What Are the Best Foods & Supplements for My Brain Type?

Best Foods & Supplements for Your Brain Type | Take the Brain Health Assessment

Brain Health, Focus, Memory, Mood, Nutrition

The more you know about your brain, the better you can optimize it.

Know Your Brain Type

Just as identifying your abilities, interests, and skills can help you become a more well-rounded, successful person, knowing your brain type can help you better understand who you are and why you do what you do. These insights can help you know what mental/brain health risks you may face, which can potentially impact your future career and relationships in significant ways.

Based on his brain imaging work, Dr. Daniel Amen has identified 16 Brain Types (5 primary types and 11 combination types). These types can help you better understand who you are, how you behave, and how you relate to others. Here’s a closer look at each of the 5 main brain types along with the distinguishing characteristics, diet plan, and supplement recommendations for each type.

The 5 Major Brain Types – Character Traits and Lifestyle Recommendations

Brain Type 1 – Balanced

Individuals with Brain Type 1 typically show full, even, symmetrical activity throughout the brain, with the most activity in the cerebellum – one of the brain’s major processing centers. People with Brain Type 1 tend to live longer because of their high level of conscientiousness.

They do what they say they’re going to do. They show up on time and follow through on tasks they’ve promise to complete. In short, they’re the kind of person you can depend on.

Those with Brain Type 1 don’t tend to take big risks, nor are they first adopters of new technology. Although it’s possible, they’re not likely to be entrepreneurs or industry innovators. Instead, they like rules and tend to play by them.

Although Brain Type 1 is the optimum brain type, if you don’t use it, you might lose it. So do everything you can to keep your brain healthy.

Action Plan

Improving your brain health is the most important thing you can do for overall health and happiness.

Remember, small changes yield big results. You can dive in headfirst or start a little slower with one change per week. Either way, the most important thing is to take the first step.

Brain Healthy Nutrition

Your brain is the most energy-hungry organ in your body, using 20% or more of the body’s energy. One of the quickest ways to achieve better brain function is to identify which foods you should choose and which foods you should lose. Eat right so you can think right!

Dietary Recommendations

Your Type 1 brain needs a diet that’s well-balanced between high-quality proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats. This nutritional approach will support balanced blood sugar and mood, help you maintain focus and motivation, and provide the necessary building blocks for optimal brain health.

Proteins: wild fish, pasture-raised chicken, turkey, eggs, bison, venison, lamb, and legumes.
Healthy Fats: olive oil, MCT oil, avocado oil, ghee, coconut oil, avocado, nuts and seeds.
Carbohydrates: focus on low-glycemic, high-fiber, unrefined, and organic sources.
Vegetables: 6-10 servings per day by adding them to meals whenever possible.
Whole fruits (avoid sweetened dried fruits and condensed fruit juice): 1-2 servings per day.
Gluten-free whole grains (wild/brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, gluten-free whole oats, and teff): 1-2x per day.
Hydration: the brain is 80% water, and needs to be kept well hydrated. The current recommendations from Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine of the U.S. National Academies are that women consume at least 91 ounces of water and men at least 125 ounces daily, from their foods, beverages, and drinking water.

Brain Supporting Supplements

Brain-directed supplements can support your physical and mental energy levels. It’s recommended for everyone to take daily essentials plus additional supplements tailored to your specific Brain Type.

Recommended Supplements for Brain Type 1

1. Brain & Body Power

We’ve combined our daily essentials into easy-to-use, on-the-go packets. Each packet of Brain & Body Power contains the following supplements:

NeuroVite Plus – a powerful combination of more than 50 vitamins, minerals and plant extracts in their most efficient and bioavailable forms, NeuroVite Plus nourishes all the body’s cells, tissues, and organs.

Brain & Memory Power Boost – this brain-boosting formula delivers your body specialized, brain directed ingredients to support the brain’s energy, connectivity, and overall performance.

Omega-3 Power – gel capsules of the purest, most powerful form of omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA (without the fishy aftertaste) to promote healthy cognition, including recall and retention, focus and concentration, and mood and behavior.

2. ProBrainBiotics

ProBrainBiotics offers advanced support for the gut microbiome, which has an ongoing supportive relationship with the brain, and helps promote healthy digestion, a positive mood, and a healthier response to everyday stress.

Brain Type 2 – Spontaneous

Individuals with Brain Type 2 typically show lower activity in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in brain scans. The PFC is the brain’s brake system. It stops us from saying or doing things that aren’t in our best interest, but it can also stop creative, out-of-the-box thinking if it works too hard.

