Boost Cognition with the MIND Diet: A Mindful Approach

MIND Diet can slow cognitive decline by 7.5 years

The "MIND Diet", (Mediterranean DASH-Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) is basically the Mediterranean Diet BUT is specific about servings to have in a week, instead of just outlines of food to include/avoid.

The principles of the MIND diet include:

· 3 servings per day of whole grains

· 6+ servings per day of leafy green vegetables

· 1+ serving(s) per day of other vegetables

· 5+ servings per week of nuts

· 4+ servings per week of beans and legumes

· 2+ servings per week of berries

· 2+ servings per week of poultry

· 1+ servings per week of fish

· Olive oil as your main cooking oil.

The MIND Diet also encourages the reduction of:

· Less than 5 servings per week of sweets and pastries

· Less than 4 servings per week of red meat

· Less than 1 serving per week of cheese or fried foods

· Less than 1 tbsp per day of butter.

That's great and all, but why should you CARE? What can it really do??

MIND Diet & Healthy Aging Brains

The MIND Diet has tons of amazing research for slowing cognitive decline. Literally, mind blowing. For simplicity I'll talk to you about my favourite study that highlight the benefits. Check this out:

Morris (2016) followed 960 people over 4.7 years, and scored their diets based on how well they followed MIND principles. The difference between those that closely followed the MIND diet, and those that didn't at all, was a cognitive difference in 7.5 years! That means that those that didn't follow the diet cognitively acted like they were 7.5 years OLDER than those that did follow the diet.

When the researchers looked at the participants who, when they started the study already had a little cognitive impairment they found that at the end of the study there was a 9.5 years difference in cognitive aging between highest and lowest diet scores.

This is huge. Picture the difference in cognition between someone who is 87 versus 80. Or even 89 and 80. The rate of cognitive change can be so dramatic as we age and to be able to get this type of effect is staggering. Blows my mind every time I look at this study.