How to Nourish Your Brain: Top Foods, Sleep Tips, and Healthy Habits
Disclaimer: This article is provided for educational purposes only and reflects a Natural Hygiene (Terrain Model) perspective on health and nutrition. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition, and does not constitute veterinary or medical advice. The views expressed are independent of the conventional medical or veterinary industry, and all decisions regarding animal care or personal health care are the responsibility of the owner/individual.
The human brain is a marvel of creation. It is so complex that even today there is much we do not understand about the brain and how it functions.
“The brain, though the creature of its cellular constituents, is nevertheless supreme in the organism of which it is a part. The cells have created it as president to preside over and direct their affairs. As the supreme faculty of the body, the brain is protected and served by its cell constituency preferentially. The brain thus is treated royally. It receives the best of everything; it is served and kept operational, even if this means the sacrifice of millions upon millions of cells. Thus, we can say the brain is the kingpin behind the human show.”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“If you knew what was involved in turning over during the night during sleep, you’d be astonished. An area of the body involving countless billions of cells becomes cramped or distressed in some way. An urgent request goes to the brain—rather, the brain has been monitoring the situation all along. But movement is not initiated as long as matters remain within certain parameters. When the situation threatens the integrity of certain areas, the brain, entirely beneath the level of wakefulness, will mobilize trillions of cells that comprise hundreds of muscle systems and effect a shift of body weight to a more comfortable position.” -T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“The brain is absolute master of all the cells within its domain. Yet it is totally subservient to its cells and is very responsive to their needs. But the organic order of the body system is such that the brain is at the very apex in importance. While the brain was the last development of the human organism, it is the first in importance. Every cell, tissue and organ system other than the heart are slowly sacrificed, in critical periods such as starvation, that the brain might survive. When the brain can no longer survive, death occurs”. – T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
THE BUILDING OF BRAIN TISSUES:
Building the brain starts in the uterus and continues on into our 20’s, however, 90% of brain growth is completed by age 5 and the brain reaches 80% of adult size by age three. Therefore, the earliest years of nutrition have the biggest impact on the brain.
“While the human infant is normally of very slow growth, the human brain is larger at birth than that of any other animal and its rate of growth is greater. In mother’s milk nature has provided for the greater demands made by the rapid growth and important size of the human brain in infancy and she has not made these provisions in the milk of any other animal. In other words, mother’s milk is peculiarly fitted to nourish the brain of the infant, while that of the cow and goat are not. Not merely is human milk more digestible, but it is more complex than the substitutes. In it are found lecithin bodies in peculiar properties, which serve for the construction of the large human brain.” – Herbert Shelton, The Hygienic System, Vol. II Orthotrophy
“Lecithin, a widely distributed fat is very important in human nutrition, being an essential ingredient of the brain and nerves… Lecithin contains, besides the fatty acids, phosphorus. Insufficient fat tends to lessen nervous efficiency….Fats, like sugars, are best taken as nature prepares them; that is in the foods in which they exist. Most nuts are rich in oil and form the best sources of fat for human consumption.” – Herbert Shelton, The Hygienic System, Vol. II Orthotrophy
NUTRIENTS THAT PLAY A HEAVY ROLE IN BRAIN HEALTH:
The building of nerve tissue and brain cells requires phosphorus, manganese, iron, and zinc and the brain utilizes around 20% of the body’s blood sugar.
“Nerves and brain are rich in phosphorus.” – Herbert Shelton, The Hygienic System, Vol. II Orthotrophy
Phosphorus: Phosphorus, chiefly in the form of lecithin, appears to be an essential of oxidation and to take part in many of the body’s chemical processes. The brain and nervous system contain considerable lecithin. There is much phosphorus in the bones and teeth. There are about 1.5 lbs. in a 150 lb. body. The chief sources of supply are, in the order named, Vegetables: kale, large radish, pumpkins, watercress, sorrel, dill, brussel sprouts, cucumbers, swiss chard, romaine lettuce, savoy cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, rutabagas, spinach, leek bulbs, lettuce, asparagus; Fruits: currants, huckleberries, peaches, gooseberries, limes, cherries, watermelons, lemons, breadfruit, mirabellas, oranges, apples, red raspberries, plums, grapes; Nuts: brazil nuts, pinions, beechnuts, peanuts (a legume), almonds, English walnuts, filberts, pecans, chestnuts, (dried), water chestnuts, cocoanut.
