TO YOUR HEALTH, SALUD!

Spanish researchers have found that as little as 1/4 cup of any type of onion slows brain aging 21% or more

by Mary Foran

After all your New Year Resolutions have fallen through on you, February comes as a cruel surprise: it’s time to make up for lost time!

Since Health is your greatest Wealth, here are a few tips from the Woman’s World’s 2-5-18 magazine edition which surely sold out on the Grocery Store check-outs!

First and foremost, keeping your Brain young and vibrant:

1. Studies have shown that eating 1/2 cup of sweet squash daily could cut your dementia risk by 20% and help your brain function as if it were three years younger, according to the Journals of Gerontology, due to the Beta-carotene found in butternut and acorn squash.

2. Keeping your blood pressure low prevents damage to your brain’s blood vessels, key to keeping your mind sharp, according to research by the University of Connecticut. You should try to keep your blood pressure at ideal levels, such as 120/80. If your numbers don’t add up to that, try taking 100 mg of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) daily. Over a dozen studies show this natural compound relaxes artery walls, taking up to 17 points off a woman’s blood pressure in 90 days. Always check with your doctor before starting any supplements.

3. Cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower etc. are rich in sulforaphane, a compound that helps to quickly repair and replace aging neurons, says one study in the Journal Genesis. Three cups of these kinds of vegetables daily can shake off brain fog often within six weeks!

4, Memory problems can be tackled by including one cup of whole grains (brown rice, barley or quinoa) in your daily diet, reducing your risk of memory problems by at least 35%, according to Massachusetts General Hospital scientists. These very healthy foods are full of insoluble fiber, copper and manganese, which slow carbohydrate absorption in the intestines, plus which improve insulin sensitivity, helping to prevent brain-aging blood-sugar surges.

5. Spanish researchers have found that as little as 1/4 cup of any type of onion, even shallots or scallions, daily, slows brain aging 21% or more. With the addition of this onion portion to your diet every day, your brain actually functions as if it were 6 years younger! This is due to the rich stores of polyphenols in onions which energize your liver, helping it quickly break down and flush brain-aging toxins from your bloodstream.

Green tea revs up the flow of oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to your brain

6.Two cups of Green Tea a day, will most certainly help keep the Doctor away, because green tea revs up the flow of oxygen-and nutrient-rich blood to your brain by 25%, staving off brain aging, and boosting your focus, concentration and short-term memory by 18% or more, according to the Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers. Credit for this effect goes to the antioxidant in green tea called EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which has been proven to also keep your heart young.

7. Now, we all know that exercising daily and getting a good night’s sleep slows brain aging, but did you know that keeping current on your Tetanus and Diphtheria shots every ten years cuts a woman’s dementia risk by 41% by fighting off germs that trigger brain-aging inflammation?

8. Did you know that cooking with olive oil lowers cholesterol enough to reduce your risk for gallstones? A mere 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil can counteract the effects of saturated and trans fats in cooking by not prompting cholesterol clumping in your gallbladder and bloodstream.

Turmeric, shown here with ginger, helps remove excess cholesterol

9. And how about some chocolate! Dark chocolate is not only delicious–it helps ward off gallstones thanks to its high lecithin content. Lecithin is an emulsifier which binds with the fat (cholesterol) to help flush it out of the gallbladder.

10. The Japanese have for centuries delighted in sipping “golden milk”; the recipe is as follows:
2 cups of milk (dairy, nut milk or soy milk), 1tsp. of turmeric powder, 1/4 tsp. of powdered ginger and a pinch of black pepper heated on the stove top, and sweetened to taste with pure honey. This delicious brew is loaded with curcumin, the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant-rich active ingredient in turmeric root that provides its yellow color. “Turmeric helps to remove excess cholesterol from the blood while also reducing inflammation in the bile ducts.”

More health tidbits:

A new British review of 200 previous studies shows that drinking three cups of coffee daily is not only safe for most people, but it can also help protect against heart disease and reduce the odds of dying prematurely from other diseases.

Keep an eye on the condition of your nails! A spoon-shaped nail bed may indicate a lack of iron. Vertical ridges may mean you need more B-12. If you have brittle, splitting nails, you may need more vitamin A. And nails that barely grow at all may be crying out for more Zinc in your diet!

Chatting  with friends keep the mind sharp and content

And studies have found that socializing over either tea or coffee keeps your brain challenged enough to keep you young of mind and heart. What better reason to have circles and circles of friends?

Naturally, the wise always tend to keep their minds sharp using puzzles, chess, card-games, etc., but chit-chatting with friends about the good-old-days as well as the tough-new-days seems to be the best way to keep the mind active, sharp and content!

Discourse, anyone?

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Images
Featured image/Richard North, CC BY2.0
Co Q-10, Fair use
Green tea/JD, CC BY2,0
Turmeric/ratna rajalah,CC BY-ND2.0
Chatting with friends/graywolfx47, CC BY-SA2.0