Monthly Archives: July 2015

Pecan Cinnamon Scones for the MIND diet recipe makeover

Olive Oil, Recipes,

Scones are one of my favorite things to have for breakfast.  All of the recipes I have for them including cutting in butter or margarine sticks. I decided to try to use the rules I found to substitute olive oil for the sticks.  Looks like the rule is to use about 3/4 as much oil as the butter or margarine the recipe calls for.

I am using this Pecan Cinnamon Scones recipe as a starter. It looks good and I especially like that it has pecans in it, because I like pecans and because nuts are recommended on the MIND diet.  I used all whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup of brown sugar, which was plenty sweet. Following the rule to use 3/4 as much olive oil as butter, I used 3/8 of a cup (6 TBSP) instead of 1/2 cup. I also used regular salt and regular 1% milk instead of buttermilk.

Pecan Cinnamon Scone
Pecan Cinnamon Scone

My scones turned out great!  The brown sugar and whole wheat is so good with the pecans.

They are moist yet a bit crumbly good. There is a down side, though. The calorie count with all those pecans is 372 per scone — more than I usually eat for breakfast.  Bur, they have whole grains, nuts, and olive oil.  I suppose they count as a “pastry or sweet” so I will have to count each as one of my four per week to get the point for avoiding pastries and sweets.

Pecan Cinnamon Scones for the MIND diet                 PDF version

  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 6 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 4 to 5 TBSP 1% milk
  • 2 tsp. white sugar
  1. Toast the pecans in a 375 degree oven for 5 minutes, turning after each minute.
  2. Mix the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
  3. Whisk the egg and add the olive oil and vanilla to it.
  4. Gently stir the liquid into the dry ingredients just until barely mixed.
  5. Add 4 TBSP of the milk and the pecans.
  6. Mix gently as little as possible. Knead it with clean hands right in the bowl. If it doesn’t cling together well, add 1 more TBSP milk.
  7. Turn out onto greased baking pan and pat into a round disc about 6 to 7 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick.
  8. Cut into 8 wedges but don’t separate.
  9. Sprinkle with the white sugar
  10. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Scone after kneading in bowl
Scones after kneading in bowl
Scones after than have been cut
Scones after they have been cut

 

nutrtition info
Calculated in MyFitnessPal

“Jonesin'” for Cheese on the MIND diet

AVOID these foods

I love cheese! Maybe I am addicted. I suppose I come by it naturally because of my mother’s Danish roots. But, alas, the MIND diet recommends that cheese be eaten only once a week. This is  my biggest challenge on the MIND diet. Since I have been trying to lose weight, I have been using 2% cheese and staying within my calorie and saturated fat limit. Is that not good enough for the MIND diet?

I’ve always been able to follow a rule better if I understood the rationale for it.  So, I am trying to figure it out.

The MIND diet is based, in part, on the Mediterranean and the DASH diets, so I reviewed their thoughts on cheese.

  • The NIH page on the DASH diet states that dairy products should be fat-free or low-fat. The servings per week varies by the calorie intake but the lowest is 2-3 fat-free or low-fat servings PER DAY and a serving of cheese is 1 1/2 ounces
  • The NIH page on the Mediterranean Diet does not even mention any kind of dairy.
  • Cheese is high in saturated fat. Cheddar Cheese (my favorite) has 6 grams of saturated fat per ounce per nutritiondata.com. Even cheese with 2% fat has 4 grams per ounce (per MyFitnessPal).
  • However, whole milk has 5 grams per cup and the MIND diet folks don’t say to drink milk only once a week. There is no mention of using low-fat dairy.

So, is there something else about cheese that puts it on the AVOID list?

I checked both of the MIND diet articles by Morris et al. and some of the primary articles they cite. So, far I have not found much specifically about cheese. The Morris et al. (2015b) article lists ‘cheese’ in discussion of the MIND diet components and in a chart that shows how the diet was scored. However, in the discussion section, they write “The MIND diet components directed to limiting intake of unhealthy foods for the brain target foods that contribute to saturated and trans fat intakes; these include red meat and meat products, butter and stick margarine, whole fat cheese, pastries and sweets, and fried/fast foods.”

