Hey guys, and welcome back to another episode of your Brain's Coach podcast. My name is Angela Sharina, I'm your host, I'm your Brain's Coach and your Brain Nutritionist. I'm actually a certified nutritionist, have been in nutrition coaching for normal folks who want to recomposition their body and for professional athletes who also care a lot about recovery and performance. I've been in nutrition coaching for more than 10 years now and, yes, I'm your brains coach and your brains need some fuel to do its magic. So today is all about that how to fuel your brain. So then you could go out there and do your absolute best by taking control of your emotions, of your thoughts, of your actions, but also your energy levels, your memory, your learning, your mood, how you show up every day, like your vibrancy.
Speaker 1A lot of people comment on my high energy levels and motivation. A lot of people hire me for that, like your personal cheerleader, someone who is boosting or bursting and shining with that energy. A lot of clients tell me that, and do not underestimate the energy you produce influences other people and if that influence is good, people will hire you, even when your skill might be not as good as someone else. But who bores the heck out of people, who needs more bottom. All I'm saying here is that boost, that zest that you can give to other people, actually comes from your brain, sensing how much energy is produced by your cells, how effective, how efficient are energy-producing plants in your cells, how much energy you use which you can also adjust with things like stress regulation, and then how much is left, your mood, your energy, that you can give to other people. That's actually energy costly. So if you often find yourself in blue mood, not really motivated to do a lot, a lot of it has to do with your energy levels, how much energy is produced in your cells, how much effectiveness you as a human being have with the energy you create. It's kind of like this energy producing plant or a solar battery how effective are you, how much do you get, how much do you spend, how effective you are with that, and that's going to define how much that zest and motivation and boost of positivity and optimism you can give to yourself and other people. So that has a profound effect on the trajectory of your life and your nutrition.
Speaker 1It doesn't just matter for your brain, it matters for your body as well. You have cellular machinery that creates energy in every single cell of your body. But the thing about the brain it's the most energy demanding organ of your body, being less than 5% by weight of your body weight. Your brain gets listen up more than 20% of that energy that you produce everywhere else in the body and your brain defines what kind of mood you are in today. Your brain is kind of this command center that accumulates all of the data from everywhere in your body. It gets all this data from different sensory systems that give information about your activity, the stresses, the work needs to be done, right. It gets all this information and then it gets the information how much energy is produced and then it distributes it. Okay, can we make this person more or less optimistic to make them go out and do more or do less, like what's in it for today? So your brain does all of it and it consumes a heck lot of that energy and it creates the mood.
Speaker 1So what you want to understand the better your nutrition is, the better that efficiency gets when it comes to energy production and when it comes to energy usage. So that's why calories are not created equal Depending on where your calories come from and how sufficient the amount of micronutrients, vitamins, minerals, different fatty acids, different saturated fatty acids, how many of those essential nutrients you get, and also how much stuff that your body has to clear out of the system of garbage you get. All of that affects your energy systems and, down the stream, it affects what mood you have, what energy you carry with you. You cannot control your mood and energy. Yes, you can smile, you can improve it, but most of the time you're going to be running on autopilot and that autopilot energy is defined by that energy status that is influenced by a lot by like a lot, a lot by your nutrition, the quality and the content of micronutrients.
Speaker 1Today we're not going to be talking about quality. I kind of going to assume that you eat the best quality you can get, meaning the less processed versions of all foods. If we learned anything about nutrition in the past decade, is that the less processed your food is now. Obviously, cooking allows us to get more nutrients from our food, but other than that, more procession making things into powder and making something out of it that doesn't look anything like anything that grows from the ground or runs beyond that the more processing is done beyond cooking, the worse it is for the body and the brain. That seems to be coming out of all the data on health and nutrition habits among population in our world, in developed countries where we can get this data, but anyhow.
