Every summer it happens. I see it all the time in my practice, and I hear about it from my patients. It’s 92 to 97 degrees outside. Your kitchen is like a sauna. You don’t want to be cooking. You’re tired and fatigued. If you’ve gone out, you’ve been sweating all day. You need something simple, delicious, but also nourishing.
Hot weather changes our routines. We snack more, we cook less. Sometimes we skip meals altogether. The problem is our brains still need nourishment. All summer long, we’re processing all types of feelings and emotions. We’re dealing with vacations and travel and the looming fall where maybe you’re starting school or your job heats up again.
Today I want to show you some of my favorite go-to meals to beat the heat. This is really my brain food meal formula to beat the heat. Because at the end of the day, you’re hot, you’re sweaty, you don’t want to be asking, what’s healthy? Instead, we want to ask ourselves, how do we quickly and efficiently get the brain nutrients we need onto the plate? We don’t need recipes. We need better combinations, better simple strategies.
Let’s get into a brain meal formula to beat the heat. So some framework when my team and I think about how to construct food and nutritional psychiatry plans. First, we get into protein. Now, protein Is a big craze these days, but it’s always been important in nutritional psychiatry for a few reasons. Number one, proteins are made of amino acids, and you use amino acids in all of your cells, but in your brain particularly, to make these chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. Dopamine, serotonin, acetycholine, when you hear those, you should think about protein, because again, amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, are also the building blocks of neurotransmitters.
Another reason that we love protein is it’s satiating. A lot of times, if you haven’t had protein for a while, you’ll find yourself craving it. Now there’s a lot of discussion about protein, protein maxxing, making sure you get your macros right.
We mostly in Nutritional Psychiatry want you to be aware that protein is really important and there are lots of great sources. So let’s get into some of our favorites. A lot of people know meat, but let’s also think about some of the great seafood, things like smoked salmon, tuna. We love canned sardines and anchovies in our clinic. We’ve got a great list here. Greek yogurt, tofu, cottage cheese is making a comeback. Don’t forget edamame an amazing source of plant-based protein, and of course, our favorites in Nutritional Psychiatry things like black beans, lentils, white beans. So looking for beans, legumes, meats and seafood, dairies, cheeses. These are your main sources of protein. And you want to try and be creative and use a variety of those throughout the day and throughout the week.
Number two, color. They say eat the rainbow in Nutritional Psychiatry. We call it the “brainbow.” Why? Because those different colors mean, first of all, you’re getting a variety of plants in your diet. We know this is a core of eating for better gut health and also better mental health. But with those colors, you’re specifically getting polyphenols. With the different colors, you’re getting different plant molecules, the different pigments that they use. So you’re getting these two main different families are carotenoids, which are the oranges, and you get the anthocyanins, which are these other polyphenols, more of the blues, purples, and even blacks. These different big families of polyphenols, these big molecules that are very fascinating. They they work as signaling molecules within the body. They work to prune the microbiome and and shape the type of organisms that are living in our gut and seem to promote the organisms that fight inflammation and decrease inflammation. You you also are just getting really powerful antioxidants. So we look for colors on your plate. That is number two. And what kind of fruits and vegetables are we thinking about? We’ve got this great list: tomatoes, berries, cucumbers, don’t forget all the leafy greens, peaches. I love all the different herbs.
I love looking for different purples, whether that’s raddiccio or blueberries, or eggplant. A great place to go is your farmer’s market. And it’s wonderful to have some farmers that you’re becoming friends with and getting to know or becoming a customer of. It’s important to be looking at the variety of colors you see on display as you move from spring to summer to fall, it’s a great place to build that rainbow, as we say in Nutritional Psychiatry, that “brainbow” to get all the colors that are great for your mental health and for protecting your brain.
One little nutritional psychiatry trick that I do is when I look at my plate, I just think, can I add another color? Can I open the refrigerator and maybe sprinkle on a little microgreens or chop up a little red cabbage? Or can I chop up a red pepper? Can I make that rainbow a a little bit more robust? It looks great on Instagram, but also it’s just great for your mental health and for your brain health.
