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After seeing signs of cognitive decline in her perimenopausal patients and then watching as her mother was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s, OB-GYN Annie Fenn, M.D. took a closer look at the role diet can play when it comes to brain health and longevity.
What she found: Lifestyle choices, including what you eat, can have a powerful impact when it comes to reducing your risk of Alzheimer’s. In The Brain Health Kitchen: Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food, physician-turned-chef Dr. Fenn explains the science behind the mosts neuroprotective foods and shares recipes, such as Smashed Raspberry Overnight Oats and Slow Roasted Salmon with Avocado Butter, to help you incorporate these into your diet.
To get started on the path to eating for longevity, here are the ten food groups that have been shown to boost brain health.
The following has been excerpted from The Brain Health Kitchen: Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food by Annie Fenn, M.D.
The Ten Brain Health Kitchen Food Groups
The Brain Health Kitchen food groups reflect a plant-heavy version of the MIND and Mediterranean diets, with more servings of leafy greens and vegetables and fewer servings of food from animals. I based this on the vast amount of data that points to the brain health benefits of eating plants in reducing heart disease, especially stroke.
In addition, alcohol moves down a notch from its prominence in the MIND and Mediterranean diets based on the latest data and the fact that most people don’t consume alcohol as the Mediterranean diet intends.
Berries
Eat at least one ½ cup serving daily.
Regularly eating berries will protect your memory and may slow down the aging of your brain by at least two and a half years. While the Nurses’ Health Study showed brain health benefits with just one serving of blueberries or two servings of strawberries each week, which became the basis for the MIND diet guidelines, other studies showed improved memory in older adults with mild cognitive impairment if berries are enjoyed daily. That’s why I recommend eating a serving a day of berries every day, if possible. Berries provide a unique package of brain-specific nutrients in a tiny, tasty, fiber-rich matrix. Plus, berries have a low glycemic index, meaning their natural sugars are slowly absorbed and are less likely to elevate blood sugar or stimulate a surge in insulin.
Leafy greens
Eat at least 2 cups raw or 1 cup cooked every day.
Cooked or raw, in a salad or pulverized in a pesto, eating leafy greens daily has a powerful impact on your brain. They are the most nutrient-dense of all the vegetables. The darker the leafy green, the more nutrient-dense.
Other vegetables
Eat at least 3 cups raw or 1½ cups cooked every day.
Eating a wide variety of different colored vegetables throughout the week is imperative for your brain health (and overall health). That’s because vegetables provide many brain-specific nutrients all in one fiber-rich package. Vegetables are a great source of different types of flavonoids, for instance, a family of plant nutrients found in Alzheimer’s-resistant diets. Diversity is key. Aim to eat 30 or more different types of plants, mostly vegetables, each week.
One third of your vegetables should be cruciferous — broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and bok choy — which provide sulphoraphane, a key antioxidant that mops up free radicals in the brain.
Eat at least one serving of colorful vegetables, daily, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets.
Include alliums (garlic, onions, scallions, leeks) frequently in your cooking.
Enjoy one serving (half a cup) of mushrooms at least twice a week. (Though technically fungi, we will consider them an honorary vegetable.)
Seafood
Eat one or more 3 ounce serving of seafood each week.
Eating seafood is crucial for your brain health. Choosing the best seafood, however, can be overwhelming, given the need to watch out for potential exposure to environmental toxins, just one serving of high-quality, strategically chosen seafood, provides sufficient DHA, EPA, and a whole host of brain nutrients without exposing yourself to harmful levels of environmental toxins.
Nuts and Seeds
Eat 1/4 cup at least four times each week.
A handful of nuts, most days, as a snack or as part of a meal, is proven to reduce your risk of having a heart attack or stroke, and also keeps your memory sharp. Regular nut eaters performed better on cognitive tests, with those who eat nuts four times weekly outperforming those who eat nuts just a few times a month. Seeds, will not as extensively studied are like a bonus brain-healthy food group. If you are allergic to nuts, they are an important source of a similar bounty of nutrients.
Beans and Lentils
Eat four or more ½-cup cooked servings each week.
All the traditional cultures who enjoy dementia-free longevity include beans and lentils as part of their dietary patterns. Not only are these affordable staples versatile, satiating, and delicious, they stabilize blood sugar and lower harmful blood cholesterol. They also provide the type of fiber health-promoting gut microbiota need to flourish. Beans and lentils boast a wide array of brain-specific phytonutrients, especially the flavonoids that make them speckled and deeply hued.
Whole grains
Eat one ½-cup cooked serving three times every day.
Three servings a day of whole grains — meaning intact, minimally processed grains — may seem like a lot, but they’re worth prioritizing for their dynamic combination of fiber and flavonoids, a key brain health connection. Whole grains provide the added benefit of amplifying the nutrition of the foods with which they’re consumed.
Meat, poultry, and eggs
Eat small portions (3 ounces) of chicken or meat up to four times each week; limit eggs based on your personal health factors.
If you choose to include animal products in your brain-protective dietary pattern, do so strategically. At best, things like pastured eggs and grass-fed beef can provide key brain health nutrients like vitamin B12, lutein, choline, iron, and a source of lean protein, not to mention a sense of familiarity to your meals. Eat too much, however, or eat pro-inflammatory foods like hot dogs and other processed meats, and they can contribute to brain aging. If you skip this food group entirely, your brain will still thrive.
Olives and olive oil
Use olive oil as your primary cooking oil and enjoy olives frequently.
When you make the switch to using mostly olive oil in your cooking, you provide your brain with the brain-friendly ratio of more monounsaturated fats and less saturated ones. Plus, high-quality olive oil provides polyphenols, potent antioxidants that are part of the reason numerous studies report olive oil consumers suffer fewer heart attacks, strokes, and have lower overall rates of death from any cause. If your dietary pattern precludes the use of cooking oils, get the same brain health virtues from eating olives.
Coffee, tea, and other drinks
Drink mostly water, enjoy coffee and tea, and limit alcoholic beverages.
While water is the brain-healthiest drink of all, other choices can be a welcome part of your dietary pattern. A substantial body of science says drinking coffee (up to five cups per day) and tea is advantageous for a healthy brain and for fending off Alzheimer’s and age-related cognitive decline.
