Category Archives: The MIND Diet

Success! Beans and Rice Lunch for the MIND diet

Recipes, The MIND Diet, , ,

The other day I tried to make beans and rice for lunch and failed.  The outcome was too hot to eat!  See the sad tale here.  I didn’t think I would be ready to try it again, but today the black beans sitting in my refrigerator got to me and I decided to try again.

I was very cautious this time and added the spices a little bit at a time and then tasted.  At first, it was too bland. I kept adding more and finally made it to my taste.  It reminded me of Goldilocks’ experience–too hot, too cold, and eventually just right.  I learned a lot about adapting recipes, especially for single servings.

This is the final product:

Black Beans and Rice  1 serving                               PDF version

  • 1/4 cup chopped onion
  • 1/4 cup chopped celery
  • 1/4 cup red pepper (or green, if that is what you have)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced or grated
  • 1/2 tsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained (or pinto beans or whatever)
  • 1/4 cup cooked brown rice
  • 1/4 tsp chili powder (or to your taste)
  • 1/8 tsp cumin
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Sauté the onion, celery, and red pepper in the olive oil about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook about 1 minute longer. Add the beans to heat and then the rice. Season to taste. The listed spices suited me, but I was still being cautious. Probably could have used a little more.

Enjoy.  I ate mine with 1/4 of an avocado, which added up to about a 300 calorie lunch.

A whole grain, a serving of black beans and rice
beans, a serving of ‘other vegetables,’ all cooked in olive oil. Seems like a win for the MIND diet and met my goal for a filling, low-calorie lunch, too.

 

 

 

Nutrition info calculated in MyFitnessPal.comblack beans and rice nutrition

Failed recipe for the MIND diet

Recipes, The MIND Diet, Uncategorized, , ,

I tried to make Red Beans and Rice for my lunch today, but it wasn’t very edible. I got through about half of it but then threw it out. I won’t be able to face it again for a while, so I thought I would post it in hopes that someone else would refine it.

I started with this recipe for inspiration: Authentic Louisiana Red Beans and Rice.

My plan was to make a single-serving because, if I really didn’t like it, I didn’t want more than one. Unfortunately, it is something my husband would eat.

The problem started with the rice. I had Uncle Ben’s Instant Brown Rice, which I usually use successfully to make 4 servings using the stove top method. I wanted to make just one serving so I used the microwave method.  I divided the 4 serving amounts by 4 and ended up with 2 TBSP of the dry rice and 1/4 cup of low sodium chicken broth.  I scaled back the cooking times as I thought appropriate: 5 minutes on high, then 5 minutes on medium, then let it stand for 5 minutes. My microwave is only about 700 watts so not too high. But, this didn’t work. It looked ok after the first 5 minutes but after the second 5 minutes and standing time, it was all brown (browner than brown rice should be) and hard. I tried again and just cooked it 5 minutes on high and then let it stand 5 minutes. Better, but not very fluffy.  The box does say that the stove-top method is preferred and now I see why. Next time, I will cook 4 servings on the stove and just use what I need. Or, use left-over rice because I usually do have a bit when I make 4 servings.

I used 1/4 cup each of onion, red pepper, and celery and 1 clove garlic. I sautéed the veggies in 1/2 tsp olive oil.  That all worked well and smelled great.

I went to add 1/4 cup of pinto beans, but found out I didn’t have any. I used black beans and they seemed like a good substitution.

The biggest problem, though, was the scaling down of the spices.  I thought I did the math right, but somehow the result was HOT.  I like Hot, but this was too HOT. One of the reasons was that I didn’t have the Cajun Seasoning that was called for. So, I looked up a substitute on Allrecipes.

These were my seasonings

  • 1/8 tsp thyme
  • 1/16 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/16 tsp sage
  • ½ tsp dried parsley
  • 1/8 tsp Cajun seasoning (I used the spices listed below for a substitute)
    • 1/8 tsp salt
    • 1/8 tsp oregano
    • 1/8 tsp paprika
    • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper – I only used 1/8 tsp of this mixture so not much
    • 1/8 tsp black pepper

Anyway, that was too much cayenne for me. I found that trying to scale down spices to one serving was a challenge.

If you compare my recipe to the inspiration recipe, you might wonder what happened to the sausage.  For the lunch I was making, I decided to omit it. I still think this would be fine without it. If I were making it for dinner, I might add some chicken sausage.

Since this was so HOT, I couldn’t taste much else. But, I did like the texture of the veggies and beans – not the rice.  I wasn’t sure if I liked the other spices in this recipe. I like them all in other recipes, but here not so much. I am thinking the next time I try this, I might use chili powder and cumin.  With some avocado slices and cilantro, I think that is more my style.

 

 

 

 

Menus for a 15-point MIND diet week

The MIND Diet

I have been trying to follow the MIND diet for a month or so now. I have been fairly successful by just trying to eat the recommended foods and avoid those that are not so good. I have tracked mostly at the end of each week by reviewing my MyFitnessPal food diary and plugging in to my MIND diet tracker.

However, I have fallen a bit short in a few recommended foods each week. So, I decided I should make up a week’s worth of menus and be sure I hit all the recommendations before I start the week.  Here is my first attempt: MIND diet menus one week.  If I counted right, these menus will give me 15 points at the end of the week. I tried to include enough detail that someone else could follow them, if desired.  I have never been very good at following someone else’s menus, but they might be a good start anyway. Or else you can have a good laugh.

You may notice that I listed calories, dairy, and fruit intake as well as MIND diet foods.  I really have to watch my calories because, if I eat over 1200 calories, I gain weight. I have to get down to 900-1000 calories plus 30 minutes of exercise a day to lose weight.  Figuring out how to increase my whole grain, nuts, beans, and wine intake without increasing my calories has been my biggest challenge.  I also try to get 2 low fat dairy and 2 fruits per day, but I did not figure out how to do that on these menus. I still need to work on that.

Nice MIND Diet poster

The MIND Diet,

Prevention.com has a nice MIND Diet poster. You can save it as an image from http://www.prevention.com/health/cut-alzheimer-risk . It fits nicely on an 8.5 by 11 sheet to print out and put on your refrigerator.

MIND diet poster
MIND diet poster

Review it carefully, though. Here are a couple of things to be aware of.

  • There are only 9 images for  recommended foods instead of 10. Olive oil is mentioned in the line below the images.
  • It looks like there are only 4 foods to avoid. That is because they lumped cheese with fast food and fried food.
  • Beans are listed as 3 recommended per week, but the research article says ‘more than 3.’
  • Red meat is listed as “4 times a week or less” but the research article says “less than 4 times per week”

But, the images and format are nice for a reminder, so I think it’s good to use – just edit it a bit.

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.

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 – 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.

Don’t forsake me, oh MIND diet!

The MIND Diet

What does the MIND diet forsake?  Lots of good foods that are not on the recommended lists.

That doesn’t mean we should stop eating those foods. The foods that are recommended on the MIND diet are ones that research has shown to be helpful in preventing cognitive delay.  That doesn’t mean that other foods do not do that, just that the research has not been done yet.  So, my plan is to eat other “power” foods, as long as they are not on the AVOID list, but not to the extent that I can’t eat the recommended foods (and still stay within my calorie limit). That especially includes foods that have been shown to prevent heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis. There are foods that do not or have not been shown to affect cognitive decline, but they may still be beneficial for health.

These are some foods that fall in that category:

All other fruits
Avocado (is that technically a fruit?)
Low-fat dairy products — except go light on cheese, darn it!
Coffee
Dark chocolate