You should eat salmon before a test, berries to prevent Alzheimer's, or a vitamin supplement to increase your memory. You've heard the term "brain foods" since you were a kid, but how much do you really know about them? More importantly, is there really a way to boost your brain power just be eating a certain type of diet? We talked with two experts to unravel the myths and unpack the facts about how much food can really impact your brain.

Just as your stomach, muscles, and heart feed on the nutrients that food supplies, so does the brain. The brain controls almost everything we do and when it takes in chemicals it can have an effect on how it works, both positively and negatively. While you can't push your brain past a certain limit, chances are that your diet isn't providing it with what it needs.

Since the brain is a complicated machine, I talked with Barbara Shukitt-Hale of the USDA Nutrition Research Facility at Tufts University and Gary Wenk, professor of neuroscience, and author of the Your Brain on Food blog at Psychology Today to get a better understanding of how and why certain chemicals in foods have an effect on our brains. Before we delve into the ways you can integrate brain foods into your diet, we have to get an understanding of how those foods get from your mouth to your brain and what they do when they get there.

The Science Behind Why Certain Foods Interact with Your Brain

Studies on the effects of food on the brain are relatively young, and we're still learning why some foods can benefit the brain and why others can't. We do know that certain foods and diets are better for the brain, but figuring out why is still a work in progress. Shukitt-Hale suggests that our bodies may simply absorb the nutrients we take in:

Plants have developed mechanisms to deal with stresses in the environment. Because of sunlight, smog, and temperature they have developed antioxidant or anti inflammatory capabilities. When we ingest them they are protective in our bodies as well.

And Wenk elaborates:

We share an evolutionary history with plants and animals. If the chemicals they consume get into your brain in a high enough concentration it will affect how you think and feel because we share the same chemicals. For example, we hear a lot about the neurotransmitter serotonin in Prozac. Well, lizards have it. Bees have it. In fact if you get a bee sting this summer you've been injected with the bee's serotonin, but you're not going to notice [the effect of serotonin] because the dose is too low. Lots of chemicals out there look a lot like the chemicals in our brain that make us feel good or bad.

Some get across the blood-gut barrier (a lining that keeps certain bacteria and other nasty things out of the bloodstream, but lets other helpful chemicals through) and some don't and we simply excrete them. Then there's some that cross the blood-brain barrier (a layer around your brain that allows some importants things in and keeps others out) but we don't notice them. Let's say you have some sushi and you're consuming that animal's neurotransmitters and it gets into your brain, but you don't notice it. But one of my favorite types of sushi is giant clam, and when you eat that, you're going to have wonderful dreams—it's almost hallucinogenic.

Basically, it's the old saying: you are what you eat. In the case of brain foods, that also includes how much you eat because, as Wenk explains it, it's just a chemical dosage that goes from your mouth to your brain. A lot of foods can interact with the brain, but research suggests that four different types of chemicals and nutrients do so in a positive way. Photo by Scott.

• Glucose: The brain draws nearly all its energy from glucose. Like a car in need of gas, if you don't pump it full of fats and sugars (which are converted to glucose) it doesn't run.
• Fatty Acids: Specifically, polyunsaturated fatty acids, aka omega-3 and omega-6. These help strengthen the synapses in your brain related to memory.
• Amino Acids: Amino acids come from protein-rich foods and help connect the neurotransmitters which are essential for keeping your brain sharp. These neurotransmitters include: dopamine for proper immune and nervous system function. Norepinephrine for alertness and concentration. Serotonin for mood, sleep, memory, and learning. Acetylcholine for storage and recall of memory.
• Antioxidants: Antioxidants like you find in tea or vegetables help regulate the oxidative stress that destroys brain cells. The stress is caused when your body is converting glucose to energy and extra oxygen is created called free radicals. Antioxidants block them so your brain doesn't have to work as hard.

• Knowing that, let's look at the actual benefits of brain foods and how you can work them into your diet.

