How the food you eat affects your brain ?

 Your Brain on Food

If you sucked all of the moisture out of your brain and broke it down to its constituent nutritional content,

what would it look like?

Most of the weight of your dehydrated brain would come from fats, also known as lipids. In the remaining brain matter, you would find proteins and amino acids, traces of micronutrient, and glucose.

The brain is, of course, more than just the sum of its nutritional parts, but each component does have a distinct impact on functioning, development ,mood, and energy. So that post-lunch apathy, or late-night alertness you might be feeling, well, that could simply be the effects of food on your brain.

Of the fats in your brain, the superstars are omegas 3 and 6. These essential fatty acids, which have been linked to preventing degenerative brain conditions, must come from our diets.

So eating omega-rich foods, like nuts, seeds, and fatty fish, is crucial to the creation and maintenance of cell membranes. And while omegas are good fats for your brain, long-term consumption of other fats, like trans and saturated fats, may compromise brain health. Meanwhile, proteins and amino acids, the building block nutrients of growth and development, manipulate how we feel and behave.

Amino acids contain the precursors to neurotransmitters, the chemical messengers that carry signals between neurons, affecting things like mood, sleep, attentiveness, and weight. They're one of the reasons we might feel calm after eating a large plate of pasta, or more alert after a protein-rich meal.

The complex combinations of compounds in food can stimulate brain cells to release mood-altering norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. But getting to your brain cells is tricky, and amino acids have to compete for limited access.

A diet with a range of foods helps maintain a balanced combination of brain messengers, and keeps your mood from getting skewed in one direction or the other. Like the other organs in our bodies, our brains also benefit from a steady supply of micronutrients.

Antioxidants in fruits and vegetables strengthen the brain to fight off free radicals that destroy brain cells, enabling your brain to work well for a longer period of time. And without powerful micronutrients, like the vitamins B6, B12, and folic acid, our brains would be susceptible to brain disease and mental decline.

Trace amounts of the minerals iron, copper, zinc, and sodium are also fundamental to brain health and early cognitive development. In order for the brain to efficiently transform and synthesize these valuable nutrients, it needs fuel, and lots of it.

While the human brain only makes up about 2% of our body weight, it uses up to 20% of our energy resources. Most of this energy comes from carbohydrates that our body digests into glucose, or blood sugar. The frontal lobes are so sensitive to drops in glucose, in fact, that a change in mental function is one of the primary signals of nutrient deficiency. Assuming that we are getting glucose regularly,

how does the specific type of carbohydrates we eat affect our brains?

Carbs come in three forms: starch, sugar, and fiber. While on most nutrition labels, they are all lumped into one total carb count, the ratio of the sugar and fiber subgroups to the whole amount affect how the body and brain respond. A high glycemic food, like white bread, causes a rapid release of glucose into the blood, and then comes the dip. Blood sugar shoots down, and with it, our attention span and mood.

On the other hand, oats, grains, and legumes have slower glucose release, enabling a steadier level of attentiveness. For sustained brain power, opting for a varied diet of nutrient-rich foods is critical. When it comes to what you bite, chew, and swallow, your choices have a direct and long-lasting effect on the most powerful organ in your body.

What is Public Health??

 Impact of Public Health

People healthy and saving lives. For example, in the United States,   between 1900 to1999, people’s life  expectancy has increased by over 30 years… 

Did you know that 25 of these “extra years”  gained are due to public health interventions?! 

So , we are going to  take a look at what public health is,  how it is different to clinical medicine, who  is responsible for doing it and how it’s done!  First of all…let’s have a  look at what “health” is. 

What is Health

The World Health Organization defines  health as “a state of complete physical,   mental and social well-being rather than  a mere absence of disease or infirmity.” 

This is a pretty bold and ambitious definition  that prompts people to look beyond diseases and  
focus not only on the physical aspect of health  but also the mental and social aspects as well. .and public health?? Well…..public health is the science and art of  

preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting  health through the organized efforts of society. 

 so how is different to clinical medicine??? Let’s take a look at an example.  Let’s say someone has an  accident and has a broken leg.  A clinician’s main focus is the immediate  health problem……..fixing the fractured leg.  Clinicians focus on the individual.. The public health approach would be holistic   and would focus on figuring out how and why this  person had an accident so that actions can be   taken to prevent it from happening again. For example: 

Why did he have the accident? Was there a problem with his vision? 

