world of business, be ready... explore a vast world of ideas...

What book will you read next?

Try, Valeria Maltoni's Picnic '07 on Experience, Storytelling, Social Objects, Complexity, Simplicity and Choice for a blog to stretch ideas... What blogs enlarge your mind?

How Do Doctors Think and How Do You?

Do you take time to step back and take a good look at the basis for your decisions? Jerome Groopman, hematologist at Harvard University took an in-depth look at doctors' decision-making and concentrated on what leads to mistakes. Groopman's findings not only teach us how to approach our doctors with a little more savvy, but also prod us to think deeply about decision-making.

You'd be surprised to know that 80% of medical mistakes are the result of logical fallacies, not being aware of all possibilities and communication with the patient. And, 20% result from technical errors such as wrong test results.

Harvard hematologist, Jerome Groopman's curiosity was piqued about doctors' thinking processes when a friend's eight-year-old daughter was misdiagnosed by neurologists and pediatricians. The young girl began to suffer with headaches. Doctors thought stress at home or a sinus condition caused the headaches. But a few months later it was apparent the girl had a brain tumor. Why did doctors draw conclusions and overlook a possibility?

Curiosity led Groopman, also a staff writer for the New Yorker, to research what causes doctors' thinking mistakes...And, you'll find answers to his query in, How Doctors Think, published in March. The book's an engaging and fascinating read that can help doctors improve diagnosis procedures or for patients as they interact with doctors. What's the basis for your critical decisions?

Groopman finds that most errors result from...

Stereotyping - A nervous young woman loses weight. Does that mean she's anorexic?

Cases Seem Similar - A doctor may diagnose a fever and headache as flu during flu season. But could it be meningitis?

Acting Too Quickly - At times doctors choose to do something rather than nothing when in doubt.

Emotions - Groopman found that emotions come into play more than doctors might admit. For instance, if a doctor is fond of a patient he may overlook a deadly disease because he doesn't want it to be true. And on the other hand if patients sense a doctor doesn't like them, they need to go to someone else.

By asking, What else could it be? both doctors and patients can begin to look deeper at problems and make better decisions.

How do you make critical decisions both at a physician's office or...at work?....