At one time, healthy eating for mind and body simply meant limiting or eliminating unhealthy ingredients, like sugar and fat 1,2 from an otherwise balanced diet. But now we know it’s also important to incorporate some very specific types of foods and ingredients into your diet on a regular basis in order to protect your mental and physical health. Psycom spoke with Samantha Elkrief, LMSW, therapist, health coach, and chef at Drew Ramsey MD’s Brain Food Clinic, to find out how you can incorporate more of these brain boosters into your diet.

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Build a Healthy Diet

To be as healthy as possible, it helps to include lots of so-called “power foods” in your diet. “Most of the evidence for brain health suggests a Mediterranean Diet,” Elkrief points out. That means a wide array of deeply-colored fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, seafoods and fermented foods, all super sources of vitamins, minerals, fibers, healthy carbs and fats, beneficial bacteria, and plant proteins. A high-quality diet rich in these types of foods helps keep you physically and mentally sound by providing protection against symptoms of chronic conditions like heart disease, depression and anxiety.

(Photo: Unsplash, Dan Gold @danielcgold)

By Susan McQuillan, MS, RDN
Updated: Mar 24, 2021
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