Number three, your healthy fats. There’s been such an evolution in our conversation about fat and the different fats that have been encouraged over the years. In Nutritional Psychiatry, we try and keep it pretty simple. We like to remember that your brain is 60% fat, and about 7% of that is DHA, the longest-chained omega-3 fat. Now you make a little bit of that in your liver, but usually the levels in your body are dependent on how much you eat. So we’re looking for omega-3 fats, and we find those in fatty fish. The small fish like sardines and anchovies are a great one to add to your diet. But a lot of people are getting these omega-3 fats mostly through wild salmon. We also encourage the bivalves, things like mussels, clams, and oysters. Another great fat for you to think of in terms of your brain health, and the main fat you should be cooking with is olive oil. Olive oil is a really interesting and wonderful fat. Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fat. It’s one of the main fats that are in olive oil and nuts. It’s correlated with a decreased risk of depression over 10 years, and it’s the really one of the few things that it feels like almost everybody in the wellness and nutritional and conventional medicine space agree on. Olive oil is delicious. It’s really central to the Mediterranean style diet, and it’s a wonderful fat for you to be using. So get more fatty fish, get more olive oil, and these are great things to add to your brain food meal to help you beat the heat.
And finally, fiber. Now, fiber isn’t just about keeping everything regular down there. It’s also about nourishing your microbiome, the organisms that live in your gut. Now, right here, you’re looking at Dr. Drew Ramsey. I’m about 24,000 human genes. But here in my gut, in my colon, I have 12 million bacterial genes. So there’s a lot more genetic diversity and a lot more genetic information in my gut. It’s wild. How do we take care of it? Well, really simple. You’re going to eat more fiber and more fermented foods. And that’s when this brain food meal, when you’re trying to beat the heat, we want to look and we want to see fiber.
And where do we find fiber? We find it mostly in beans, legumes, and other plants. But really adding in those beans and legumes, lentils, black beans, red beans. Red beans, by the way, are the highest antioxidant containing plant that there is. So small red beans, a great add to your salads, to your burritos, even to your omelets. Just a wonderful addition. Getting more fiber into these Beat the Heat Summer Meals keeps your microbiome well fed, that keeps inflammation regulated. And it’s one of those fundamental principles of eating for better mental health and for better mental fitness.
When you have these four pieces, you’ve built a meal that’s going to be great, not just for your body and for your digestion, but also amazing for your brain and your mental health. I really encourage you to think this way, to be a little more flexible and creative when you’re thinking about your food. So often we get caught up in recipes. Templates like this help because you open the fridge and you can be creative thinking through, okay, I’m looking for my protein. I’m wanting to surround that with some colorful vegetables. Let’s get some healthy fats, maybe that’s some tin fish or a little olive oil. And then finally, let’s make sure there’s a lot of fiber in here. Can I add in some some cooked lentils or canned low sodium beans to make sure and really have this robust meal?
Just using this template, it can be so many different things, so many different flavors. Add a little of your favorite sauce on there. I’m really into like a Chipotle lime right now, but in the past, maybe a green goddess dressing or just a simple vinaigrette or an anchovy vinaigrette. What a great way to add in both olive oil and a little anchovies. There are all kinds of ways to use this based on your background, your preferences, what you have available, your budget. And that’s why we want to think about a template. Because it allows you to be creative, flexible, and simple and that’s what you need to beat the heat.
Over the next few weeks for this series, I’m going to be introducing some of our team’s favorite recipes to beat the heat but also feed your brain. But I want to start with one that we all love, our team loves, and let’s get into it. It’s a Mediterranean brain bowl. We all know a Mediterranean diet is one of these diets that’s been researched and studied so much, correlating with a decreased risk of depression, 30 to 50% decreased risk. And also in the randomized trials, there’s been an amazing data signal showing that eating a Mediterranean-style diet for individuals who have depression can be very helpful in getting them into full remission.
So let’s get into our Mediterranean brain bowl. Number one, let’s start with chickpeas. I love chickpeas because they’re doing several jobs at once. You’re getting an amazing dose of fiber. You’re getting great protein. So you’re getting a lot of these amino acids to help us build neurotransmitters. Chickpeas are great. They have this B vitamin folate, vitamin B9. And vitamin B9 is one of those vitamins that’s just clearly tied to depression. Everybody with low folate is going to get depressed. So we want to eat lots of folate, vitamin B9. You’ll get those in chickpeas. And also beans, chickpeas, like all of these different plants, come with a variety of polyphenols and plant-based antioxidants, just good stuff for what we’re looking for in terms of eating for better mental health.
We also know that people eating more legumes have better long-term health outcomes, in particular with cardiovascular health. That is absolutely critical to keeping your brain healthy and keeping good mental health as you age. So chickpeas definitely on our list and they’re at the base of our brain bowl.
Okay, next up in come the cherry tomatoes and the cucumbers. I love this with the cherry tomatoes. We’re adding so much vitamin C and lycopene, that red pigment that’s really amazing. There is lots of data about it actually getting up into the brain and doing wonderful things for us. Also, with those cucumbers, you’re going to get so much hydration. So important during these hot summer months to be eating lots of water. So anytime we’re eating lots of plants, you’re seeing this push for more plants and plant forward meals during your summer is because plants are 95% water. So instantly you’re getting a more hydrating meal and that’s great for you all summer long.
