Over many years, researchers have demonstrated the power of foods to help our hearts, trim our waistlines, tackle diabetes, ease chronic pain, and improve many other aspects of our lives. To this impressive list, we can now add protecting and enhancing our brains.
Luckily, you do not need one diet to bring you vitamins, a second to help you avoid “bad” fats, a third to limit iron exposure, a fourth for cholesterol control, and so on. One set of simple steps covers all these and more. This chapter puts it into action.
First, let me be clear about one thing: Nutrition is powerful. If you had imagined that a diet change might trim a few points off your cholesterol or help you lose a pound or two, it is time to think more boldly. Foods can change your life.
We have seen so many people who were hoping to just get their diabetes under a bit better control. They never suspected they might be able to reduce or even stop their medicines or that the disease could essentially disappear. We have seen people who have been beaten up by one failed weight loss regimen after another, only to learn that the failure was in those poorly designed diets, not in them, and that a new focus on truly healthful eating gave them more control than they had imagined possible.
The same is true with brain health. A few years ago, I would never have guessed that foods could have much effect on brain function or that they could change your odds for staying mentally clear into ripe old age. That is exactly what we are now aiming to do.
This prescription is not just healthful. It is also wonderfully enjoyable and diverse. As a child, I ate from a typical American diet, which, in retrospect, was very limited. We ate roast beef, baked potatoes, and corn, night after night after night. Sometimes a pork chop took the place of the beef or peas took the place of corn. But we knew nothing of the culinary brilliance of other lands and never explored the range of foods that nature makes available to us. As I began to move away from a meat-heavy diet to a plant-based menu, it felt as if the doors to truly delicious foods were finally opening up. As you page through the recipes in this book, you will see what I mean.
Prior to 1990, most people thought modestly about nutrition. But that year, a page was turned. Dr. Dean Ornish, a young Harvard-training physician, showed that it is possible to actually reverse heart disease. Researchers had thought that artery disease was a one-way street. Narrowed vessels worsened over time, and surgery was the only way to reopen them. But, using a plant-based diet, along with other healthy lifestyle changes, Dr. Ornish showed that, indeed, narrowed arteries can gradually reopen, reversing damage that had accumulated over decades.1,2
As revolutionary as Dr. Ornish’s discovery was for the heart, it is potentially even more important for the brain. As you’ll recall, about 20 percent of all the blood flowing from the heart passes up the carotid and vertebral arteries to the brain, carrying oxygen and nutrients in and carrying wastes out. Wide-open arteries are exactly what the brain needs.
Meanwhile, my research team tested the effect of a plant-based diet for obesity, diabetes, and cholesterol problems, all of which can harm the brain. It worked wonderfully. The participants slimmed down, their cholesterol levels dropped dramatically, their blood pressure improved, and many felt better than they had in years. Blood sugar control improved so much that some people with diabetes were able to stop their medications.4
Perhaps the biggest surprise was how our research participants felt about the diet change. After all, they were making what many would have thought was an enormous shift—throwing out the meat, dairy products, eggs, and oily foods. But they adapted quickly. They found delicious choices at restaurants and interesting new products at food stores, and came to see food in a whole new light. Their energy rebounded, and they felt great. They liked their new way of eating and were eager to keep it going permanently.
Even so, there can be occasional missteps along the way. In a study testing a plant-based diet for weight loss, we asked volunteers to set animal products aside and keep oils low, and we provided weekly group meetings to help everyone stay on track. In one of the first sessions, one of our participants announced, “Dr. Barnard, I’ve found a treat that I can have on your diet!”
“Uh-oh,” I thought, running through the snack possibilities in my mind.
Opening her purse, she pulled out a big pack of red licorice.
“Twizzlers!” she said. “Read the label!”
Twizzlers are pencil-shaped candy twists sold at convenience stores all over America. And it’s true: If you look at the label, you―ll find no animal ingredients and no added oil—they are just starchy, sugary, artificially colored junk food. And she made sure that the whole group knew that they could eat all the Twizzlers they wanted in Dr. Barnard’s research study.
So my vegan, low-fat, Twizzler-fueled research participants set off on their path toward the unknown. Luckily, as the weeks went by, they lost weight. After fourteen weeks, the participants had lost an average of thirteen pounds.3 And unlike the usual yo-yo effect seen with previous diets, weight loss became essentially a one-way street. Following them long-term, they were thinner after a year than when they began, and thinner at two years than at one year. Without counting calories, limiting portions, or even exercising, weight loss was easy and essentially permanent.