That makes me feel better if I slip up and eat my 2% cheese more than once a week. The scoring for cheese give 0.5 point for 1 to 6 servings per week. Now that I look closer, I see that the full point is based on less than 1 serving per week. They really don’t like cheese!

I am afraid I brought up more questions than answers. One more question: Surely, I don’t have to give up my fat-free cottage cheese, do I??

I think I will keep eating it and eating my 2% cheese a few times a week. In the mean time, I will keep my eyes open for reasons why cheese is worse than drinking whole milk, using cream in coffee, eating eggs (which are high in saturated fat), etc.

One more thought. Perhaps the question about cheese in the research was more of a way to find out how much saturated fat the participants ate. This would be along with the assessment of intake of red meat, butter and stick margarine, pastries and sweets, fried food. This chart on TOP FOOD SOURCES OF SATURATED FAT does show that cheese is the top source of saturated fat.

MIND diet sources

The MIND Diet

The MIND diet was developed by Martha Morris and several others at Rush University Medical Center and Harvard School of Public Health. The first two articles listed below are the first full articles published about the MIND diet. Those below are primary sources that the MIND diet articles cite.

Morris, M. C., Tangney, C. C., Wang, Y., Sacks, F. M., Bennett, D. A., & Aggarwal, N. T. (2015a). MIND diet associated with reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, published online Feb. 11, 2015, doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2014.11.009

Morris, M. C., Tangney, C. C., Wang, Y., Sacks, F. M., Barnes, L. L., Bennett, D. A., & Aggarwal, N. T. (2015b). Mediterranean-dietary approach to systolic hypertension diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay diet slows cognitive decline with aging. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, published online June 15, 2015.  doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2015.04.011  (this article was also published online with the shorter title ‘MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging.’)

The articles above do not fully describe all of the research on which the MIND diet is based. They cite several articles from which they drew:

[13] Tangney CC, Li H, Wang Y, Barnes LL, Schneider JA, Bennett DA, et al. Relation of DASH- and Mediterranean-like dietary patterns on cognitive decline in older persons. Neurology 2014;83:1410–1416

[20] Barnes JL, Tian M, Edens NK, Morris MC. Consideration of nutrient levels in studies of cognitive decline: A review. Nutr Rev 2014; 72:707–719.

[21] Morris MC. Nutritional determinants of cognitive aging and dementia. Proc Nutr Soc 2012;71:1–13.

[22] Morris MC, Tangney CC. Dietary fat composition and dementia risk. Neurobiol Aging 2014;35 Suppl 2:S59–64.

 

 

 

 

 

Do I have to drink RED wine on the MIND diet?

The MIND Diet, Wine

I am enjoying the MIND diet recommendation to drink 1 glass of wine per day, even though the calories are a bit hard to work around on a low-calorie diet. red and white wine

I really prefer white and blush wine to red wine. My current favorite is Moscato.  My husband really dislikes red wine, so I don’t usually buy it.

The good news is that the two articles that have been published so far about the MIND diet do not specify red wine. They just say ‘wine.’  So, I have been sticking with my preferred white wine.

However, I know that there have been studies that say that red wine is the one that protects cognitive decline. The beneficial component in red wine is Resveratrol. Here are a couple of articles that explain how this works.

On the other hand, there are articles that say this effect has been shown only in mice, not humans. They seem to say that the does mice have received in these studies is way beyond what a human would get from wine or the other sources of Resveratrol.

So, you can make up your own mind, but I am sticking to white wine for now.  I do intend to review the articles that describe the research the MIND diet is based on. Maybe I will have a better rationale later.

Whole Grain Blueberry Muffins – MIND diet Makeover

Berries, Recipes, Whole Grains, ,

I found a recipe for Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins with Blueberries at a site called Making Healthier Decisions.  It just needed a few tweaks to make it optimal for the MIND diet.

I substituted olive oil for the vegetable oil, used all whole wheat flour instead of half white flour, and added a whole cup of blueberries (fresh, not frozen)  instead of half a cup. I also used old-fashioned oatmeal instead of quick-cooking, just because that is what I had on hand.