  How to Reap the Rewards of Brain Foods

  If you're looking for a cognitive boost before a test so you can be smarter for a few hours, you'll be disappointed by the results of most of the research. As it turns out the foods that are good for your brain basically just keep you running. You can overclock your brain with food for a few hours just to get through a rough day, but since most of us don't eat what we're supposed to the real goal is getting our brains up to par. The rewards come in two basic tiers, short term and long term. Shukitt-Hale explains:

  We think that there are short-term and long-term benefits. [Brain foods are] doing things like changing gene expression in the brain. Then they have a downstream effect so they protect at a certain point, but that has a cascade effect so you get increases in things like neuronal communication, which means you're making more brain cells. When you make more it will help with your memory.

  Just like a good diet makes you feel good in your muscles, a good brain diet does the same for your thinking. In reality, you won't really notice a change unless you're going from a horrible diet to a better one, but that doesn't mean you don't need to try and get the right chemicals and nutrients into the brain as often as possible. Let's look at the big three benefits from eating certain foods and how you can enjoy them. Photo by Pál Berge.

  Increase Your Brain's Energy Throughout the Day

  Like everything else in your body your brain doesn't work without energy. As far as short-term brain boosts are concerned, this is really the only way to get your brain in tip-top shape right away. It's not hard to do because the brain's primary energy source is glucose and we get glucose from nearly everything we eat. While candy can give you a quick high, it's better to fuel your brain with foods that slowly release carbohydrates (which are then converted to glucose). Here's a couple suggestions on how to regulate glucose for optimal thinking.

  • Graze slowly throughout the day to regulate glucose levels: It turns out that too much of a good thing is just as bad as under doing it. The brain operates best with about 25 grams of glucose in the blood stream, which is about what you'll find in a banana. Beans, lentils, whole grain pastas, and split peas are all good foods to casually snack on to keep your brain charged with glucose and optimized for thinking.
  • Lower your overall glycemic index: Not everyone has the luxury of grazing casually on food all day long, but you still want to moderate your glucose level. You can do so by lowering your glycemic index. The glycemic index is a number that shows how foods affect glucose level in your bloodstream. Foods with a low glycemic index release glucose slowly into the bloodstream so as not to overwhelm your brain. The problem is that a lot of these foods interact with each other so it's difficult to pinpoint what exactly works and what doesn't. For instance, if you eat protein with some whole wheat bread the glucose is released gradually over time, but if you eat bread by itself it causes a slight spike in glucose level then drops quickly. The Franklin Institute has a breakdown of the glucose levels in a number of foods to help you plan out meals.
  • Get energized on amino acids: Two amino acids, tryptophan and tyrosine, can get through the blood-brain barrier. Tryptophan, as we all know from Thanksgiving, has a calming effect (which is often exagerated as a sleep-inducing effect). Tyrosine makes you feel energized. When the body breaks down protein it creates amino acids to help itself (and the brain) function. Fish, meat, eggs, cheese and yogurt are all great sources of this and working in one of these elements into each meal is a good way to ensure your brain gets what it needs.

  Keeping your brain running every day is just the first part. The second and perhaps most interesting is food's ability to repair the damage you've already done. Photo by Ernst Vikne.

  Replace Lost Brain Cells

  If you had to take a drug and alcohol class in school then you likely heard that brain cells are irreplaceable. It turns out that's not entirely true. While we're not going to tell you to go out and get wasted to test the theory, research from MIT, Princeton, and others suggests that we continue to make new brain cells throughout our lives. Brain cells affect the speed of your brain and increase your working memory, which in turn makes you a better learner.

  According to Shukitt-Hale, certain foods can change gene expression in the brain and increase neuronal brain communication by creating new brain cells. It's thought that one food type that may help brain cell production comes from the fatty acid omega-3 which is found abundantly in fish and walnuts. Eating a serving of these every day in combination with exercise can help rebuild those brain cells.

  Protect Against Cognitive Decline

  It's no secret that as you age you have problems with memory and cognition. However, you can help your brain out a little by creating a protective barrier and keeping it clean and free of harmful free radicals. Free radicals are caused when an imbalance of oxygen creates oxidative stress. When this happens the brain is forced to work overtime to keep them under control. Antioxidants can do the work so the brain doesn't have to. You can also work in a few different foods that help strengthen the brain in the long term to help stave off the inevitable decline. The benefit is that many of these effects may cascade down and offer a few short-term benefits as well.

