The Brain/Food Connection- How food shapes our mood, energy, & clarity - With Sam Salmon

If you’ve been listening to health advice online for years, I get it. At some point it all starts to blur together. One person says sugar is the enemy. Another says fruit is the problem. Someone else says you need 37 supplements and a $900 lab panel to feel better.

And meanwhile… you’re still tired, foggy, and not feeling at all like yourself :-(

So today I want to share a conversation I had that I think you’re really going to appreciate. I went live as part of the Vegan Health Bundle, and I brought on Sam Salmon. She’s a board-certified health coach and a brain health licensed trainer. And she is one of those people who explains things in a way that makes you feel calmer, not more confused.

Quick context. What is the Vegan Health Bundle?

If you’ve never heard of the Vegan Health Bundle, here’s the easiest way to think about it. It’s a once-a-year collection where a bunch of health practitioners put their best resources together in one place. Recipes, courses, guides, trainings, all kinds of things. Can you hear my squeals of excitement yet?!

This year it’s over $4,500 worth of resources for $49.

If you’ve ever felt like health support is expensive, or you’ve wanted to explore plant-based wellness but didn’t know where to start, this is an easy way to dabble without committing to something huge.

Sam’s story- what changed everything for her.

Before we talked about brain health, I asked Sam why she does this work and her response quite literally gave me goosebumps!

She shared that she watched her grandmother suffer with type 2 diabetes. Not only suffer, but she deteriorated and eventually pass away from complications. What stuck with her is that her grandmother was doing what she was told, followed the doctor’s instructions, did all the “right” things, and she still getting worse.

That kind of experience changes you.

That was her first big wake up call and it made her start questioning what we are told about food and health, and why nutrition isn’t talked about more in the medical system.

A few years later, she found Dr. Neal Barnard’s work around reversing type 2 diabetes with a whole-food plant-based approach. This was officially was the start of her own plant-based journey and she's been eating this way for 18 years now.

This is where I really respected her honesty.

When she first cut out meat, dairy, and eggs, she gained weight. Why? Because she didn’t magically start eating vegetables just because she stopped eating animal foods. She was still eating lots of processed foods. Bread. Oatmeal. Convenience food. Just plant-based versions of it.

This acknowledgement matters, because it’s a reminder that “plant-based” doesn’t automatically mean “healing.” You can cut things out and still be undernourished. You can eat “clean” and still not be supporting your body the way it needs.

That experience is what pushed her deeper into learning. Instead of consuming plant-based fast and processed foods, she began leaning into things like. smoothies, juices, and incorporating simple raw foods in her diet. Eventually she and her husband even opened a raw vegan eatery, which to me, would be an absolute dream!

So why brain health?

Health is not just food. It’s also your environment, stress, safety, trauma, the community you live in, and the things your nervous system has had to carry.

After she dove into Dr. Daniel Amen’s book, The End of Mental Illness, it connected the dots for her even more.

Your brain is the organ of how you think, feel, and behave. It affects how you respond to stress, how resilient you are, how you show up in relationships, how you interpret the world, and how you recover after a hard day.

So when someone is dealing with brain fog, anxiety, low mood, irritability, or just feeling off, it’s not just “in your head.” Your brain needs support just like any other part of your body.

If you’re dealing with brain fog or low energy, start here.

If you're struggling with brain fog or low energy, what can you do right now?

Sam's advice?

Spend more time making your own food.

Not because you need to pursue dietary perfection or can't ever eat out, but because processed foods are sneaky. They’re often high in refined sugar, oils, and salt and all of these things actually have a negative effect on your gut, blood sugar, cardiovascular system, hormones, and your brain.

She explained it in a way that was easy to understand. Your brain needs blood flow, stable blood sugar, and healthy little gut bugs! And those, my friends, are fed with whole, fiber-rich plant-foods!

So if your diet is mostly grab-and-go, packaged, highly processed food, it makes sense that you might feel foggy, moody, anxious, or depleted.

That doesn’t mean you’re broken! It just means your system is asking for support and you have the power to give it exactly what it needs!

Let’s talk about sugar... Because people are SO DANG CONFUSED about sugar!

People are so confused about sugar, and there is so much fear-mongering that this is a really important topic for us to cover.

Sam’s perspective was simple. If sugar isn’t coming from a whole food, it’s not something she recommends as a regular part of brain-supportive nutrition.

She gave some awesome recommendations of using either whole dates or things like date powders if you're looking for added sweetness in your food. Or if you're like me and just need to satisfy that sweet tooth every now and again

We also talked about fruit, because you will hear people online demonize fruit left and right.

During our conversation, Sam clearly explained that fruit has actually only been shown to have positive impacts on the brain, and there's a lot of supporting evidence to show that whole food sources of glucose help protect brain health.

What about juicing?

Juicing is another hot topic that catches a lot of debate, especially online. I'm so glad that she brought up juicing from a neurological perspective.

Especially when you're juicing fruits and vegetables and you're doing this at home, juices are actually a nutrient-dense powerhouse. Typically, when they're made at home, they're not devoid of fiber, so you're still getting some fiber in there.

We both want to be clear, however, that juices from the store, unless they're cold-pressing their own fresh juices, do not equate, because cold-pressing or high-pressure pasteurization kills good nutrients and there's often preservatives in those juices.

This can be a smart and effective whole-food alternative to expensive supplements, which is a huge bonus!

What's one thing that you can do today to start nourishing yourself and your brain?

Sam's advice was actually quite simple, and I loved that. It's just to start small, maybe with one hour a week in the kitchen, maybe you plan one meal that's home cooked instead of takeout. Maybe you go out and buy a chef's knife so you can chop some fresh fruits and vegetables. Maybe you just start with hydration, and all of those things are okay.

The one thing that's going to move you forward to action from simply knowing is taking that one small step and taking it consistently.

And here’s the reminder I want to leave you with.

If you’re learning new habits, it’s not going to be perfect.

Life happens, kids are driving you crazy, work is hectic, the commute is exhausting, you get tired, you get busy, you hit weeks where you’re in survival mode.

That doesn’t mean you failed. It means you’re human.

This is not about toxic positivity. It’s about not spiraling into self-judgment when things don’t go perfectly.

One decision at a time. One meal at a time. One step forward.

That’s how this becomes sustainable.

Sam's favorite recipes.

Before we wrapped up, I asked Sam what her favorite recipe is from her brain health recipe book.

Her top contender? Her creamy tomato soup, beet burger, cashew nog, and zucchini lasagna! I personally can't wait to try them all.

And if you're feeling frisky, she also has some juice recipes in there as well.

Want to connect with Sam?

You can connect with her on social or at rawfoodmealplanner.com

And if you want the live event replay, it’ll be inside the Vitality Facebook Group and on my YouTube channel.

And don't forget to snag the 2026 Vegan Health Bundle here before it's gone! It'll be here until Sunday 2/22 and then it's sayonara until next year! https://transactions.sendowl.com/stores/15779/331789

With love and vitality,

Courtney