What Can Help You Lose Weight and Make You Smarter?

Food, of course. Let's start with the weight loss so we will look good as we get smarter.

According to Prevention magazine there are 6 foods that can help burn fat.

1) Beans
2) Bananas
3) Potatoes
4) Barley
5) Brown Rice
6) Corn

Then there is the issue of intelligence. A recent article in the Economist ( July 19,2008) called, "Food for Thought" talks about the research done by Fernando Gomez-Pinilla at the Univ. of California, LA. He found that changes to diet can enhance cognitive abilities, protect the brain from damage and counteract the effects of aging. He has looked at over 160 studies on how food effects the brain.

He suggests people eat more anti-oxidants since the brain is especially susceptible to oxidative damage.

Food to eat: Berries, cucumin ( it's what makes turmeric yellow and is a polyphenol), oily fish (omega 3 source)

One very interesting aspect of the benefits of Omega 3 was found on the Japanese island of Okinawan where fish is a large portion of their diet. They have a "strikingly low rate of mental disorders" according to the article. That's because Omega 3 has been found to help resist conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, dementia, ADD and dyslexia.