8 Diet Changes That Can Boost Your Brain Health

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Here's how to make the MIND diet work for you.When I lost a loved one to Alzheimer's disease almost two years ago, I began to grasp just how important it is to maintain mental health throughout life. Even if the disease hasn't personally affected you, the sheer fact that 1 in 9 people over age 65 has Alzheimer's may be enough to motivate you to prioritize brain health.
Fortunately, one way to do that is through food – and, in particular, the MIND diet, a way of eating designed to reduce cognitive decline that was a hot topic at the recent Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Boston.
MIND, which stands for the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, combines the most relevant components of the Mediterranean and the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diets. It's based on a study that shows promise for reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia through certain eating patterns rather than any one nutrient. Though the study doesn't prove cause and effect, and more trials and research are needed to do so, the diet is a healthy choice overall, whether you're trying to boost brain health or simply eat well.
Ready to get started? Lucky for you, the foods emphasized in the MIND diet – green leafy vegetables, nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, olive oil and wine – are easy to find. Following the plan may even be easier than you expect if you follow these strategies to incorporate the diet's key foods into your meal prep: 

1. Wash and prep leafy greens.
If you're short on time, buy pre-washed and chopped greens such as kale, spinach, arugula or collard greens. Use them as a base for salads or toss them into soups or pasta.
2. Prep a pot of pulses.
Add pulses – beans, lentils and peas – to salads, or let them be the main entree by making vegetarian burgers. For instance, try mashing black beans with finely diced peppers and onions and mixing in your favorite spices. Then, form the mixture into patties and saute them on a griddle until they're heated through. Top the patties with salsa and avocado for a flavorful, MIND-friendly meal.
3.Cook a couple batches of whole grains.
Try preparing quinoa, farro, brown or wild rice, or steel cut oats in large batches at once. Full of fiber, whole grains help create a satisfying meal. You can divvy up the portions by eating them throughout the week as a side, a base for grain bowls or as part of a salad or soup.

The 10 Best Diets for Healthy Eating

4. Create some snack packs.Portion almonds, walnuts, pistachios or pumpkin seeds into small bags or snack jars to take on long car rides or to power you through a long day of meetings at work. Just a handful a day will do.
5. Bring on the berries.
Add a cup of fresh or frozen berries into smoothie bags so you can easily grab and blend them for a quick snack or breakfast on the go. Berries can also be pureed into sauces and vinaigrettes and are sweet stir-ins for oatmeal.
6. Drizzle the olive oil.
Trade your butter for olive oil when you prepare meats and vegetables. You can use it as a base for homemade vinaigrettes as well.
7. Roast, poach or grill chicken or other poultry.
Get creative with poultry without doing a lot of work. Just add a few chicken breasts, onions and garlic to a slow cooker. Throw in your favorite salsa for even more flavor. When it's ready, chop or shred it and add it to sandwiches, stew and salads.

8. Don't forget fish.
Include at least one fish dish in your diet each week. Salmon in foil is one easy way to do that. Simply top the fish with olive oil, lemon slices, rosemary and garlic, seal it and bake it at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. For a spin, swap salmon for cod, tuna, trout or your favorite fish and seasonings.
You don't have to follow all of these strategies every single week, but you might try a few of them as starting points to get in the MIND diet groove. For more details on the eating plan and recipes, check out the MIND diet book, written by a fellow registered dietitian nutritionist, Maggie Moon.

• 13 Best Fish: High in Omega-3s – and Environment-Friendly

  
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  They're good for you and the environment. Purchase the best fish. Buying fish can be a tricky task – it’s hard to find one that's healthy for both you and the ocean. There’s no master guide ranking fish by what's important: high omega-3s, low mercury levels and healthy environmental factors. But here are 13 menu options that meet the bar on all those measures, according to the Environmental Defense Fund's Seafood Selector and the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch programs. These choices are high in omega-3s and low in contaminants, and they're produced in a way that's friendly to their environments. How you prepare a dish will obviously determine its calorie count, so unless noted, the calories listed here are for servings of uncooked fish.

• 1. Wild salmon from Alaska

  
  The 10 Best Diets for Healthy Eating
  Fresh, frozen or canned are all OK. Wild salmon will cost you a lot more (on average, $30 per pound) than the farmed variety, but it's worth the big bucks. Salmon farms hold up to 1 million fish per net, and this overcrowding exposes the farmed salmon to chemicals, lice, bacteria and viruses. Plus, salmon farming practices produce waste and can spread parasites and disease to wild fish, among other problems, according to Seafood Watch. Calorie count: 180 per 4-ounce serving.