Speaker 1So today I wanted to share with you numbers that I follow with the highest quality possible. That makes my nutrition simple. Again, I spend in nutrition coaching for regular people who just want to feel well and perform well in all the mates of their life, to professional athletes who want to really perform well in a specific arena. So I spend in nutrition coaching quite some time and I'm always upgrading my knowledge, getting through different certifications and listening to different experts and being on top of different studies. So the information. I update my practices little by little, because the foundation was laid some years ago, and then I share it from time to time here and obviously with clients I work with. I share that all the time. So today I want to share with you numbers that I live by these days that emerged from science, from research, and also individualize for my practice, although I would try to get away from individualization as much as possible. So you're not going to hear about my diet or what I prefer for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No, today you're going to learn about. What are the numbers you need to look into and to get consistent with if you want to create this positive energy balance that translates into great mood, great optimist positivity and zest and vibe that people get from you. So you get hired, you get business and you move in life a lot smoother.
Speaker 1Yesterday I was talking to my mom and we usually talk while I'm having my dinner, whether that's when we are remote on WhatsApp or when we are in one place, and we often talk about food and nutrition, different meals that we prepare, who cooks what and how and why. And she told me Angela, you seem to have all this numbers in details. How do you make sense of all of it? It seems complex. And I told my mom well, actually I put it in a system a long time ago, so for you it might seem complex. For me it's just what I do every single day. It's kind of like if you take the same walk to the gym or work or anywhere, or you drive there, you don't even think about that, even though when you learn how to do driving I'm yet to learn, by the way, or how to do anything. It seems so complex and so many things to think of. Or, for example, cooking. Now I cook all of my dinners. It doesn't require any type of thinking, even though there are all these food groups and ingredients I put in. From my side, I have a system. I do the same thing, very similar, every single day, and so it requires no thinking.
Speaker 1But learning is always harder, and once I told her the numbers and how I go about putting it into simple practice, she was like ah, I get it, so it does seem simple. You just need to understand how to make it simple for you. So practice you're like oh, I get it, so it does seem simple. You just need to understand how to make it simple for you. So when today you're going to learn about all these numbers and think, oh, there is no way I'm going to be doing that regularly. If you take it step by step, one step at a time, just like many of my clients who I've been with for a year plus all of a sudden they do this complexity without even thinking, one step at a time. Put into practices that work for you in a way that works for you. It makes things easier, just like any other complex skill you learned at some point, from driving to do your job to anything complex.
Speaker 1So what are the numbers? Let's get through them. What are the things that I make sure I look at? I get what I recommend to my clients and what is a simple way to get them in your daily diet. So, again, what we are concerned here is great energy levels, great moods, this vibe that people are attracted to your customers, your clients, your investors, your mates. If you are in a dating thing, opportunities come to great energy and that great energy comes or doesn't come from you. So how to have that great energy balance?
Speaker 1Nutrition is a key part of it and you know, don't? You just want to feel good every single day, to enjoy life and make things happen. So the first number protein. Your body weight in kgs multiplied by 2. Let's say I'm 50 kilos multiplied by two, that's going to be 100 grams of protein. That's what you need to get per day for optimal function, not just for muscles. Your brain is hungry for those proteins as well. It creates things like dopamine from the protein that makes you move, makes you learn, makes you creative, curious, driven. All of that stuff comes from protein, guys.
Speaker 1So you need to hit your protein number and most people just don't get enough because a lot of people don't understand the importance and that's why not motivated to put it into practice and put that protein on every single meal. It's not sugar, that's why it's not that appealing, but once you get a hang of eating a lot more, you want to crave that protein. In fact, there is a theory that people are hungry until they eat sufficient amount of protein and since a lot of people do not get sufficient amount of protein, it's like they're always hungry for something Anyhow. Protein. That's the number I'm tracking every day. By now I kind of know what it looks like for me to get my protein and I like my protein and I always get more than enough.
Speaker 1So let's say again your weight is 60 kilos. Multiply by 2, it's 120 grams. How to simplify that? Well, 30 grams of protein, the number that I'm talking about. Let's say yours is 120, you need to divide it by 30, it's 430. Because it makes things simple 30 grams of protein is about 120 grams of meat, chicken, fish. So if you need to get that multiplied by four, that's about 500 grams of meaty stuff of chicken fish, shellfish, prawns, and a lot of my clients find it's hard to eat that much and that's why supplements like protein shakes come in handy. Usually one serving of good protein powder would have 25 to 30 grams of that protein. So you save yourself eating 120 grams of meat, fish or chicken, some other foods that are quite high in protein.
