By Yervand Kondrahjian | Staff Writer
We constantly talk about diet and physical activity, and we often think that that is all there is for a healthy lifestyle. But what about the mind? Isn’t the brain like a muscle that needs exercise and proper care? In fact, it is! The Mind Diet, which helps lower the risk of mental disease with aging and protects against Alzheimer’s, is a diet that preserves brain health. This diet aims to maintain sharp cognition by providing it with the proper nutrition. This diet calls for eating from 10 different food categories while avoiding five of them. The following ten foods are permitted on the Mind Diet:
- Six or more servings of green leafy vegetables (spinach, lettuce, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, herbs, and salad greens) weekly.
2- Veggies and salads at least once a day (non-starchy vegetables are preferred like orange/yellow bell peppers, red tomatoes, and white onions).
3- All berries, including red and black berries, raspberries, and strawberries, at least twice a week.
4- Raw nuts, five or more food exchanges weekly.
- Adding olive oil to the food while it is being prepared.
6- At least three servings of whole grains daily.
7- Fish at least thrice a week; fatty fish is preferred due to its high omega-3 content.
8- Cereals and legumes at least four times a week.
9- Poultry, such as turkey and chicken (boiled or grilled; avoid fried poultry) at least twice a week.
10 – Red or white wine.
On the other hand, the “Mind Diet’s” five forbidden foods are:
1- More than one tablespoon (14 grams) of butter or ghee every day (swap them out for olive oil while cooking and dipping bread).
2- Cheese: Limiting consumption to one serving a week.
3-Four times a week for red meat is the maximum.
4-Foods that are fried, particularly fast food.
5- Desserts and sweets: manakish, cake, ice cream, candy, pizza, and Arabic sweets… Try to limit your consumption to no more than four times a week and in moderation.
According to researchers who monitored 2,092 people from the Framingham Heart Study, higher mind diet ratings were linked to better cognitive performance and memory as well as greater overall brain capacity. The diet, however, was not linked to decreased rates of cognitive deterioration. Longer-term adherence to the mind diet was shown to be marginally related to higher memory scores in later life, according to a prospective cohort analysis of more than 16,000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study who were 70 years of age and older. These analyses and statistics show that, although avoiding it won’t decrease your cognitive deterioration, it can substantially maintain your cognition and intelligence as you grow old.
The mind diet is adaptable since it does not require following set meal patterns. But this also implies that consumers will have to develop their own menus and recipes based on the mind diet’s suggested ingredients. For people who don’t cook, this could be difficult. People who dine out regularly might have to take their time looking over restaurant menus. Although this mind diet does not restrict people to certain meals and dishes, it limits the ingredients that you can use for your preferred dishes.
While the diet plan outlines the daily and weekly serving sizes of different ingredients, it does not forbid the consumption of any other foods. Additionally, it does not encourage food planning, portion control, or exercise.
The mind diet can be a healthy eating strategy that includes Mediterranean and DASH (dietary approach to stop hypertension) dietary patterns, both of which have potential advantages in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and the promotion of healthy aging. The diet, when combined with a balanced plate recommendation can even encourage healthy weight reduction. Clinical trials are continuing to demonstrate that the mind diet slows the cognitive loss that comes with age, and further research is required to expand the mind study to other groups. All in all, this shows the efficiency and significance of the brain when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.