Was it a poor knowledge of driving  skills or bad attitudes towards driving?  Was he under the influence of  alcohol or drugs when he was driving?  Are there laws against this  and resources to enforce it?  What are the community expectations  or attitudes towards driving?  Does he have a good social support  network that will help in his recovery   or prevent this from happening again? Was the road he was driving in safe?  Was he driving a safe car  that was well maintained?  If not, why not? Could he not afford it?  If not, why could he not afford it? Does he have a job that doesn’t pay well?  Why is that? Is it because  

he did not have access to good education? Was there good access to health services which   would determine his treatment and recovery? As you can see from this example, health is   determined by a complex interaction between many  different factors, or determinants of health.  These include individual characteristics,  lifestyles and behavior's and also the   physical, social and economic environments…. These are called the social determinants of health 

…In order to make a difference  in health, there is action needed   across all the different determinants. Public health focuses on these upstream  factors to make changes that can benefit  the health of the population as a whole. 

This seems like a very broad  and complex task doesn’t it?? 

So…who is responsible for public health? Ultimately, the responsibility of creating   Whos Responsible a healthy community rests  with all sectors of society.  Health departments do have a central role in  public health…..however, improving the health   of a population requires the coordinated  efforts of a broad range of stakeholders.  This includes other areas of  government, the private sector,  Non-Governmental Organizations, International  Organizations and communities to name a few all united with a shared goal of  improving the health of the public.. 

Now let’s have a look at  how public health works

How Public Health Works

The World Federation of Public  Health Associations has developed  a useful framework to understand  how public health is delivered. There are three core service areas of  public health and a group of enablers  that ensure that these services can  occur effectively and efficiently. 

The three core areas of public health  are: Protection, Promotion and Prevention. 

Protection is about protecting  the health of the population.  This includes the control of infectious diseases,  managing environmental hazards, ensuring a healthy  workplace and managing health emergencies

 Promotion is about improving the  health of the population. It covers a broad range of  activities that not only focuses on  the individual like promoting health  behavior's over a life course. It also focuses  on improving the social-determinants of health. 

Prevention is about preventing health issues  before they occur. It includes activities  such as vaccination and screening. To enable these core areas to function  there needs to be: Good Governance Advocacy to influence and obtain support and  commitment for actions that support a health goal. 

Capacity  having an adequate, well-trained  and supported public health workforce.  And having accurate, timely information to  support health actions such as relevant research,  surveillance, monitoring and evaluation.  

COVID-19 Animation: What Happens If You Get Coronavirus?

 This is SARS Co-V - it belongs to the family of coronaviruses named for the crown like spikes on their surfaces SARS Co V - can cause COVID 19 a contagious viral infection that attacks primarily your throat and lungs what actually happens in your body when you contract the corona virus what exactly causes your body to develop pneumonia and how would a vaccine work the corona virus must infect living cells in order to reproduce let's have a closer look inside the virus genetic material contains the information to make more copies of itself a protein shell provides a hard protective enclosure for the genetic material as the virus travels between the people it infects an outer envelope allows the virus to infect cells by merging with the cell's outer membrane projecting from the envelope are spikes of protein molecules both a typical influenzas  

The new corona  virus use their spikes like a key to get inside a cell in your body where it takes over the cells internal machinery repurposing it to build the components of new viruses when an infected person talks coughs or sneezes droplets carrying the virus may land in your mouth or nose and then move into your lungs once inside your body the virus comes in contact with cells in your throat nose or lungs one spike on the virus inserts into a receptor molecule on your healthy cell membrane like a key in a lock this action allows the virus to get inside your cell a typical flu virus would travel inside a sac made from your cell membrane to your cell's nucleus that houses all its genetic material a virus

The coronavirus on the other hand doesn't need to enter the host cell nucleus it can directly access parts of the host cell called ribosomes Ribosomes use genetic information from the virus to make viral proteins such as the spikes on the virus's surface a packaging structure in your cell then carries the spikes in vesicles which merge with your cells outer layer the cell membrane all the parts needed to create a new virus gathered just beneath your cell's membrane then a new virus begins to butt off from the cell's membrane now with the virus spreading in your body how can you develop pneumonia symptoms for this we'll have to look into your lungs

