Katrina #15: Junk foods are coming for your memory
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| https://www.healio.com/news/primary-care/20210810/concerning-67-of-calories-kids-and-teens-consume-come-from-ultraprocessed-foods |
During spring break, I had been fixing my sleep schedule, sleeping early, and waking up early. However, even though my mind feels clearer, my head no longer hurts, and my overall well-being improved, I still found myself having a terrible memory, so I decided to do some research to identify what other factors are there that could contribute to my forgetfulness. Upon doing some quick research, I found out that the Hot Cheetos and the cookies and cream ice cream I have been eating all this time had been playing a role in making my memory suffer.
A study conducted on 52 people indicated that those with high levels of unhealthy ingredients in their diets showed signs thought to be pointing toward having Alzheimer’s disease, meaning they had “lower levels of sugar metabolism in the brain and a decrease in brain tissue.” Another study with around 18,000 people demonstrated that those who ate a lot of fried foods and processed meats scored lower in learning and memory.
This means the Western diet can be especially detrimental to our brain since wherever we go, we are overwhelmed by numerous fast-food chain options. Now I am also slightly reconsidering eating all the snacks I have stashed in the kitchen cabinet.
Hey Katrina! I’m glad to hear that you managed your schedules in order for the small time that was spring break at the very least! I am also glad that you have given me another excuse for my incredibly bad memory. Finally I can just blame my bad memory on my diet. On that note it is also especially scary that the food most common and easily accessible is so dangerous to us. I will definitely make sure to watch what I eat after reading this. Thank you for your delightfully informative blogs !
ReplyDeleteHi Katrina, the Hot Cheetos one really hits home. I love Hot Cheetos, but my parents never let me buy any because they say it's extremely bad for my health. They said that it increases the risk for cancer, but I always thought they just said that to scare me away from eating it. To this day I still do not know if that is true or not. However, I did not know that it negatively impacts long-term memory and that there is statistical proof of this. It saddens me that I have to consider this the next time I eat Hot Cheetos, but it really comes to show that eating a healthy diet is really important in the long term.
ReplyDeleteHey Katrina! I applaud you for being responsible enough to control both your diet and sleep schedule. You currently have a skill that most, if not all, other juniors deeply envy. Regardless, it's interesting to see how our eating habits can influence our academic, or just daily performance in general. While I try to stick to eating healthy on most days, I must admit that I do slip up and end up just consuming an unhealthy amount of junk food. These are habits I definitely have to improve and being more aware about them will definitely help me. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteKatrina, what an educational post to read about; I can definitely say I learned something new today. Like you I always thought the best way to fix your memory is to have a good night's rest but I did not know food also played such an important role in memory. I always saw food as fuel for us to work out and walk around but now, I know it is not only fuel for bodies but our minds as well. It is crazy to think that our brains spend hours of “working out” so it only makes sense for them to need the proper fuel which is food. I guess this is one way to motivate me to eat my greens, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHi katrina! I had no clue that the food we eat could affect the functions of our brain and have an impact on our memory. I am someone who is always snacking on something and now it finally makes sense why I am so forgetful all the time. Your blog was very informative and I learned so much about the functionality of our brains from reading it. After learning of the effects junk food has on my brain, I definitely feel an urge to make my diet more healthy and snack less in order to remember things better. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Katrina! I was surprised to learn that junk food actually affects our memories. Your blog post has given me yet another reason to stop snacking on sweet things throughout the day, which I have been meaning to do for a long time. I have heard that sometimes, a quick sugar rush can help you feel more energized, but I just learned that it actually has negative long-term effects. I will definitely keep this in mind and hopefully use this information as motivation to eat less junk food. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Katrina, after reading your blog, I feel extremely guilty for eating so much junk food. Although I can’t give up my love for junk food, I will consider lowering my intake of it. It is quite scary to know that eating things that make you happy now can lead to detrimental effects in the future if you eat too much of it. This somewhat applies to many things because it is never good to have too much of a good thing. Thank you for sharing!
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ReplyDeleteHey Katrina, upon reading this, I began to have a growing sense of guiltiness upon the drawer that sits in the other side of my room as of now. It has my precious candies and protein bars stashed in there, and I am positive that a majority of them perfectly fits the description you just gave. I will probably have to control my consumption of these precious sweets, with consideration for how questionable my memory already is (I, for whatever reason, cannot memorize a piano piece to save my life). Hopefully this process of dieting will miraculously improve my deficient memory storage.
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