From Fast Food Junkie, to Brain Food Convert
The one sentence that changed how I think about food forever.
Hello.
Yes, you’re getting this edition early as I am officially breaking up with our regular Friday programming.
I had a moment in bed the other morning where there were only streams of sentences greeting me through my first thoughts. I realized then, why limit myself to a strict schedule when I can rely on when the thoughts are hot off inspiration instead?
The only schedule I am sticking to is our regular Saturday listicle: A NEW WITH HUE, which you can expect in your inboxes Saturday morning with a curation you can look forward to.
But, for now, I want to tell you a story about how I was a chubby fast food junkie growing up.
In my youth, I was a regular at one of those yellow junk food giants that needs no mention.
After school I’d order a double cheeseburger with extra pickles and a large serving of salty oil-drenched french fries, with a side of sugary BBQ or chili sauce.
Can you recall that aftertaste? That flat waxy dryness that made my tastebuds feel stale, leaving a heavy residue that draped across my tongue.
I used to lovingly enjoy these culprits to my chubby childhood with enthusiasm, of course, I was also completely oblivious to what I was voluntarily doing to my brain and body.
Fast-forward to last Saturday: my boyfriend and I went on a long cycle through a neighborhood we hadn’t explored, in search of delicious homemade Lebanese food a friend had recommended. Unfortunately when we arrived, at peak dinner time, all the food was sold out.
But what surprised us both was how packed the big-name junk food chains were—on a Saturday night, a buzz around the row of the familiar names from my youth, nestled between restaurants selling honest wholesome food, was what felt like an infinite rolodex of customers happily chowing down at these fast food joints.
I couldn’t help myself—I looked on with sadness, thinking: “If only they knew what these foods were doing to their brains.”
I can’t recall the exact moment it crystallized for me, but amidst my own deep awakening around the responsibility I carried towards my brain’s health, I was introduced to the wondrous world of neuro-nutrition.
Reading “Brain Food,” by Lisa Mosconi, PhD was one of those moments that sparked an awakening—not only in creating an awareness for the distinction between the mind and the brain, but also in helping me understand why my everyday food choices mattered.
Dr. Lisa Mosconi is a globally recognized neuroscientist working at the intersection of neuroscience and nutrition, she’s revolutionized our understanding around the brain-food connection. As Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Will Cornell Medicine and director of its Alzheimer’s Prevention Program, she’s spent over 15 years researching what brains actually need to thrive.
While her recent work focuses more on women’s and menopausal brains, her seminal work was a skillful translation of complex neuroscience and nutrition into actionable advice. One sentence in particular, spelled it out clearly for me:
“Our neurotransmitters are created from one source: our food.” (74)
It’s not an exaggeration to say this book blew my mind wide open.
My copy mirrors the revelation this book introduced—as I am rereading it again, I can barely get past pages free of any highlights.
The zeitgeist of our past rarely addressed the matter of brain care. I’ll be the first to admit, I barely considered my brain’s health before.
The truth is I didn’t understand how influential my daily habits were—especially in how what I ate impacts how my brain operates. Eating felt more like a luxury for my tastebuds, rather than a way to care for my brain.
But the more I learned, the more obvious this capital ‘T’ truth became.
If the foundations of our brain—neural networks and neurotransmitters, to name some—depended entirely on the nutrients we feed it, then it’s no surprise why what we eat matters to our brain. As Dr. Mosconi explains:
“In the end, it is our unique genetic makeup, combined with our own lifestyle and behavior, that determines the fate of our brains, and therefore our chances of aging gracefully over the course of a lifetime—or of forgetting names and faces instead.” (113)
We don’t know what we don’t know.
I was certainly in the dark about how my meals impacted my brain.
Despite its controversies, “Supersize Me” (2004) is a stark display of what happens to a man who voluntarily, in the name of research and entertainment, ate a diet exclusively of junk food.
When we zoom out to think about the role our brain plays in our lives—literally conducting a complex orchestra of operations, systems, and functions, hoping to create a smooth symphony at every millisecond—then each meal becomes much more than simply satisfying our cravings or hunger.
Each meal is the foundation our brain has to power itself.
“When you eat fresh vegetables or fruits, the vitamins they release in the bloodstream travel all the way up to the brain, where they are received by their dedicated transport systems and are happily welcomed across the blood-brain barrier.” (96)
The science spells it out: “The production of neurotransmitters inside the brain responds quite rapidly to changes in our diet” (75) and “a diet poor in omega-3s, especially DHA, increases the speed at which the brain ages!” (56)
It’s one thing to say diet affects weight…
But it’s a profoundly different message to tell me that every single thing I choose to eat will influence the quality of how my brain functions.
Though the hard truth about our current food environment is how it’s not set up for our flourishing. Much of the food we see around us, in our urban dwellings, are not made to help us thrive.
This is why quality and nutrient density is one of the most underrated considerations we need to prioritize when it comes to our meals.
Mosconi’s book also shows us how brain foods can be both nourishing and satisfying by including delicious recipes that honor her Italian-American heritage.
What I am declaring is not a trend, it's an evidence-based proclamation for food as medicine, especially for our brains.
The fact that my partner and I ventured kilometers outside our neighborhood, to an unfamiliar area for the promise of hunting tasty food is one example of the lengths we all go to eat well.
Whether our daily considerations translate to only tasty or nourishing food that's delicious, the leap we’re each responsible for is to educate ourselves about the innate power in our food.
Food is more than fuel. Food is medicine, its nourishment, and its the only source of energy our brain relies on.
