Go with Intuition?

As business professionals, can we trust our gut feelings at the board table when critical issues teeter between disaster and success? Dean Bennett says he's "a great believer in the power of using intuition as a powerful analysis tool and support to decision making. In this context I am interested in your thoughts on developing and actively using our intuition." Dean, I sense that intuition intrigues many leaders given the popularity of Malcolm Gladwell's recent bestseller, Blink. And interestingly, your right brain amps up your capability here...

Think about the case Jose Eduardo Costa brings to light...

A little over one year ago, a group of executives met to discuss the final terms of a millionaire partnership with a Mexican petrochemical company. All of a sudden, the regional marketing director stood up and said “this agreement smells fishy.” She could not pinpoint exactly what was bothering her. “I don’t know, this company doesn’t seem ethical to me,” she said. From the other end of the table, the CFO shouted, “She’s out of her mind.” The meeting was adjourned.

Put yourself around this table. Would you go along with her if you were the CEO of her Organization? How much do you need to know about a person before your intuition kicks in? Here's how it played out... The Business Administrator of her company went with his gut, accepted what she said and gave up the deal...but there's more.

A few months later this Mexican company defaulted on dozens of creditors. Interestingly, this particular business manager was part of an MBA program at University of Pittsburgh where he learned to hold brainstorming meetings in the company to encourage other managers to listen to their instincts. More and more businesses personnel rely on brainstorming and intuitive decision making.

There's two sides to relying on intuition...and maybe it won't surprise you that these two views relate to the side of the brain you personally value most...the creative right or logical left

Think of your right brain as your playground for insights – that make you, you, and you’ll begin to see its use in decision making at boardroom roundtables. Here’s the clincher, your right brain kicks in when you observe as well as when you create.

Miraculously, the right brain holds a few tricks for your judgments that tend to remain hidden until you rub the magic jar, so to speak, and that genie appears. Your amazing right brain, like the genie, can release gold as you see in the image.

To the successful manager, the magic comes quicker, and yet taming will soon be required from the left side of the brain as brainstorming for best decisions takes shape. You'll discover more about that in an upcoming post. For now consider benefits of your intuition...

Intuition Works for You "People treat intuition like it's a dirty word, but it's actually one of the body's survival mechanisms," says Antoine Bechara, Ph.D., an associate professor of neurology at the University of Iowa. "It's a means of taking you away from danger and steering you toward what is good for you."

Intuitive Confidence "Intuitive biases arise because intuitions often spring to mind with subjective ease," according to Joseph Simmons of Yale. And these personal intuitive biases lead folks to hold these with high confidence. Through intensive study, the research team discovered intuitive biases are not inevitable, but are determined by contextual variables, such as successful experiences and observation over time, that affects intuitive confidence. Dean, I sense that you have discovered your own personal intuitions fall in the ball park of 90% or more correct decisions when you go with your gut and you've developed a high sense of confidence in them.

But to give a whole picture, gems available in your logical left brain can reign in intuition from running wild. That'll take another post so stay tuned as I follow up with additional insights to Dean's question for the Question Train on Brain and Mind...

Dean and others, I'd welcome your additions or stories from your experiences...

East Koy Four Corners - My Home Town

Yes, those're cows crossing the road and at times I'm forced to wait 'till all cross before venturing on to Pike, a small village five miles away, which has grocery store, post office and hardware. East Koy Four Corners is uniquely rich in people who live here, dairy farming and natural beauty. When you stop at the corners, you'll see a sign, East Koy, Population Uncertain. Believe it or not more cows than people populate Wyoming County. It's the largest dairy producer in the state.
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Traffic Jams! Interestingly, population swells in two seasons - first days of fishing and hunting. See why people flock here to fish in East Koy Creek, an outstanding trout stream? The Creek's located a few hundred yards from the Corners.

Deer Nothing beats the wonder of observing a deer when hiking! Deer are plentiful... so much so that I'm on the alert any time I drive. Our son-in-law's an avid deer hunter so we see a lot of our daughter and grandson in the fall while he's sitting in his tree stand waiting! Many neighbors love the adventure of the hunt. Hunters do not hunt merely for fun, but they make use of the meat. My neighbor, Anne, cans venison in old fashioned quart glass canning jars. And often when we go to visit our daughter, Mike cooks venison on the grill or gives us tasty venison sausages with eggs in the morning.

