{"id":80,"date":"2022-03-04T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-04T18:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/brain-health\/?page_id=80"},"modified":"2024-05-17T14:06:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T18:06:57","slug":"adopt-a-healthy-diet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/brain-health\/adopt-a-healthy-diet\/","title":{"rendered":"Food for Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-80\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-80-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-80-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-80-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_sow-editor panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tclass=\"so-widget-sow-editor so-widget-sow-editor-base\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t>\n<div class=\"siteorigin-widget-tinymce textwidget\">\n\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-780 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/156\/2024\/05\/Nutrition.png\" alt=\"Nutrition\" width=\"182\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/156\/2024\/05\/Nutrition.png 249w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/156\/2024\/05\/Nutrition-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 182px) 100vw, 182px\" \/>What\u2019s good for the heart is good for the head. That includes the food we eat!\u00a0 Just like the rest of the body, the brain is impacted by our diet.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Research is looking at the complex relationship between nutrition and the brain. Studies have shown that heart-healthy eating habits may help reduce risk of dementia.\u00a0 As we learn more about the impact of diet on cognitive function, research points to the benefits of these three diets in particular.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhlbi.nih.gov\/education\/dash-eating-plan#living-with-the-DASH-eating-plan\"><strong>DASH Diet<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The DASH eating plan requires no special foods and instead provides daily and weekly nutritional goals. This plan recommends:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains<\/li>\n<li>Including fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils<\/li>\n<li>Limiting foods that are high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and tropical oils such as coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils<\/li>\n<li>Limiting sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nutrition.va.gov\/docs\/UpdatedPatientEd\/Mediterraneandiet.pdf\"><strong>Mediterranean Diet<\/strong><\/a><\/h4>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-102 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/156\/2022\/03\/Brain-Health-Squares-Mediterrainian-diet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"157\" height=\"157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/156\/2022\/03\/Brain-Health-Squares-Mediterrainian-diet.png 300w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/156\/2022\/03\/Brain-Health-Squares-Mediterrainian-diet-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 157px) 100vw, 157px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Mediterranean diet incorporates different principles of healthy eating that are typically found in the areas bordering the Mediterranean Sea:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Focus on fruit, vegetables, nuts and grains.<\/li>\n<li>Replace butter with healthy fats, like olive oil.<\/li>\n<li>Limit red meat.<\/li>\n<li>Use herbs to flavor food rather than salt.<\/li>\n<li>Eat fish and poultry at least twice a week.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nia.nih.gov\/health\/what-do-we-know-about-diet-and-prevention-alzheimers-disease\"><b>The MIND Diet<\/b><\/a><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The MIND (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) combines portions of the DASH diet and the Mediterranean diet, encouraging consumption of fresh fruit, vegetables and legumes and limiting red meat, butter, cheese, and sweets.\u00a0 The MIND diet also emphasizes specific foods like leafy greens and berries that have been scientifically shown to slow cognitive decline.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Additional Resources:<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhlbi.nih.gov\/health\/educational\/lose_wt\/eat\/recipes.htm\">NIH Healthy Eating Recipes<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/healthy-communities\/healthy-food-environments\/\">Healthy Food Environments<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vda.virginia.gov\/nutrition.htm\">Older Americans Act nutrition programs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dss.virginia.gov\/benefit\/food.cgi\">Food Assistance<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/eatsmartmovemoreva.org\/shop\/farmers-markets\/\">Virginia Farmers Markets Accepting SNAP<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vda.virginia.gov\/sfmnp.htm\">Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/child-and-adult-care-food-program\/195-2\/\">Child and Adult Care Food Program<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vafoodbanks.org\/\">Federation of Virginia Food Banks<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/diabetes\/\">Diabetes -Prediabetes Information<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What\u2019s good for the heart is good for the head. That includes the food we eat!\u00a0 Just like the rest of the body, the brain is impacted by our diet. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":390,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Food for Thought - Brain Health Virginia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/brain-health\/adopt-a-healthy-diet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food for Thought - Brain Health Virginia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What\u2019s good for the heart is good for the head. 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