Whole Grain Blueberry Muffins                     PDF Version

  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1 cup oatmeal, instant or old-fashioned
  • 1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray a 12 cup muffin tin

Mix the oil, brown sugar, applesauce and egg.  Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and oatmeal.  Combine the two very gently, as little as possible. Blend in the blueberries very carefully.dipping

Use a heaping 1/4 cup ice cream  type scoop to divide the batter into the 12 muffin cups.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

These are good muffins. The major change I made was using all whole wheat flour. I see that lots of recipes use the half and half way, but omitting the while flour seemed to work fine in this recipe.

The calorie count came out at 171 calories, so I can eat one for breakfast along with some additional fruit or cottage cheese. I believe I can count it as 1 of my 3 whole grain products for the day. There is only 1/12 of a cup of blueberries in each muffin, though, so I won’t be counting it as one of my berries for the week. Using olive oil will contribute to being able to say I use olive oil as my primary oil.

I do feel a little bad about the brown sugar. I hope that does not put these muffins in the Pastries and Sweets category. I guess that wouldn’t be a big problem because up to 5 of those are allowed per week.

 

How MIND diet compares to other diets

The MIND Diet, , , ,

The MIND diet is based in part on the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet. The TLC diet is another healthy diet that is aimed specifically at lowering cholesterol.

This is a comparison of the components of these four diets.

MIND diet* Mediterranean** DASH*** TLC****
Green, leafy veg >6 /week Eat vegetables at every meal 3-4 vegetables/day Vegetables/ Dry Beans/Peas
3–5/day
Other veg >1/day
Nuts >5/week Eat small amounts Nuts, seeds, and legumes   3/week  
Berries >2/week Eat fruit at every meal All Fruits 3-4/day All fruits
2-4/day
Beans >3/week Eat frequently With nuts  
Whole grains >3/day Eat frequently 4-5/day 6 or more/day
Fish >1/week > 2/week Meat, fish, and poultry  3 oz. or less/day Meat/poultry, and fish <5 oz/day
Poultry >2/week Moderate amounts
Olive oil primary oil primary oil/fat Fats & oils: 1/day Unsaturated oils and nuts
Wine 1/day < 1/day, usually red Not mentioned Not mentioned
Red meat < 4/week <2/mo Lean meats with fish & poultry Lean meat included with fish & poultry
Butter & stick margarine < TBSP/day Use olive oil or canola oil instead Fats and oils limited to 1/day Unsaturated oils and nuts
Cheese < 1/week Eat small amounts Low fat Included in low fat dairy
Pastries and sweets <5/week Only occasionally <3 /week  
Fried foods & fast food  < 1/week  Not mentioned Low fat and lean  emphasized  
       
Low-fat Dairy  Not mentioned  Moderate amounts  2-3/day  2-3/day low fat
Salt  Not mentioned  Replace with herbs  and spices  2300 mg  Sodium/day  
Eggs  Not mentioned  < 2 yolks/week

MIND diet info from this article:

Morris, M. C., Tangney, C. C., Wang, Y., Sacks, F. M., Barnes, L. L., Bennett, D. A., & Aggarwal, N. T. (2015). Mediterranean-dietary approach to systolic hypertension diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay diet slows cognitive decline with aging. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, doi:10.1016/j.jalz.2015.04.011

**Mediterranean Diet info from http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/mediterranean-diet/art-20047801

***DASH diet info from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/dash/followdash  based on 1200 cal diet

****TLC diet info from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/public/heart/chol_tlc.pdf  pp. 34-35

MIND diet tracker

HOW TO, , ,

Keeping track of how you are doing with 10 recommended foods and 5 foods to avoid can be tricky. I have been working on an Excel file to use as a tracker. I am not sure if I will print it out and put it on my refrigerator or try to remember to add to it on my computer.

Actually, I am pretty good at tracking what I eat at MyFitnessPal, so I am going to try to do it electronically. I added calculations where I could to cut down on what has to be done by hand.  Working with Excel formulas is one of those things that helps keep my brain active. The foods for which the basis of the points are all expressed by the week were fairly easy, but I am still struggling with the ones that are expressed by the day or the month or even less specific.

Eventually, I would like to make this into a web-based and iPhone app.

Here is v1:  MIND diet tracker  

If you use the tracker, please let me know how this works for you and send me suggestions, if you have them.