Studies show that Brain Type 2 may be associated with lower activities of dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved with focus and motivation. People with this Brain Type are likely to need excitement or stimulation in order to stay focused. Smokers and heavy coffee drinkers also tend to fit this type, as they use these substances to turn their brains on.

The best strategy to balance Brain Type 2 is to strengthen the PFC by naturally boosting dopamine activity. Higher protein, lower carbohydrate diets tend to help, as do physical exercise and certain stimulating supplements. Any supplement or medicine that calms the brain may make this type worse.

Brain Healthy Nutrition

Dietary Recommendations

Your Type 2 brain needs more high-quality proteins, plenty of healthy fats, and little to no simple carbohydrates.

Proteins: wild fish, pasture-raised chicken, turkey, eggs, bison, venison, lamb, and legumes. Aim for about 1g per kg of body weight each day in protein.
Healthy Fats: olive oil, MCT oil, avocado oil, ghee, coconut oil, avocado, nuts and seeds.
Carbohydrates: focus on getting most of your carbohydrates from vegetables by adding them to meals whenever possible. Other carbohydrates should be low-glycemic, high-fiber, unrefined, and organic whenever possible.
Hydration: drink at least half your body weight (lbs.) in ounces of filtered water each day.

Brain Supporting Supplements

Recommended Supplements for Brain Type 2

1. Brain & Body Power

2. Focus & Energy

A natural, non-habit forming blend of the essential nutrient choline with adaptogenic, energizing herbals (standardized green tea extract, ginseng, rhodiola, and ashwagandha), Focus & Energy supports mental sharpness and productivity.

Best Supplements for Your Brain Type

Brain Type 3 – Persistent

Individuals with Brain Type 3 are often take-charge people who won’t take no for an answer. They can be strong-willed, tenacious, persistent, and sometimes stubborn. They also tend to struggle with worry, have trouble sleeping, and like things to be done a certain way.

Those with Brain Type 3 often have increased activity in the front part of the brain, in an area called the anterior cingulate gyrus (ACG). The ACG is the brain’s gear shifter. It helps people go from thought to thought or action to action.

The ACG is involved with being mentally flexible and influences your ability to “go with the flow.” When the ACG is overactive, probably due to low activity of serotonin, people can have problems shifting attention, which can make them persist, even when it may not be a good idea for them to do so.

People with Brain Type 3 don’t need more stimulation. In fact, caffeine and diet pills tend to make this type worse.

The best strategy to balance Brain Type 3 is to find natural ways to boost serotonin activity to calm the brain and body.

Brain Healthy Nutrition

Dietary Recommendations

Your Type 3 Brain needs a higher complex carbohydrate, lower protein diet. This nutritional approach will help boost serotonin levels naturally.

Proteins: wild fish, pasture-raised chicken, turkey, eggs, bison, venison, lamb, and legumes. Aim for about 0.5 grams per kg of body weight each day in protein.
Healthy Fats: olive oil, MCT oil, avocado oil, ghee, coconut, olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds.
Carbohydrates: focus on low-glycemic, high-fiber, unrefined, and organic sources.
Hydration: drink at least half your body weight (lbs.) in ounces of filtered water each day.

Brain Supporting Supplements

Recommended Supplements for Brain Type 3

1. Brain & Body Power

2. Serotonin Mood Support

Serotonin Mood Support contains a patented form of saffron along with other key nutrients that help to promote calmness, positive mood, serotonin balance, and even healthy weight management.

Sensitive Brain Type

Brain Type 4 – Sensitive

Brain Type 4 individuals tend to show increased activity in the limbic (or emotional) centers of the brain, making them highly sensitive and empathic, but also subject to mood issues. People with this Brain Type may struggle with constant negative thoughts and pessimistic tendencies.

Exercise, omega-3 fatty acids, and certain supplements, such as SAMe and vitamin D, can help individuals with Brain Type 4.

Brain Healthy Nutrition

Dietary Recommendations

Your Type 4 brain needs a diet that’s balanced in high-quality proteins and complex carbohydrates. This type of diet will help balance your blood sugar, help you focus, and provide the necessary building blocks for brain health.