A plant-based menu that is powerful for physical health is no less powerful for the brain. It allows you to skip “bad” fats, cholesterol, and excess metals that are linked to memory loss, while providing abundant vitamins your brain needs.
Let me lay out the guidelines for a menu that shields your brain, and then we will look at delicious breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that put these guidelines to work.
It is best to avoid animal products completely. As you know by now, they contain saturated fat and cholesterol, increasing your cholesterol level and boosting your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. While some people are tempted to include small amounts of meat, dairy products, or eggs here and there, those occasional animal products can easily stall your progress if you are aiming to lose weight, control cholesterol, and improve your brain health.
Some people use fish as a source of “good” fats, but fish also delivers cholesterol and a fair amount of saturated fat, as well as a surprising load of toxic pollutants in many species. As a group, fish eaters do not do nearly as well as people who focus on plant foods when it comes to weight, diabetes risk, and other health indicators.5
In 2009, the American Diabetes Association published a comparison of five different diet patterns in a study including 60,903 adults.5 Some of them ate meat every day; others steered clear of it completely. Some had dairy products and eggs, or perhaps fish, while others avoided these foods. The researchers measured everyone’s body mass index, which, as you will recall, is a measure of your weight, adjusted for your height (a healthy body mass index is between 18.5 and 25 kg/m2).
The results were remarkable. People who ate meat daily averaged a body mass index of 28.8—well into the overweight range. Semivegetarians—that is, people who ate meat less than once a week—were slightly slimmer, with an average BMI of 27.3. People who ate no meat at all except for occasional fish were thinner than the first two groups but still in the overweight range. Those who left out all meats and fish but kept eating dairy products and eggs were thinner still. But the only group that was smack in the middle of the healthy weight range was the group of people who skipped animal products altogether. A plant-based (vegan) diet put their BMI at a healthy 23.6. The same gradient held for diabetes risk, too. In other words, the more people steer clear of animal-based foods, the healthier they are.
To plan your brain-boosting menu, choose from each of the New Four Food Groups. These healthful foods are depicted in a simple graphic, called the Power Plate, which was developed by my organization, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
Vegetables. As you plan your dinner, start with vegetables. They might be an afterthought for many people, but we will put them front and center. Have generous amounts—and why not two different ones, say, an orange vegetable, like carrots, and a green vegetable, such as broccoli or kale? And it’s great to bring on fresh greens any time of day, whether in a salad, as a side dish, or perhaps added to a smoothie.
Vegetables are loaded with vitamins and give you minerals in the form your body can control. As you’ll recall, plants have a special form of iron, called nonheme iron, which is more absorbable when your body needs more iron, and less absorbable when you are already flush with iron (unlike the heme iron in meats, which tends to pass into your body whether you need it or not). That allows you to avoid the iron excesses that are implicated in Alzheimer’s disease, among other health problems.
Whole grains. Next, add a grain, like rice, pasta, corn, or, if you prefer, a starchy root vegetable like sweet potatoes. These foods provide complex carbohydrates for energy, along with protein and fiber.
Legumes. Then add something from the legume group—beans, peas, and lentils—or any food made from beans, like tofu, tempeh, or hummus. They are loaded with protein and fiber, along with calcium and iron in their most healthful forms. They bring you traces of omega-3s, too.
Fruit. Finally, let’s add some fresh fruit, either as dessert or as a between-meal snack: oranges, bananas, apples, tangerines, kiwis, mangoes, papayas—whatever strikes your fancy. How about some blueberries or strawberries to top your morning oatmeal? You might want to keep some extra fruit on hand—at home, in your office, or wherever you are—for anyone who might drop by.
Notice that so far, there is not a scrap of cholesterol or animal fat in your diet. The New Four Food Groups—vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and fruit—are a breath of fresh air for your brain and all the rest of you. They bring you powerful nutrition, and they skip what you don’t need.
Needless to say, many recipes combine various food groups. Pasta is a grain that is topped with tomatoes, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, spices, or whatever else you are in the mood for. A burrito combines grains (a wheat tortilla) with beans (legumes), along with any vegetables you want to add, and maybe some fruit for dessert.
Take a look through the recipes in the back of this book and see which ones appeal to you.
As you’re taking advantage of these healthful foods, it also pays to keep fats to a minimum. That is obviously true for animal fats and the trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils) that often end up in snack foods. But I would encourage you to keep added oils to a minimum, too, using the oil-free methods described below.
