SOPHIE ISBISTER
The Other Press (Douglas College)

NEW WESTMINSTER (CUP) — The average student doesn’t need a news article to tell them that life can get hectic — and quickly.

They can just look at their personal schedule to see the slow build of quizzes, assignments and readings that pile up on life, work and family obligations.

When times get stressful, the impulse to reach for convenience food can be strong. Gorging on cheap college staples like Mr. Noodles and Kraft Dinner or filling up on quick options like burgers might seem like the obvious choice, but are you piling your plate with the building blocks your brain needs to function for academic success?

Registered holistic nutritionist Kate Orlando gives students the skinny on turning your brain into a lean, mean, course-killing machine.

If you think of your brain as a machine, Orlando says you can think about complex carbohydrates as the fuel that keeps it running.

She recommends whole grains, beans and lentils, which are slowly absorbed by your body and provide your brain with constant nourishment — as opposed to simple carbohydrates, which just give you intermittent bursts of fuel. Starchy vegetables like potatoes, yams and carrots are great examples of complex carbs: think carrot sticks for an easy snack at school.

Healthy fats are key to keeping your brain limber and well-oiled. These fats include omega-3s, omega-6s and phospholipids, which are all important for memory building.

Omega 3’s and 6’s can be found in flax seeds, hemp seeds, walnuts and fish. Phospholipids are found in good sources of cholesterol like eggs which are an excellent food option for students. Plus they’re easy to hard-boil in advance and eat on your way out the door, or throw into a salad for lunch.

Eggs are also a good source of protein, which leads me to amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Orlando calls aminos “brain messengers,” and says that they improve brain communication and function. Protein-rich foods like fish, lean meats and poultry are solid options, but if you don’t eat meat or eggs, don’t worry! Orlando has advice for you too.

“Combining grains and legumes, like eating rice with beans or chickpeas with wheat berries, is a great way to make a complete protein for people who are vegan or vegetarian.”

Other protein-rich foods from non-animal sources include peas, broccoli, tofu and nuts.

Intelligent nutrients like these “are the minerals and vitamins that sort of fine-tune your brain,” said Orlando.

She explained that a diet rich in whole grains can get you most of the B-complex vitamins that you need. A plate full of dark, leafy greens (kale, chard or spinach lightly steamed) can give you the calcium and magnesium that your brain craves.

Don’t just reach for the milk to get your calcium: Orlando cautions that while milk isn’t the worst thing to drink, milk contains only calcium and is missing other vital nutrients.

“It’s better to get calcium and magnesium together from a cleaner source like leafy greens,” says Orlando, adding that if you’ve chosen an animal-free diet, “it might be a good idea to use supplements to get these intelligent nutrients, especially vitamin B12 and zinc, [which are] both mostly from animal sources.”

By now you’re probably thinking, “How is this supposed to make my life easier? Didn’t you already say my life was stressful, and now you’re putting this new task of eating brain food on my plate?”

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by nutrition, but having been a college student herself, Orlando stresses the importance of taking baby steps and states that any improvement, great or small, is still significant to our bodies.

Keeping it simple is crucial to success, which is why it’s a good idea to focus on only a couple of areas where you can make changes. The best suggestion that Orlando can give to students is to eat breakfast.

Your body fasts while you sleep at night, which means it’s digesting and detoxifying the food you’ve eaten all day.

“If you skip breakfast, you’re starting with your energy levels at zero and depleting [them] further — you’re essentially running on empty.”

Breaking your fast with something nourishing like oatmeal (sweetened with cinnamon or fruit), whole-grain bread with almond butter, or a hard-boiled egg (skip the toast if you’re going the eggs route) is the absolute best thing you can do for your mental wellness.

Orlando also warns against dehydration and strongly encourages everyone to drink a full glass of water upon waking up, and then six to eight glasses throughout the day.

“Dehydration causes fatigue, headaches, brain fog, muscle soreness and it can affect sleep — all of these things make it harder for your brain to do its job,” Orlando says.

She notes that the main reason her clients don’t get enough water is that they have a hard time remembering to drink it. She suggests putting a full glass of water by your bed or desk, and constantly carrying around a metal or glass water bottle.

Ultimately, eating for your brain isn’t going to work if you spend your whole day pulling your hair out with worry over the process. Orlando stresses the importance of keeping it simple.

“If you go from eating breakfast zero days a week to eating breakfast one day a week, that’s an improvement.”

So break out the black beans, sprinkle some blueberries onto a salad, or enjoy a raw egg in a smoothie. Try something different and your brain (and GPA) might just thank you for it.

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Photo: Micagoto/Flickr