Revisiting the MIND Diet: The Pillars of Risk to Prevent Dementia

Want to Protect Your Brain as You Age? This Episode is a Must-Listen.

In Episode 68 of Eldercare on the Air, elder law attorney Michael Amoruso sits down with returning guest and sought-after nutritionist Stefanie Schwartz for a powerful and eye-opening discussion on how your everyday choices, especially what you eat, can dramatically reduce your risk of dementia.

Stefanie shares the latest research on the MIND diet, which has been shown to cut the risk of cognitive decline by up to 53%. But this episode goes way beyond food. You’ll learn about the six key lifestyle “pillars” that protect brain health, including surprising insights about estrogen, sleep as a “car wash for your brain,” and why leg workouts might just be your brain’s best friend. From dark chocolate and berries to simple sleep and stress-reduction tips, this conversation is packed with practical, science-backed advice you can start using today.

Whether you're caring for a loved one or looking to future-proof your own mind, this episode is essential listening. Tune in and discover how small changes today can lead to a sharper, healthier tomorrow.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

You've lived well, you've worked hard to make your place in this world. Your dignity and security are earned and well deserved. Or maybe you have a loved one who needs you more than ever. Well, we can help you help them plan life better. Amaruso and Amaruso. Welcome

SPEAKER_04 0:33

to Eldercare on the Air, a weekly radio show with guests in the fields of eldercare, special needs, financial services, independent living, and yes, people just like you. Where we will empower you to make sound choices when you're faced with an eldercare or special needs crisis.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

My

SPEAKER_04 1:00

name is Michael Amoruso, an elder law and special needs attorney with Amoruso & Amoruso in Rybrook, New York, which services clients in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. You're at our new home, 107.1 The Peak, but I do encourage you to go onto our website at Eldercareontheair.com. That's eldercareontheair.com. Click on the radio show tab you see and just simply download the episode you'd like to listen to. You see, this show is designed to arm you with the knowledge and tools that you need to make sound choices to help you or a loved one age in place. If you have any questions or would like to hear topics on future episodes of Eldercare on the Air, please send us an email at info at eldercareontheair.com. That's info at eldercareontheair.com. I'm thrilled to have back with us this week, Stephanie Schwartz. You may recall Stephanie. She's been on past shows with us. And, you know, Stephanie is my nutritionist. I wanted to introduce her to you yet again. Last show I had her on, we were talking about the mind diet. It's about how your diet that you eat can affect your cognition as you age. And you know what? Research is ever-changing. And Steph's got some good, important updates for us. So, Steph, welcome to our show. It's good to have you.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

Thank you so much. It's great to be here, Michael.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Oh, it's great to have you. So why don't we just dive into, you know, how things have changed and how diet does affect our cognition as we age?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

You know, I think it's really important that we set the stage for a minute before diving into just the nutrition part, because there are many what we call like pillars to your prevention, really, in your lifestyle on what is going to either prevent or promote, you know, cognitive decline or lack thereof. It is important to also note that Alzheimer's starts or any form of dementia that is caused by Alzheimer's in your 20s silently that we have no idea and it doesn't present or show really until we're in our anywhere from 40s to 60s. So with that knowledge to know that when we're literally in our 20s and 30s, this is the time of our lives that we need to be preventing more than any other time because once you have the beginnings of an Alzheimer's disease, it is not going to be reversed. What we can do is prevent but we're not going to reverse once we have it. So really important to know that. And also two thirds of the cases are come from women. A lot of that has to do with estrogen receptors in the brain. Um, and, uh, estrogen is critical and crucial for learning and memory and neuro protection. It protects against neurotoxicity, uh, which is caused by the beta amyloid and the tau phosphorylation. And those are the two really defining things that happen in the brain when one has Alzheimer's. So, and estrogen is the driver of protecting your brain. And so when women hit menopause and there's a huge drop, we actually see the changes in the brain happening at that point. So, yeah. So it's real important to know that, yeah, two thirds of the case are women. However, all of that being said, 60% of cases can be prevented with lifestyle. And that's what we're going to get into. And these pillars in the lifestyle are nutrition, their exercise, stress reduction, sleep, your community, and your vascular health, which we'll get into in detail a bit as well. So those are our pillars. And if you want me to dive into the nutrition part right now, I will, unless you have a question so far.