This is not a zero-fat diet, however. There are traces of natural fats in vegetables, fruits, and beans, and they deliver the good (omega-3) fats your body needs. And there are more concentrated omega-3s in flaxseed, flax oil, and walnuts. But if your diet is loaded with grease—corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, and so on—their load of omega-6 fats competes with omega-3s for the enzymes your body uses to lengthen them. That means your omega-3s have a hard time converting to the DHA your brain is looking for.
Don’t get me wrong. Vegetable oils are nowhere near as unhealthful as animal fat. Researchers with the Chicago Health and Aging Project found that people who favored vegetable oils had a much lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared with people favoring animal fats. Even so, most of us are inundated with oil we don’t need, and it is a good idea to degrease your diet.
When fruits and vegetables are plucked from trees or from the earth, most have only traces of fat, and very healthful ones at that. There are a few exceptions in the plant kingdom: nuts, seeds, olives, avocados, and soy products have more substantial amounts of fat, so you’ll want to be cautious. A small handful of nuts is about 1 ounce. That’s a reasonable daily limit.
So we’re using the New Four Food Groups and keeping oils low. And now, as you’re filling your plate, you’ll want to pay special attention to foods that provide brain-nourishing vitamins. Here are two easy tips that help you do that:
• Favor vegetables—especially green leafy vegetables, cooked or raw, along with beans and fruits. They deliver plenty of folate and vitamin B6.
• Sprinkle a few nuts or seeds on your salad and you’ll get vitamin E. Good choices are almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, pecans, pistachios, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and ground flaxseed. About 1 ounce (one modest handful) per day will do it. Vitamin E is also in broccoli, spinach, sweet potatoes, and mangoes.
So it’s easy to have a vitamin-rich menu. Focus on vegetables, fruits, and beans, and have a sprinkle of nuts and seeds here and there. You will also want to be sure to have a B12 supplement or B12-fortified foods, as described below.
Okay, you’re taking advantage of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and beans, keeping oils to a minimum, and emphasizing the vitamin-rich choices. And now one last thing: Look out for toxic metals. As we saw in chapter 2, we’ll want to avoid getting too much iron, copper, and zinc, and there is no requirement for aluminum at all. You’re already steering clear of most toxic metals by basing your menu on foods from plants. They give you the copper, iron, and zinc your body needs, without the excesses. And here are some additional steps you’ll want to take.
First, throw open your medicine cabinet or wherever you keep your multiple vitamins. If they contain iron, copper, or zinc, as most do, make a note to pick up a healthier product next time you’re at the store. All health food stores sell B complex—supplements that provide the folate, B6, and B12 you need, among other B vitamins. Or you could just get a B12 supplement, as a healthful diet will bring you plenty of folate and B6. There is no need to take supplemental iron, copper, zinc, or other minerals unless your doctor specifically recommends them for a medical condition.
Before you close the medicine cabinet, read the label on any antacids you might be using so as to avoid aluminum. There is no shortage of aluminum-free brands.
Check the labels on breakfast cereals. Many have added iron, zinc, or other metals.
In choosing cookware, skip pans where aluminum or iron is in direct contact with food. And avoid aluminum-containing baking powder, something that is easy to do at home but more challenging at a pancake house where the cooks may not be reading the fine print on food labels. Ditto for frozen pizzas, where aluminum is often used in the cheese topping, and in single-serve packets of coffee creamer or salt.
Bottled springwater is safer than tap water, unless your water supply is tested as free of aluminum or you are using a reverse osmosis purifier, which will effectively remove aluminum. Avoid aluminum cans (yes, that includes soda and beer cans) and be careful about tea, which tends to contain aluminum, too.
If it sounds like a big step to skip animal products and added oils and to emphasize healthful foods, it’s actually easier than you might imagine. Flip through the recipes in the back of this book and you’ll see how delightful your meals can be.
The payoff is huge. You’ve boosted your nutrition to a whole new level, minimizing the chances you’ll ever have to deal with serious memory loss as the years go by. At the same time, your new menu helps you trim your waistline, lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, and control diabetes, all at the same time!
And now let me offer two more steps for extra credit. It turns out that certain foods have a special cholesterol-lowering effect, which is good for your heart and your brain. In addition, certain carbohydrate-containing foods are better than others. Here are the details:
By now you know that a plant-based diet lowers cholesterol easily and impressively—after all, you’re skipping the animal fat and cholesterol. But some foods go further, providing a special cholesterol-lowering effect.
