Plant-based Brain Bowls

Is your brain feeling like mush? Foggy?

Well, your brain and your gut talk. They talk about you and they definitely do this with each other. So, when you’re craving something it could be your gut trying to tell you something - good or bad.

Sometimes, we can have something overgrowing in the gut that’s calling you to eat more sugar, carbs, salty, vinegar-y, starchy, sweet….. And that something could be an overgrowth of yeast, a parasite, fungus, or bacteria. And when we give in to these cravings for the benefit of these hungry gut bugs - they can take over, ultimately cause all sorts of complications - brain fog is often a symptom (outside of the more obvious gas, bloating, abdominal discomfort, bowel habit changes).

What can you do?

1. Well, first it’s important to identify what you’re dealing with. Is it yeast? Bacteria? Fungus? Parasite? Or more than just one of these?

2. Second, is it truly an overgrowth? How can you tell? There are expensive measures you can take to get to the bottom of the exact species, but there are also a few ways you can check at home, depending on what you’re dealing with.

3. Once you’ve identified what’s out of balance in the gut - it’s important to understand what it’s feeding off of. For some, this can even include micronutrients! Meaning your bugs are taking up too much of your food’s richness, or producing too much for you! An example of this is vitamin B12.

4. Next, eat according to what can help rebalance an overgrowth of gut bugs to get things under control.

5. Lastly, it may require a bit of help from supplements including nauturopathic and herbal therapies.

6. And most importantly, re-imagining your life ahead feeling good without the overgrowth, may require changes. It may mean less processed sugars, or fermented foods.

There are periods in life (ahem, peri-menopause, menopause) usually involving hormonal shifts that cause estrogen to get out of balance - creating an estrogen imbalance, despite its decline. And if you’ve ever spent time in one of my group sessions (check here for what’s on the horizon) you’ve probably heard me talk about the estrobolome. The estrobolome is essentially a subset of your body’s natural friendly bacteria that metabolize estrogen. I’m going to skip to the good part here. There’s a lot in between how I get to this conclusion. EAT PLANTS. Specifically, plants that contain phytoestrogens. And yep, only plants have phytoestrogens (phyto is a prefix meaning plants!).

So, let’s make a brain bowl that can help clear up that hormonal brain fog with some necessary phytoestrogens!

Ingredients

There’s a few ways to make a brain bowl. This list is a few ingredients you can add to make your zombie brain zing, zap and come back to life! Feed your microbiome with these key ingredients.

• greens - the darker green, the better. Greens add fibre, but they also add minerals essential for the brain - magnesium, vitamin C, some B vitamins. Mix it up. Opt for:

  • kale

  • romaine lettuce

  • red leaf lettuce

  • radicchio

  • spinach

• nuts & seeds - phytoestrogens are key here. Not only will seeds maximize your phytoestrogen intake, helping you to balance an estrogen dominance, BUT you’ll also add in some wonderful fats - omega3’s and minerals like Zinc, which can help to heal the gut (which hint: you’re likely dealing with if you’re having some brain mushiness):

  • flaxseed - chew them up and keep them in the freezer

  • pumpkin seeds

  • hemp hearts

  • walnuts - these look like the brain for good reason!

  • Brazil nuts - great to add some selenium to your diet to help with more gut healing

• whole grains - fibre, fibre, fibre! Whole grains complemented with legumes will help you to complete the essential amino acid profile.

  • brown rice

  • millet

  • quinoa

  • oats

  • barley

• colour - colour means vitamins! They’ll add a great deal of vitamins A, C, and B vitamins, generally. Plus, a helping of more minerals. The vitamin C combined with the legumes will help you to absorb the non-heme iron.

  • bell peppers

  • tomatoes

  • sweet potatoes

  • corn

  • fruits like - strawberries, kiwi, orange, lemon

• legumes - a great way to incorporate plant-based proteins that are heaping with fibre, non-heme iron and B vitamins. Some of my favourites:

  • lentils

  • black beans

  • chickpeas

  • red kidney beans

  • peas

  • black-eyed beans

  • navy beans

  • fava beans

  • why not top it off with hummus!

There’s so much more you can add to your bowl and I encourage you to add. Things like onions add pre-biotic fibre to help feed those healthy gut microbes. Add some herbs for added minerals and vitamins. Don’t forget a dressing. I love a simple lemon juice with hummus or olive oil. Both options add to the nutrient profile and brain-boosting benefits!