Dealing with a brain injury can be hard; a series of changes will be occurring in your brain, and you will have short and long term negative consequences. You'll be experiencing a loss of consciousness, nausea, temporary memory loss and alterations in the mental state from time to time.
During this time, you will be affected with both the physical and mental enigma. You will also face serious sleep disorders. To your experience, this is a critical time to adapt to the changes.
The most significant change that you'll be making is to your daily routine and your diet. The diet, however, is said to be the stepping stone for a quick recovery from brain injury and concussions.
In this article, I'll be going through the best brain injury diet and how they can boost your recovery. Before we start, let's go through the nutrition that is vital for quick recovery from brain injury.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
Nutrition For Brain Injury Recovery
Brain injury can be detrimental to your brain health. Whenever you've acquired brain injury or TBI, there can be several deficiencies in certain nutrients that may arise. These worsen the brain's health - it can't perform its regular functions properly. During this time, you must consume good brain food that is essential for the recovery from brain injury.
A brain injury diet containing high amounts of protein, certain vitamins, and minerals such as magnesium and zinc are considered to be as excellent brain nutrition. These nutrients are depleted during times of brain injury, and you must replenish these with your diet.
Fatty acids such as Omega-3 DHA and α-linolenic acids are also proven to be highly nutritional for brain health.
In addition to that, you must also ensure you’re getting high levels of antioxidants. Antioxidants help to protect your brain from free radicals, reduce inflammation in the brain cells and improve communication in between each brain cell.
You may also consider taking measured amounts of Sulforaphane or Enzogenol to improve brain-blood barrier integrity, reduce cerebral edema and improve the cognitive process within your brain.
Now, what are the actual best diets for you in times of brain injury?
Best Diets To Try If You’re Dealing With Brain Injury
Up until now, we've gone through why you should eat healthy and what are the nutrients you must take during brain injury or concussions. Now, let's walk you through some of the best brain injury diet lists that you can try!
1. Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants and minerals such as magnesium, iron, and manganese. These are highly essential for brain health and can help in TBI recovery.
In general, you should consider taking dark chocolates which have at least 70% concentration of pure cocoa. Such dark chocolate contains very little sugar which is detrimental to the recovery of brain injury.
2. Berries
Berries contain ample amounts of antioxidants, which are essential for brain injury nutrition. The antioxidants help in protecting the brain from additional damage and reduce inflammation.
It has been proven that certain berries like strawberries and blueberries are crucial to improving memory, learning and brain's cognitive functions.
In particular, blueberries help in promoting BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) within the human body. This is a crucial growth protein and can act just like a fertilizer for the brain. This explains why berries are considered to be one of the divine diets for brain injury patients.
3. Eggs
Eggs are a vital diet for recovering from brain injury; these contain protein and vitamins for brain injury recovery. These also are a rich source of choline, which is a nutrient responsible for the production of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. It helps in enhancing mood and memory.
Choline is also directly linked with the overall cognitive function and responsiveness of the brain’s neural transmission system.
4. Meat
After acquiring a head injury, your brain experiences an insufficiency of certain minerals. Zinc is one of the many minerals. Meat is a rich source of zinc, protein and other nutrients.
These help quick regeneration of the brain cells and improved cognitive processes within the brain. However, meat can be detrimental if you are suffering from heart disease or high blood pressure.
In this case, you can try:
● Legumes (like chickpeas, lentils, and beans)
● Soybeans
● Squash seeds
● Seeds like squash seeds and flaxseeds have also been shown to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, so they are just an all-around great food to add to your brain injury diet
5. Fish
Fish is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. The omega-3 fatty acids are required to rebuild the nerve cells and neural transmission system. It also plays a vital role in preserving the brain's plasticity. To recover from brain injury, the patient's brain needs neuroplasticity to rewire the brain; omega-3 can genuinely help in this process.
Interested in knowing which fishes contain the most omega-3 fatty acids? Here’s are a few:
● Salmon
● Sardines
● Trout
● Mackerel
● Cod
● Herring
… and other sea fishes
You can also get omega-3 fatty acids from the following ingredients:
● Pumpkin seeds
● Soybeans
● Walnuts
● Dark leafy green vegetables
● Flaxseed oil
6. Turmeric
Yes, you've read it right (!) Turmeric is one of the most underrated foods to heal brain injury. It indeed is a wonder food in terms of its nutrient components.
Turmeric contains curcumin, which is a powerful antioxidant responsible for stimulating the production of BDNF. The BDNF is used by the brain to trigger a process that’s known as neurogenesis. Neurogenesis enables the brain to create new brain cells, and thus slowly the brain recovers.
Other than that, it also contains the best vitamins for brain cell regeneration that helps to aid in the process of brain cell production.
It’s recommended that you intake turmeric daily to help in the recovery from brain injury and concussions.
On An Ending Note…
In this list, we’ve tried to bring up the best diets for brain injury patients. However, some of the food listed here may be high in fat and sugar. This might bring harmful effects for people suffering from other complexities.
Although the fat and sugar in these diets are beneficial for the body, people suffering from high cholesterol or risk of stroke or heart attack should consult with the physician before adding these to their diet list.
We hope that you've learned the benefits of eating healthy and what foods you should try. Also, visit our website to learn more about brain injury rehabilitation Toronto and how you can recover fast and effectively!