SPEAKER_04 5:05

Yeah, let's just dive right into it.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Okay, so I do want to say that the MIND diet, which is Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, following this kind of a diet, which I'll get into in detail in a second, you can reduce the risk they have shown by up to 53%. Can you reduce your risk of dementia by following this type of dietary routine? Now, that being said, before we add in all the things that you should be eating, it is important to make note that saturated fat... like butters and margarines and cheeses, red meat, fried food, pastries, sweets, those things have to be minimized in the diet. One cannot just eat all the things that we're gonna talk about that are incredible for you, continue to eat that like donut on Saturday and Sunday morning and think you're gonna get the protection that you actually want. So it is important to actually take what I just said that with the sat fats and the butters and the cheeses and the red meats and processed meats, fried food and pastries, and sweets and cut those out to your best ability that you possibly can. Saturated fat being really the hallmark of one of the worst things that we could put in our bodies.

SPEAKER_04 6:20

All right, that's a big ask. So we got to replace that with something.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

You do have to replace that with something. Here we go. So the MIND diet is based on a few principles. Green vegetables, that is your spinach and kale, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, Swiss chard, arugula. Your green vegetables need to be Every single day, at least one serving every day in some way, shape or form. All other vegetables should be eaten also once a day. So you want a heavy on a vegetable forward intake on a daily basis. Berries, your blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries. at least two to four times a week. For some people, I would say that's easy. Most people, if they really love berries, they're doing them every day. And I'm gonna say the more the merrier. All berries are amazing, blueberries, I will just say that blueberries shine. They do have an impact on LDL cholesterol. All other berries are incredible for antioxidants and work for heart health and brain health, but definitely get those blueberries in.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

All right, I have a cup every morning, so that makes

SPEAKER_01 7:26

me feel good. Ah, you're so good. Let's go to nuts. Nuts are wonderful. You want to eat nuts a minimum of five times a week. A lot of people are scared about this. They think they're going to gain weight if they eat nuts.

SPEAKER_03 7:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Quite the contrary, as long as they are controlled in a one or two ounces per day, which is what one should eat. If you eat tons of them, of course, because they're calorically dense. However, the unsaturated fat, the monounsaturated fat, and in particular in a walnut, which has the omega-3s, it's the only nut that has omega-3s. So you want to get these nuts in every day, about one to two ounces. Now,

SPEAKER_04 8:09

Steph, when you say one to two ounces? I mean, part of the issues that we have, not you, but people like me, are portion size. What does one to two ounces look like

SPEAKER_01 8:19

visually? The two ounces is a quarter cup, which isn't so bad. If you incorporate it, I think the trick to the trade is not snacking on them necessarily if you have a weakness because then you're going to take a couple handfuls and you're already above that quarter cup. But if you're putting them on an overnight oat or an oatmeal or in a yogurt or in a chia pudding or on salads or on a stir fry. Yes. It's so easy to keep it to that small amount and you're getting all that benefit and they're delicious that way. So that's sometimes the trick of the trade. If you feel like you can't snack on them, add them to something that you know they're just going to taste delicious too. Seeds go along with these nuts also, like pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Definitely get your nuts and your seeds in at least five times a week.

SPEAKER_04 9:08

And what if you're allergic to nuts?

SPEAKER_01 9:09

then go with the seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Most people who are allergic to nuts can do a seed. And if not, then obviously you just have to avoid that. Yes, olive oil is your number one oil. Avocado would be a very close second, but those are your two best oils. Coconut oil, which I know a lot of people think is healthy based on social media. When people were following a ketogenic diet, Coconut oil and coconut milks could not be any worse for you. They are loaded in saturated fat. So you want to avoid coconut milks, coconut oils. Please replace that with olive oil and or avocado oil. Those are your best oils, which also do lower cholesterol. Whole grains. Don't be scared of getting carbohydrate. Where you want to be scared of getting carbohydrate is when you do it from the bagel and the muffin from a deli and the bag of potato chips that you might be sitting on the couch eating. That's the type of carbohydrate that you want to stay away from or eat infrequently. But when we're talking whole grains, quinoa and farro and buckwheat and steel-cut oats and millet, those are wonderful. You want to get in whole grains. You do not need to be scared of them. They are incredibly good for you because fiber is at the core of a healthy gut and a healthy body and a healthy mind. So don't be scared of whole grains. Beans, four times a week on beans if you can. That's chickpeas, black beans, lentils, edamame, pinto beans, kidney beans. All beans are amazing. Yes, you can buy canned beans. And most canned beans are not high in sodium. And the organic ones in particular, I see that have no sodium. So you don't need to be scared of that. And the wonderful thing is all the cooking was done for you. So you can easily make meals very quickly, starting with a can of beans. One of my favorite things is like a chickpea mash. You know, you mash up those chickpeas, you use a little bit of like avocado, because avocado, as we know, high in monounsaturated fat, it's one of the things that lowers cholesterol. You can use avocado as the kind of thing that puts it all together and brings it all together. So you've got the mash of the chickpea, the mash of the avocado, then you're seasoning it up and you're chopping in maybe some pickles or onions and red pepper and cucumbers. I literally can exist on a chickpea mash. So to me, that's a super easy thing that can be done in advance or obviously nice chilies and soups and stir fries or with cauliflower rice. So beans are pretty easy to get in the diet if you just open your mind to the cans.

