Welcome to The Globe’s new series, What’s In My Cart?, where we’re asking Canadians how they stock their kitchens. To share your thoughts, fill out this form or e-mail reporter Daniel Reale-Chin at: realechin@gmail.com
Illustration by Kat Frick Miller
Amy Reichelt is an expert on nutritional neuroscience, a field that combines psychology, neuroscience and nutrition to understand how what we eat affects our behaviour and our brain.
The 41-year-old doctor runs a nutrition, health and lifestyle consulting service she founded in 2021, where she coaches people to eat in a way that will improve their brain health.
She helps people steer clear of foods that can cause damage, such as sugar. “It starts to disrupt the communication between neurons and causes the brain to start to change from the molecular and chemical level,” she says.
For most people, foods that contain sugars and saturated fats are extremely tempting, but regularly overconsuming them can cause neuroinflammation and reduce brain plasticity, which has negative effects on brain function. In moderation, this kind of inflammation is a key process that helps protect the brain from pathogens, but an excess of it has been linked to Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative disorders.
Her own diet is chock-full of whole foods, healthy fats from sources such as nuts and seeds, pro- and prebiotics, and a high amount of protein, which Reichelt has recently upped in an effort to put on muscle. Still, she admits that reducing her own sugar intake is a continuing battle.
Something she says she never does is shop when emotional or hungry, because it’s easier to give into temptation.
Here is how Reichelt shops for groceries.
How I save: I buy my fruits and vegetables in-season. I’ve seen cauliflower for up to $8 when it’s not in-season. In season I usually buy them for less than $4.
How I splurge: Free-range eggs and good quality organic meat are worth the splurge for me. Better-quality protein is more nutritionally dense.
The hardest shopping habit to keep up: Our brains are hard-wired to crave sugar, so minimizing my sugar intake has been an ongoing struggle. I try not to go down the sugary cereal or dessert aisles, where the temptations are. It’s better to just avoid it.
How I’ve changed my eating habits recently: I’m trying to eat more protein because I recently started strength training to gain muscle, it’s important to build and maintain it as you age. I’ve been eating over 120 grams of protein per day since I started working out a few months ago.
Five items always in my cart:
- Coffee beans – Pilot Coffee Roasters – $16: I buy my beans from this coffee shop in my neighbourhood. I grind the beans myself in my espresso machine. I think the taste is better.
- Raspberries – Driscoll’s – $2.99: Any berries are great, but raspberries are my favourite. They taste great, have a lot of antioxidants, which are good for your brain. I usually top my oats with them.
- Unsweetened almond milk – Earth’s Own – $4.47: I drink this with my coffee. It’s got a great taste.
- Vanilla protein powder – Leanfit – $30: This lasts me about a month. It’s a nice vegan protein with a mix of pea, hemp seed and rice protein, which gives you a complete amino acid profile and 20 grams of protein per scoop.
- Bananas – $2.70: I hated bananas as a kid, but I’m trying to eat more of them. They’re a great carbohydrate, which is good to eat before explosive exercise like resistance training. It gives me a nice release of energy throughout my workout.
This interview has been edited and condensed.