The Brain Health Program: What it is, why you need it and how your clients will benefit
Program 72: Meal Garden’s Pre-Made Brain Health Program
A ready-to-share program focused on helping your clients improve their brain health.
What’s included?
The Brain Health program includes:
4 Meal Plans
3 Recipe Collections and
2 Articles, written to be consumed by your clients
How do I use it?
There are many different ways to integrate the program into your practice, including:
Lead Magnet
Start a group program
Share with one-on-one clients
Evergreen program
Special offer
You can share the program directly with clients, via your email list or you can link to it on your website or promote it via social media.
As soon as you copy the program into your Meal Garden account, it automatically assumes your branding online and if any of the material is downloaded to PDF.
Why now?
Over the past decade, there has been emerging evidence to support the positive impact food and nutrition can have on cognition, behavior, and emotions. Studies are also finding that nutrition may be the missing link in the prevention and treatment of some mental health conditions.
In fact, in some cases, medication alone is not enough to help treat mental health conditions and there are patients that have poor mental health, but not a diagnosable illness, therefore lifestyle modification may be the best treatment option for them if they are wary about medication.
Finally, patients considering weaning off of medication with the support of their doctor could benefit from the implementation of brain health programs that emphasize natural solutions.
Who will benefit from this program?
It’s hard to imagine that in today’s world, anyone wouldn’t benefit from some help and awareness around the link between nutrition and brain health.
With that said, there are quite a few ways to tell if your clients need to focus their nutrition efforts on brain health. I typically listen for my client's chief complaints, which tend to focus around the following symptoms:
After all other medical conditions that could be potentially contributing to these symptoms are ruled out/addressed at the foundational level (eating disorder, thyroid disease, celiac, IBD, diabetes, etc.), then practitioners can use this brain health program to help guide them in helping the client relieve these symptoms with food, supplements, and lifestyle modifications.
Also be mindful of those clients who report a mental health/ brain condition or medication on their intake form, as that might be an indication the client could benefit from the program.
Getting started
Click the button below to review the program in more detail, if you have a Meal Garden account, you can copy it into your library, if you don’t, you’ll be prompted to create an account and will have access to the program and all the other aspects of Meal Garden for 30 days :)
Learn more about brain health
The following summary is from one of the three articles from the program and describes XYZ.
Why focus on brain health?
The human brain is the command center for our nervous system and is responsible for many of the complex functions we use on a day-to-day basis, such as our ability to move, communicate, form thoughts and memories, make decisions, problem-solve, and process emotions. Because the brain controls so many of our daily functions, it is arguably the most valuable organ in the human body.
Though our brains are incredibly sophisticated organs, they are just as vulnerable to disease and disorders as any other part of our body, so it is important to protect and care for them regularly.
So how do we protect our most valuable organ?
There are many lifestyle factors that play an integral role in brain health, such as managing stress, staying socially connected, engaging our brain in activities, exercising, and getting restorative sleep1. However, there is one lifestyle factor in particular that has been gaining a lot of attention over the past decade as a modifiable component of cognitive performance and mental health, and that is food intake2,3.
The significance of food in brain health
The structure and function of the brain, and its various components (neurons, synapse, neurotransmitters, etc.), are dependent on the nutrients found in the foods we eat, such as fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants3. The human brain also has very high energy demands, consuming on average 20% of a person’s daily caloric intake4.
Nutrition and mental health are also highly intertwined. Emerging evidence has highlighted the many ways in which the foods we eat can affect how we feel, such as the role of nutrients in neurotransmitter function, anti-inflammatory processes, and gut-brain communications3,5.
Interestingly, this relationship is bi-directional. Just as the food we eat can impact how we feel, how we feel can also influence our food choices3,6. For example, when we feel depressed or anxious, our appetite is typically lowered, and our food consumption goes down. In this state, it is also common to feel fatigued and less motivated to prepare a meal, so when we do eat, we are likely to make poor food choices, such as gravitating towards convenience foods, take-out meals, and stimulants (such as sugar and caffeine). These poor food choices tend to be less nutrient-dense and can make us feel less than optimal, and so the vicious cycle continues.
Eating for optimal brain and mental health
Although there is no single almighty brain food that can ensure optimal brain functioning, there is compelling evidence to show that focusing on healthy eating patterns, such as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and the Mediterranean diet, may slow cognitive decline and nurture good mental health5,7.
The DASH and Mediterranean dietary patterns focus on the following 10 food categories:
How to apply this information to your practice
It is evident that the food we eat can have a significant impact on the structure and functioning of our brains. Therefore, clients living with, or looking to prevent, diseases or disorders of the brain may benefit from a discussion with you regarding the impact of their food intake on their brain health and mental wellness.
There are several effective and relatively simple ways that healthcare workers can help guide their clients toward improved mental health, recovery from mental illness, and slowed cognitive decline.
First, it is important to build the client’s awareness of the food choices they are making and how these choices may be influencing their physical and mental health. Recommending that the client keep a journal of their food and beverage intake, mood fluctuations, physical symptoms, and lifestyle choices (hours of sleep, exercise, work-life balance, etc.) will help monitor trends. With increased awareness, you can work together to identify any problem areas that exist and make modifications as necessary.
Next, encourage your clients to adopt healthy eating patterns, like the DASH and Mediterranean diets, that are rich in dark leafy greens, fibrous vegetables, berries and other colorful fruit, legumes and pulses, nuts and seeds, whole grains, fish, and seafood, poultry, extra virgin olive oil, and fermented foods. You can use the food journal and verbal reports in counseling sessions to identify which of the above foods the client does, or does not, currently include in their diet. Then you can use this information to set goals with your client and work with them to gradually add in missing food groups or components.
Getting started
Click the button below to review the program in more detail, if you have a Meal Garden account, you can copy it into your library, if you don’t, you’ll be prompted to create an account and will have access to the program and all the other aspects of Meal Garden for 30 days :)