SPEAKER_04 12:05

How much is too much when it comes to beans?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Oh, really, they're not. Probably too much is when your digestion can't handle it because most people are a little sensitive. But let's just say... Very easily, a half a cup is one serving. Now, half a cup's not a lot. So if you ate even one cup of beans, it is filling. It's high in fiber. It's high in protein. What happens, because you get so sated because of that... it's like it self-rates itself. You end up not overeating it because you're getting full very quickly from the fiber and protein content. Oh, interesting. Yeah, yeah. So beans are pretty amazing. And if you eat them every day, you know, you get a gold star. But a minimum of four times a week on the MIND diet. Fish is part of the MIND diet. If you do eat fish, those are fish high in omega-3 fatty acids, right?

SPEAKER_04 12:56

So salmon.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Salmon is the number one. Wild salmon In addition, arctic char, trout, and striped bass, and or sardines. These are all really high in omega-3 fatty acids. They're also low in mercury and can absolutely be incorporated a few times a week and is recommended on the MIND diet.

SPEAKER_04 13:18

Canned tuna?

SPEAKER_01 13:19

You can do canned tuna. The problem with canned tuna is not even just the mercury, but the cadmium and the arsenic. Some of the latest studies just showed that most of the store-bought brands are exceeding cadmium content, which is a heavy metal, which can affect your neurological health. So what you want to do, and the two brands that came up being safe are Wild Planet and Safe Catch. So if you buy a can of tuna, absolutely use those brands, Wild Planet or Safe Catch, because they do fall in the safety range for cadmium and arsenic.

SPEAKER_04 14:00

So, Steph, we're going to take a quick commercial break, and I need it because now I've got to recalibrate my entire diet. No more meats. I've got to go beans. I've got to go green vegetables, you said, and nuts. Yes. Okay. Yes. You heard it from Steph, so that's what I'm going to recalibrate during this break. If you missed any part of this episode, just log on to our website after the live broadcast at eldercareontheair.com, and you don't want to miss what Steph just covered. So we'll be back in a few moments with Steph.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Amoruso and Amoruso. Amoruso and Amoruso, a 107.1 The Peak Ask the Expert partner. Amoruso and Amoruso, empowering you to care for the ones

SPEAKER_02 14:49

you love.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

Welcome back to Eldercare on the Air. I'm Michael Amoruso, and I'm thrilled to be here with my nutritionist, Stephanie Schwartz. She's done a number of shows with us in the past, but it's time to update, based on her research on the MIND diet, to how to improve our cognitive health. Because as we age, as we all know, cognitive health starts to decline in many cases. So, Steph, again, welcome to our show. And if you missed any part of this, just log on to our website at eldercareontheair.com, and you don't want to miss this one. This one is vitally important to your health. So Steph, we left off with fish. You need to be part of the diet. Where do we go next?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

We go to green tea. Black tea and green tea are wonderful for your overall health, for reducing inflammation, and for brain health. In particular, green tea, L-theanine, is wonderful for your brain health. So if you do like green tea, iced or hot, please add that to your life once, twice, three times a day. This one everyone loves because we got to mention dark chocolate. When we talk dark chocolate, I know, see, I knew I'd make you happy. Something in this podcast or radio show is going to make you happy. And that is dark chocolate. When we talk about that, what percentage? About 80%. So you don't even really want to be in the 60%, but try to choose about an 80%. And then we're talking about one ounce or one square per day. And you can absolutely have that every day and you want to. The cocoa flavanols are wonderful for brain health, for anti-inflammation. They're great for your heart. So you do not have to avoid chocolate. You just want to get a nice, good, pure, dark chocolate that doesn't have a lot of sugar added, right? That would be in like a milk

SPEAKER_04 16:45

chocolate. You just made my wife very

SPEAKER_01 16:47

happy. I had a feeling. I saw the chocolate sitting out in the waiting room. And then I want to mention some spices, which are wonderful for the brain and your health. And once again for anti-inflammation and that's your standard turmeric. We always need to add black pepper to turmeric when you're using that because of the absorption. Ginger, cardamom. Now I'm going to say something about the ginger, turmeric, and cardamom because I just did this when I was making a roasted cauliflower. I just like to buy a curry powder, you know, that's a spice blend. All of that's in the spice blend. So sometimes, you know, if you just want to do like the quick way instead of buying everything fresh, if you buy some spice blends that have all these things in them. And Indian mixes and curry spices, they have that right in there. So you can just use that on your vegetables and they end up tasting delicious and you get it all in. So I wanted to add those in particular for spices.

