10 Superfoods for a Strong Brain
If we want to start healing acute or chronic pain and move more freely within the body, we need to first address our brain’s health. After all, we experience and interpret pain in our brains.
As Jim Kwik, brain performance expert, says, the number one tool for enhancing your brain’s health is through your diet.
In this post, we’ll look at the connection between diet and pain, as well as ten neuroplasticity-boosting super brain foods that reduce pain.
The connection between diet and pain
Adding in brain health superfoods can make a massive impact on your healing and health journey. (That’s why I’ve included recipes in my free 7-day mobility challenge!)
Inflammation
Inflammation often causes pain. This happens when swollen tissues push against nerve endings. Reduce inflammation and you will reduce pain.
There are certain foods you can eat that have anti-inflammatory properties.
Neuroplasticity
The brain is incredibly resilient. It can create new pathways as an adaptation to change. This is what we call the brain’s neuroplasticity, and it can have both positive and negative effects.
For example, if someone has been in a terrible accident and loses their sight in one eye, the part of the brain usually used for processing vision in that eye might be rewired to process sound.
However, neuroplasticity can have negative effects too. Chronic pain is a neuroplastic adaptation, as the brain creates new pain pathways.
Eating certain foods that strengthen our brain’s ability to make neuroplastic changes can ultimately help us rewrite those patterns associated with pain.
Recovering from injury
My good friend and colleague Molly Parker is an excellent example of how your diet can positively affect the brain and body. For over seven years, she suffered from post-concussion syndrome and sensorimotor disorder (and she’s still on the healing journey).
She struggled with motor skills, like being unable to walk properly, and wasn’t even able to read for more than 30 minutes at a time. Now she’s running an Instagram and educating people on the things she’s learning about her body and recovery! She’s amazing.
And Molly told me the one thing that healed her pain and helped her connect to her body was her diet.
In terms of recovering from pain, reducing brain fog, having more energy, and even being able to read better, changing her diet was key.
Top 10 superfoods for chronic pain
Research suggests the following foods may help improve your brain health by decreasing inflammation and increasing neuroplasticity:
- Avocado
- Blueberries
- Broccoli
- Eggs
- Olive oil
- Green leafy vegetables
- Tumeric
- Walnuts
- Salmon (and other fish containing omega 3 fatty acids!)
- Dark chocolate (my favorite!)
Anti-inflammatory supplements for better brain and less pain
In addition to these foods, you can also add supplements to your routine to improve brain function and reduce inflammation.
- Magnesium
- Turmeric
- Curcumin
- Creatine
Get your levels checked. Finding out if you’re deficient in certain vitamins such as Vitamin B or Vitamin D can be a game-changer.
Things to avoid for brain health
For optimal brain health and physical healing, you should avoid or reduce alcohol and sugar.
These are both highly inflammatory in both the brain and body. I’m not saying you have to cut it out entirely but if you’re in recovery (especially from a brain injury!) it’s really important to avoid alcohol. If we’re thinking about increasing energy, eliminating pain, and decreasing brain fog these highly inflammatory ingredients are important to avoid.
Otherwise, it’s important to focus on adding to our diet rather than eliminating foods from it. While there are a few foods to avoid, it’s more beneficial to focus on eating the foods that will help decrease inflammation within the body and increase your brain’s health and body’s healing.
Eliminating and avoiding certain foods is entirely person-to-person dependant. For Molly, eliminating gluten and dairy has proven to be important for her brain and body. For you, it might be entirely different. It’s always important to work with a nutritionist to determine what’s best for you and your overall health when it comes to diet!
Try a meal delivery service
If you love the idea of getting brain health foods into your diet but you don’t love cooking (#me), or if you’re busy and on-the-go, Molly and I both love Trifecta. They’re a meal service that drops off healthy, whole meals at your door. You can expect delicious meals with no gluten, no dairy, no soy, and no GMOs.
There is no diet, health solution, or meal that works for everyone- and that’s why I love Trifecta because it offers everyone the ability to eat what best agrees with their body!
In Conclusion…
Rather than focusing super hard on what to avoid, consider what you can add in. Making sure you are getting enough leafy greens, blueberries, and other nutrient-dense superfoods and minerals to help power your brain and heal your body!
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