Oats. If you’ve heard television commercials promoting the ability of oats to lower cholesterol levels, well, it’s true. Their soluble fiber does the trick. Oatmeal and oat-based cold cereals (such as Cheerios) can shave extra points off your cholesterol.
When it comes to oatmeal, skip the instant and “quick” varieties and have old-fashioned instead. It still cooks up in just a few minutes. Steel-cut oats are also fine. Cook oatmeal with water, not milk. If you like your oatmeal creamy, stir the oats into cold water and wait for a minute or two before bringing them to a boil. If you like it crunchier, boil the water first, then stir in the oats. Top with cinnamon, raisins, sliced bananas, strawberries, or whatever your tastes call for.
If you chose cold cereals, top them with soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, or other nondairy milk rather than cow’s milk.
Beans. Not only are beans rich in protein, calcium, and healthful nonheme iron, they also have plenty of cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. You don’t need a huge serving. Four ounces is more than enough. People who eat beans regularly have cholesterol levels that are, on average, about 7 percent lower compared with their bean-neglecting friends.6
So have baked beans, black beans, hummus (made from chickpeas), split pea soup, lentil soup, or whatever other varieties you like. If beans cause a bit of gassiness, just have smaller servings and be sure they are cooked until very soft. Over time, this tends to sort itself out.
Barley. Barley is often used in soups and in breakfast cereals, and it lowers cholesterol, too, for exactly the same reason. Barley has plenty of soluble fiber. Add it to your own soup recipes, or mix it with rice. It tastes great and lowers your cholesterol as a bonus.
Soy. Soy milk, edamame, tofu, and tempeh were perfected in Asia, and have now found a huge audience in the West. Apart from the fact that they replace cholesterol-laden meats and dairy products, soy products seem to have a cholesterol-cutting effect of their own.7
Almonds and walnuts. People who eat almonds and walnuts regularly tend to have lower cholesterol levels compared with people who skip them.8 As I mentioned above, I suggest limiting nuts to about 1 ounce per day and using them as an ingredient or topping rather than a snack.
Cholesterol-lowering margarines. Certain margarines block the absorption of cholesterol from the intestine. Benecol Light, for example, is made with plant stanols that come from pine trees, and it has a cholesterol-lowering effect. But like nuts, these products are fatty and should be used sparingly.
At the University of Toronto, Dr. David Jenkins put these foods to the test. He asked a group of patients to avoid animal products and to include foods like oats, beans, barley, soy products, almonds, walnuts, and special margarines in their routines. Their LDL (“bad”) cholesterol dropped like a stone, falling nearly 30 percent in four weeks—essentially the same drop as is seen with cholesterol-lowering drugs.9
This is not a low-carbohydrate diet, and for good reason. Your brain runs on carbohydrates. Just as your car runs on gasoline, your brain and all the rest of you needs glucose, the natural sugar that is released as starchy foods are digested.
The healthiest, slimmest, longest-lived people on Earth—and those who tend to keep their mental faculties lifelong—are those who include plenty of carbohydrate-rich grains, beans, noodles, fruits, and starchy vegetables in their routine.
If you have subscribed to the “carbohydrates-are-fattening” myth, the fact is that they have only 4 calories per gram, compared with 9 calories per gram for any kind of fat or oil. So why have carbs gotten a bad name? The reason is that we tend to combine them with grease. A cookie, a cake, or a pie does have some carbohydrates in the form of flour or sugar. But it is the stick of butter or cupful of shortening in a batch of cookies or a cake that really packs in the calories.
So carbohydrates are not fattening. Even so, the carbohydrate category is enormous, including everything from fruit, pasta, and breads to candy and sodas, and some carbs are better than others. Here are tips for choosing the best ones.
Natural and unprocessed. Brown rice has all the fiber nature could pack into it. But when the outer bran layer is removed to turn it into white rice, the fiber is mostly gone. Same with wheat when it is refined to produce white flour. Generally speaking, whole grains are better than those that have had their natural bran milled away.
Low glycemic index. Certain foods cause your blood sugar to rise more quickly, while others are gentler on your blood sugar. The glycemic index sorts out which are which. The glycemic index was invented in 1981 by Dr. David Jenkins—the same innovative scientist who showed how a portfolio of foods could slash cholesterol levels.