Speaker 1Eggs, but not as high as you think. One egg has only six grams of protein. If you have liquid egg whites, then you can get plenty of that as well. If you like egg protein one of the most well-absorbed kind of protein Then we get yogurt. Not that much again. Per cup of regular yogurt you would have only five grams of protein. If it's Greek you might get up to 16. So it depends, but regular yogurt, just about five per cup of yogurt.
Speaker 1Beans if you're thinking about beans, there's a lot of beans you need to eat to get your protein protein. One cup of cooked beans has about eight grams at best. So six to eight grams we have, and if you need to get 100 plus, that's again a lot of beans you need to eat. But if you combine it and that's where having different apps that can count that for you come in handy If you combine all of these different foods that you can hit your protein number quite easily when you know what you look for right. So this is the first number.
Speaker 1For me, it means for breakfast I eat a can of tuna, a can of sardines, a couple of eggs. For lunch, don't eat that much protein, and breakfast and dinner, by the way, are the most important protein-rich meals. For lunch, I have a big cup of yogurt, three, 350 milliliters of yogurt, and for dinner, 250, sometimes 300 grams of meat, which gives me plenty of protein, close to like 80 grams of protein. So I love my protein for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We need more of it, especially here in South Africa where we have biltong, but it's all kinds of dried meat that I absolutely love. I'm a protein junkie, you might say, which might also explain why I'm so motivated, driven and want to do stuff and also have quite a lot of muscle, not so much fat. Protein can help you with all of that. Now the second number that I'm always looking at myself and with my clients your fiber. So for women 25 grams plus, for men 30 grams plus, fiber in Plus.
Speaker 1Fiber in different foods varies wildly. You can get a lot of fiber from beans, actually up to 15 grams of fiber per cup of cooked beans. Lentils are especially high, but then other foods it depends. You can get berries, 200 grams of berries, 5 grams, 5 grams per 100 grams of fruit or veg. That's probably 4 or 5 grams is your usual ones. There are some superstars like beans, but some grains have also higher amount of fiber, but you need to check that Beans have also higher amount of fiber, but you need to check that.
Speaker 1What is recommended also for different other vitamins and minerals besides the fiber, is to eat 800 grams of fruit and vegetables and to give you an idea, one banana is more than 100 grams medium banana. One apple is more than 100 grams, right, so it's actually not that much spread out throughout the day. 800 grams of fruit and vegetables and then a serving of whole beans or whole grains and you heat plenty of that fiber. But it is very crucial because it is important for your gut health. You have a lot, a lot of that gut bacteria that, by the way, send the signal to your brain. A lot of those signals improve your mood, improve your energy, regulate your blood sugar, which is also important for your brain performance If your blood sugar is all over the place your mood, your capacity to focus, to learn also going to be all over the place. So fiber is number two, number number two that we are looking at all the time. So you can easily hit that again with 800 grams of fruit and vegetables and it's not that much. When you spread it out it will make you eat less of other stuff, like I don't know cookies and chocolate and all this other stuff, but it will make you eat the right kind of stuff.
Speaker 1So fiber the first, protein, the second fiber. The third one is Saturated fat. Now, saturated fat I started looking at recently because it is highly correlated with things like cholesterol, which is highly correlated with heart disease and your heart health. Your cardiovascular health in general and your heart health is your brain health and your heart health is your brain health. Heart pumps the blood, pumps the oxygen. It pushes the nutrients all over your system. So how well your heart works will define how well the rest of the body works. Your brain, including your brain, is thirsty, hungry for that energy and oxygen and nutrients. So it's your brain's capacity to put you in a good mood and also the ability of your cells to create energy highly depend on your cardiovascular health, which depends on cholesterol seems like, which depends on the amount of saturated fat you eat.
