What is the MIND diet?
The MIND diet, like it's namesake, is designed to promote a healthy mind and to also lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease in addition to keeping our bodies healthy. The name stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, and was developed as a means of lowering the risk of Alzheimer's through a diet of food that's good for your brain.
The Mediterranean diet puts a focus on eating all natural and healthy foods, while the DASH (Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension) diet helps to manage hypertension.
What makes the MIND diet good for you is that it has been thoroughly researched, and that it's specifically designed to keep your body healthy, not just lose weight. It's also very easy to follow, and doesn't require any special types of food or ingredients. That makes the MIND diet very accessible, affordable, and easy to incorporate into your daily meals!
Go to the next page to learn more about the MIND diet!
How do I go about the MIND diet?
In the MIND diet, food is separated into two groups, healthy, and unhealthy food groups. Here are the healthy foods that you should be eating more of:
- Vegetables
- Green leafy vegetables
- Berries, blueberries in particular
- Nuts
- Beans
- Wine
- Whole grains
- Fish
- Poultry
- Olive oil
And here are the unhealthy foods that you should have less of:
- Fried or fast food
- Red meats
- Cheeses
- Butter and stick margarine
- Pastries and sweets
Basically, in order to follow the MIND diet, you have to do the following:
- Consume at least three servings of whole grains daily.
- Eat a healthy salad everyday.
- Eat one other vegetable every day.
- Drink just one glass of wine every day.
- Snack on nuts instead of processed foods.
- Eat beans every other day.
- Eat berries and poultry at least twice a week.
- Eat fish at least once a week.
- You can eat the unhealthy foods, but less than one serving a week, aside from butter.
- You can eat less than 1 tablespoon of butter every day.
And that's it! It's such a simple diet that doesn't have any complicated rules, or calorie counting. The benefits of the MIND diet include weight loss, a healthier mind, and a healthier body. The MIND diet provides our bodies with high levels of potassium and magnesium, nutrients which are usually missing in our regular diets.
As always, you should still consult the diet with a dietitian or with your doctor before starting a new diet.
Source: livescience.com
READ: Did you know that some celebrity diet trends are bad for you?
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