Ducks Hatch in Foam Ice Chest! My husband and I chose to live in the country because of the beauty and because we wanted to give our children a country environment free of kids hanging out on street corners. As a result our kids made their own games. I can remember raising ducks from fertilized eggs purchased from Mennonite farmers at a farm auction that's held weekly in Springville. We fixed foam ice chests according to directions from a 4H pamphlet and we had to keep turning the eggs. Amazingly, they hatched and we had four mallards who chose to spend their days in a tiny stream at the edge of our yard.

Udderly Resistant! Once my hubby decided to raise some Holsteins himself. He figured we could get our milk that way. So our cow calved. Carl came running in the house to tell me he could not get milk from the cow and he wanted help. I thought the woman's touch would do it, but alas, I didn't have it either. He tried again and managed to get a bit, but the moment he felt any pride Bossie put her foot in the pail. So he fetched the farmer next door who came over and gave a demo. The milk came pouring forth as if from a spigot! We never reached our neighbor's skill level so resorted to getting a second calf for our cow because she had so much milk! She and the calves thrived. The cow experience's only one of many adventures and shows kindness of our neighbors. Truthfully, our neighborhood is like walking back to the 50's and 60's. Would you like to escape the stress of the city?

Pied Piper of Guinea Pigs! Our daughter loved to raise guinea pigs and they were fruitful! One day she took all eight to our side yard and because each had imprinted her as "mother." All eight followed her as she circled the yard! Unbelievable!

13 Piglets Our youngest son decided to raise pigs. Since he was about 13 I thought that would be a wonderful project. Soon the mother gave birth to 13 piglets. The smell, the grunting for food and the squeals go with the territory. But, for a 13-year old boy who eventually sold the pigs he raised to earn money, it was a wonderful experience and worth the work!

Jumping Fences! Jenny loved life here at East Koy. My daughter purchased her the first year she was in college so she could minor in Equestrian Studies along with her Business Major. Jenny, a gray Appaloosa with red flashings loved our daughter and she lived to jump and gallop. Jenny and Kris were one as they sailed over fences in Hunter Class. This synergy yielded red and blue ribbons. To be truthful, I vicariously enjoyed every minute of it 'cause I wanted a horse when I was young.

Wyoming County Fair Pike, about five miles from the Four Corners, is home of the County Fair. The road by our home is a virtual speedway for entire week as folks pass through in a hurry. Many farmers in our neighborhood compete in the tractor pulls. And the sound of the engines roar here, even five miles away! Cotton candy and ferris wheels entice the kids. My children competed in 4H projects and a neighbor down the street enters hooked rugs she dyes from plants. In addition she does tole painting, an art from pioneer times and she gives weekly lessons in these crafts. Farmers strut into the ring with prime cows, hoping to win a blue ribbon.

Neighborhood 4th of July Picnic Everyone comes to the East Koy 4th neighborhood picnic - even extended family and friends. We bring a dish to pass and one neighbor roasts chickens on an outside pit. With music, gossip, hayrides and a firework finale, this event's a winner! Everyone asks me to bring my homemade cherry cheesecake and I think this year's was my very best!

Retreat and Reflect After a busy work week, my home at East Koy's like slipping on a pair of comfortable sneakers. I love my work with Dr. Ellen Weber at the MITA Brain Based Center in Rochester. Nothing's more exhilarating than stretching your brain past any boundaries you may have set. Agree? But, the brain needs spaces to rest and retreat, too, and that's when the Four Corners beckons over the weekends. I feel lucky because I enjoy the best of both worlds! Do you have a similar experience?

Home Town Meme Bob Hruzek named me as one of the folks to describe her home town for a meme he launched. He listed me as living in Rochester, NY, which is true for part of the week since I began work with the MITA International Brain Based Center. Bob, though I thoroughly enjoy Rochester, I don't want to double up... Maybe a Rochester area reader would like to showcase it. In my mind it's a great city!

