Mediterranean "Life-t" not Diet

The research results was first released last year. Staying on the right track and on the right trail has gotten the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) to the couch crowd with it's to be released in full study: "Mediterranean Diet May Lower Risk of Brain Damage That Causes Thinking Problems"

"The Mediterranean diet includes high intake of vegetables, legumes, fruits, cereals, fish and monounsaturated fatty acids such as olive oil; low intake of saturated fatty acids, dairy products, meat and poultry; and mild to moderate amounts of alcohol. For the study, researchers assessed the diets of 712 people in New York and divided them into three groups based on how closely they were following the Mediterranean diet. Then they conducted MRI brain scans of the people an average of six years later. A total of 238 people had at least one area of brain damage." The American Academy of Neurology (AAN)

We think that the link between diet and health benefits is more than just a link. We think the entire idea behind medication is finding the right chemicals to restore your health to balance. While excess is admittedly a bad thing as too much is too much. We're not looking for a instant bullet to make a "couch potato life" the only life. We think of it like a "snow emergency." Or like a natural disaster except it's anything but natural.

There are times in our lives when we can't get the things we need because of our circumstances. This does not mean that it'll always be this way only that something is wrong and we need to survive until our life gets back "in balance." Living life until balance is restored whether it's a "9/11/2001," excessive weather struggles (water, earth or snow) or involuntary unemployment. How do we get to tomorrow with having an ethnic heritage that contrary to healthy living?

This population-based study in a multi-ethnic community living in Northern Manhattan, observed 1880 elderly subjects, with an average age of 77. The participants were interviewed about their level of physical activity and dietary habits, and their responses were then summarized into two single scores. The study subjects were then followed to observe which subjects went on to develop Alzheimer’s over the course of approximately five and a half years. (Nikos Scarmeas, M.D., August 11 ) (CUMC)

“So it seemed that the more that they were doing in terms of both diet and exercise, the lower was their risk for the disease,” said Dr. Scarmeas. Dr. Scarmeas further noted that even low degrees of physical activity reported by these elderly study subjects seemed to be associated with having a protective effect against Alzheimer's. “This study is important because it shows that people may be able to alter their risk of developing Alzheimer’s by modifying their lifestyles through diet and exercise,” said Dr. Scarmeas. (CUMC)

Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you will remember and live! CBS News reported: "Some people dislike the term "soul food," a phrase that was coined in the mid-1960s to describe the food developed by African-Americans of the southern US, because they think it is pejorative. But food historian and writer Donna Pierce embraces the term, saying that soul food is the one common factor that African Americans across the country have in common, and argues that there is a clear differentiation between soul food and Southern cooking."

The research conclusions were: "Higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with slower MMSE cognitive decline but not consistently with other cognitive tests. Higher adherence was not associated with risk for incident dementia." Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

Our conclusions that soul food or southern cooking doesn't do enough to prevent what we know are the leading causes of death for not only Americans but for residents in our jurisdictions either. When we're dying from preventable factors and that these factors (hypertension as a risk factor for cognitive impairment - American Journal of Hypertension (AJH)) also contribute to a lower quality of life and lower quality of living.

Of course you could also ignore us and continue to eat the way you always have and the good news is you'll probably forget that you even knew better. When we die we'll be aware and in full control of our faculties - boy that'll suck!