Potassium: Phosphate of potassium is the mineral basis of all muscular tissue. Potassium is a predominant element in the red-blood cells and brain and is essential to the formation of glycogen from sugar, of proteins from peptones and proteoses, and of fats from glycogen. The spleen and liver are both abundantly supplied with potassium. There are about 8.4 oz. in a 150 lb. body. The chief sources of supply are, in the order named; Vegetables: tomatoes, kale, lettuce, turnips, sorrel, celery, rutabagas, cabbage, romaine lettuce, swiss chard, cauliflower, cucumbers, eggplant, beets, parsnips, brussel sprouts, savoy cabbage, small radish; Fruits: currants (dried), limes, olives (dried), huckleberries, lemons, cherimoyas, prunes (fresh), peaches, apricots, mangos, oranges, grapes, watermelons, cherries, blackberries, breadfruit, figs (dried Smyrna), white currants, bananas, plums, avocados; Nuts: acorns (dried), water chestnuts, beechnuts (dried), cocoanut, filberts, brazil nuts, pecans, pinions.
Zinc: Zinc is found in connection with phosphorus in the brain. It exists in very minute quantities. It is thought to be connected with the action of the “vitamins,” which it seems to be able to replace to some extent, at least, in the animal organism. It seems to be essential to the nutrition and growth of certain plants and has been found in milk. These mineral elements are divided into base-forming (acid-binding) or alkaline elements, and acid forming elements. The bases are potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper, lithium, zinc and nickel and the acid-formers are phosphorus, sulfur, silicon, chlorine, fluorine, iodine, arsenic and bromine. – Herbert Shelton, The Hygienic System, Vol. II Orthotrophy
We have been gifted this miraculous organ to direct both our conscious thoughts and subconscious requirements. Sadly, in our modern state of degeneration, we take for granted the gift of our brain and put it into a state of distress right from the very first days of life.
“The brain consists of fifty billion cells that are the most highly developed of any known. They have the potential to live for hundreds of years. They do not reproduce as do other body cells—they do not reproduce at all. But even the healthiest of us lose perhaps a hundred thousand of our brain cells daily. At this rate, it would take 150 years to lose 10% of our brain capacity. But humans often squander this precious heritage and become senile in their sixties, seventies and eighties, still in the relative youth of life’s potential, with loss of perhaps more than 50% of their cerebral matter.” ”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
LUCKILY FOR US, THE BODY PROTECTS THE BRAIN:
“Even though affected by physical degeneracy, the brain is always the least affected of organs in famine, disease, starvation, and physical debilitation.” – T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
Because of the great importance of our brain the body focuses significant energy into the protection of the brain. Even when we fail to supply the body with its needs the body will sacrifice other organs and tissues to keep the brain supplied with all of its needs.
What then can we do to slow the degeneration and stop the abuse of our brains? Should we try to feed our brain by eating certain foods?