• 2. Arctic char

  
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  At a sushi bar, this fish is known as iwana. Arctic char is an environmentally friendly substitute for farmed salmon because it's farmed in systems that are chemical-free and usually void of diseases. It's fine to opt for this farmed fish over wild-caught (which isn't easy to get, anyway). Calorie count: 204 per 4-ounce serving.

• 3. Atlantic mackerel

  
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  Mackerel populations in general are healthy, so wild-caught is A-OK. The EDF recommends you limit consumption of the Spanish and king species of mackerel because of their potential for mercury contamination, so stick to Atlantic mackerel as a staple. Calorie count: 232 per 4-ounce serving.

• 4. Sardines

  
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  Sardine fishing on the west coast is closed because of a dramatic decline in the sardine population, so these tiny fish may be hard to locate in stores. If you're able to find them, they're a great snack because they don't come with the mercury worries of fish higher up the food chain, such as swordfish and grouper.Calorie count: 232 per 4 ounces of drained, canned, oil-packed fish.

• 5. Sablefish/black cod

  
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  Sablefish is known for its rich, buttery flesh, which puts it in high demand. Seafood Watch recommends you stick to sablefish caught off California, Alaska and British Columbia, where fishing practices have reduced the likelihood of the accidental catch of other species. The EDF advises children 12 and under to eat only two servings a month due to a moderate mercury content.Calorie count: 220 calories per 4-ounce serving.

• 6. Anchovies

  
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  This little fish is available year-round and can be frozen, raw or canned. Although all anchovies have low mercury levels and high omega-3s, Seafood Watch recommends only eating those fished from the Adriatic Sea, where fishing methods are sustainable and less likely to accidentally catch marine mammals.Calorie count: 148 per 4-ounce serving.

• 7. Oysters

  
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  Oysters can be either farmed or caught in the wild (although wild-caught oysters are uncommon). Both methods are generally well-managed and have a low impact on the environment, so oysters are always a great option. At the sushi bar, you may see oysters called kaki. Calorie count: 67 per 4-ounce serving.

• 8. Rainbow trout

  
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  Rainbow trout are farmed in different ways worldwide, and the safest methods are practiced in ponds, raceways and recirculating agricultural systems – indoor farms that use a series of filters to keep fish clean. Seafood Watch says these farming techniques are effective and can control chemical pollution that was once problematic for this species. Calorie count: 156 per 4-ounce serving.

• 9. Albacore tuna

  
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  Make sure it’s caught from the North Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean, where fishermen use methods that don't accidentally snag other species. (Most canned tuna comes from fisheries that use more wasteful methods.) Kids 5 and under should limit consumption to two meals a month because of moderate mercury contamination, the EDF says. Calorie count: 150 per 4-ounce serving of drained, canned, water-packed fish.

• 10. Mussels

  
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  Farmed mussels are raised in an environmentally responsible manner – they're hung from ropes in the ocean. This causes minimal impact to the surrounding ecosystem and in some cases can actually improve the marine environment. You may see them called murugai at a sushi bar. Calorie count: 97 per 4-ounce serving.

• 11. Pacific halibut

  
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  Overfishing has depleted the stock of Atlantic halibut, but the similar Pacific halibut remains an option. These fish are raised in marine fisheries and then caught with longlines, a fishing method more sustainable than nets (which are the main reason why Atlantic halibut are endangered). Still, the EDF suggests kids ages 5 and under eat Pacific halibut only twice a month because of its mild mercury content.Calorie count: 142 per 4-ounce serving.

• 12. Rockfish

  
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  Exact species doesn't matter – all types of rockfish caught in California are OK, according to the EDF. There are more than 70 species of rockfish living off the U.S. west coast, and most are healthy. A few stocks are recovering from overfishing, but a new management program installed by conservation groups is helping fishermen keep the marine ecosystem intact. Calorie count: 106 per 4-ounce serving.

• 13. Catfish

  
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  Watch out for the country-of-origin label – Seafood Watch recommends purchasing catfish raised exclusively in the U.S. because contamination can occur in countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and China, where the government doesn't regulate fish farming operations. Catfish is the most commonly farmed fish in the U.S. and is touted for its low mercury levels.Calorie count: 108 per 4-ounce serving.

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