Each lung has separate sections called lobes normally as you breathe air moves freely through your trachea or windpipe then through large tubes called bronchioles . And finally into tiny sacs called alveoli your Airways and alveoli are flexible and springy when you breathe in each air sac inflates like a small balloon and when you exhale the sacs deflate small blood vessels called capillaries surround your alveoli oxygen from the air you breathe passes into your capillaries and then carbon dioxide from your body passes out of your capillaries into your alveoli so that your lungs can get rid of it when you exhale your Airways catch most germs in the mucus that lines your trachea bronchi and bronchioles in a healthy body hair like cilia lining the tubes constantly push the mucus and germs out of your Airways where you might expel them by coughing normally cells of your immune system attack viruses and germs that make it past your mucus and cilia and enter your alveoli however if your immune system is weakened like in the case of a corona virus infection the virus can overwhelm your immune cells

And your bronchioles and alveoli become inflamed as your immune system attacks the multiplying viruses the inflammation can cause your alveoli to fill with fluid making it difficult for your body to get the oxygen it needs you could develop low burn pneumonia where one lobe of your lungs is affected or you could have bronchopneumonia that affects many areas of both lungs pneumonia may
cause difficulty breathing chest pain coughing fever and chills confusion headache muscle pain and fatigue it can also lead to more serious complications respiratory failure occurs when your breathing becomes so difficult that you need a machine called a ventilator to help you breathe these are the machines that save lives and that medical device companies currently ramp up production
for whether you would develop these symptoms depends on a lot of factors such as your a agent whether you already have an existing condition while this all sounds scary the push to develop a corona virus vaccine is moving at high speed studies of other corona viruses led most researchers to assume that people who have recovered from a SARS co2 infection could be protected from reinfection for a period of time but that assumption needs to be backed by empirical evidence and some studies suggest otherwise there are several different approaches for a potential vaccine against the corona virus                                                                                             

 The basic idea is that you would get a shot that contains faint versions of the virus the vaccine would expose your body to a version of the virus that is too weak to cause infection but just strong enough to stimulate an immune response within a few weeks cells in your immune system would make markers called antibodies which would be specific for only the corona virus or specifically its spike protein antibodies then attach to the virus and prevent it from attaching to your cells your immune system then responds to signals from the antibodies by consuming and destroying the clumps of viruses if you then catch the real virus at a later stage your body would recognize it and destroy it

In other words your immune system is now collecting evidence on whether this will be possible safe and effective is part of what's taking researchers so long to develop a vaccine it's a race against time to develop a vaccine amid a pandemic each step in vaccine development usually takes months if not years an Ebola vaccine broke records by being ready in five years

The hope here is to develop one for the new coronavirus in a record-breaking 12 to 18 months while all this will take time stay home if you can to protect the most vulnerable and don't forget to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds 

The Best Meal Plan To Lose Fat Faster

                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Yes at the end of the day calories are what matter most if you want to truly lose fat as efficiently and as quickly as possible then you need to go beyond just calories and instead pay close attention to the types of foods that make up the calories you're ingesting every day and also how you go about ingesting them as that's what makes all                  

 Three swaps that you'll want to make in your diet that accounts for those variables and can enable you to lose fat faster and then I'll provide you with a sample meal plan that puts all this together for you the first swap

Swap 1 Minimally Processed

You want to make with your diet is to stick them mostly with foods that have been minimally processed so for example foods like oats and multigrain bread as opposed to their refined counterparts such as cereal and white bread that have been stripped of most of their important nutrients and fiber not only are these less processed foods beneficial.                                        When dieting in the sense that they generally provide more nutrients and keep us fuller for longer but they also have another unique benefit that has to do with something called the thermic effect of food which is the amount of calories that our body burns to metabolize.                

Actually use the foods that we ingest and one of the unique fat loss benefits about unprocessed foods is that in most cases our body burns significantly more calories when digesting unprocessed foods than it does when compared to their processed counterparts for instance one study compared the caloric burn required to digest and metabolize                                      

Two minimally processed sandwiches consisting of whole grain bread and real cheddar cheese versus two highly processed sandwiches that instead consisted of white bread and processed cheese although both meals consisted of virtually the same amount of total calories and protein the more processed sandwich had a 50 lower thermic effect and as a result the body burns significantly less calories digesting it than it did with the whole grain sandwiches similarly a six week randomized controlled trial has subjects stick to a diet consisting of either less processed whole grain foods such as oats brown rice and whole grain bread versus a calorie and macronutrient equated diet consisting of more processed refined grains instead such as cereal white rice and white bread .

They found is that the group that stuck with whole grain foods burned on average roughly 100 more calories per day just from digesting and metabolizing their food than the processed food group did and to put this into perspective given that the average person burns roughly 100 calories to jog a mile you'd essentially be doing the equivalent of jogging an extra mile a day.                                