SPEAKER_04 17:45

I got to tell you, I don't know if this fits in your diet or not, Steph, but last fall, I started boiling tea, excuse me, not tea, banana and water

SPEAKER_03 17:58

for

SPEAKER_04 17:58

about 10 minutes. And And then I took that liquid and I put cardamom in it and a tiny dash of cinnamon. That's delicious. And it actually helped me go to sleep.

SPEAKER_01 18:07

Wow, really? I had

SPEAKER_04 18:08

the best night's sleep with that mixture

SPEAKER_01 18:11

right there. You might be able to patent this. I'm going to tell you that right now because I know many people who can't sleep. So you might need to put this out into the world. That sounds actually delicious tasting too. I do want to say when we were talking about omega-3s, the importance of ground flax. chia and or hemp. And then we can move on to the other pillars that are important. But when we talk about hemp, ground flax, chia, they all have the similarity of being high in omega-3 fatty acids. So if you can use two tablespoons of any of the above of those three, you're getting in the omegas and that unsaturated polyunsaturated fat that your body really does need and wants for your brain health, as well as anti-inflammatory. Once again, very easy to add to oatmeal or shakes or chia puddings and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

That helps fill you up too.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Totally. Because it's got great fiber. Yeah. And chia and hemp in particular are high in protein. So you get the benefit of high protein, high fiber as the essential fat as well, where ground flax is just giving you the lignin properties and the fiber properties. But they're all great and they're wonderful also for the prevention of cancer.

SPEAKER_04 19:22

Is that safe to have, in your opinion, every day? Absolutely

SPEAKER_01 19:25

every day. As long as, once again, your digestion is okay for it. And sometimes you have to build up to it. If those two tablespoons are too much, don't get scared. Just drop it back until your gut is doing okay with it. And then you can bring it back up to the two tablespoons.

SPEAKER_03 19:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Fantastic. Now, it goes in line with nutrition. But I've got to talk about your LDL cholesterol on your lipid panel when you get that back. Because part of dementia... one of the things and one of the risk factors is your vascular health. This in particular has to do with what your LDL cholesterol is, not your total, but your LDL, which is the bad guy. Newest research says that number should be between 30 and 50. I'm going to say that and most people are going to be like, oh my God, my doctor was happy when I got it under 100. Old standard was to get it definitely below 100. New regulations are getting it at about 70 for ideal heart health. So ideal vascular heart health, you want your LDLs at about 70. Ideal brain health to prevent dementia. is between 30 and 50. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really low and sometimes, and I'm going to bring up something slightly controversial because sometimes people need to take a statin drug for that. Sometimes your diet alone isn't going to bring it down to that level, but that's based on look at your risk factors and what you might want. But if you're sitting around and you're like, my LDL is at 124 and you've done everything in the world with your diet and it's not coming down, you should be open to that, just because that LDL is one of the most important things for your vascular health.

SPEAKER_04 21:10

And Steph, at what age do you think people should start monitoring this?

SPEAKER_01 21:14

In your 20s and 30s. Okay. Yeah. Start young. If we prevent young with all the things we're talking about, even if you are genetically inclined, which by the way, genetically induced Alzheimer's is only about 3% of the population. So most of it is Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_04 21:35

What

SPEAKER_01 21:37

we eat. It doesn't need to be where you kill yourself, but it should be a minimum of 30 minute walk a day. You definitely want to get that and you want to get in strength training. They have shown the one in particular exercise that increases, um, your brain neuron growth, um, are leg exercises. So squats, lunges, sit against a wall, get that leg strength. Can I tell you, it's like the one thing I don't do. I totally need to work on my lunges and my squats. That is absolutely the number one exercise to increase brain neurons. All exercise is great. Don't get me wrong. Get your walking in. It does the same thing as far as growing your brain health and your hippocampus, which is the memory part of the brain. But if we were talking about strength, absolutely start working on those legs almost every day. And

SPEAKER_04 22:58

Steph, let me just interrupt you for a second here because you actually walk the walk. On your social, on your Instagram account, it's almost every day. Every day. There you are taking a walk, talking to your followers.

