Our mind is a very complex and delicate living computer, it needs really first quality ingredients, with the right quality and at the right moment to work at peak performance. Our brain needs glucose as its main fuel, and certain amino acids (simple molecules that make up proteins) like tryptophan to make the right neurotransmitters. If we don’t have enough glucose, we feel slow and we cannot process information, we cannot think. We cannot perform other activities as well, like many unconscious or automatic activities that keep us alive, like breathing, feeling thirst or hunger, being conscious of dangers and many others. Our brain keeps us alive.
If we don’t have enough amino acids, our brain cannot make enough neurotransmitters, which the tiny molecules that make cells to communicate between each other, and that make nervous impulses to travel through our nervous system. That means that we get depressed, slow, non-reactive, emotional, irrational and many other characteristics that define mental illnesses. The same happens when we don’t get in our diets enough vitamins, as our brains cannot make up the right molecules. An example is stress, which depletes our organism of vitamins, specially group B vitamins, which are needed to make neurotransmitters. And after a long stress period, we may feel always tired, sad and unable to think clearly (amongst other symptoms).
Good nutrition maintains your immune system ready to fight pathogens . Vitamin C is amongst the most known vitamins. One of its roles is to keep our immune system working properly. When the immune system is healthy, we don’t get ill and we don’t have pains. As simple as that. There are several other substances that we need to have in our diets to maintain our immune system. One of those is good fats like omega-3 and 6 fats. These are found in seeds, nuts and fish, mainly. These are basic to keep inflammatory processes under control or non-existent, and our hormones well balanced. When the fat balance is not adequate, hormonal systems get unbalanced as well, and chronic inflammatory processes start building up.
