Eating For Health

So, which is better for your health, butter or margarine?   And why?   For years we heard “skip the butter and choose the margarine”.   Margarine popularity soared and butter became a no-no.   But, has something changed?   Is butter back?   Eat This, Not That! Has an interesting article , “ What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Butter ?”   Are there health benefits to going back to the real thing, butter? Registered Dietitian, Vanessa Risetto notes that butter does provide some vitamins like vitamin A and some Vitamin E, B12 and vitamin K.   Butter also has lauric acid – sounds bad but it actually is important in treating infections.   Butter also has the fat called butyrate.   You don’t need to know the name of the fat but to know that it promotes healthy bacteria in your gut .   What about saturated fat?   Isn’t butter high in saturated fat? Yes, butter has some saturated fat.   We don’t have to eliminate sat...

Everyone knows you can eat for a healthier body.   But can you eat foods to improve your mind or to keep your brain healthier?   Yes.   Actually, there is a diet called the MIND diet specifically designed to keep your brain healthier.   The MIND diet is a combination of two other highly recommended diets – the DASH diet designed to prevent high blood pressure and the Mediterranean diet for overall good health.   U.S. News & World Report ranks the MIND diet as 5 th in their rankings of Best Diets Overall .   They describe this diet as one that aims to prevent mental decline, especially designed to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease .   Rush University researchers found that following the MIND diet can reduce Alzheimer risk by 53% for those who strictly followed the diet plan.   And the good news is, you can benefit your brain health without even sticking rigidly to this diet plan.   For those who followed the diet only moderately well...