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What foods are good to eat before taking a difficult test?

My history exam consists of two essays, a paragraph each for identifications, five short answers, and five briefs, ALL IN ONE HOUR!! I have no idea how I'll finish it all. I've been practicing "speed essay writing." So what foods will give me lots of energy and what foods should I avoid? Please state why. Thanks.

Public Comments

1. Runners load on carbs, perhaps you need to do the same.
2. Eating fruits are always a good option they "wake you up." Carbs are a bad choice. They're heavy and make you tired. So stick with light things. Apples and oranges and bananas are all good options.
3. 10 BALANCED BREAKFASTS An ideal, nutritious breakfast contains a balance of complex carbohydrates and protein. Think grains, plus dairy, plus fruits. Examples of balanced breakfasts are: granola cereal, yogurt, a sliced apple scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice veggie omelet, bran muffin, fruit with yogurt whole-grain pancakes or waffles topped with berries and/or yogurt, milk whole-wheat zucchini pancakes topped with fruit, milk french toast topped with fruit, orange juice or milk low-fat cheese melted on toast with a piece of fruit low-fat cream cheese on a whole-grain bagel, orange juice peanut butter and banana slices on an english muffin, milk Of course, it's what you eat not what you say that impresses a child most. By treating yourself to a healthy breakfast, you model to your children that eating a healthy breakfast gives the whole family a smart nutritional start ______________________________________ Breakfast science. "Breakfast" means just that: break the overnight fast. Eating breakfast allows you to restock the energy stores that have been depleted overnight and begin the day with a tank full of the right fuel. Sending yourself to work or your child to school without breakfast is like trying to use a cordless power tool without ever recharging the battery. If you don't refuel your child's body in the morning after an overnight fast, the child has to draw fuel from its own energy stores until lunchtime. The stress hormones necessary to mobilize these energy reserves may leave the child feeling irritable, tired, and unable to learn or behave well. If you want your child to rise and shine rather than limp along sluggishly at school all morning, make sure your child's day gets off to a nutritious start. Throughout the brain, biochemical messengers called neurotransmitters help the brain make the right connections. Food influences how these neurotransmitters operate. The more balanced the breakfast, the more balanced the brain function. There are two types of proteins that affect neurotransmitters: 1) neurostimulants, such as proteins containing tyrosine, affecting the alertness transmitters dopamine and norepinephrine, and 2) calming proteins that contain tryptophan, which relaxes the brain. A breakfast with the right balance of both stimulating and calming foods starts the child off with a brain that is primed to learn and emotions prepared to behave. Eating complex carbohydrates along with proteins helps to usher the amino acids from these proteins into the brain, so that the neurotransmitters can work better. Complex carbohydrates and proteins act like biochemical partners for enhancing learning and behavior. This biochemical principle is called "synergy," meaning that the combination of two nutrients works better than each one singly, sort of like 1 + 1 = 3. ______________________________________ The best way to prepare for a test, big or small, or any other stressful life event, is to keep yourself in overall good health. Exercising regularly helps keep the mind alert, reduces fatigue, and facilitates a better night's sleep. Maintaining a balanced diet that includes enough varied sources of vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, and carbohydrates will help you out a great deal on the day of your test. In times of stress, our bodies go into overdrive. If your body has a sufficient store of essential nutrients, like iron and calcium, it will be better prepared to help you cope with this physical response to stress. Also, in the event that you do not get enough sleep or proper nutrition right before the test, you'll have already stocked up on the things your body needs to keep you going. It's important to note that you may want to eat a more protein-rich diet before the test. Your body breaks down protein into its building blocks, amino acids, one of which is tyrosine. The brain uses tyrosine to manufacture dopamine and norepinephrine, neurotransmitters believed to help increase alertness, mental acuity, motivation, and response time to challenges. So, on the day of the test, include more dietary sources of protein in your breakfast, such as non- or low-fat dairy products [i.e., milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, hard cheese (cheddar, American, Swiss, etc.)], eggs, legumes (beans and peas), grains, seeds, and nuts (try spreading some peanut butter on a bagel). Also, avoid eating only carbohydrates for breakfast because they help stimulate the brain to use tryptophan, another amino acid, to produce serotonin, another neurotransmitter; however, unlike dopamine and norepinephrine, serotonin may increase feelings of tiredness and relaxation. Read Serotonin and foods? in Alice's Fitness & Nutrition archives for more information. In addition, don't forget to drink lots of water. Without proper fluid balance, you may begin to feel like your plants look when you forget to water them! It's important to drink lots of water during the days before the test. You may not want to risk needing to run to the bathroom during the test. However, don't allow yourself to become dehydrated either. Of course, all the water and healthy food in the world won't help you much if you haven't studied. Don't run out and buy one of those thousand page test prep books two weeks before the test! Begin preparing well in advance of the test date. Come up with a reasonable test preparation schedule. If you always have Sunday mornings free, then set that time aside for study and review. If designing and sticking to a schedule is not your style, you might want to consider taking a class offered at your school, or by one of the test prep companies. If you can, do a trial run of the exam one day. You can usually find out how the test is conducted -- when it starts and ends, as well as at what time and for how long the breaks are. Use this information to simulate the test day. Time yourself with an alarm clock, or have someone keep time for you. Also check with your school's advising office to see if they offer a mock test. Before the test, use guided imagery as a means of preparation. See yourself at the testing center -- receiving your test, starting, how you'll be approaching the test. Will you answer the questions in order, or will you do what you're most comfortable with first? Imagine yourself doing that. Visualize what you'll do if you start feeling overwhelmed by the test. Alice almost always benefits from closing her eyes, breathing deeply, holding that deep breath for 10 seconds or so, and telling herself that she is calm and can do this. Perhaps this will work for you, or you might have another quick relaxation technique to try. A few other tips from a seasoned test taker: Orient yourself -- find out exactly where the test is given (location and room), and how long it will take you to get there; do a trial run if you're unfamiliar with the roads and area. *Try to get a good night's sleep the night before. *Avoid foods you know will make you feel sluggish, bloated, or otherwise not like a million bucks, the day before and the morning of the test. *Definitely eat breakfast, with a little protein, on the day of the test. *If you're a coffee drinker, keep your coffee intake to a minimum. *If the test goes all day, eat lunch (but not so much that you'll feel like napping rather than testing in the afternoon).
4. Eat noodles like spaghetti, or fruits. When i had Exams(one every day for a week, and i take all AP and honors courses, which aren't fun) and Band Camp(which was 20 hrs a week), these are the foods i ate, and i stayed awake and i did great during all of it. Good Luck! Stay away from sugary stuff like Poptarts, soda, and anything that has a lot a sugar dont eat, because it will give you a short buzz, then leave you feeling tired.
5. Blueberries have been proven to increase memory capasity... some study with rats in a maze... ones that were fed blueberry dust on their food finished much faster green tea in the morning is a good stimulant that will not make you jittery... be sure to eat something... no sugar in the brain = a slow mind
6. Pastas night before and bananas in morning.