BBC 英语学习 6分钟英语 喂养你的大脑

6 min English from BBC

learning english dot com. Hello. This is six minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Phil and I'm Georgie. Has this ever happened to you?

You eat a doughnut and get a sugar rush, a strong feeling of excitement and energy, only to collapse an hour later with a headache.

Food affects us more than we realize, and that's because what we eat alters our brain chemistry, changing our mood and emotions.

Our brain is working 24 h a day, even while we sleep, so it needs more fuel than other body parts.

So can we eat our way to feeling happy?

In this program, will be discussing the relationship between food and the brain, and as usual, we'll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Sounds great, georgie. But 1st, I have a question for you.

Humans with an average brain weighing one and a half kilos are one of the cleverest animals.

Which mammal has the biggest brain?

Is it a an African elephant?

Be a dolphin, or see a sperm while I think it's an African elephant?

OK, georgie. I'll reveal the answer later in the program.

Now, did you know that despite making up only 2% of our total weight, our brain uses 20% of the body's energy?

Nutritionist dr Rita Atari does. She thinks we should be specifically eating for our brains, as she explained to BBC World Service program, the food chain, eating every day right and eating a balanced diet, so you get the full compliment of vitamins and minerals, critical.

If you go low in something in one day, if you just, you know, don't eat any protein for for a day.

Or for me, in my situation, if I don't eat any vegetables, I know the next day I'm not a shark.

Number one on Doctor cherry's list of brain foods is a regular and balanced diet, A diet containing the proper types and amounts of food needed to stay healthy.

Remember the rainbow rule? Eat foods of many different colors, with lots of leafy greens.

A balanced diet also includes different types of nutrients, vitamin's, fiber, protein and so on.

But including these isn't always possible.

You might go low on, meaning have very little of one food type.

Doctor Charry says that when this happens to her, she's not as sharp as intelligent and quick to notice things as usual.

Doctor A Charry names lots of different foods which help boost our brains, from wild caught Alaskan salmon and avocado to berries and walnuts.

But hang on, georgie, wild caught Alaskan salmon, very nice and very expensive.

It sounds like these super foods are just for the super rich.

Well, not, according to blogger Michel Munt.

Here she is telling BBC World Services the food chain, how eating well needn't cost a fortune.

It's not expensive. And everyone's got a freezer these days.

So yes, you can batch cook things, freeze them and then use them in like, a week's time or something.

So I think the problem is, again, it's about our lifestyles.

It's about the fact that we feel like we've got limited time, and therefore people are trying to cut the time down the kitchen by cooking things that are pre made.

Or even worse, we're just chucking it in the microwave.

But actually you can do fresh food in 20 min fat.

Michel's idea for brain food on a budget involves batch cooking.

Batch cooking means cooking a lot of food at one time, then saving some to eat later, usually by freezing it.

Although microwave ready meals are convenient, they lack many nutrients needed by the brain.

Luckily, adding some fresh vegetables to batch cooked food means anyone can make a brain healthy meal quickly, or in 20 min flat as michel says, using the word flat to mean exactly, and to emphasize that it can be done quickly.

OK, so we need balanced diets and batch cooking for big brains.

Now, let's test your brain, georgie, with my question.

Right? You asked which mammal has the biggest brain, and I guessed it was an African elephant, which was the wrong answer, I'm afraid.

In fact, the biggest brain belongs to the sperm whale, weighing about eight kilos, and the sperm whales main food fish.

OK, let's recap the

vocabulary we've learned in this program, starting with sugar rush.

Suddenly feeling excited and full of energy after eating food which contains a lot of sugar.

A balanced diet includes the correct combinations of food needed to stay healthy.

If you go low on something, you have very little of it.

If you describe someone as sharp, you mean their intelligent and quick to react to things.

Batch cooking means cooking a lot of food at the same time and saving some for later.

And finally, doing something in 20 min flat means 20 min exactly, and is used to emphasize that it's done very quickly.

Once again, our 6 min are up.

Have fun cooking up your own brain boosting breakfasts, and remember to join us again next time, here at six Minute English.

Good Bye for now. Bye. Six News English from BBC learning english dot com.

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