Proteins: protein-rich foods provide amino acids the body needs to create neurotransmitters such as serotonin (linked to mood, motivation, and positive thinking) and dopamine (to help maintain focus, increase learning, and manage emotional reactions).
- Regularity of protein (every few hours) helps with satiety and to balance blood sugar, and can help prevent anxiousness.
- Eat protein with every meal or snack.
- Easy snack options:
  - small apple with almond butter
  - blueberries with walnuts
  - boiled egg with sliced tomato and basil
- Meals should include chicken, wild fish, pasture raised beef or lamb, hemp, eggs, or a plant-based protein powder.
Carbohydrates: focus on getting most of your carbohydrates from vegetables by adding them to meals whenever possible. Other carbohydrates should be low-glycemic, high-fiber, unrefined, and organic whenever possible.
- Prebiotic fibers (support healthy microbiome balance): leeks, onions, raw garlic, sunchoke, raw chicory root, raw asparagus, raw dandelion greens.
  - Vegetables: 6-8 servings per day
  - Whole fruits: 1-2 servings per day
- Gluten-free whole grains: 1 serving per day (wild/brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, gluten-free whole oats, and teff).
Hydration: drink at least half your body weight (lbs.) in ounces of filtered water each day.

Brain Supporting Supplements

Recommended Supplements for Brain Type 4

1. Brain & Body Power

2. SAMe Mood & Movement 400

SAMe Mood & Movement 400 provides SAMe (S-AdenosylMethionine), a nutrient with very high energy that also provides key methyl groups to help power numerous enzymes important for the brain, joints, liver, muscles, and other organs. SAMe is fundamental to the body’s renewal, repair, and overall well-being.

Brain Type 5 – Cautious

Brain scans of individuals with Brain Type 5 often show heightened activity in the anxiety centers of the brain, such as the basal ganglia, insular cortex, and/or amygdala. This is probably linked to lower activity of the neurotransmitter GABA, which helps calm the brain.

People with this brain type tend to be motivated toward a goal. They can feel intense pleasure, but also struggle with feeling anxious or nervous, which causes them to be more cautious and reserved, but also more prepared.

This brain type can be balanced with meditation and hypnosis, along with supportive nutrients such as B6, magnesium, and GABA, and the herbals lemon balm and theanine.

Brain Healthy Nutrition

Dietary Recommendations

Same as Brain Type 4.

Brain Supporting Supplements

Recommended Supplements for Brain Type 5

1. Brain & Body Power

2. GABA Calming Support

GABA Calming Support contains clinically studied nutrients and herbals that help naturally calm brain waves and allow your brain to slow down anxious or fretful thoughts.

We’ve taken a comprehensive look at 5 Brain Types, but there are 11 other types that are combinations of the main types. To learn which of the 16 Brain Types you are, take the Brain Health Assessment.

Take the Brain Health Assessment to Know Your Brain Type

Maybe you’ve taken an online personality quiz in the past. Though such tests can occasionally offer helpful information, most fail to consider an individual’s health habits and personal history. In many cases, they also neglect to include an improvement plan.

Another problem with online tests is that they typically aren’t backed by science. Worse still, they frequently place people into rigid categories that can discourage, confuse, or even stigmatize the test taker.

With so many poorly-designed tests flooding cyberspace, we’re proud to present the Brain Health Assessment (BHA), a science-based, paradigm-shattering personality test. This one-of-a-kind online test:

Was developed by Dr. Daniel G. Amen, a double board-certified psychiatrist who has been practicing for over 40 years.
Is powered by the world’s largest database of functional brain scans – 160,000 and growing.
Incorporates extensive research – Amen Clinics has published over 70 clinical studies on brain health.
Is based on the combined clinical experience of a team of Amen-trained doctors who have worked with patients from 120 countries.

Backed by decades of research, the results of the BHA will give you a personalized report that measures your overall health and includes recommended improvement strategies based on your Brain Type.

To discover your brain type, take the free online BHA quiz. It only takes about 5 minutes to complete and your answers are strictly confidential.

Discover the tool that has helped millions of people increase their energy, sharpen their focus, and optimize their brain. You can know your Brain Type in just a few minutes, so start now.

At BrainMD, we’re dedicated to providing the highest purity nutrients to improve your physical health and overall well-being. For more information about our full list of brain healthy supplements, please visit us at BrainMD.

Author
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Keith Rowe

Keith has been a member of the BrainMD team for several years, providing his research and writing talents. Keith is grateful to have the opportunity to write about supplements since many of them have made a dramatic difference in his life. He is often heard around the office saying, “We have supplements for that.”