Just by choosing to incorporate whole grain less processed foods as opposed to more processed foods for most of your meals and if you crunch the numbers over three months this simple change would theoretically enable you to burn 2.5 pounds more fat just by making that switch so yes wild calories are what matter most and while you definitely will still burn fat despite eating processed foods as long as you're still in a calorie deficit you can further influence the calories outside of the equation and potentially speed up the these foods for whole grain less processed foods instead and let them do the work for you fat loss process by simply swapping

Distribute Your Meals

 Distributing your meals throughout the day because while yes again your
total daily calorie intake is what matters most for fat loss it turns out that the manner in which you distribute these calories throughout the day seems to be more important than we've previously been led to believe illustrating this is a recent 2020 paper and another similarly designed 2015 paper that compared the effects of using a more front heavy distribution approach by allocating more calories to breakfast versus a back heavy approach by allocating more calories to dinner instead what the researchers found is that subjects using the front heavy approach not only experienced significantly less hunger and significantly less cravings for sweets throughout the day but they also experience greater overall energy levels meaning that they were able to adhere to                                                                  

The diet more easily and they likely burn more calories throughout the day from fidgeting walking and just moving more in general because of their increased energy levels and in fact this protocol was also repeated in a
longitudinal weight loss study which found that subjects using a front heavy
approach lost more weight decreased

Their waist circumference to a greater degree and reported greater hunger
control over a period of 12 weeks when compared to a group that used a back heavy approach by simply swapping the breakfast and dinner calories indicating that there does seem to be some indirect                                                   

Fat loss benefits to allocating more calories to your meals early on in the
day and this is something that i personally noticed as well i used to be someone who would save a lot of my calories from my evening meals because i knew that that's when my cravings would really hit but when i instead experimented with shifting more and more

Calories to early on in the day and I'm at breakfast i found that not only did
my energy levels throughout the day and my gym performance considerably improved but i also just wasn't craving things as much at night because i just wasn't as hungry now obviously this does vary for the individual and may depend on when your workout takes place but regardless

I would highly suggest even if you're intermittent fasting for example to at
least experiment with just shifting more and more of your calories to your first meals of the day as this does seem to have some unique benefits in terms of enabling you to control your cravings to burn more calories and potentially

Create greater fat less results in the long run as a result now the last swap
is something  and it's to not only choose mostly unprocessed foods to include in your diet but you want to also choose the ones that are highly satiating and proven to do the best job at suppressing your appetite as this will enable you to better adhere to your diet and minimize any excess snacking you may be doing throughout the day that's sabotaging                         

Your calorie deficit and based on the findings from the satiety index which
examined the effects of 38 different common foods on hunger levels we can
clearly see that on a calorie for calorie comparison some options are just
better than others when it comes to controlling your appetite for example
even with calories equated four simply swapping whole grain bread for oats
instead will provide a 25 greater effector suppressing your hunger.

Swapping brown rice for whole grain pasta or boiled potatoes instead will
provide a 30 or 60 percent boost in satiation respectively so what I'd
suggest is look over the index and experiment with swapping some of these
more satiated foods into your diet and just see how your body and appetite
responds now to put everything together for you let's go through a sample meal plan that not only incorporates these various tips for you but also tastes great I'll use roughly 2100 calories for this meal plan but keep in mind that you want to adjust the portion sizes based on what's needed for you to be at a calorie deficit this is going to vary for everyone .                                                                                                

For lunch we'll be tapering down the calories slightly but still sticking
with satiating unprocessed foods with baked salmon boiled potatoes and a side of sautéed asparagus                                                                                Then to keep you going until dinner you can have an orange and can even plant in a protein shake as well depending on when your workout is and then for dinner we'll continue tapering down the calories slightly with baked chicken breasts and a side of veggies roasted in olive oil.

And then after dinner to help satisfy whatever sweet cravings may have popped up we'll make a simple high protein Greek yogurt parfait consisting of zero percent fat plain Greek yogurt mixed in with cinnamon and stevia for sweetness and then top with frozen mixed berries and a tablespoon of chia seeds super easy to make yet extremely satisfying so hopefully that meal plan gives you a little more insight into how you can start planning your meals based on what i went through while still keeping everything tasty and satisfying and just keep in mind that although some of the swaps i mentioned here can definitely help speed up the fat loss process just know that at the end of the day adhering to a calorie deficit is what's most important so experiment with your diet.