Think our little Four Corner's fascinating?..

Along with me Bob named

William Tully (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Robyn McMaster (Rochester, New York, USA)
Joanna Young (Edinburg, Scotland)
markk (Melbourne, Australia)
Karin H (Kent, U.K.)

Bob's question: What, in your opinion, is or are the most amazing, unusual, strange or just plain weird things about where you live?

Write a post answering the above question, then tag a few folks (choose your own number).

Don’t limit yourself to just one thing, either – in fact, the more, the merrier. PLEASE include photos as appropriate (to amaze us all, and, you know, prove you’re not kidding – we all know what a picture is worth, right?), but remember – the more memorable, the better!

Since Bob says he has a personal interest in everyone’s answers, link back to the person who tagged you, please (make that, “Oh, please, please, please!”) also link to this post as well so Bob can read it, too. And, include the list of posts included thus far in the meme.

Bob's plan (he said gleefully, chuckling maniacally to himself) is to eventually collect them all into one grand post.

Also please note; this is not a contest or a competition, according to Bob, (a sort of “My place is weirder than YOUR place” kind of thing, because that would be, uh, weird). No, it’s an opportunity to share, talk about, and yes, celebrate the grand diversity that makes up this wonderful ol’ world we live in.

Are you game?

C.B. Whittemore - New York City
Cord Silverstein - North Carolina
Dave Olson - British Colombia, Canada
Gavan Heaton - Sydney, Australia
Tony D. Clark - Home Based Enterpreneur ( You'll have to tell us where!)
Danica R - Belgrade
Galba Bright - Jamaica

And if you'd like to join, please do! Everyone's welcome.

Your Brain Has Brakes!

Is it the civilized mind that allows us to choose as opposed to react? Lisa Gates wonders... Hmmm... I've seen a golfer hit the ground hard with his club when he flubbed a shot, whereas other players calmly pick up former pace to drive the next shots down the fairway. And once a golfer flubs, seems his next balls land in the pond, in the trees and deep grass. What is it that helps us make choices rather than reacting? Great question you asked, Lisa, for the Question Train on Mind and Brain series. Recent research on the brain sheds new light on answers...

Braking System The human brain has a neural braking network that kicks in just long enough for people to make a quick decisions according to researchers at University of California, San Diego... As study participants planned an action, listened for a stop signal and made a quick choice to continue or to stop, researchers tracked MRI's to observe brain activity. They discovered

One of the connected regions was the subthalamic nucleus, within the deep-seated midbrain, which is an interface with the motor system and can be considered a 'stop button' or the brake itself. A second region was in the right inferior frontal cortex, a region near the temple, where the control signal to put on the brakes probably comes from.

How does that translate to everyday life?

Just enough time to choose! "We've known for some time about key brain areas involved in controlling behavior," Adam Aaron, lead researcher, explains, "and now we're learning how they're connected and how it is that the information can get from one place to the other really fast." So the brain's neural braking network gives humans just a few milliseconds to make a decision. That's just enough time to react by throwing a golf club to the ground or stop and make a choice to forget it and move calmly to the next shot!

Genes may play a part Aaron theorizes that "Variability in the density and thickness of the 'cable' connections is probably influenced by genes." Further research will show us more.

Researcher Read Montague of Baylor University, claims in Why Choose this Book? that our brains evolved computational programs to evaluate choices in terms of their value and efficiency: "Those that accurately estimate the costs and the long term benefits of choices will be more efficient that those who don't."

By using MRI's, Montague found brands such as Coke, "change dopamine delivery to various brain regains through their effect on reward prediction circuitry." Interestingly, Coke's "flavor" is distinguished in the brain's prefrontal cortex, a region essential for making choices. That sheds light on why we develop favorite brands!

Choosing, not reacting Remember how people advised us to count to ten before "reacting?" If you're like me and sometimes feel like throwing a golf club into the pond after bad shots, there's good news... Because of the brain's plasticity, you can rewire it to stop before you react. Sometimes that means counting to ten or instantly recalling a happy tune or whatever it takes to move you out of an initial emotion. The more times you consciously stop to put on the brakes, the more dendrites you'll build for time to choose! That gives you space to use good tone both during golf and in the workplace that Ellen Weber describes.

