While We're on the Subject of Health... MIND
/First of all, thanks to everyone for the well wishes. I'm fine and no worse for the wear after enduring a cadre of tests, probes and pokes. On the plus side, I did lose a couple of pounds while in the hospital, thanks to the cuisine. The follow up with my PCP today provided the results of all but one test and all results were normal. The final diagnosis 'syncope (fainting) from unknown causes'. Looking forward to the hospital bill that enumerates in detail the charting of the unknown. We expect it'll be a doozy.
On another subject, but still health related, having lots of extra time on our hands while I was confined to a hospital bed for a few days, David learned about a new diet that was of interest. I wasn't the only one confined... David spent every minute of each 12-hour visiting hour day in my room with me (what a guy!). The diet is called the MIND diet.
It's not a fad diet or the usual diet where you starve yourself or load up on fats and hope to lose a few pounds. Instead, it's a lifestyle of healthy eating habits. It's a hybrid of the well known Mediterranean diet and DASH (dietary approaches to stop hypertension). MIND = Mediterranean Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. There's some credible evidence that this diet will lower the risk of dimentia and slow the loss of brain function which occurs with aging. This is what got our attention. Most middle-aged to senior folks we know worry about dimentia more than most any other disease.
Art: greatharvest.com
“ The study supported by the National Institute of Aging, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, found that this diet reduced the incidence of Alzheimer’s by 53 percent among people who followed it closely and by 35 percent among those who followed it moderately well. These results were published in 2015.”
The first official paper on MIND came out in 2015 and was mostly observational, but a study of 600 seniors followed over 5 years is supposed to conclude in 2021. It definitely shows promise and several reputable medical institutions have provided a positive take including the Cleveland Clinic and Mayo because each of the diets that form the hybrid MIND diet are considered to be so effective. Look at those percentages above… they’re staggering. If just altering eating habits can help reduce the onset of dimentia, definitely sign us up.
What we found after more research was that in addition to be nutritionally sound, this diet was easy. It's not particularly pricey, it doesn't take lots of extra effort and beyond promoting brain health it can lower your blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and several other diseases. We actually eat healthy now, but it looks like we'll have to modify our diet a bit to get the most out of MIND.
In a nutshell, here's a chart of what you should eat and what you should avoid. Chart: Montclairclinc.com
There are all sorts of articles on the Internet to provide more information and we're certainly just learning about it ourselves. Of course, keeping our brains as well as our bodies active requires more than just nutrition, but eating healthy is a key ingredient. By the way, in case you were wondering, yes, a glass of red wine a day is on the menu, too!
Bon appetit and good health to you all.