I read in one of my fitness magazines that our brains are two-thirds fat. That sounded like a lot to me so I did some digging. What I found was a whole shitload of interesting things.

• First, there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy as to how fat our brains are. I found numbers that range from the 2/3’s to 10%. I know personally that my entire head at one time was 18.3% fat. This was back in the day when I was trying to ride my bike super fast (I had a body scan that breaks you down piece by piece to measure stuff; muscle, fat, bone) By my calculations 2/3’s does not amount to 10% or 18.3% for that matter, but I’m as bad at math as I am with spelling. I guess the fatter your body is the fatter your brain is?
• The thing about fat in the brain is that the nerves are wrapped in fat; this insulates them and allows the impulses to travel quickly. Greases the way so to speak.
• The strangest thing I found (remember, you shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet) is that our brains are the consistency of warm butter. I found that odd. I’ve seen plenty of brains on TV and none of them looked like warm butter. Just last night I saw Ted Danson pick up a brain on CSI and it looked hard and rubbery. If it were the consistency of warm butter wouldn’t it have fallen apart? But then it must have been a fake TV brain.
• I like this fact as it makes sense, I just never thought about it; the harder, or more you think the more energy your brain uses (energy = calories). Your brain uses as much as 1/5th of all the calories you use in a day. The more you use your brain the larger it can grow. Now, I’m sure that’s true but I wouldn’t worry that your brain will grow so large that it’ll bust out of your skull (your skull can grow too).

Back to the magazine, here are a three of the best foods for your brain:

• Blueberries – these yummy little balls help to improve memory.
• Almonds – are high in good fat, which aids in decreasing mental decline and ward off the negative impact of stress.
• Ground Flaxseeds – are abundant in omega-3 fatty acids.

So there you go. Have a Happy Veterans Day and I’ll see you on Monday…