Hello.
This is Six Minute
English from BBC
Learning English. I'm Phil. And I'm Georgie.
Has this ever happened to you?
You eat a doughnut and get a sugar rush. A strong feeling of excitement
and energy, only to collapse
an hour later with a headache? Food affects us more than we realise.
That's because what we eat alters our brain chemistry, changing our mood
and emotions. Our brain is working 24 hours a day,
even while we sleep.
So it needs more fuel than other body parts.
So can we eat our way to feeling happy? In this programme,
we'll be discussing the relationship between food and the brain and,
as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.
Sounds great, Georgie. But first
I have a question for you. Humans, with an average brain weighing
one and a half kilos, are one of the cleverest animals,
but which mammal has the biggest brain? Is it:
A) an African elephant, B) a dolphin or C) a sperm whale.
I think it's an African elephant.
OK, Georgie. I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.
Now, did you know that, despite making up
only 2% of our total weight,
our brain uses 20%
of the body's energy. Nutritionist Dr Reeta Achari
does. She thinks we should be specifically eating for our brains,
as she explained to BBC
World Service Programme, The Food Chain: Eating every day,
right? And eating a balanced diet
so you get the full complement of vitamins and minerals
is critical. If you go low in something and one day
if you just, you know, don't eat any protein for
a day or - for me in my situation,
if I don't eat any vegetables - I know the next day
I'm not as sharp. Number one on
Dr Achari’s list of brain foods is a regular and balanced diet,
a diet containing the proper types and amounts of food needed to stay healthy.
Remember the ‘Rainbow Rule’ – eat foods of many different colours
with lots of leafy greens. A balanced diet also includes
different types of nutrients – vitamins, fibre, protein and so on.
But including these isn't always possible.
You might go low on,
meaning have very little of, one food type.
Dr Achari says when this happens to her,
she’s not as sharp – as intelligent and quick to notice things, as usual.
Dr Achari names
lots of different foods which help boost our brains,
from wild caught Alaskan salmon and avocado to berries and walnuts.
But hang on, Georgie!
Wild caught Alaskan salmon?!
Very nice, and very... expensive!
It sounds like these superfoods are just for the super-rich!
Well, not according to blogger Michelle Munt.
Here she is telling BBC
World Service’s, The Food Chain, how eating well needn’t cost a fortune:
It's not expensive and everyone's got a freezer
these days so, yes,
you can batch cook things, freeze them, and then use them in like a week's time
or something... so I think the problem is again
it's about our lifestyles, it's
about the fact that we feel like we've got limited time,
and therefore people are trying to cut the time down in the kitchen
by cooking things that are pre-made or even worse
we're just chucking it in the microwave but actually
you can do fresh food in 20 minutes flat...
Michelle's idea for brain food on a budget
involves batch cooking. Batch cooking means cooking a lot of food
at one time, then
saving some to eat later,
usually by freezing it.
Although microwave ready meals are convenient,
they lack many nutrients needed by the brain.
Luckily, adding some fresh vegetables to batch cooked food
means anyone can make a brain-healthy meal quickly, or in 20 minutes flat
as Michelle says, using the word flat to mean
'exactly' and to emphasise that it can be done quickly.
OK, so we need a balanced diets, and batch cooking for big brains!
Now, let's test your brain,
Georgie, with my question. Right.
You asked which mammal has the biggest brain,
and I guessed it was an African elephant... Which was... the wrong answer,
I'm afraid! In fact, the biggest brain belongs to the sperm whale,
weighing about eight kilos. And the sperm whale's main food? Fish!
OK, let's recap the vocabulary
we've learned in this programme
starting with sugar rush, suddenly feeling
excited and full of energy after eating food
which contains a lot of sugar. A balanced diet
includes the correct combinations of food needed to stay healthy.
If you go low on something, you have very little of it.
If you describe someone as sharp,
you mean they're intelligent and quick to react to things.
Batch cooking means cooking a lot of food at the same time
and saving some for later.
And finally, doing something in 20 minutes flat means 20 minutes
exactly, and is used to emphasise that it's done very quickly.
Once again our
six minutes are up!
Have fun cooking up your own brain boosting breakfasts
and remember to join us again next time, here at 6 Minute
English. Goodbye
for now! Bye!