By focusing on brain health, there are certain things you can do to help slow cognitive decline and increase your brain power. These include exercising and changing your diet to take care of what eat and drink. And while your brain will still age, along with the rest of your body, certain habits can help slow that process.
“While aging is inevitable, certain dietary habits can help combat the effects of aging or potentially accelerate it,” he says. Lisa MoskovitzDR, CDNauthor of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan. “Overall, it’s important to eat a nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant-rich diet to keep your mind and body strong.”
Moskovitz also suggests that, on the other hand, mindlessly snacking ultraprocessed and empty-calorie foods, such as candy, soda, and potato chips, can accelerate brain aging. If you want to avoid further cognitive damage, take a look at these four snacking habits that may be aging your brain faster.
While sugary items are an easy midday snack and may satisfy your sweet tooth for the time being, they don’t have much benefit to them. In fact, they can negatively affect your overall health, which can lead to problems with your brain health.
“Added sugar found in snack foods such as baked goods, ice cream, candy, certain cereals and bars, can increase blood sugar levelsMoskovitz says. “Chronically high blood sugar levels can affect the functional connectivity of your brain which, over time, can potentially contribute to brain shrinkage and atrophy.”
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It’s easy to pick up a family-size bag of chips at the store. Eating the fries right out of the bag is easy too. But it turns out that doing this has a more severe impact on your age than you might have thought.
“A lot of research shows that we tend to eat more when we eat from a large bag,” he says. lisa r youngPhD, RDNauthor of Finally full, finally slim Y The portion cashier plan. “Take a slice, put it on a plate, sit back and enjoy it! And if you don’t like the taste, choose something else.”
According to a study published in the American Academy of Neurology, research showed that overeating can double the risk of memory loss. If you eat too many calories repeatedly over time, you can increase your chances of developing memory loss or mild cognitive impairment later in life.
Liquid calories are beverages They don’t bring much to the table besides unnecessary calories. These include soda, juice and sweetened iced tea. And while they may seem harmless as a midday treat, they can cause cognitive problems.
In a study published in the journal RaceParticipants who drank at least one artificially sweetened beverage per day were three times more likely to develop a stroke and almost three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
“These [liquid calorie drinks] they are high in sugar and contain unnecessary calories,” says Dr. Young.
Similarly, eating any kind of processed foods in large quantities it will have a negative impact on your brain health.
“When consumed in large amounts, snack foods such as potato chips, baked goods, and chocolate bars with high amounts of saturated fat and/or refined flours can increase systemic inflammation,” says Moskovitz. “Eventually, this can contribute to cognitive decline and memory loss.”
Kayla Garritano
Kayla Garritano is a staff writer for Eat This, Not That! She is a graduate of Hofstra University, where she majored in Journalism and double majored in Marketing and Creative Writing. read more