Lisa, in the second part of your question you note, "Perhaps what I'm asking is the difference between neo-cortex, limbic, reptilian, all of that, and how it relates to us civilized humans trying to choose in our everyday life." Since the human brain is more complex than that of animals, we can make choices whereas an animal reacts more from instinct.

What an intriguing question to answer, Lisa!

Any more thoughts on this?

Newbie Blogging Toolbox

Does anyone out there know I'm here in this big blogosphere? That was my question as a new blogger. Good news - there're brilliant tools to attract folks to your blog ...

Drew McLellan challenged readers to design a tool box to help new bloggers get started. Here's a gold mine I wish I had access to when I launched...

Encourage Comments: Christine OKelly of Create Business Growth wrote an amazing post to share how Jonathan Phillips built a thriving community and profitable blog in 5 months. Christine asked this brilliant question, How is Jon Generating So Many Comments when Others are Struggling for One or Two? here's what she discovered...

Jon is very serious about connecting with people. After attending the SOBCon event in Chicago, he decided that what he really wanted from his blog was to connect with people.

Each week, he surfs through MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, or Stumble Upon in search of 5 or 6 blogs on marketing and entrepreneurship, adds them to his reader, reads them daily for about a week, leaves comments on posts that compel him, and keeps the blogs that he feels provide him with value.

Jon is not just focused on his blog. He is genuinely interested in meeting new people, reading their ideas, and contributing to their conversations. As a result, he has built an incredibly active community in a record amount of time.

I gathered great ideas for my blog as I read this so I know that bloggers just starting out will see this post as a goldmine.

Include Photos What graphic would you pick to get your message out if you could not use words? A well-chosen graphic can hook a reader to go ahead and read the text, too! Since an average reader will stay on your site a total of about 17 seconds, this can be critical. Tara at Graphic Design Blog finds Yotophoto The Free Images Search Engine a super tool to locate creative commons graphics that are available to use on your blog.

Optimize so Search Engines Find You Aussie blogger Yaro Starak, is a very hot blogger. He suggests there's an 80%/20% rule to blogging so that search engines find your blog. Here's Yaro's Top 8 Tips for Search Engine Optimization

Overshoot Goals How can you be distinctive and stand out? Priscilla Palmer suggests that you overshoot your goals. Have an action plan as you begin to blog. Be distinctive and lift yourself out of the crowd!

Choose a Great Template If you're using Blogger and you do not find a Blogger Template you like on the Blogger Site, Gecko and Fly offer great Blogger Templates that you might enjoy.

Reliable and Not So Reliable Blogging Tools Many bloggers find that WordPress is a great blogging tool and I know many who begin with Blogger switch over. I'd suggest you start with WordPress and avoid the hassle. Jonathan Phillips discusses which tools work best.

Sign up for Technorati and Google Blog Search Bookmarklets Maki tells you how to set up Technorati and Google Blog Search Bookmarklets. Knowing who links to you is critical for you to build community. But you need tools to do that well!

Once you're set up in Technorati be sure to opt into Technorati Favorites and easily see your favorite blogs all in one place in a great easy format. I find Faves a really great feature!

Here's my tip: Use Multiple Gifts and Talents as a Blogger. As you consider how to express ideas best think about all possible lenses to use. I've highlighted bloggers who shine in the eight intelligences. By viewing some bloggers that I've highlighted, you can use more of your brain as you blog!

Shouting Bloggers' Intelligences
Bloggers Tap Intelligences
Bloggers Gifts and Talents Shine
Celebrating Bloggers Who Use More Intelligences
Bloggers Help Us Grow More of Our Eight Intelligences
8 Intelligences Illumine the Blogosphere
A Spotlight on Bloggers 8 Intelligences
Highlighting Bloggers Eight Intelligences
8 Intelligences Shine Across the Blogosphere

Drew, this proved to be lots of fun and helped me locate new tools that will help me blog. What a great idea you had for this one...

