Power Foods For The Brain

My Wellness Counts rating system: 

GREEN HEARTS on a scale of 1-5

*GREEN because we all need more green veggies in 
our life

*HEARTS because great health begins with love

Rating Dr. Neal Barnard's Power Foods

For The Brain: 5 / 5

In his new book, Power Foods for the Brain, Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine outlines what he says are the best foods to protect the brain against Alzheimer’s Disease, stroke and memory loss.

“The research has really established beyond any question that people who avoid animal products are thinner, healthier and at much less risk for heart disease, diabetes and certain kinds of cancers,” he said.

Among the most promising foods to protect the brain against disease are: Nuts and seeds (especially almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pecans, pistachios, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and flaxseed); blueberries and grapes; sweet potatoes; green leafy vegetables; beans, and chickpeas. He also recommends a Vitamin B12 supplement whether you are vegan or not.

Some may be attracted to a vegan diet because of moral considerations about the treatment of animals, and others might be attracted to the promise of a slimmer figure. But members of Washington-based PCRM are focused on the diet’s health benefits — outcomes that in recent years have been repeatedly confirmed in separate studies, Barnard said.

Additionally, he warns about the toxins that seep into food, including metals that have been connected to the plaques within the brain that have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease. He also challenges some strongly held health beliefs — that children should drink their milk, for example. Calcium benefits can come from other foods like broccoli without the fats that, over many years, can lead to heart disease, he said.

“If you look into the arteries of children, they would have the beginnings of heart disease before they get their high school diplomas,” he said.

Barnard’s latest book features 75 recipes of “power-rich” ingredients and is the result of a growing body of evidence in the link between good food and a healthy brain, he said.

“We have reached the point now where the evidence that nutrition can help us avoid major brain disasters is so strong that people need to know about it.”

~  Adapted from Robin Erb, Detroit Free Press