I am lamenting the years I spent eating toxic foods. I am not just concerned with the effect on my body, my brain health suffered as well.

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Welcome to my humble podcast abode. I am Coco Griot, just a 50 something who digs talking about life, love, and a heaping over the topics. I'm coming to you a little early this week because there's some maintenance going on with my host provider. I would really rather deliver the message early than late. I'm just going to jump right into it out of the gate and let you know, I am a hypocrite. Whenever I saw people riding motorcycles, you know like crotch rockets, without helmets, I would automatically think, how do they not care about their brain. Yet I would sit down at buffest and eat like there was no tomorrow because I didn't care about my brain. Now that I've got that off my chest about being a hypocrite, I'm going to share with you my newfound knowledge regarding food choices, and cognitive decline.

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A lot of you listening are probably in your 20s or 30s and the last thing you're thinking about is what life will be like in your 70s or 80s. Well, because that is not so far away from me, I want to talk about tonight: What is the fork, are you doing for your brain? I want to tell you this is something we should be thinking about before we are staring aging in the face. I read some interesting research from the National Institute on Aging. If you will listen for a little while I'd like for you to take the time to think about feeding your brain, as well as your body. Scientists have discovered there's a definite link between what we eat and what our brains will be functioning like when we get older. Because I'm a woman of a certain age, I'm interested in what the research has to say about aging and diet. There's a study that was done with several hundred people who were not showing any signs of cognitive decline, even though they were... let's just say seasoned. You know when Pharaoh's daughter pulled Moses out of the water, she handed him to me to dry him off, because I am very well seasoned. I know family members and friends that experience tremendous cognitive deficits. I don't want that to be me. As long as my physical body is here, I want my mental capacity to be its companion, fully. Now I know that this is one of those shows where you guys are saying Cocoa is going off on her little sciency things, but really, you know, I am a kind of sciency girl.

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Get a life nerd. One of the things that I want to highlight from this study is the fact that there is a diet for your mind. So, since the word diet bothers me, I kind of prefer to say lifestyle. Like we've heard about the vegan lifestyle, or the vegetarian lifestyle, or the Keto lifestyle. This diet, lifestyle, basically stands for Mediterranean Intervention for Neurocognitive Delay. Say that three times fast! I need a glass of water after that. The information I'm sharing with you tonight is not thus sayeth Cocoa Griot. This information comes from the National Institute of Aging. Now you might not be thinking about aging, right now. It is something that is so far off, but I want you to think about this kind of like retirement. So many people think about, oh, I'm going to save for retirement while I'm young. But have we ever thought about what if you save all this money, and then someone else has to be over it because you don't have the mental capacity to manage your own affairs? That would truly be a travesty. So we kind of have to think about this as an investment in ourselves for the long term.

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Now I want to share a personal story with you about my great aunt Daisy. The beautiful woman I was named after was born in 1899 and died in 2003. The fact she lived in the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries is pretty amazing. And even more amazing is that at age 100 she was still living in her own home and could recite poems she learned as a little girl. Aunt Daisy ate a ton of vegetables every day. She cooked her own food or had someone bring her home-cooked meals. I struggle to think of a single occasion where I saw her eat fast food. Aunt Daisy was still walking to the post office to retrieve her mail at age 100. She tended her garden and played the piano daily. Gosh, she loved to play The Entertainer, and it was actually written when she was three years old in 1902.

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It hit me like a ton of bricks when I thought about all of the protective factors that Aunt Daisy had in her life. She wasn't just a lucky person who got to keep her mental faculties. According to the research from the National Institute of Aging, there are parallels between Aunt Daisy's lifestyle, and what researchers noted today about maintaining cognitive integrity as we age. What are some of the food choices that are recommended to protect brain health she made long before this study was concluded? Eating leafy green vegetables is important. Now the diet suggests, excuse me the lifestyle suggests at least six servings a week. Berries, whole grains, and fish at least one serving a week. Poultry two servings a week and beans three servings a week. Nuts at least five servings a week. What about the things to stay away from? Everything I used to grab at the buffet! Red meat, sweets cheese, butter, margarine, and fried foods. So when I tell you my plate had running boards, it was awful. My plate looks a lot different today. My hope is that I can reverse some of the damage I willingly created. Thanks for listening this evening. And as always, I wish you good health, good fortune, and a good night, Coco Griot out.