Here are links to others who've already submitted their input to Drew's request for tools to give an edge to new bloggers:

Bloggers' Toolkit: Passing on Help with Gratitude from Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Building a Blogger Toolbox from Flooring the Consumer

Toolbox for New Bloggers: Great Sites for Getting Started from Branding and Marketing

Build a Blogger Toolbox from Connecting in College

New to Blogging? Here's Your Toolbox from Small Business Marketing Ideas: Marketing Idea Blog

A Helping Hand for New Bloggers from Confident Writing

Business Blog Toolbox: Listening from ConverStations

Essential Tools ConverStations Style from Essential Keystrokes

The New Blogger ToolBox from hee-hawmarketing

A new blogger toolbox from Bizandbuz

July's Blog Tips From ProductivityGoal from ProductivityGoal

A helping hand for new bloggers from Confident Writing

Saturday Blogging Post from ModernMagellans

Great Blog from Great Blog

We were all newbie bloggers once! So this legacy's for the taking...

Do You Hear Harry Potter's Voice?

People without an internalized symbolic system can all too easily become captives of the media... Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

When you read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, do you hear Harry's voice? Hmmm... Bob Hruzek's brilliant question piqued my curiosity, too! The brain opens or closes that possibility and here's how...

Serotonin... Serotonin's a hormone of well-being. When serotonin floods your brain during an enjoyable experience, you open the door to optimal creativity. Reading's a pleasure to you and as you relax and read a book you enjoy serotonin secretes through your brain. You taste Rowling's sense of adventure and intrigue so you're very motivated and can't wait to get into the story. When you look at Deathly Hallow's thickness you almost feel delighted that there's so much more this time around. Serotonin sets the stage for you to experience flow, as you tunnel down into Harry Potter. Flow... involves all your senses... the capacity to imagine the setting, and hear the characters. Do you experience that, at times, as you read? And, especially before you've seen a movie or heard a book on a DVD?

Cortisol... Unpleasant or stressful experiences cause cortisol to flow into the human brain. This literally shuts down your ability to think clearly and process information well. In this case, you lose the advantage of top brain performance -your senses and creativity. If reading's somewhat challenging and books simply do not hold your interest and you're required to read one, you can see it brings immediate stress. You'd lack motivation. Distractions would divert your attention you'd find it hard to concentrate. Unfortunately, folks who're stressed or unmotivated would not hear characters' voices or picture them in their minds... But, even that can change...

Good news is that motivation can create magic to take readers to new worlds, to lift folks over past stress and failure, worlds that include hearing a character's voice. And the more people're motivated the more they can accomplish... So if Harry Potter hooks young folks especially, it may be the starting point for change!

As people gather ideas, speculate and invent they tap into highest cognitive processes of the mind... providing power to hear a character's voice...

Author's art and craft... Art in writing depends on stepping out of author's voice, Brandilyn Collins believes as do many other writers, and letting a character assume her own voice. A great author does not tell the reader, but from description and dialogue a reader develops his own interpretation of a character. So the Harry Potter voice I hear in my head sounds very different than the voice in yours, Bob [assuming neither of us has seen the movie]. If an author tells more than she shows, the art is not there and you likely won't hear the voice. Interestingly, the voice the author hears will be very different than the one you hear because each of us imagines it!

Interestingly, Terese Fowler, a published author in the UK shows how sentence length affects character's voice.

We can't literally "hear" the written word, but there is a perception of sound input when we read; thus there must be a characteristic voice. It isn't like the audible voice, however--we don't "hear" the pitch of the author's voice when we read; there's no nasal quality or raspiness, nothing like what we use to identify a caller on the phone, for example. Rather, it's an element of how the author crafts the sentences, the paragraphs, the chapters, the entire work.

An easy example is Hemingway, who is known for his brevity. Short sentences. Simple rhetoric. Ordinary vocabulary.

Versus James Joyce, whose stream-of-consciousness work in Ulysses, for example, epitomizes the extreme opposite of Hemingway. Joyce's writing voice leans poetically complex; Hemingway's is stalwart.

Character Development...Lead characters like Harry are fully sketched out for readers. You know their tastes, warts, dreams and desires. They take on a reality for you that bit players don't. You're likely to develop voice for Harry because you "know" him. Since, you don't know much about a bit player, you're less likely to develop a voice for one.

