Brain fodder

The first time I was seriously inducted into nutritional science I was in the fifth grade. My holistic dad sat me on his knee and explained how the stomach and brain were connected and why the food at the family table was right for me and my four older siblings.

"The brain," he said, "is hungrier than the stomach and needs twice the energy to keep you mentally and physically fit".

I had complained that we ate fish, rice, unleavened bread, eggs, green vegetables, lentils and skinless chicken during the week and ate beef or lamb only on Sundays.

Also, yoghurt was mandatory at the end of each meal and dessert was always large bowls of fruit, nuts and very dark bitter chocolate, nothing else.

Well, he went into a long lecture about hot and cold foods, what foods belong to which season, how a rotten stomach affected the brain and how a smooth relationship between the two would keep me fit and intelligent enough to survive the hardships of life.

And while I lived under his roof I followed his food rules and unfortunately (in retrospect) when I flew the coop, I broke every one just to prove him wrong.

Nutritionists these days however are taking me back down memory lane to that lesson on my father’s knee. The Omega 3 fatty acid in oily fish like salmon, mackerel and sardines they say, is great for preventing dementia and schizophrenia.

Vegetable oils, seeds, nuts and green leafy vegetables slow down the ageing process. Curcumin, the substance that makes turmeric yellow and a standard spice used in the Indian kitchen for every lentil, curry and vegetable dish, prevents Alzheimer’s disease.

I’ve also been complaining lately that I cannot remember names and numbers and have, much to the displeasure of family and friends, forgotten important days in their lives like birthdays and anniversaries.

I believed for some time now that the heat and the stress of juggling a job and a family might have made me forgetful, until I switched on to Star World late last evening and was relieved that my daddy was not around to say, "I told you so."

I would have had to look him in the eye, apologise, promise to go back to the "family" diet and say, "I am not smarter than a fifth grader."