The majority of diet plans are designed to help people lose weight, avoid obesity, diabetes, heart disease, strokes and more. There are diet plans to help with kidney and liver health, bone health, breast and prostate health. Many diets share similar foods and drinks while varying on other items designed specifically for a specific health issue.

Some diets push an even balance of proteins, good carbs and fats while others push lots of proteins and few carbs or lots of good carbs and little protein or even no animal based protein. There is even one diet out there that pushes eating more good fats. Then there are the diets that juice everything, which I’ve always wondered about the effects on teeth that no longer chew.

One thing that every diet plan has is that there is someone who has had success on every diet plan out there. What you rarely hear about is those who suffered adverse effects from various diet plans.

Yet, how often do you hear about a diet that is designed specifically for mind health? You see commercials for products that are supposed to improve mind health or memory, but they are not a diet plan.

It doesn’t matter how old a person is, having good mind health is crucial to everything we do – whether in school, on the job or just day-to-day duties and functions. However, the older one gets, the more important mind health becomes to a person’s functioning.

So, here are some diet tips that supposedly will help support a healthy mind:

1- Entrees – Fish & Turkey: Fatty fish, such as salmon, herring, mackerel and sardines.

Basically, any fish that contain high amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids. They also contain other important proteins that help with brain function.  

Chocked full of Omega-3 fatty acids, consuming fatty fish decreases the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. People aged 65 and older who ate fish three or more times a week had a 26 percent decline in their risk of dementia. In addition, the consumption of these fish can decrease your risk of suffering a stroke. In fact, adding these fish to your diet can also help increase your memory as you age. Because fatty fish contain the mineral selenium, consuming them may help keep your mood balanced, as well. Diets low in selenium correlate with higher instances of depression, leading researchers to surmise that maintaining a higher level of the mineral can help support mental health.

Many people do not like to eat fish. For them, turkey is a good alternative because it contains selenium, an element that helps with mood. Turkey gets a bad rap for making people sleepy because it contains tryptophan. The truth is, tryptophan helps the body produce serotonin, an anti-depressant which is important in helping the body regulate sleep cycles. No tryptophan, no serotonin which disrupts sleeping patterns. Additionally, serotonin helps with memory, and the vital impulses or messages sent between brain cells.

2- Sides – Broccoli & Beans: Both turkey and seafood pair well with broccoli, a superfood associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s, as well as with helping to maintain “crystallized intelligence,” or the skills and knowledge you have acquired over and applied throughout the span of your life. Broccoli is also a good source of lutein, a plant pigment that embeds in cell membranes and protects your neurons. The consumption of lutein helps preserve our telomeres, essentially protective caps on both ends of our chromosomes that help safeguard the genome from degradation with age.

Beans also contain choline (a B vitamin), folate, iron, magnesium and potassium, as well as other nutrients, all vital for mind health. Eating beans has been found to increase acetylcholine which is important in maintaining control of involuntary bodily functions. Eating beans also helps control blood glucose levels, which also are important to mind health.

3- Garnishes – Berries, Walnuts & Avocado: Traditionally, we think of the major food groups as including carbohydrates and starches, fruits, vegetables, proteins, dairy and sweets. The MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) lists berries as their own, standalone food group, though fruit is not included as its own category. In a recent study, the motor skills and learning of older rats who consumed blueberry extract improved to match the ability of much younger rats, implying that people who consume blueberries may be able to reverse cognitive decline resulting from age. Berries contain anthocyanin, a phytochemical that reduces damage from free radicals, radiation and inflammation, thus also helping reduce your chances of Alzheimer’s by protecting the brain from “oxidative stress.” In addition, like broccoli, berries provide antioxidants that preserve telomeres.

Walnuts provide omega-3 fatty acids, polyunsaturated fats that are good for your heart. They also provide omega-6, Vitamin E, folate, Vitamin B6 and magnesium, all found to boost mood and decrease memory loss.

Like berries, avocados can help decrease your chance of Alzheimer’s. They contain monounsaturated fat, which lowers the bad cholesterol linked to the development of Alzheimer’s, and increases blood flow to the brain. In addition, consuming avocados helps lower blood pressure, and so also decreases risk of hypertension, a condition that often contributes to cognitive decay. In fact, lower blood pressure supports overall brain health.

4- Drinks – Milk, Lemonade and Fruit Juice: 

Milk is supposed to provide vitamin D, which is known to help decrease depression. Milk also contains vitamin B12, which helps maintain a healthy level of S-adenosylmethionine, an important compound that helps balance mood. Milk also contains thiamine which, when too low, can result in the onset of Korsakoff’s syndrome, which impacts balance, memory, and lack of muscle coordination.

While we’re often warned against indulging in too many sugary drinks, an occasional lemonade or fruit juice can provide us with a natural form of glucose that helps the body process sugar from carbs, and temporarily boosts memory, alertness and mental ability.

I have to warn prediabetics and diabetics about drinking too much fruit juice as it can raise blood glucose levels. Moderation and constant monitoring is vital.

5- Dessert – Chocolate: If you’ve ever needed a reason to justify eating more chocolate, here it is: The Vitamin E found in dark chocolate decreases cognitive decline with age. In addition, dark chocolate contains caffeine, which improves focus and stimulates endorphin production, thus kick-starting a sense of well-being and a feeling of happiness. Along with Vitamin E and caffeine, consuming dark chocolate provides you with flavanol, an antioxidant that increases blood flow to brain.

No one says you have constrain your diet to just these items, but adding them to an already healthy diet can be beneficial to a healthier mind, especially for those of us that are getting up in our years.