Mexican Party Salad–Recipe make-over for MIND diet

Recipes, ,

I was looking for a salad recipe to take to a potluck and found Betty Crocker’s Layered Mexican Party Salad that was just about right.  It already had three ingredients that are recommended on the MIND diet (leafy, green vegetable; other vegetable; and beans), but I wanted to make it over to include more.

It was easy to use olive oil for the vegetable oil. The biggest problem was the Suddenly Salad Pasta salad mix.  I have never purchased this product, but I didn’t think it comes in a  whole grain.  Since that, I found that there is a Southwest Grains version that is based on brown rice and whole grain quinoa. However, it looks like it has lots of ingredients (intended and unintended) that I might not want to use it anyway.

Anyway, I tried to duplicate the Suddenly Salad Classic Mix using whole grain rotini. I cooked about 6 oz to the al dente stage. I made the flavoring for it by mixing dried parsley, garlic powder, and pepper into the olive oil, with the cumin and water and mixed that into the rotini.

I didn’t use refrigerated guacamole. I mashed one avocado and added a bit of lime juice instead. It was ok, but I didn’t take it much. Next time, I will either add 2 or 3 avocados or omit it altogether since it didn’t add much to the taste.

I have to admit that I did add the cheese, so that would have to be my cheese serving for the week. Ouch!  I did omit the chips. They just get soggy anyway.

The result was “OK,” but it was a little flat. The leftovers were good when I added some Italian salad dressing and taco sauce. Next time, I will add more spices, maybe a taco seasoning mix or my recipe for the home-made version of taco mix. Also, it was maybe a little heavy on the rotini. I think 4 oz would have been plenty.

I still think this is a good recipe to make-over. With the olive oil and whole grain, it would hit 5 of the 10 recommended foods on the MIND diet.

I need to make this again. Next time, I will try to remember to take a picture!

 

 

MIND diet – Similar research results

The MIND Diet, , , ,

 

  •  Healthy Lifestyles Reduce the Incidence of Chronic Diseases and Dementia: Evidence from the Caerphilly Cohort Study
    This study was conducted in Wales over 30 years. The researchers followed the health habits of over 1000 men. The food-related factors assessed were whether the participants ate three or more portions of fruit and/or vegetables a day, ate a diet that contained less than 30% of calories from fat; drank three or fewer servings of alcohol per day, and had a BMI between 18 and 25 kg/m2 (the range defined as healthy by the CDC).  The researchers also recorded physical activity and smoking. They then rated the men on how many of the six health behaviors they followed and found that those who followed the healthy behaviors had about a 60% reduction in cognitive impairment and dementia.

About ME – why I am interested in the MIND diet

The MIND Diet, ,

I really want to avoid developing Alzheimer’s Disease. I have seen what it has done to some family members whom I loved.

I remember the worst Christmas Eve of my life when I recognized that one member of my family had Alzheimer’s.  She was always the one who made the oyster stew. She had done that for at least 15 years for our family on Christmas Eve. We had been getting clues that she had been having memory problems, but we didn’t realize the extent. When she arrived on this Christmas Eve, my mother said something like “We are waiting for you to make the oyster stew” and she said ” I have never made oyster stew! I don’t know how!” I remember it like the day President Kennedy was shot and the day the World Trade Center was hit.

That was the moment of acute grief that I remember, but then there was the 10 years that she spent in a nursing home before she died. Another family member was also in a nursing home for 10 years due to Alzheimer’s. And, now the next generation is getting older and some are in the same place.

I have a family history of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, but the disease that scares me the most is Alzheimer’s.  I would rather be diagnosed with cancer and die within 3 months like my mother did than develop Alzheimer’s Disease.

I am almost 70 years old and in good health. I am able to teach a college class and manage the accounting for my husband’s business.  But, every time I can’t remember something, I worry.

I know all the things to do to prevent or at least delay Alzheimer’s.  I keep my brain active; I exercise; I have been trying to eat a health diet most based on what is good for my heart and blood vessels. However, when I saw the MIND diet and the research that supports its effectiveness, I realized that this was something more specific that I could do.

The good news is that by eating healthy for my heart, I had been following the MIND diet fairly closely already.  I do have to work harder to include more nuts, beans, and whole grains.

I hope that by sharing what I am learning about the MIND diet and how to follow it that I can help others follow it also.