I get asked all the time whether or not diet can improve memory. The short answer is a resounding “yes.” It’s really true that “You are what you eat.” Most people recognize that what they eat affects physical health. If they live on a high-fat diet, they’re likely to develop heart disease. Avoiding calcium-rich milk will increase the risk for osteoporosis. But it takes years of eating poorly before these diseases rear their ugly heads. Long before your bones crumble or your arteries clog, your thinking is blurred by the wrong food choices. In fact, the link is so immediate that literally what you eat or don’t eat for breakfast can affect how clearly you think or how well you recall information by mid-afternoon. Some foods also will help you side step memory loss and even Alzheimer’s down the road!

On the other hand, poor diets not only fail to provide these essential brain protectors, but add insult to injury by flooding the brain with harmful substances. For example, saturated fat clogs blood vessels, which are then less able to transport oxygen to the brain. It’s no wonder that people who shun fish and vegetables and eat lots of meat, fast foods, and fatty dairy products are most prone to depression, memory loss, and poor concentration, while people with the sharpest minds typically eat diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol, but feast on fruits, vegetables, and the brain-boosting nutrients in these foods.

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Elizabeth was recently interviewed at theepi-cure.com and discussed food and mood. Check it out here.

Earlier this week, Elizabeth showed how you can get a much bigger nutritional bang for your buck in lowering disease risk that far exceeds the individual benefits of either food alone. Check out more at katu.com/amnw

Watch Elizabeth’s recent appearance on The Today Show.

Because everything in The Origin Diet is based on a thorough review of the research, it remains correct and stands the test of time (only info based on a few studies changes from year to year). The only change I would make in the supplement section is to further emphasize the need for the omega-3 fats, especially EPA and DHA. If you can’t get 2+ servings of fatty fish into your weekly diet routine, then make sure to take a supplement that contains at least 200 milligrams of DHA or at least 1 gram of a combination of EPA and DHA. If you choose to take more than that, be sure to tell your physician, since the omega-3s can be blood thinners at high doses.

Q&As:

Q. It’s the holidays. I want to have fun and enjoy the festivities! How can I do that without gaining weight?

Food is an important part of holiday festivities. The key is to preserve the tradition and avoid the binge. This is the season to splurge – not on endless trays of fudge and cookies, but rather on the real meaning of the holidays – enjoying the company of others. That means putting food in its place. Mindlessly inhaling a third helping of stuffing won’t satisfy your soul and build memories like holding grandpa’s hand during the Super Bowl or the belly laughs with your sister in the kitchen.

Nurture the spirit of giving by planning parties around loved ones, not around eating. Instead of a sit-down gorge session, appetizer trays the size of the White House Christmas tree, or batches of cookies to feed an army, invite family and friends over at a non-eating time, such as mid-afternoon or late evening. Serve a beverage and a few low-calorie snacks as a compliment, not the focus, of the event. Then, consider any of the following as ways to spend more time with loved ones:

• a cruise through the neighborhood in search of the best holiday decorations,
• a holiday movie, like “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
• sing hymns, such as Maoz Tzur, around the piano.
• caroling, either at a nursing home or through the neighborhood.
• sledding, tobogganing, skating, or cross country skiing.
• a snowball fight, or a snowman or snow fort-building contest.
• a tree-trimming or house decorating party, complete with stringing popcorn and cranberries, armfuls of holly, and mistle toe.
• a wreath-making party with wire hoops, strips of wire, and lots of scotch pine, white pine, fir, cedar bows, holly, rhododendron, berries, pine cones, and fox wood.
• a “get to know you better” party (people bring personal stories, play Charades, do magic tricks)

Q. How can I make my favorite holiday recipes more healthy?

It’s a myth that food has to be dripping in fat to taste good. You can cut fat, sugar, and salt and never even miss them. Better yet, it doesn’t take any more time to prepare low-calorie foods.

Most people know to remove the skin from chicken before cooking, use broth and wine for sauteing instead of oil or broth instead of butter in your stuffing, and to use cornstarch and broth instead of butter and flour for a roux when making creamed sauces. You also might know that you can dilute calories by adding more vegetables and salads to the center stage. But you might not know that you can:

• Use potatoes instead of cream to make a rich and creamy soup.
• Use baby prunes, applesauce, or apple butter in place of all or part of the fat in baked goods, such as breads and muffins.
• Use a fat-separator cup to separate the fat from the liquid in turkey drippings before making gravy.
• Take advantage of the fat-free products on the market: Fat-free half & half, cream cheese, sour cream, whipped cream, evaporated milk.
• Use healthy foods in recipes, such as 8^th Continent Complete soymilk instead of milk for mashed potatoes.
• Cut sugar in recipes by up to one-third without altering the taste. Also, several no-calorie substitutes are available that would make any Sugar Plum Fairy proud, such as Splenda or Nutrasweet.
• Season with flavor-packed ingredients and you won’t even miss the salt, such as roasted red peppers, cilantro, fresh ginger, or salsa. Cut the salt by half in recipes or use salt substitutes.

Just because you cut the fat, sugar, and calories, don’t sabotage yourself by eating twice as much! You still need to watch portions.

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