A healthy diet that helps keep you physically fit may also cut your risks of developing Alzheimer’s disease and depression. That is what the research shows and I have no doubt that they are absolutely correct. It just makes common sense if we took the time to think about it.

There have been two recent studies which report that if you follow a Mediterranean-style diet you can preserve your memory and ability to think better than those who follow a poor diet. The Mediterranean diet differs from others because it contains fish, lean meat, little or no red meat, lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grain, nuts and legumes, olive oil as the primary source of fat and moderate consumption of wine.

I also think the DASH diet, Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, could also produce similar results if it were processed through the same research. This is a diet which emphasizes large portions of fruits, vegetables, grains and plant proteins from legumes and nuts along with more moderate servings of low or non-fat dairy products and small servings of meat, poultry and fish. The total package is a low saturated fat diet that is also low in cholesterol and high in dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, and magnesium and high in total protein but low in animal protein.  This diet is available free from the National Institutes of Health’s website.

The two diets are very similar in that they both emphasize on plant based foods. Fish is a major player in the Mediterranean diet and less accentuated in the DASH diet. Both, however, include fish and there is evidence from studies which show omega-3 fatty acids, which is one of the advantages of fatty fish, do help the brain with its normal functions. There are also indications that people who ate fish reduce their risk for depression because omega-3 fatty acids raise the levels of serotonin and dopamine, two brain chemicals that are thought to play an important role in depression. There is also some conversation that omega-3 fatty acids seem to reduce the levels of brain chemicals that make you feel anxious and stressed out.

It is no secret that eating a healthy diet and getting regular exercise have got to be the best combination for staying healthy whatever your age. And it makes even more sense that what is good for the heart should be good for your brain.

More about eating for heart and brain health in tomorrow’s post. If you have any questions write them in the comment box and I’ll either answer them in my next posts or respond personally to you.

To your success at healthy aging,

Ruthan Brodsky

PS  Here’s a link to guidelines for the DASH diet

Eating foods that are good for your heart are also good for your brain. That makes perfect sense to me and seems like a logical sequence. Read the rest of this entry