So there has been the MIND diet going around. Some research indicates that it can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s/dementia. The MIND diet is very similar to the Mediterranean diet. As most people know, that means eating a lot of oily fish, whole grains, vegetables, nuts, and beans/legumes. The MIND diet is a bit more specific – it recommends green leafy vegetables every day, berries (especially blueberries), whole grains three! times a day, nuts every day. You can see the list below:
Dietitians provide some information on how this diet might work: “A diet that supports vascular health is certainly protective against vascular dementia, but certain foods and food components have been directly linked to improved neurological function or reduced AD biomarkers in the brain.1,8 “MIND diet foods reflect nutrients shown to slow cognitive decline, lower risk of AD, decrease amyloid in the brain or neuron loss in animal studies, or decrease oxidative stress and inflammation”.
Food for Thought: The MIND Diet — Fighting Dementia With Food
Well since my brain seems to be screwed up, anything that might fight inflammation while improving neurological function sounds good to me! It’s also a lot less restrictive than the AIP diet or ketogenic diet. Definitely much easier than intermittent fasting. I see myself being able to follow this diet long-term. I want to eat my grains, I also haven’t found much evidence that excluding grains helps with depression or inflammation. I like to eat my quail eggs and goat yougurt, so I don’t want to be excluding eggs or dairy (AIP excludes these foods). I don’t think the strict AIP diet should be followed for a long time, neither the ketogenic diet. I am not even sure whether keto diet can help with inflammation and depression, it includes tons of saturated fat. The MIND diet researchers actually recommend limiting saturated fat.
So how do you follow the MIND diet list in practice? Green leafy vegetables every day, berries, olive oil, nuts… how do you fit all of that into one day? And what if you don’t like looking or don’t have time? What if you are not one of those people who post on their vlog about avocado toast? I came up with some quick recipes, here I will post my breakfast idea. The breakfast consists of onions (vegetable √ ), kale (green leafy vegetable √ ), cooked with olive oil √, yougurt with blueberries (berries √), also you can add some toast (I don’t eat gluten, but I make gluten-free sourdough buns – whole grain flour √), or you can easily make a lot of brown rice pudding – also whole grain √.
I want to make this simple. This is for actual practical eating, now a decorative meal. I prepare several items in the evening so that in the morning I can cook my breakfast in several minutes. I start work at 9 am and I try to wake up as late as possible, I don’t want to be cooking for even fifteen minutes in the morning.
Ingredients to buy:
- Buy some frozen chopped onions, chopped kale, olive oil, eggs. Yougurt, frozen blueberries, nuts/seeds. Bread/sourdough bread. I don’t consume cow milk, so I buy goat/sheep yougurt, I also make soy yougurt. I also eat gluten-free, so I make sourdough buns at home. I make a lot of buns and a liter yougurt at once, so I don’t have to do this every day.
- Why frozen vegetables? Because they are chopped and I don’t like chopping. Also they don’t go rotting in my fridge if I forget about them. Also you don’t need to wash frozen vegetables. So many benefits!
Evening preparation:
- Get a frying pan. I hope you have one in your house. You do need at least one frying pan for this MIND diet project. If you don’t have one – go to the Dollar Store and get one please. Place the pan on your your counter. 20 seconds
- Take out frozen kale and frozen onions out of the freezer. 10 seconds
- Place some kale and onions into the frying pan. Add salt, pepper, and olive oil. 30 seconds
- Place the pan in the fridge. The vegetables will defrost overnight. 10 seconds
Morning cooking:
- Take out some eggs from the fridge, take out the pan
- Turn on the burner, place frying pan on the burner, leave it on medium-high for about five minutes. And don’t just stand there those five minutes, go brush your teeth, or something!
- After five minutes crack the eggs onto the pan, mix everything together with a spatula
- Fry for another three- four minutes
- Place in a container and take to work, if you work in an office using a computer – you can easily enjoy eating while pretending to work
- Take a jar of yougurt with you, add frozen blueberries – another item checked off from the MIND list
- Don’t forget toast/sourdough bread – because they say whole grains three times a day. Can be gluten-free. Eating toast should be easy, not like eating a bunch of kale. Toast is good!
So there, in one breakfast – kale – green leafy vegetable √ , onion – a vegetable , good enough! √, olive oil √, toast/sourdough – whole grains √
What else did they say… nuts? just add them to yougurt √ add blueberries √ don’t add oily fish to your yougurt… Χ
Wine? Well I think you can have that any time 😉
Notes of a Neuropsychiatry Amateur 