eat to stay sharp

Who doesn't want to cut their risk of Alzheimer's by up to half? That's what the MIND Diet has been shown in research to do. This eating plan is simple and specific— and Prevention developed these recipes to make it delicious too.

- ALYSSA JUNG

Your heart keeps you ticking, but your top-most organ, the brain—and how you feed it—is a major driver of how you feel and function on a day-to-day basis. “Nutrition profoundly impacts cognitive function,” says Laura lu, R.D., a certified intuitive-eating counselor in New York City. “Food can either support or hinder our ability to think, focus, remember, and make decisions.”

That’s why researchers at Rush University in Chicago created an eating plan designed to keep you sharp: the MIND Diet. “It is one of the best-researched diets for brain health and is ideal for people looking for a simple but incredibly powerful way to preserve brain function,” says Maggie Moon, R.D., the author of The MIND Diet. “Studies show that people who follow the MIND Diet may see their risk of Alzheimer's cut in half and could turn back the brain's biological clock by about seven years.”

If you already follow a Mediterranean style of eating, the MIND Diet (Mediterranean-Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) will feel familiar, as a way to minimize brainpower saboteurs such as saturated fat, sodium, fried foods, and added sugars and as a call for loading up on foods with key brain-friendly nutrients like omega-3's, antioxidants, vitamins B and E, iron, zinc, and magnesium.

The MIND Diet puts special emphasis on brain-supporting foods and tells you exactly how much of each type to consume weekly. “The plan homes in on foods that help fight oxidative stress, suppress inflammation, and protect and repair brain cells and create new ones,” Moon explains. Below, the key elements of the MIND Diet.

The MIND Diet Formula