  • Eat your antioxidants daily: Antioxidants fight off the free radicals that like to destroy brain cells and when they do that your brain is kept in good running shape. Shukitt-Hale's studies on berries (which are high in antioxidants) have shown that antioxidants may also prevent the inflammation in the brain that leads to neuronal damage. This suggests that berries might help your brain work better for a longer period of time. How much do you need? A cup a day should do the trick. Other good antioxidants include spinach, broccoli, carrots, and a wide variety of teas.
  • Eat fish once a week: Fish has long been the go-to brain food but the research is still mixed. On top of being packed full of the fatty acids needed to rebuild brain cells, it also helps slow cognitive decline. A study published in the Archives of Neurology showed that eating fish slowed cognitive decline by about 10% in older people. However, other research suggests fish oil on its own, or as omega-3 vitamins doesn't do the trick for certain diseases. Essentially, researchers haven't proven that fish is the definitive brain booster, but it certainly doesn't hurt. Photo by Conrad and Peter.

  Is there a proven way to prevent cognitive decline? Wenk suggests a completely different approach for getting the same long-term cognitive benefits: eat less. He explains:

  We operate at an evolutionary timed balance and more often than not we tend to imbalance our brain function with chemicals. About ten or fifteen years ago we gave up on cognitive enhancement because we figured out that we're about as smart as we can stand and we all function about as fast as possible in our brains.

  We can push ourselves a little bit, but does it raise your IQ? No. Thus far, the only thing we've ever discovered that really slows down the decline is dietary restriction. It's not a huge change, it's cutting out 30% of your calories. It's the only thing that's been proven to help you live longer, be smarter, and stave off disease.

  ---

  The research on food's direct relation to your brain is still young and while researchers have an idea of what works, they're still still learning why and how. The idea of a brain food isn't so much about pushing your brain past its limit. Rather, it's about protecting and utilizing the brain's already immense power. The USDA's Food Plate has suggestions built in to help the brain, but knowing why and how these work might make that choice to include spinich with your next meal a little easier. Will you suddenly get smarter? Nope, but at least you'll be operating at your full potential for a longer period of time. Have some tips for working these foods into your diet? Share them in the comments.

Deciding to go on a diet is easy. Sticking to one is a completely different story. Countless diet books and infomercials promise slimmer waists and longer lives. More legitimately, doctors and news articles deliver (sometimes conflicting) suggestions for you: decrease your portions, drink more water, eat more greens, and so on. Too often, none of it works. Why? Because we make ourselves miserable trying to change our diets in a way that's supposed to be good for us but makes us unhappy. We took the issue to our nutritionists to figure out how we can make those healthy changes without hating every meal. Here's what they said.

We sat down with our friends, nutritionists, and registered dietitians Alannah DiBona and Andy Bellatti, whom many of you will remember from our food myths posts and asked them how, those of us who want to embrace healthier eating can do so without driving ourselves insane. For example, it's frequently said that a portion of meat in a meal should be no larger than a deck of cards. If you're used to eating a huge cut of meat, or two chicken breasts in a sitting, eating that on Monday and a deck of cards-sized portion on Tuesday is just going to make you frustrated. So how do you get from here to there? Here are some tips.

Start Slow and Make Gradual Changes

The first thing to remember if you're trying to reform your relationship with food is that it's not going to happen overnight. You have to make gradual, positive changes in your diet that eventually turn into habits that come naturally. Most of us are unlikely to commit to multiple major dietary changes overnight, and even if we stick to them for a short time, we'll eventually get so frustrated we give up and go back to our old ways. Photo by William Warby.

Portion control, for example, is one of the hardest things to adjust. We're used to being overfed at restaurants that offer heaping plates of food, and often cook too much at home too. When you get that heaping plate, make a mental note to eat half of it at the restaurant and box up the other half for lunch tomorrow—or even ask for the box before you start eating so you're not tempted to eat it all.