Speaker 1So saturated fat. You want to minimize that number and I started paying attention to that because I noticed it shoots high for a lot of my clients, male and female. Now where do people get most saturated fat? For women, it is recommended to keep it below 20 grams, for men below 30. And now I'll give you some food ideas to think of.
Speaker 1One glass of whole milk, full cream milk, not skimmed milk, not reduced fat, but full whole milk, 4.5 grams of saturated fat. It's like five slices of bacon. So dairy is number one source, full fat. Dairy is number one source of that saturated fat. So one glass of milk, you get, let's say, five grams. You eat that bacon, you get another five grams Cheese a small piece of cheese, 30 grams, six grams of saturated fat. Then we have yogurt. If you prefer full fat, you get another bump of five grams, and a lot of people accumulate these small bumps throughout the day. Chocolate 30 grams in dark chocolate, six grams of saturated fat.
Speaker 1If you eat a normal balanced diet, you won't hit high numbers. But if you, for example, love cheese and you eat not 30 grams but, let's say, 100 grams every single day. You are shooting for 18 grams of saturated fat just there. But a lot of people get 150 or 200 grams of cheese. It's a lot of saturated fat. And then, plus that, you get your meaty stuff. The fatty are obviously the most saturated fat. Like, again, bacon five grams. One slice is one gram. So one thin slice, five slices that you would usually get in breakfast five grams. So meaty products also have a lot of saturated fat when you eat a lot of them with full fat. So saturated fat. If you also want to look into that number and see what it is, to see whether you need to reduce it or you're okay where you are.
Speaker 1Water with saturated fat that's why I switched to low-fat yogurt. That's why I switched to low-fat milk. By the way, skimmed milk has only one gram of saturated fat per glass, right? So whole 4.5 and skimmed one gram a huge difference. That's why maybe you want to get your cappuccinos with skimmed milk if you drink a lot of them. So saturated fat.
Speaker 1That's number three. The next one is water. You want to make sure that there is a system in your water consumption. Your brain needs a lot of water to function well. Even 2% dehydration makes energy systems work worse, make your brain less focused, working not that well, it's hard to concentrate, you get anxious, you might get this itchy, feeling like something is off, and you just can't again concentrate, can't focus, can't learn effectively, your mood might be off. Plus, all of the things just doesn't move when you don't have enough water. So water, where are you getting yours?
Speaker 1If you eat a diet, like I do, high in fruit and vegetables, you still need that water. And usually the more active you are not usually, but it is a rule the more active you are, the more water you need. I drink two liters of water. On top of that I have coffee a couple of cups of coffee. On top of that be a couple of cups big cups of tea, rooibos usually no caffeine there, and then again a lot, a lot of fruit and vegetables. There's usually no caffeine there, and then again a lot, a lot of fruit and vegetables. And on some days when it's hot and it's summer, I still feel like I need more water.
Speaker 1So, water, make sure you get enough. A lot of it, a lot of. Also, malfunctions of your body, from your skin health to your eyesight, to the way your sleep works, to your energy levels. All of these things depend on water, like everything. You're 70, 80% water, for God's sake. You think it's not important. You need to replenish that. So, water, drink it. And while drinking water, don't forget these are the second two numbers that you need your electrolytes, your minerals that make the electricity work in your body. So the next number is calcium. Calcium is a nutrient. It's an electrolyte that helps your brain and body create electricity, that helps neurons to communicate, that helps nerves to relax, muscles to contract and, by the way, your stomach is a muscle, everything in your body is a muscle. So how you move, how you digest food, and then how your neurons can communicate between each other, all of that depends on calcium.
Speaker 1And the thing why a lot of people don't get like calcium deficiency that they can feel is because your bones is your calcium storage, and so when the body needs calcium and it needs almost every second of your function, of you being alive your body takes it from your bones. The problem is that if you take and take and take and you never put it back, or put back very little, guess what happens? It's like with those non-renewable resources or resources that renew very slowly. You take it out. You never put anything back and you exhaust your resources and then things start to collapse like bone fractures. You get hip fractures, people fall, people get injured and often die. I don't want to scare you, but calcium is important and the reason why you don't know if you're missing it it's because your body, your brain, takes it from your bones. But you need to put some back. If you want to be mobile and walk in and avoid breaking your bones when you're older, when you fall, you need to put that calcium back.