The glycemic index is calculated by feeding a given food to volunteers and then tracking whether their blood sugar rises steeply or gently. Foods that cause blood sugar to spike—that is, “high-GI” foods—can be a problem for people with diabetes. They can also cause triglycerides to rise, and some people feel that they accentuate cravings. In contrast, low-GI foods—foods that are gentle on your blood sugar—are easier on your system.
The GI champions are beans and green leafy vegetables. They have admirably low GI values, as do barley, bulgur, and parboiled rice.
Some foods are surprises. Even though fruits are sweet, most have a very low GI. And pasta has a low GI, too. Yes, even white spaghetti. The reason is that it is so compacted in the manufacturing process that it digests very gradually and its glucose molecules are slow to pass into your bloodstream.
There are just a few high-GI foods to look out for. Here they are, along with good replacements:
• White and wheat breads. They tend to increase blood sugar. Rye and pumpernickel breads have lower GI values and are better choices.
• White baking potatoes. Big white potatoes tend to spike blood sugar. In contrast, yams and sweet potatoes are gentler on your blood sugar.
• Most cold cereals. Puffed up, sugary cereals spell blood sugar problems. In contrast, bran cereal is easy on your blood sugar, as is oatmeal.
For many people, the glycemic index of foods is a secondary issue; that is, they can handle both high- and low-GI foods pretty well. However, if you have diabetes, weight problems, or high triglycerides, you’ll do well to favor low-GI foods.
By now, you might be thinking that it sounds like a tall order to rethink your menu. After all, I’m suggesting you break some habits you’ve carried with you for a very long time. Let me show you a trick that we use in our research studies to help people adopt a new diet. It’s easy. We just break the transition into two steps:
First, check out the possibilities. Don’t change your diet yet. Take a week or so to see what you like. The idea is to find foods that fit the guidelines we talked about and that fit your tastes, too. I suggest taking a piece of paper and writing down four headings: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. Under each heading, fill in foods that are free of animal products and are healthful overall—foods that you might like to try. Browse through the recipe section and see what calls to you.
Breakfast might be Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes or Waffles topped with bananas or fresh blueberries and maple syrup. Or how about a bowl of old-fashioned oatmeal with sliced strawberries and crushed walnuts? Perhaps bran cereal with almond milk and banana chunks? If you’re a sausage lover, skip the Jimmy Dean and make it Gimme Lean. Yes, that’s the veggie sausage that has taken over a big corner of the market because it tastes just like sausage, without the oink or the cholesterol.
Take a minute, think what you might like for breakfast, and write it down.
For lunch, soups and salads are quick and tasty. How about Easy Quinoa Tabouli Salad, Easy Colorful Pasta Salad, or a big green salad, starting with whatever fresh greens your tastes call for, plus slices of tomato, cucumber, and fresh shiitake mushrooms (or any other variety)? Top with chickpeas and a sprinkling of slivered almonds. Then, how about Turkish Lentil Soup, Mushroom Barley Stew, White Bean Chili, or Fresh Pea Soup? Perhaps a Baked Veggie Falafel sandwich, any of the many meatless versions of burgers and hot dogs, or perhaps a BLT (made with veggie bacon) with Dijon mustard on whole-grain bread.
If fast food is your thing, any submarine sandwich shop would be happy to make you a veggie sub with lettuce, tomato, spinach, olives, cucumbers, peppers, and a drizzle of red wine vinegar, and they’ll even toast it for you. At the taco shop, skip the meat taco and have the bean burrito (hold the cheese).
At dinnertime, the sky’s the limit. Salads and soups for starters if you like. Then how about Gnocchi with Basil and Sun-dried Tomatoes, Spaghetti with White Bean Marinara Sauce, Asian Stir-Fry with Apricot Teriyaki Sauce, Mexican Polenta Casserole, or Portobello Burgers? If it’s pizza night, leave off the cheese and meat toppings and have all the veggie toppings, with extra sauce. And finish it off with Super Raspberry Protein Brownies, Baked Apples, Vanilla Berry Sorbet, or Chocolate Pudding.
The idea for now is just to see what you like. So jot down some ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, and then take a week or so to test out recipes, convenience foods, or restaurant choices that fit our nutritional bill and satisfy your tastes.
A three-week test-drive. Once you know which foods you like, the next step is to take your new menu for a three-week test-drive. During this time, the idea is to follow the guidelines 100 percent—skipping the animal products and added oils, and really focusing on healthful foods. This is a twenty-one-day vacation from whatever less-than-perfect habits have clung to your pants leg all these years.
After three weeks, size up your progress. Chances are you will have shed unwanted weight, your cholesterol and blood pressure will be better, and your energy will be up, too.