Still, scaling back is tough, so Andy suggests eating foods that give you the most belly-filling bang for your caloric buck. "A cup of blueberries clocks in at roughly 85 calories. A cup of Haagen Dazs ice cream? Approximately 600 calories. If you're looking for a snack around the 200-calorie mark, this matters (you could have 1 cup of blueberries AND 25 almonds or 1/3 of a cup of ice cream — guess which one will leave you feeling more satisfied!) Eating tiny portions of highly caloric items in an effort to ‘control portions' is a recipe for disaster. Your eyes will see the tiny amounts and go, ‘That's it?' — and you'll be hungry a half an hour later. Similarly, dipping vegetables (instead of chips and crackers) into peanut butter/hummus/guacamole is a much better idea than dipping crackers into a pea-sized amount of those dips. Not only are vegetables lower in calories, they also offer much more nutrition."

Focus On What You Get, Not What You're Giving Up

One way to do this, according to Andy, is to think in terms of inclusion instead of exclusion. Essentially, instead of focusing on foods you shouldn't eat, focus on the foods that you enjoy eating and fit well into your new, healthy regime. "Rather than make a goal of ‘no more mashed potatoes at dinner,' think ‘I'll add dark leafy green vegetables to my plate three times this week.' The idea is to ‘crowd out' less healthy foods, rather than attempt an overnight change," he explained. I can vouch for this—I remember watching an interview with Alton Brown where he emphasized the same point: the only way he was able to commit to his dietary changes was to think about all of the great foods he could eat tons of instead sitting around missing the things he had to cut from his diet. If you're going to make positive changes, find some healthy foods that you enjoy, and fall in love with them—include them in your meals as you like, and make them your new best friends. Photo by Natalie Maynor.

SImilarly, don't force yourself to eat something you hate "just because it's healthy." Alannah says only choose foods that you love: "If I had a nickel for every time a client said to me, ‘I hate egg whites, but they're really good for you,' I wouldn't be worrying about this lottery business. Most of us are not born adoring every vegetable, craving flax, or mainlining salmon. If you try to force an undesirable food into your diet, you're simply going to end up grumpy and underfed (chances are always excellent that you'll opt not to eat the offending item, or at the very least, eat less of it.)" If you catch yourself eating something you hate just because you think it's good for you, stop. Too often we associate healthy eating with plain, boring, dull, tasteless eating, and it doesn't have to be that way.

Experiment, Innovate, and "Eat Weird"

If you're going to get past the mental block that healthy food is boring food, the first thing you'll have to learn to do is experiment with your diet. We mentioned that one of the best ways to commit to positive changes is to fall in love with healthy options—now it's time to find some new loves. Andy suggests you enlist the help of the experts: "When it comes to eating healthier foods, you NEED recipes from the pros," he explains. "One of the biggest mistakes people make is adding foods like broccoli, brussels sprouts, lentils, and quinoa to their diets in ways that are bland and tasteless." Andy also explained that foods people consider "boring" are often because they're being poorly prepared. If you hate oatmeal, for example, stop cooking it in water and adding raisins and calling it breakfast. He suggests a tablespoon of coconut milk, a little vanilla extract, and some cinnamon to spice it up. Stir in a tablespoon of peanut or almond butter when it's finished. Sound good? It's also good for you. Photo by Julie Magro.

He suggests picking up cookbooks and recipes for vegetarians and vegans—even if you're omnivorous—because they often include interesting and tasty new ways to prepare foods you may not discover on your own. Many of them will also lead you to experiment with new spices, fresh and dried herbs, and dressings you would never have tried before. Talk to your friends, check out some of your favorite recipe sites, plug in the names of ingredients that you want to eat more of, and marvel at the myriad of delicious ways to prepare and serve it. You're sure to find some options that work for your palate, pantry, and aptitude in the kitchen.