Speaker 1Like where do you get your calcium? That is a legitimate question. Most of the calcium comes from dairy or fortified products in people's foods. So dairy. One glass of milk has about 300 milligrams. It's about one third, a little bit less than you need. You need one gram. One gram, 200 milligrams, right, so 1.2. And for one glass you get only 300 milligrams one full glass. And then from yogurt even less about 200 milligrams from a cup of yogurt. So you need like have five of those cups to get your calcium. And don't even get me started on nuts, seeds and almonds.
Speaker 1The reason why some of your almond milk has calcium is because it is fortified. It's literally added there. So you're taking your calcium supplement in your milk Like. For that reason I, for example, like breeze almond milk because one glass has 450 milligrams of that calcium and very little calories, no saturated fats, some additional vitamins and minerals. I take it unsweetened so it's an amazing drink. I add to cups of my teas and coffees that has this additional calcium. Then I don't have to worry that much about calcium supplement. But on top of that I do have really big glass of yogurt and on top of that I eat fish with bones. That also provides quite a lot of calcium, like 500 milligrams or so. So, depending where you are, where is your calcium coming from? You got to know that number and once you know it you got to stick with it on most days. So where is your calcium coming from? Are you getting your one gram of calcium, then a few other? Not so much numbers, but something you want to be aware of and want to get it in your system.
Speaker 1Magnesium, one of the key nutrients for creating energy in your cells. Magnesium is needed also to maintain your healthy DNA so you age well. Magnesium is important for energy creation and also protein synthesis, which is super important. Eating that protein but not being able to use it for all the processes in the body that the body needs it for. You need that magnesium to make that protein work and you need that magnesium to create energy. Literally, without magnesium your cells are not creating energy and that's where a lot of people also just don't get their vibe, their zest. Not enough magnesium Supplement. Just if you're not supplementing with magnesium start 400, 400 milligrams per day Form does matter, but something is better than nothing. So magnesium always supplement. That's not so much again to look at, but just get your supplement and keep taking it till the rest of your life.
Speaker 1Omega-3s definitely something to look into. Most people don't get enough. Those are super important for your brain performance. Your brain builds structures from those omega-3s. The amount of omega-3s people consume is highly correlated with how elevated their mood is, how less depression and anxiety they feel. Omega-3s have a lot to do with your vibe, your mood, your anxiety, your depression or, again, how happy you feel. But also omega-3s your brain use to create structures that allow signals between neurons in your or your brain cells travel fast so you could think fast, you can learn, you can adapt, you can be this agile, high-performing human being. Omega-3s have a lot to do with that and you need to get them.
Speaker 1Recommended amount two grams To give you an idea a can of sardines, one gram of those omega-3s you need from fatty fish. If you eat tuna, it's a lot of tuna you need to eat. That's why a lot of people supplement. I personally eat a chunk of fatty fatty fish every day and plus the tuna, I eat either sardines or salmon every single day 100 grams or so, which allow me to hit this 1.5 grams. And then I eat quite a lot of tuna, and so that brings me very close to that two grams, which is another number. But for most people, supplement. You're probably not a fan of sardines every day. You probably do not eat salmon every day, or enough tuna, which probably mean like 500 grams. Let me see, yeah, even more than that. That is why supplement with omega-3s as well. Find a good one. Make sure that there is two grams of, or close to that, epa and DHA combined, not just fish oil, but actual omega-3s. And there is a difference.
Speaker 1And the last but not least, supplement with your vitamin D. Unless you spend three, four months a year by the beach almost naked and soaking up that vitamin D, you're not getting enough. And with vitamin D, it seems like it's involved in so many different functions in the body and brain and we don't exactly know how it works together, but it also makes things like calcium and magnesium work in your body. So what we do know you need your vitamin D, you need a lot of it and, again, unless you're spending three, four months a year every day on the beach, you're not getting enough. So get it in a supplement form. Test for it. If you're already deficient, get a shot so it gets bumped up quicker than later.