You might also discover that your tastes are changing. You did not count on that, but it happens. The old, unhealthy foods start to seem—well, old and unhealthy. Your taste for grease is rapidly falling away. And you’re on the path to better health.
Whether you can sense it or not, all the “side effects” of your menu change are good ones. The arteries in your heart are opening up, your cancer risk is plummeting, the likelihood you’ll ever develop diabetes is falling (or if you have diabetes now, it is coming under better control). Weight control becomes easier than ever. And you’re discovering new tastes that will soon become your best friends.
Foods give you the nutrients your brain and body need. But there are a few supplements you should know about, too.
Vitamin B12. As I mentioned in chapter 4, everyone should have supplemental B12 in their diets. This is not optional. The US government recommends it for everyone over age fifty, and I would recommend it for everyone, regardless of age.
Vitamin B12 is in many fortified cereals and fortified soy milk, and those sources are perfectly fine. For convenience, the easiest source is a multiple vitamin. Choose a brand that does not have added minerals. Drugstores and health food stores also sell supplements with just B12 alone or “B complex” (that is, a mixture of B vitamins), and they will do fine. Any brand you find in a store will have more than the 2.4 micrograms you need, and there is no toxicity from supplements with higher amounts.
Folate and vitamin B6. If blood tests show that your homocysteine level is high, it may be sensible to add folate and B6 to your regimen. As we saw in chapter 4, Oxford researchers used a combination of 800 micrograms of folate and 20 milligrams of vitamin B6, along with 500 micrograms of vitamin B12 in people with high homocysteine levels. The vitamin combination reduced homocysteine and boosted their cognitive function. If you do not have a high homocysteine level, you’ll get the folate and B6 you need from foods alone.
Vitamin D. Although vitamin D’s best-known function is to help you absorb calcium from the foods you eat, it also has an anticancer effect that is worth knowing about. The natural source is sunlight. Fifteen or twenty minutes of direct sunlight on your face and arms each day gives you all the vitamin D you need. But if you are indoors most of the time, you’ll want to take a supplement. The US government recommends 600 IU per day for adults up to age seventy and 800 IU per day for people older than seventy.
Because of vitamin D’s cancer-preventing effects, some authorities recommend daily doses as high as 2000 IU per day. This level of supplementation appears to be safe, but do not exceed that dose without a physician’s directive.
DHA. As we saw in chapter 3, your body makes the DHA your brain needs. However, some people hedge their bets with a DHA supplement. If that includes you, it is best to choose a vegan brand (as opposed to fish-derived brands) and to have 100 to 300 milligrams per day.10
So you’re babying your brain with healthful vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains, and giving it the vitamins it needs. You’re skipping animal products, added oils, and toxic metals, and your brain is thrilled. You are now miles ahead of most other people.
But while a healthful diet is Step One of our brain-protecting program—and it gives you enormous power—don’t forget Steps Two and Three. Step Two is to exercise your brain and body. That means regular mental stimulation through reading, puzzles, and social interaction, or one of the specially designed online programs mentioned in chapter 5. These cognitive activities are enriching in every way, in addition to their ability to strengthen the connections in your brain.
And be sure to get your heart pumping, once your doctor gives you the okay. Begin slow—a ten-minute walk each day is fine for starters, and keep your pulse in the safety zone you calculated in chapter 6. Then, each week, increase your duration by five minutes until you are exercising for forty minutes at a stretch. Focus on your pulse, not on distance, and stop whenever you need to. And be sure to put exercise on your calendar if you have not done so already.
Step Three is to tackle physical threats—sleeplessness, medication side effects, and medical problems that can harm your brain.
When the clock strikes 10 p.m., turn out the light and go to sleep. You’ll wake up refreshed, and you’ll notice the benefits for memory, mood, and overall well-being. If sleep is a problem for you, carefully review the guidelines in chapter 7 to get you back on track.
If you are on medications that could affect your memory or cognition, check with your physician regularly to see if you really need them, paying special attention to those listed in chapter 8. Also be attentive to the medical conditions listed in that chapter. Your doctor will help you.
Now your menu is in good shape, you’re putting your brain and body through their paces, and you’re giving special attention to sleep and medical issues. You’ve done yourself a huge favor, and your brain and body will thank you.
But we’re not quite done. In the next chapter, we’ll tackle what, for many people, is the biggest issue of all—sticking with a healthful diet over the long run. We’ll learn how we go astray and how to stay on track.