THE BODY MUST BE TREATED AS A WHOLE:
“As every organ of the body is essential to wholeness and integrity of structure and vigor of function, no organ can be spared. Not merely must the nutritive and drainage systems be perfectly adapted to the requirements of the brain and body, but the smallest and apparently least important parts of the body must be harmoniously and fully developed. As Dr. Nichols so well expressed it: “The smallest instrument out of tune brings discord into the harmony of life.” ”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“No confidence can be placed in the claims for therapeutic virtues in special foods. The theories and claims of those who maintain foods have certain specific effects upon certain organs and tissues of the body have been thoroughly studied and tested by the author and by others. Time and time again we have prescribed these foods and watched for their alleged effects. These effects have not shown up. Similar to the effort to feed special foods in “specific diseases” is the effort to feed special organs of the body. We are told that there are certain foods to feed the eyes, certain foods to feed the nerves, certain foods to feed the hair, certain foods to feed the nails, certain foods to feed the brain, certain foods to make one magnetic, certain foods to make one sleep, certain foods to fill one with energy, etc. No such foods exist. The ensemble of diet must meet the ensemble of the nutritive needs of the body before any organ can be adequately nourished. Nothing that is good for the muscles is bad for the nerves, or any vital organ. What is good for the teeth is good for every organ of the body. Foods that promote and preserve beauty of the skin are also best for the brain. Foods that build strong, efficient stomachs are precisely those foods that build vigorous hearts, efficient livers, good kidneys, etc. The good of one is the good of all. That which perfects one organ perfects all the organs. The body is a unit and goes forward or backward as a unit–it must be nourished as a whole, not by piece-meal.” – Herbert Shelton, The Hygienic System, Vol. II Orthotrophy
NERVE ENERGY AND THE BRAIN:
“We need sleep to regenerate nerve energy for the brain and nervous system.” ”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
Nerve energy is a form of electricity measurable in millivolts. Sleep laboratories have successfully substituted electricity in place of the body’s own. When this is accomplished it is called electrosleep. It takes only two hours out of twenty-four to fully restore nerve energy in this manner. Demonstrating that nerve energy is electrical is easy. If you mashed your finger, a message would immediately go to the brain and back would come a command to remove the finger from that which applied the pressure. Moreover, the brain would command the entire balance of the body to cooperate in the extraction of the finger from the offending pressure. Only electricity is capable of such speedy transmission. No chemical process or circulatory process is capable of this dispatch. It occurs only through a network of nerves with conductive abilities, and electricity is the only form of energy it can conduct. If you take a weak voltage and hook up to it while holding someone else’s hand, the other person gets a shock immediately when you touch the live electrical source. I don’t think anyone can doubt that we do generate electricity, and that is the form of energy we use to conduct our physical and mental activities. Sensations are transformed into electrical stimuli and forwarded to the brain. The brain interprets these and sends out commands based upon the interpretation. Thus, if you put your finger to a hot object, the finger is commanded in a flash to withdraw from it. The foregoing is to demonstrate that the body is primarily an organism that works on the amount of electricity it generates and which it has in its reserves. If this supply is depleted or otherwise insufficient to cope with the needs of the body, then body functions become impaired, including the processes of elimination of both endogenous metabolic wastes and exogenous poisons introduced into the body. This impairment begets further impairment including diminishing the body’s ability to restore depleted nerve energy. The body starts going downhill. The next stage of this decline is called toxemia. ”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
THE IMPORTANCE OF SLEEP:
“Your intelligence quotient depends upon how efficiently and intensely the brain operates. It is well-known that caffeine will temporarily intensify and excite thinking until the letdown comes. Many stimulants will intensify mental activities. Good health will naturally intensify and enhance mental activities without providing a “letdown.” Nothing in the world will sharpen mental acuity as will a few days to a few weeks of fasting. Mental acuity arises from two primary conditions:
1. The less toxins in the blood that flows through the brain, the better the brain is able to
function.
2. The more nerve energy there is available, the more of it there is available to the brain for
thought processes.
Hence, the more adequate our sleep, the more nerve energy we’ll have for the brain and for more intense thought processes. When “you’re sharper than a tack” your body is purer and your nerve energy greater than at other, mentally duller times.” – T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“The cells of the body require rest but not necessarily sleep, but the brain and nervous system sleep. Cells require periodic rest so that they may cope with their eliminative and restorative functions.”
