Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Preventive Eating from the AARP

There are few words scarier to boomers than dementia.  For those of you that haven’t had to worry about this, Dementia is a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases. It affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behavior. And if that weren’t bad enough, most types of dementia is non-reversible.

Probably the most common type of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease.

Frighteningly enough, an early symptom of dementia is forgetfulness.  Now does that mean you should panic when you can’t find the house keys? Absolutely! Run around yelling and screaming  at the top of your lungs.  I do.  It might not stop dementia, but it’s a terrific workout.

You can also buy into the AARP recommendations for eating foods.  A recent article on the AARP website cites seven food groups as ways of lowering your risk of dementia.  Those seven groups are chock full of:
  • B-complex vitamins like beans and green peas
  • Vitamin C like citrus fruits
  • Vitamin E, e.g. almonds
  • Omega 3s and cold-water fish are a great source
The posting also recommends:
  • Eating spinach – for lots of good reasons
  • Drinking coffee (hurray!)
  • And getting some sunshine (some, not too much)
This seems doable and, if you use this as an excuse to stop eating fatty foods, so much the better. You have my permission, though, to continue to run around yelling and screaming.
http://www.aarp.org/health/healthy-living/info-03-2012/foods-may-lower-dementia-risk-slideshow.html

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