Healthy eating for exams

Revising isn’t the only key to exam success; Condor Properties explains how to eat your way to a first.

You can bury you head in the books all you like, but if you want your mind to perform well on exam day you’ll need to feed it something special.

So, in an act of utter selflessness, your favourite student lettings company has talked to nutritionists, flicked through food books and bored the backside off staff in Holland and Barrett to unearth the best brain food known to humanity.

And here it is; our guide to eating your way towards exam success. Bon appetit.

Foods to improve memory

Over the coming weeks you’ll be absorbing a lot of information, but how do you retain it all? Well, boffins claim that loading up on Omega-3s will help. These acids are touted as the best memory food and are found in fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines), walnuts, flaxseed oil, pumpkin seeds and soya beans.

The same boffins also claim a glass of wine can improve your memory – although, as you know, a bottle will have the opposite effect.

Berry good for your brain

Vitamin C has long been celebrated for its brain-enhancing qualities; clever people with goggles claim that it improves your mental agility and makes your mind sharper. Load up on blackberries, strawberries, oranges and kiwifruits.

Don’t be a salad dodger

Like the mythical g-spot, nobody can really agree whether antioxidants exist. However, there’s no harm looking for either, which is why leading nutritionists claim we should eat copious amounts of antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables.

Apparently this will protect your brain cells from damage (although this might be a tad late if you’ve been tearing it up all term). Look for these elusive antioxidants in spinach, broccoli, blueberries, tomatoes, watermelon, apricots and mangoes.

Step away from the cheese

This is going to hurt, but if you want to improve your concentration and boost your memory then you’ll need to cut down on saturated fats. Say goodbye to cheese, butter and red meat until after your exams. You’ll thank us later.

An exam day breakfast

They might be ludicrously tasty, but a bowl of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes is not the breakfast of champions – it’s all style and no substance. Instead, cook some porridge and add a sliced up banana, some flaked almonds and a teaspoon or two of honey. It will improve your concentration, stop you feeling hungry and slowly release energy throughout your exam.