Speaker 1A lot of people can't absorb well from supplements. So check your levels, make sure that you use some good testing facility or technology so it's accurate, and then get your vitals upgraded. So these are the numbers that I'm looking at and different foods. We talked about that how you can get that. Some nutrients like magnesium. You just seriously not going to get enough of it.
Speaker 1And top doctors, md doctors who work in the field of optimal health, longevity, optimal function they always say supplement magnesium, omega-3s, vitamin D, magnesium, omega-3s, vitamin D. There is a reason why people who study as a profession, who do research, who work with a lot of people and go through a lot of research and data. There is a reason why they say that Omega-3s, magnesium, vitamin D and you don't need other supplements. If you then hit all of the numbers of the highest quality of foods, if your diet is suboptimal, then guess what that means that you need to also supplement with things like multivitamin and perhaps a couple of other things. But let's repeat, let's learn again. What are the numbers we are looking at?
Speaker 1For optimal function, for this great energy, for your ability to perform mentally and physically recover well, have great sleep, have this productive, motivating, driving other people to action, energy and just feeling great every day. So what do you need to eat for that? You need to eat your protein. Multiply your body weight by two that's your number and get that number from food Again 30 grams for 120 grams of meat, fish, chicken and then other foods have different amounts. Look it up or use things like MyFitnessPal to check it for you. Fiber 25 grams for women, 30 grams plus. More is better With fiber. More is better, more is better. Get that 25 for women, 30 grams for men. How do you get it? Eat your 800 grams fruit and vegetables and then eat a couple of beans or whole grains or just additional fruit and vegetables and you get your number easily.
Speaker 1Also, with a lot of my clients, we supplement. There are plenty of natural fiber supplements. We get one or two servings While they're building up the amount of fruit and veg they eat. That's where I say one thing at a time, one thing at a time. That's what makes it simple and easy in the end. Number three keep your saturated fat down. High-fat dairy contributes to that, the most highly correlated with your heart health, especially down the road when we all get older and still want to do awesome stuff.
Speaker 1Water two liters plus the less watery foods you eat, like fruit and vegetables, the more water you need. Liquid, some form. Then calcium when is your calcium coming from? You need at least one gram of that. One glass of milk, again 300 milliliters. If it's breeze, almond fortified, you get 450 milligrams. A couple of those and you get your daily calcium in. And then supplement magnesium, omega-3s, vitamin D, magnesium, omega-3s, vitamin D and again, in terms of implementation, the strategy that works the best across the board for everyone taking one step at a time, working on it for two, three weeks, whatever it takes, until it becomes easy, part of what you do.
Speaker 1Just figure out your routine. Let's say you start with protein and then add on top of that, so you have a system that doesn't feel like work at all, kind of like learning how to drive After a while. That's what they say. I don't drive After a while. You don't even notice how you do it, you just do it. So the same happens with your nutrition when you take it. What? One step at a time.
Speaker 1I hope this brief on nutrition was very useful. Look at the biggest gap that you have, or maybe the easiest one, like getting your supplement. What is easiest? Stop by your drugstore and get some. If you need any help with figuring out which ones to get how much.
Speaker 1If you still need help, reach out either on Instagram AngelaBrain Coach one word, angela Brain Body Coach or email me, angela at brainbreakthroughcoachcom, although sometimes it goes into spam, so I do not promise I'm going to reply. Find me on Instagram, comment on some of my posts. I'll find you like that, because messages on Instagram also go to spam Sometimes. Angela Brain Body Coach that's me on Instagram.
Speaker 1Get your nutrition right and you're going to get your vibe back, for which you'll be hired. You're going to get business, you're going to get mates and just going to feel amazing every day. And just gonna feel amazing every day. Isn't that enough. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for listening. Get your nutrition up to speed with your aspirations. Reach out if you need help. Please do share this podcast episode with at least one person maybe your family member or your flatmate, with who you're now gonna practice it together to keep each other accountable. So share this to learn together, to do together, to get better and grow together. And till next time, have an awesome day, eat well, and you'll hear from me very soon.