However, if a person eats before sleeping, his/her body will direct much of its energies towards the digestion of the food. Since the brain is involved in digestion, less sound sleep will result.” T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“A nap of from a few minutes to an hour not only rests the body, but it also permits the brain to substantially renew its fund of nerve energy.” T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“Recent research has shown that merely closing the eyes rests the brain and mind in a peculiar way. An electric rhythm starts as soon as the eyes are closed, and ceases immediately when they are opened. What the exact purpose and nature of this rhythm are, still remains to a great extent a mystery, but one might well imagine that they serve to clear “negative charges” from the brain. At all events they denote recuperation. The activity of the senses, and particularly the eyes, prevents this from occurring.” – T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
EXERCISE
“Exercise is much more than simply developing strong muscles. It is body building in the complete sense of the term. Every cell and fiber is involved. The heart, kidneys, liver, skin, hair, eyes, etc., including the brain and nervous system, are stimulated and strengthened in these various functions. The tone and quality of the entire system is improved. The skeletal system, for example, depends upon exercise in order to maintain its size, strength, and physiological functions.” ”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
THINGS THAT INJURE AND IMPAIR THE BRAIN:
Eating is an unavoidable essential of life. It is also one of the worst ways that we burden and damage our bodies and by extension our brains as well. By choosing foods that are unsuitable we impair the brain with every bite. The brain requires blood flow to work at its optimum efficiency. This means the more energy we expend on materials that are difficult to digest, the less blood flow is going to the brain.
“If digestion is to proceed normally almost the entire attention of the system must be given to the work. Blood is rushed to the digestive organs in large quantities. There is a dilatation of the blood vessels in the organs to accommodate the extra supply of blood. There must be a consequent constriction of the blood vessels in other parts of the body in order to force the blood into the digestive organs and to compensate for their own loss of blood. But if the brain and muscles are to work they, too, require an increased blood supply. In order to supply them there is a dilatation of the blood vessels in the brain or muscles and a contraction of the blood vessels in the viscera. Every part of the body cannot be supplied with extra blood at the same time. If one part gets an extra supply some other part must get less.” – Herbert Shelton, The Hygienic System, Vol. II Orthotrophy
CHRONIC DEHYDRATION IMPAIRS BRAIN FUNCTION
“Deprive man of water and he is soon reduced to a few pounds of dust. His body is about 70% water, his blood 90%. Water forms the greater part of his brain and nerves.”
“The body has some 50 billion brain cells. It has billions of nerve cells involved in message transmission. Messages travel within and around the body with the speed of electricity—nerve transmissions are almost all electrical. There are chemical communications within the body as well.” – T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
A well-hydrated body is able to conduct electricity with much greater efficiency than a dehydrated body. Dehydration also impairs the chemical reactions.
“Carbohydrate fermentation gives rise to carbon dioxide, alcohol, acetic acid and water and results in chronic auto-intoxication, which resembles, in every way, the symptoms of chronic alcoholism. The alcohol produces chronic irritation in the system and results in the formation of scar tissue. Previous to the formation of the scar tissue there are the usual disturbances caused by irritation. It also causes capillary congestion which result, in turn, in atrophy of brain and muscles. The irritation of the mucous surfaces results in the overproduction of mucous giving rise to catarrh. – Herbert Shelton, The Hygienic System, Vol. II Orthotrophy
Anything which creates alcohol in our system, including poor food combining leading to bloating and fermentation of fruits will impair brain function.