I have a theory that if you put your self in a character's shoes, you might go so far as to use your voice as that of the character...if the sex matches. What do you think?

Bob, when you're hooked by Deathly Hollows, you use your imaginative juices. I sense you, Lisa and others will hear Harry's voice -- the one you invent!

What a fun question to answer, Bob, as Part Three of the Question Train Series.

Thoughts...

Readers' are welcome to post questions for the Question Train...

What Causes People to Procrastinate, then Rush?

"What causes us to procrastinate, then rush," Frank Roche of KnowHR, asks. He'd like to sort out the ambiguity. No doubt he's seen every form of delaying tactics in the field of human resources. "Is this a brain-related issue," he wonders. "With all the GTD-related advice out there, it tells me that a lot of people are procrastinators...or they don't multitask well. Is procrastination hard wired?" Great questions, Frank, since procrastination increased 39% in the last 25 years...

Thanks for posing these for the Question Train Series.

Causes... Interestingly, Piers Steel of the University of Calgary just finished a 10 year study which concludes that temptation is one of the most pervasive causes of procrastination. When you stop to think there are so many fun activities available such as computer gaming, Internet messaging, which are just a click away at work. Add to that, TVs in every room, online video, Web-surfing, cellphones, video games, iPods and Blackberries.

Genes Play a Part Rewards and instant gratification highly affect procrastinators. In a study prepared by researchers, Liu, Richmond and Ginns of the National Intstitue of Health, found that dopamine, a brain chemical that functions as a neurotransmitter, suppresses a gene helps a circuit in the brain absorb the chemical messenger dopamine, which is involved in the brain's memory and reward system. Amazingly, they can turn monkeys into the kind of nonstop worker you are not likely to find in the next cubicle.

Dopamine has many functions in the brain, including important roles in behavior and cognition, motor activity, motivation and reward, sleep, mood, attention, and learning.

Without the dopamine receptor, the researchers found monkeys "consistently stayed on-task and made few errors, because they could no longer learn to use visual cues to predict how their work was going to get them a reward." The monkeys were like other primates, they're "in no hurry to do work any sooner than it needs to be done."

Procrastinators are made not born On the other hand, leading procrastination experts Joseph Ferrari, and Timorthy Pychyl note procrastination's due to upbringing...

Procrastination is learned in the family milieu, but not directly. It is one response to an authoritarian parenting style. Having a harsh, controlling father keeps children from developing the ability to regulate themselves, from internalizing their own intentions and then learning to act on them. Procrastination can even be a form of rebellion, one of the few forms available under such circumstances. What's more, under those household conditions, procrastinators turn more to friends than to parents for support, and their friends may reinforce procrastination because they tend to be tolerant of their excuses.

Why the rush? Most people are self-regulated and want to avoid the consequences. But there's more... some folks actually get a rush from putting things off and working fast at the last minute...

"On the one hand, procrastinators enjoy the pleasure that accompanies jittery nerves before a deadline," according to Ferrari, "but they also have less self-confidence than their peers." He notes that procrastinators may exert less effort because they want people to think that they're not trying rather than believe that they are incapable.

In experiments reported in the European Journal of Personality, procrastinators completed less of a task than nonprocrastinators when given a strict time limit, but fared almost as well with more time. Ferrari believes that this reflects scaled back efforts under pressure.

I can remember classmates in college telling me they actually get a rush from doing work at the last minute. We also see it on the job. Sadly, procrastinators do not perform at optimum... But there's hope.

Hard-wired? Since the human brain has amazing plasticity, it can be wired differently. But, it takes rewiring a lifetime of habits. Even procrastinators can rewire to work ahead, but it takes doing, doing, doing it over a period of time. The more we do something the more our brain rewires for that activity.

Ellen Weber claims human nature's lazy and requires rewiring...

What you do shapes the routines that define you as unique. Victims who see themselves as stuck in their problems, will stay stuck … because they will build victim routines into their basal ganglia daily. We each get hit with 22 stressors daily … and victims sink with these while high performance minds fight back.

Here’s how it works. Each time you set clear targets, and motivate yourself to follow through and do one concrete strategy to reach them, you set your “human nature” for example, to become more successful, alive and timely.