SPEAKER_01 23:10

Yes, it is. You know, it's funny, but some people find it hard to do it every day based on their schedule and their lifestyle. And I will say what helped me do that is I took the pressure off of myself that I had to do it and that I have to do it for an hour. But knowing it's going to clear my head, it feels good. Take a minute. Take that time for yourself. Breathe. Think about the day. We're all going through stuff in our lives. And to be able to go out there and walk, if you think about it, not because you have to or for weight loss, but pure enjoyment of just getting out there and moving your body. And afterwards, every single time you do that, you feel better.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

So if they want to follow you as they're taking their walk, how do they find you on Instagram?

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Super easy. I am just Steph8. The hardest part about that is I spell my name with an F. But if you do that right, it's just Steph8, and you can follow me on Instagram, and you can take a walk with me for good information. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_04 24:13

Awesome. All right, so we do exercise. What is

SPEAKER_01 24:15

next? Yeah, sleep. Sleep is, once again, this is the thing that a lot of the neurologists are talking about in a big way because it is the only thing that's actually a car wash for your brain. Remember I was talking about the amyloid plaques and the tau. When we sleep, those plaques get washed out of the brain. It is literally a car wash for your brain to get into deep sleep for a It is one of the most important things we do for our brain health. Get your sleep. And I know some people are rolling their eyes like they can't sleep. They don't sleep. After menopause, they have trouble sleeping. And it's something to work on. There are ways to work on sleep, but that is something that cannot be ignored. And you feel it. You know, we've all had those nights where you just don't sleep or you are out late. You're anxious. Yeah. And the next day, you physically don't feel well. You're not as sharp. You're foggy. You just don't feel well. Your recall isn't as good. strong. And that's literally because you did not sleep and get that car wash for your brain. Cherries are a natural form of melatonin. So it's cherry season right now. So get your cherries in for a natural source of melatonin.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Just

SPEAKER_01 25:40

right before bed? Yeah, you could do it even a couple hours before bed, just to try to get that in you a little bit. That will help. I find that, you know, Starting to slow my body down a few hours beforehand, you know, can actually help a little bit. Meditation tapes, guided meditation, even some light stretching. Start to bring your day down. Have some chamomile tea or use a lavender eye mask. Just things that kind of can calm your system down. Make sure your bedroom is on the colder side. It's very dark in there. Don't sleep with a TV. Just that whatever it takes for you to start working on your sleep is super important. because that is another pillar that's very important. Your social ties, community. This is also something we've learned as of recent to have a community where you talk to people, where maybe you're sitting outside and having like, you know, an iced tea together with friends or you take a walk with people or you go to play pickleball with a bunch of people or even you play cards. Having a community, having friendships like that are part of your brain health that cannot be ignored. And the other part of the pillar is stress reduction because stress does play a role. And, you know, over the last few years, stress has increased for most people. And, you know, there are ways to reduce stress and you get two for one when you exercise because you do reduce your stress when you exercise. You get the win-win of the endorphins and the serotonin and the growth of your brain cells. And you also get some stress reduction as well with all forms of exercise.

SPEAKER_04 27:25

And Steph, if someone wanted to take you up on the cherry idea, how much is it

SPEAKER_01 27:29

now? About 10 to 15 cherries is all it takes. Yeah. They're delicious in like a chocolate cherry smoothie. Like you can take a protein powder and put some frozen or fresh cherries in there and then whatever your source of milk is and almond milk and blend that up. And I don't know. You tell me somebody who does not like that. Or even like overnight oats. You can even make a cherry jam with chia seeds. And boom, you just made homemade chia jam that is delicious and healthy.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

Steph, it's been great having you on the show again. Again, how do people find you?

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Oh, gosh. Definitely on Instagram, just Steph8 or my phone number, 914-330-5177. And my website is just my name, stephanieschwartz.com.

SPEAKER_04 28:40

Well, Steph, thanks again for joining us on the show. And thank you for everything you've taught me over these years on how to eat better. And now we're going to put that attention to my diet to better cognitive health as I continue to age. And I hope all of you out there get to enjoy the same benefit. Listen to this show again at eldercareontheair.com. Just log on to eldercareontheair.com and really listen to Steph. Learn how we can help take control of our cognitive health as we age. Just by how we eat. I'll talk to you next week.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Amoruso and Amoruso LLP and Rye assists clients with comprehensive estate planning and vital asset preservation tools that reduce financial risks of long-term care. Amoruso and Amoruso, a 107.1 The Peak Ask the Expert partner. Visit eldercareontheair.com for more details.

SPEAKER_02 29:43

Amoruso and Amoruso Empowering

SPEAKER_03 29:48

you to care for the ones you love.