Alzheimer's Diet
You could fill up your shopping cart with foods your grandmother or parent with Alzheimer’s disease loves – and end up being responsible for the rapid decline of your loved one’s health. That’s not something anyone wants to be responsible for, so here are some nutrition guidelines to help you shop for an Alzheimer’s diet.
The bottom line is that there are three types of foods that will accelerate your loved one’s Alzheimer’s disease:
- Foods that generate free radicals
- Foods that are high in advanced glycation end products
- Foods that your loved one is allergic to
Any of these foods are ones that should never be in your shopping cart if you are doing the shopping and/or cooking for your loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Avoiding these foods could even prevent Alzheimer's later in life.
Foods that generate free radicals are ones that contain vegetable oils, which oxidize readily. Always check the labels of foods in your shopping cart. How much oil is in them? You can tell by looking at the percentage of fats in the food. If it’s a high percentage such as greater than 30%, and the fats are not coconut or butter but ones such as canola oil, vegetable oil, corn oil, soy oil, hydrogenated fats, or even those with fake cheese, these foods don’t belong in your cart. Put them back on the shelves, as they will accelerate the oxidation damage in the brain and speed up Alzheimer’s disease.
Foods that are high in advanced glycation end products are ones that have been subjected to a lot of heat and/or high heat during their processing or cooking. Foods that are notoriously high in these advanced glycation end products are hot dogs, pizza, and boxed cereals. Even foods such as frozen food dinners are high in advanced glycation end products. Are these in your grocery cart? If so, get them out and look for adequate substitutes.
Food allergies can attack the brain and cause similar symptoms to Alzheimer disease. If your loved one has never had a food allergy test such as the ELISA test or a food sensitization test such as the ALCAT test, it’s a good idea to consider getting the test done. Once you know what foods your loved one is sensitive to, do everything you can to remove those foods from the house so they aren’t served to him or her.
What goes into the shopping cart? All other foods. Plenty of protein foods (lamb, chicken, beef, turkey, venison, buffalo, turkey, fish, shellfish, dairy products, eggs, and real cheese).
Plenty of fruits and vegetables should also go in the cart. These are life-restoring foods that will regenerate brain tissue. Strive for 8 servings of vegetables daily and four servings of fruits daily. This may seem like a lot, but if you do meals right, they would look like this:
- Breakfast: Protein, 1 vegetable, 1 fruit plus other foods
- Lunch: Protein, 1 salad with three vegetable servings, 1 cooked vegetable, 1 fruit and other foods to fill in for calories if needed
- Dinner: Protein, 2 vegetables, 1 fruit, and other foods
- Snack: 1 fruit
- Snack: Veggie tray
See how easy it is? Adding a veggie tray to your shopping cart for a snack is one of the easiest ways to get someone to consume more veggies.
You can do this to help out your loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Implement these changes, and let us know what happens!