Thanks for such great questions! With procrastination on the increase, your work's cut out.. I'm wondering what strategies work best for you and others to avoid procrastinating?

Food for the Brain - Question Train Series

We need brain more than belly food. American Proverb

Rob Watts sparked my dendrites when he suggested that I create a Question Train here at Brain Based Biz. "Share your knowledge, reach out to others," he advised, "you might just be surprised at how they respond." I've received thoughtful questions, beginning with one Rob posed...

We often read or hear about how good diet is essential to our physical and mental well being. I've read things about Omega 3 fish oils, old wives tales about Cauliflower and Walnuts (brain resemblance maybe) being good for the noodle etc, but very little on the actual science and mechanics. Maybe you have some interesting insights on food and the role in which it plays on our brains.

Are there really such things as good and bad brain foods? Absolutely, Rob!

You may have heard the phrase, You are what you eat. And, you'll soon see that's the truth as it affects your brain. Most of us want to be mentally alert as we age so information on ways food helps and harms the brain is critical to us.

Brain foods...

Flavonoinds - Raspberries, bluberries, apples, white onions, nuts, certain beverages such as red wines and even dark chocolates are included here.

By choosing a flavonoid, such as a red delicious apple, you're doing yourself a favor because flavonoids...

may protect brain cells from cell death associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease, according to a March 16, 2006, news release from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Other apple varieties that were tested Lie, Ida Red, Granny Smith) did not show the same neuroprotective properties.

Added to this, by drinking apple juice, you "may actually increase the production in the brain of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine, resulting in improved memory," according to University of Massachusetts research.

Incidentally, cauliflower's rich in vitamin C, a flavonoid rich in antioxidants. So, yes, to answer your question, it's good for the brain. A new orange variety works best!

Water Since your brain is about 80 percent water, it only makes sense that Dr. Daniel Amen says that the first rule of brain nutrition is adequate water to hydrate your brain. Keep this in mind...

Even slight dehydration can raise stress hormones which can damage your brain over time. Drink at least 84 ounces of water a day. It is best to have your liquids unpolluted with artificial sweeteners, sugar, caffeine, or alcohol.

Proteins Rich in Polyunsaturated Fats No bones about it- fish tops the leanest sources of protein available for health, especially that of your brain. And omega-3 oils play a large part in that... In additon to fish you can get Omega3 oils from-- flaxseeds, walnuts, Canola oil or unhyrodgenated soybean oil.

Here's just a few benefits:

+ Promotes the development of brain, nerve and eye tissue

+ Helps to lower the risk of heartbeat abnormalities that may result in heart attack

+ Modestly lowers blood pressure

+ Helps in the prevention or treatment of heart disease and stroke

+ High fish consumption has been associated with lower risks for cancer of the esophagus, stomach, colon, and pancreas.

More protein essentials: Amino acids critical to brain health come from the breakdown of protein. Foods that supply many essential amino acids needed for neurotransmitter production include dried beans (legumes), green leafy vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds.

Carbohydrates Carbs act as a fuel to your brain.

Glucose is the form of sugar that travels in your bloodstream to fuel the mitochondrial furnaces responsible for your brain power. Glucose is the only fuel normally used by brain cells. Because neurons cannot store glucose, they depend on the bloodstream to deliver a constant supply of this precious fuel.

Interestingly there are two kinds of carbs, simple and complex. Potato, rice, banana, tomato, squash, cereals and grains (bread and pasta, too), along with rice comprise complex, low-fiber carbs that supply needed energy. And, digestive processes turn these to simple sugars within minutes.

Simple carbs, such as donuts and other foods that contain lots of refined sugar and flour can lead to brain fog. Eating too many also causes us to put on pounds since our bodies may not burn off all the calories produced. You gather too much belly fat.

To prevent eating too many carbs, at each meal or snack, try to balance protein, high fiber carbs, and polyunsaturated fats.

For an extra boost of brainpower, you might want to add additional nutrients to turbo charge your brain along with supplements.

I'm taking even more precautions about what I eat since I want to retain brain health over a lifetime. You?