Then we’re going to add some fresh herbs. This is an absolute secret of Nutritional Psychiatry and should be a secret no longer. Everybody, more fresh herbs, especially during these summer months when they’re so inexpensive, get to the farmer’s market. Whether it’s parsley or basil or mint or dill, they go great in lots of combinations. Try some new herbs if you haven’t had some of these and put them in this brain food bowl, this Mediterranean brain bowl. You’re going to love it. It adds all these incredible antioxidants and polyphenols because you get so many herbs, almost no calories in there. And then wow, the flavor. Everybody who cooks with fresh herbs knows. It just really is what makes those chef meals amazing. Lots and lots of fresh herbs.
So we’ve got our protein with the chickpeas. We’ve got some rainbows with these beautiful tomatoes and cucumber. Let’s throw in. Next up, healthy fats, right? So olive oil, of course. We use an extra virgin olive oil. I love using small olive oils, small bottles, because you’re going to get a fresher product. When you feel that little burn in the back of your throat, that really means you’ve got a high quality olive oil because those are the polyphenols you’re actually feeling back there. Along with that drizzle of olive oil. And I say be generous because that’s where you’re getting some of those calories that you’re going to need because during the summer with a decreased appetite we need a little bit more caloric and nutrient density in our meals so lots of olive oil and then I’d add in some feta cheese.
Feta is a sheep’s milk cheese. It’s a wonderful flavor profile, really satiating. It has a lot of saltiness to it just a really rich wonderful cheese and also with sheep’s milk, the dairy from sheep is just a little structurally different than dairy from cows. So feta cheese is a really wonderful way to add in a great Mediterranean flavor into this dish, but also a dairy nutritional profile that a lot of folks don’t see as they’re not eating a lot of sheep cheeses or sheep products.
Okay, I’m getting hungry. This Mediterranean rainbow is looking great. We’ve got our protein with the chickpeas, we’ve got these great rainbows, we’ve added in some healthy fats. Boy, let’s just check. Do we have enough fiber? We have so much fiber already, but we could always use a little bit more. You could add in some pumpkin seeds. We love red cabbage these days, so chop up a little bit in there. You could add a little fermented sauerkraut, like a red cabbage sauerkraut. That would be incredible, getting a little fermented food in there.
Also say there’s so many ways to be creative and to have an amazing Mediterranean brain bowl. I’d finish this off squeezing a little fresh lemon juice on there for a number of reasons. One, any iron in there, anytime you’re adding lemon juice, it makes that iron more absorbable. Another reason is it just freshens up the whole dish really right when you’re serving it, especially if this has been refrigerated for a little while. Put a little fresh lemon juice on there, dice it up with maybe some fresh herbs, and it’s really just a great dish that can last you all week long.
This summer, instead of asking yourself, “what should I cook? What’s that trendy recipe?” I want you to ask yourself the simple question, “how can I get these brain foods on my plate? How can I get the nourishment that I need in a simple, yummy, efficient way that helps me beat the heat and keep my brain nourished?”
Don’t forget a handful of walnuts or blueberries, a little dollop of yogurt, or maybe trying out some tin fish. These little changes and these little additions, they really add up over time. This is how we build better brains with better mental fitness nutrition and Nutritional Psychiatry. This is what we need to be doing every day and every week, not to pressure you, but to encourage you and to remind you that these little steps add up over time and make a huge difference in our brain health and our health.
Everyone, summer challenges us in a variety of ways. It’s really, really hot. You’ve got to stay hydrated. You got to keep your brain nourished. You’ve got to do it in simple, easy, efficient ways. We’re getting all the nutrients that you need, like in this amazing Mediterranean brain bowl, but it’s also easy and it’s simple to put together, especially for yourself or for a family. You can just whip something like this up together. We call it kind of more almost assembling than it is cooking. It’s great for the hot summer days.
Please, in the comments below, leave some of your favorite hot summer dishes, something that is no heat, something that’s great for the nutrient density and all the brain foods and brain nutrients you need. Please subscribe to the channel. Share this video with somebody who’s struggling. They’re not having the best summer in the sense that they’re hungry, they’re hot, they’re cranky, they need something delicious to cheer them up and give them all the nutrients they need. Everybody, I’m Dr. Drew Ramsey. I hope this video helps you beat the heat and get the brain nutrition you need. I’ll see you in the next video. Thanks so much.