As you experiment, remember that your relationship with food is a personal one. If you enjoy something that's a little weird, embrace it. "Just because most people don't often combine raw pineapple and seared tuna as a snack doesn't mean that you shouldn't pack it for lunch with reckless abandon," Alannah explains. "If it looks good to you, appeals to your personal tastes and is a known entity in terms of nutrition - go for it. Variety and unusual new flavor combinations are going to help keep you engaged in your new habits, and rearranging familiar flavors is a simple hack." She's right—experimentation with flavors and combining healthy options in new ways is part of falling in love with food all over again, and if you can fall in love with something that's really good for you, delicious, and fun to eat at the same time? Well then, you've already won.

Hack Your Brain with Healthy Substitutions and Snacks

Cravings and mid-day hunger pangs are the worst, and have led to many a diet derailment. They don't have to. Your willpower is limited, so stop spending it fighting cravings or resisting the urge to eat in between meals. If you want a snack, both Andy and Alannah suggest you have one—just make it something that's good and good for you. Photo by John Loo.

"Waiting until you're hungry to decide what you'll be eating is often the kiss of death for someone trying to reform his or her habits," Alannah noted. "Always, always, always carry at least one snack, if not two! Single serving baggies of nuts, pieces of fruit, jerky, and sliced vegetables can help you bridge the gap between breakfast and lunch, or address an attack of "mouth boredom" that might ordinarily send you running for the vending machine." Andy agrees: "Listen to your body. Trying to ignore hunger until the next meal usually leads to disasters (overeating, picking whatever is most convenient rather than what is healthiest, etc)." Andy suggests stocking a spare desk drawer at your cubicle so you don't even have to get up. Already-popped popcorn (so you can dig right in!), dark chocolate (80% cocoa or hither, please!), and plain instant oatmeal are some of his additions to your office pantry shopping list.

Battling cravings? Forethought is key. Andy points out that the best way to deal with cravings is to find good alternatives that are both tasty and satisfying. Really want a peanut butter cup? Andy has a better version: "Take 2 squares of the dark chocolate we just mentioned and put 2 teaspoons of natural (as in, no added sugars or oils) peanut or almond butter in between them. The dark chocolate provides minerals, antioxidants, and fiber, while the natural nut butter adds vitamins and heart-healthy fats." What about when you want a creamy, savory addition to your sandwich? "Forget nasty fat-free mayo. Instead, mash some avocado with lemon juice and a sprinkle of salt, and smear that on the bread." If you must have your craving though, try to use it as an ingredient instead of the main dish, Andy says. If you're craving tortilla chips, don't just tear into the bag, he says. Instead, have a veggie chili or some guac and put the chips on the side. Want chocolate? Shred some and put it on top of your oatmeal.

Get Cooking!

One of the easiest ways to eat healthy without making yourself miserable is to take a more active role in your relationship with food. Don't let your meals turn into things that just happen to you every day at specified times. You don't need to start living to eat as opposed to eating to live, but use those times when you're full of energy to prepare for when you're not. An hour on the weekend when you're rested and relaxed can be used to prepare a crock pot full of a healthy, hearty chili that will feed when you don't even want to think about lunch because you're so busy at work, or after a long hard day when dinner is the last thing you want to fuss over. Photo by K.I.T..

Alannah offers up a technique that's been instrumental to me personally: Find a recipe every week that interests you, and make enough of it to last a while. You'll stir up an interest in cooking (no pun intended) and you'll have lunches or quick dinners over the course of the week. "Basic cooking is going to be necessary in order to feed yourself well and sustainably, but make it a goal to find one recipe each Saturday or Sunday that looks especially intriguing to you. Shop accordingly and make multiple servings that can be easily packed and heated over the course of the week."

Speaking of crock pots, "I'm a firm believer in the power of the crockpot - this month, I've made large batches of turkey chili, bison and cauliflower mash, and chicken coconut curry stew. I've been alternating these lunches in frozen, single servings - the end result is a very satisfied nutritionist and a fuller wallet as I'm no longer running across the street each day for a $8 sandwich or salad." If you need more inspiration, Andy suggests splurging on some quality ingredients in your kitchen to help you fall in love with the healthy meals you're making, like good quality olive oil for your salads and dressings, or even vanilla bean powder instead of extract for a fancy yogurt or oatmeal topping that'll keep you coming back to a healthy dish.

