A healthy diet and lifestyle can help reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Tinky Weisblat is an Author who writes about her experience as a caregiver for her mother. Her books include stories about their interactions. Her mother loved to cook. Tinky and her mother cooked together regularly throughout her mothers stint with Alzheimer’s. She found that her mother benefited a great deal by taking part in the cooking process. Additionally she came up with recipes that are healthy and easy to make. Caregivers are often overwhelmed by the caregiving duties combined with living their normal lives. It is important to try and find a balance between caregiving and taking care of yourself. Meals that are easy to prepare can lighten the load and help alleviate some of the pressures of caregiving. In this weeks article Tinky describes foods that may be able to reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer’s. She also shares a healthy recipe that can be made quickly.
Carlos Barrios, Founder Endear for Alzheimer’s
Cooking with an Eye to Alzheimer’s Prevention
By Tinky Weisblat, M.S., Ph.D
There is truth to the adage that you are what you eat. All of us—caregivers, patients, friends—would like to find a way to consume foods that will help us avoid Alzheimer’s disease.
Scientists are in the early stages of identifying foods that can promote brain health.
I wish I could write that there is a single food or diet that is known to stave off Alzheimer’s. There isn’t. My mother ate healthily all her life, and she still contracted the disease. I’m sure readers can identify similar cases.
Nevertheless, researchers have come up with a number of nutritional strategies to help keep the brain healthy. The brain is connected to the rest of the body so most of these strategies also offer overall health benefits, keeping the heart and the blood sugar on an even keel.
Here are some suggestions based on my reading.
1. It appears that a Mediterranean diet, particularly when combined with exercise, may help preserve the brain. Meals should be rich in fish, legumes, healthy oils like olive and canola, lean chicken, and other foods that have lots of omega-3 fatty acids (including a few nuts a day). Researchers suggest that fatty meats and dairy products be minimized and vegetables maximized.
2. Doctors recommend only a moderate intake of carbohydrates—and recommend that those carbohydrates be as healthy as possible. Try to eat whole grains rather than heavily refined grains (i.e., whole-wheat bread rather than white bread, brown or basmati rice rather than regular white rice).
3. Sugar intake should be watched. When possible, sugar should be consumed in the form of healthy whole fruits like apples and berries.
4. Some research suggests that antioxidants may slow down Alzheimer’s disease. The fun thing about antioxidants is that they show up in foods with bright and dark colors. Leafy green vegetables like broccoli and kale, red and purple fruits like berries and apples, and bright orange foods like carrots and sweet potatoes all contain antioxidants. They look and taste good, too.
5. All dieting, even dieting for brain health, should be done in moderation. If you feel deprived, you won’t be able to stay on your diet. So … if you feel that you absolutely have to eat something that isn’t great for your body and your brain, control your intake, combine that food with foods that are good for you, and eat the best possible version of that food. For example, if you crave butter on your whole-grain bread, make sure to purchase butter made from the cream of grass-fed cows. It’s more expensive than regular butter, but it’s rich—so you won’t need a lot to make you happy. And if you want a little sugar in your diet, try to confine yourself to antioxidant-rich sugars like raw honey or pure maple syrup.
Here is a recipe that illustrates most of these tips—including the one about moderation! It does have a little sweetness (from honey), and some fat (from mayonnaise—but mayonnaise made with healthy canola oil). The fat in the bacon is up to you. You may use regular bacon since no one serving contains a lot of bacon. On the other hand, you may well want to choose a healthier option like turkey bacon or soy bacon. I like to use regular bacon because it’s so flavorful, but I splurge and purchase bacon from local, grass-fed hogs.
The salad offers extra nutritional points by using raw rather than cooked broccoli. The crunchy raw broccoli gives it taste points as well.
Broccoli Apple Salad
Ingredients:
1 medium bunch broccoli, finely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 small red onion, chopped
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries
6 to 8 slices cooked bacon (regular bacon, turkey bacon, or soy bacon), crumbled
2 small apples or 1 large apple, cored and sliced (do not skin)
1 cup mayonnaise made with canola oil
2 tablespoons raw honey plus additional honey to taste
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup toasted walnuts or pecans
Instructions:
Combine the first 7 ingredients. Mix the mayonnaise, honey, and vinegar into a dressing, and toss them into the salad. Sprinkle the nuts on top just before serving. Serves 8.
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About the Author:Tinky Weisblat is the author of Pulling Taffy: A Year with Dementia and Other Adventures and The Pudding Hollow Cookbook. She has a master’s degree in journalism and a Ph.D. in American studies. She likes to explore the connections that link food, story, and song. She loves to cook, spend time with family and friends, and walk in the woods with her dog Truffle.
More about about cooking with family who have Alzheimer’s:
How Cooking Can Make Life Better for Someone with Alzheimer’s
