Eating For Health

Have you ever heard of brain food?   Foods you can eat for a healthier brain.     Researchers have found that the food we eat greatly affects our brain health.   Besides the food we eat, staying hydrated also affects our cognitive function.   Why is hydration important for brain health?   I always told my students that before an exam they should drink some water.   Why?   Because even being slightly dehydrated affects cognitive function.   A 1% dehydration level can lead to “a 5% decrease in cognitive function”.     A 2% level of dehydration “can result in short term memory loss”, what some people call “brain fog”.   Besides drinking plain water, many beverages are good for hydration including 100% juice and cow’s milk.   (See:   What beverage is most effective for staying hydrated? ) What researchers have found about diet and brain health. Researchers at the University of Warwick studied diet and brain heal...

So many people talk about “eating healthier” and then go on a fad diet thinking it is good for their health.   A TV personality said he avoids bread and cereal to eat healthier.   But is avoiding any food group a healthy choice?   What does “eating healthy” mean?   In the classes I taught, students always recommended we should “eat healthy”.   But when I asked them what this means they often struggle to come up with specifics.   Are there healthy diets to follow?   A diet not for weight loss or weight gain, but just a healthy eating pattern? Not a “diet” you go on for a week or two but a lifelong way of eating for a healthier you.         I was watching TV recently and saw the commercial for taking pills to get your fruit and veggies each day.   Rather than take pills, eat your fruit and veggies to eat healthier in 2025.   A popular quote from Hulk Hogan is “Train.   Say your prayers.   Eat your vitamins....

Are you one of the people who have made a resolution to lose a few pounds in 2025?   If you or someone you know wants to drop a few pounds, what are the best weight loss diets to be on? So many diets don’t change your lifestyle but offer a quick solution but for many a temporary solution.   You may lose some weight but once you go “off” the diet, you gain the weight back.   Every year U.S. News & World Report ranks the Best Weight-Loss Diets .     What makes a weight-loss diet a winner?   A diet you can stay on for the long haul.   Not really a diet but an eating pattern that keeps the weight off. A diet that promotes healthy weight loss, not quick weight loss due to loss of water and muscle and not fat.   A diet that doesn’t slow your metabolism like some quick loss diets do. A diet that doesn’t give up any food groups so you can stay on it long term. U.S. News and World Report notes a healthy diet focuses on lean protein, high fi...

Every time you turn on the TV, there are ads for all kinds of foods and supplements.   Not everyone provides reliable information based on scientific facts. If your goal is to eat healthier in 2025, what are some easy tips to start with?      1.        Start a heart-healthy diet plan. Want a heart-healthy diet that is good for your heart and helps lower blood pressure?   Then look at the DASH diet.   It stands for D ietary A pproaches to S top H ypertension.   Much like the Mediterranean Diet, the DASH diet focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy (real dairy), poultry, fish, and beans.   (For more information see:   Best Diets for Healthy Eating in 2024 .) 2.         No need to skip the seed oils . I just finished reading Good Energy by Casey Means, MD.   She provides a lot of good advice except perhaps for her recommendation to avoid seed oils.   As the ...