We know that what you eat plays a large role in your day to day life: energy, development of strength and stamina, and maintenance of optimal levels of body fat.
But now, it seems, all that bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, ice cream, sugary soda drinks, and the list goes on, can cause you to lose your mind.
People whose diets were high in carbohydrates and sugar had nearly four times the risk of mild cognitive decline than those whose diets were high in protein and fat, according to a study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Cognitive decline is what happens in Alzheimer’s disease- loss of memory, ability to process information, difficulty performing more than one task at a time, solving problems, forgetting recent events or conversations.
The only problem with this study is that it used food survey questionnaires which tend to have problems with reliability, but the results do raise questions about the impact of food on accelerated aging.
“A high carbohydrate intake could be bad for you because carbohydrates impact your glucose and insulin metabolism. Sugar fuels the brain — so moderate intake is good. However, high levels of sugar may actually prevent the brain from using the sugar — similar to what we see with type 2 diabetes.” – Rosebud Roberts, MD, ChB lead author of the study.
People whose diets were high in protein and fat were 42 percent less likely to develop cognitive impairment.
More reason to ditch the bread, pasta, sugar, tortillas, etc as part of your everyday diet. In addition to feeling better and lowering your chances of developing a number of health problems, it now appears that you’ll hang onto your mind as well.
Add strategic exercise to the mix and you’ll boost the protection even more.
What do you think? What’s your diet and exercise routine look like?
What’s good for the body is good for the mind. Makes sense to me. Thanks!