“Nicotine, as obtained from smoking tobacco, adds to metabolic dysfunctioning. It impairs the absorption of vitamin C and interferes with the blood circulation. By constricting the blood vessels, nicotine robs the brain of its essential nutrients, particularly blood glucose, its major fuel. In fact, not only does nicotine inhibit vitamin C absorption, but it actually destroys some or all of the vitamin C already in the blood. One of the mental effects of vitamin C depletion is increased irritability. Smokers tend to be quick to irritate and often exhibit emotional outbursts. ”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
Bad nutrition; lack of exercise; polluted air; lack of sunshine; insufficient rest and sleep; enervation; and mental and emotional habits; and the taking of drugs, medicines and social poisons like tea, coffee, chocolate, cocoa and alcohol, all lead to toxemic tissues, resulting in breakdown of brain cells and nervous tissues. ”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
INORGANIC MINERALS
“Those who drink mineral-containing water are often found to have heavy plaque in their systems. The rejected minerals which the body cannot use often combine with cholesterol and other fatty substances to form plaque. These block the arteries. The rejected minerals are also likely to be put aside in the body in spaces that exist. Notably is this so in the cranial cavity where the spaces of lost brain cells are filled in by minerals, thus leading to ossification of the brain. This is a cause of senility.” – T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“These inorganic mineral deposits lead to kidney and gallstone formation, hardening of the arteries, arthritis, heart trouble, ossification of the brain and other serious diseases.”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“The inorganic minerals found in mineral water are deposited by the body in tissue structures and bones. Mineral deposits can lead to kidney stone and gallstone formation, hardening of the arteries, ossification of the brain, arthritis and heart disease. Inorganic minerals excreted through the skin can cause tissue degeneration.” – T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
“Our bodies cannot use inorganic minerals. The body treats inorganic minerals as poisons and utilizes its energies in trying to expel them. Whether the raw minerals come from hard water, from fresh leaves, stems and stalks or from the by-products of cooking decomposition, the body cannot use them. Instead, they create an eliminative problem. If uneliminated these minerals are likely to combine with fatty substances and harden, thus ossifying the brain and clogging arteries and veins. It is said that herbivores are short-lived because of the abundance of inorganic minerals in their food.”- T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
EXCESS FATS
“Dr. R.A. Swank from the University of Oregon has published a number of studies showing the effects of fat in causing the red blood cells to stick together. After feeding some hamsters a meal of cream, he noticed that the little red blood cells started sticking together. They would not pass through the capillaries, but would block them off. Since the red blood cells carry oxygen to the tissues, he also found there to be a great decrease in oxygen in the tissues. Following a high-fat meal, the oxygen content of the tissues of the brain was measured and found to be markedly decreased.” – T.C.Fry, The Life Science Course
KEY TAKEAWAYS
We cannot fix the brain without fixing everything else in the body, and conversely, we cannot fix the body without fixing the brain. As with any other health complaint, the body must be treated as a whole of interconnected, and interdependent organisms. Where there is distress in one area there is distress in all areas.
While our brain cells do not regenerate, our body provides significant protection to our brain. We begin life with an abundance of brain cells. If injured our brain has the ability to rewire itself to take over for damaged areas.
Maintaining optimal brain health, and avoiding brain fog will predominantly come down to keeping the body properly hydrated and supplied with the best nutrition possible. Avoiding inorganic minerals and excess fats, especially cooked and refined fats is essential. We should not be eliminating all fats though. Incorporating small amounts of nuts and seeds in their raw state a few times per week provides the body with important nutrients to keep things running at their optimum.
Nerve energy is a big factor in our brain’s performance daily. The more nerve energy we use up on digestion the less is available for our brains. The better our sleep the more nerve energy we can produce. Emotions, discord in relationships and work stress can all run down our nerve energy leading to brain fog.
Focus on getting a good night’s sleep, a nap in the afternoon and closing your eyes a few times per day to regenerate nerve energy and keep your mind sharp. Delay your meals and eat lightly to conserve nerve energy if you are feeling run down.
Do you want to learn more about how our self-healing and self-cleaning body remedies disease conditions and returns to a state of health when the conditions of health are supplied? Start by reading “Why do we get sick?“
Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: Consultations
Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month! Support Group Information and Sign Up Form
Eat fruit and be well my friends.
Published by