Keep Your Eyes On Your Goals

Finally, the most important thing to remember is to stay committed and stay motivated. If you've followed along to this point, you've read a number of ways to fall in love not just with healthy food, but with food in general. Don't be afraid to explore new, healthy options, and accept the challenge of working in your favorite bad for you foods into dishes that are better for you, and substituting good, satisfying foods and flavors that are good to be addicted to in the place of the bad stuff. Photo by John O'Nolan.

Take it slow, and be mindful as you progress. Andy suggests you keep your eyes on one goal at a time, "Reducing your sugar intake is challenging enough without adding on the pressure of eating a dark leafy green vegetable every night with dinner, replacing refined grains with whole ones, and eating less fried food." He proposes you make a list of a few goals, commit to one for a few weeks, and when you have a handle on it and have made it a habit, then move to the next one. Unless you're the type who just needs to throw up your hands and reboot everything, you're much less likely to feel overwhelmed and give up if you tackle them one at a time, instead of trying to make sweeping changes to your lifestyle in one weekend. Alannah agrees, and says you should keep your goals front and center. "Whether it's to be a more active parent or partner, lose weight, improve your sleep or take control of your health, keep a visual reminder of your goals at all times. A photo in your wallet, or a magazine clipping on your fridge or desk of your powerful motivator will help you to remember what choice you're making whenever you face temptation. When you can see the fruits of your labor, it's easier to be strong when you'd otherwise cave in." We couldn't agree more.

Alannah Dibona, MA, MS, is a Boston-based nutritionist and wellness counselor, and the woman behind mindbodysportconsulting.com.

Both graciously volunteered their expertise for this story, and we thank them.

TItle photo remixed from Yuri Arcurs(Shutterstock).

Juice sometimes gets a bad rap for being loaded with sugar and masquerading as a healthy choice when it's secretly bad for you. While sugar isn't exactly ever great for you, ABC News points out that the right kind of juice can still be a healthy option:

There's a big difference between 100 percent juice and a bottle of sugar water with a few cranberries squeezed into it. Yes, juice has a lot of the sweet stuff, but a six-ounce glass of 100 percent juice also counts as a full serving of fruit and delivers many of the same vitamins and antioxidants, making it worth the occasional sugar rush, says Jessica Ganzer, R.D., owner of Ganzer Wellness Consulting in Arlington, Virginia. And it can be the easiest way to get a superfood: Drinking 100 percent pomegranate juice is easy; picking apart a real pomegranate, not so much. As long as you drink 100 percent juice (from concentrate is fine) and limit yourself to one six-to-eight ounce glass a day, you're not breaking any rules of good nutrition.

So there you have it. If your juice is actually juice and you drink it in moderation, you're not destined for trouble. (Speaking of real juice, if you're really into it, you might want to consider a juicer. The Wirecutter recommends the Omega 8003.)

7 Diet Myths Exposed | ABC News

Photo by Jeremy Keith.

When attempting to lose weight most nutritional guidelines limit the amount of calories consumed in one day. To help cut down on snacking and build self control consider challenging yourself to maintain a state of mild hunger until it is time for your next meal.

Personal finance blogger Mr. Money Mustache points out how to trick yourself into turning mild hunger into a tool:

it's an unusual feeling for a rich-world person, but once you get used to it, having a slight craving in your tummy can make you feel invigorated and warriorlike. When you are really hungry, eat a good meal. But if you're just slightly hungry, imagine that your body has moved its suction tube from the usual "stomach" setting, over to "stored fat reserves". It is now a positive challenge to maintain this mild hunger as long as possible, because you want to keep that suction going for many hours each day.

Keep in mind that this technique should not be confused with anorexia, but if you have a visible beer belly a little mild hunger won't hurt you. Also consider that many eating plans revolve around several small meals instead of the traditional breakfast-lunch-dinner paradigm, and this technique won't be the best for that. If you do want to try it out you can always supplement with very low calorie snacks such as celery, cucumbers, or carrots. These add nutrition and can dull the sharpness of a hunger pang without disarming it completely.

How to Be Slim | Mr. Money Mustache