The MIND diet, a fusion of the Mediterranean and DASH diets, is specifically designed to promote brain health and reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases. MIND stands for "Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay." This article provides a comprehensive guide for beginners on how to follow the MIND diet effectively.
Understanding the MIND Diet
The MIND diet combines the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet to create a dietary pattern that focuses specifically on brain health. Many experts regard these diets as two of the healthiest diets. Research has shown that they can lower blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and several other diseases. Researchers combined foods from both diets that had been shown to benefit brain health to create a diet specifically to help improve brain function and prevent dementia.
For example, the Mediterranean and DASH diets both recommend eating a lot of fruit. Fruit intake has been linked with improved brain function, but berries, in particular, are supported by the strongest evidence. Thus, the MIND diet encourages eating berries but does not emphasize consuming fruit in general.
Key Components of the MIND Diet
Currently, there are no set guidelines for how to follow the MIND diet. You can simply eat more of the 9 foods that the diet encourages and eat less of the 5 foods that it recommends you limit.
Foods to Embrace
The MIND diet encourages the consumption of nine specific food groups known for their brain-boosting properties:
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- Green Leafy Vegetables: Aim for at least six servings per week. This category includes kale, spinach, cooked greens, and salads.
- Other Vegetables: Consume at least one serving daily, in addition to green leafy vegetables. Non-starchy vegetables are preferred due to their high nutrient content and low calorie count.
- Berries: Eat berries at least twice a week. Berries such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries all have antioxidant benefits.
- Nuts: Aim for five or more servings of nuts each week. Varying the types of nuts you eat is recommended to obtain a broad spectrum of nutrients.
- Olive Oil: Use olive oil as your primary cooking oil.
- Whole Grains: Aim for at least three servings daily. Choose whole grains like oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and 100% whole wheat bread.
- Fish: Eat fish at least once per week. Fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, trout, tuna, and mackerel are particularly beneficial due to their high omega-3 fatty acid content.
- Beans: Include beans in at least four meals per week. This category includes all beans, lentils, and soybeans.
- Poultry: Try to eat chicken or turkey at least twice per week. Note that fried chicken is not encouraged on the MIND diet.
If you’re unable to consume the target number of servings, don’t quit the MIND diet altogether. Research has shown that following the MIND diet even to a moderate degree is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive impairment.
When you’re following the diet, you can eat more than just these 10 foods. However, the more you stick to the diet, the better your results may be.
Foods to Limit
The MIND diet recommends limiting the following five food groups:
- Butter and Margarine: Try to eat less than 1 tablespoon (about 14 grams) daily. Instead, try using olive oil as your primary cooking fat and dipping your bread in olive oil with herbs.
- Cheese: The MIND diet recommends eating cheese less than once per week.
- Red Meat: Aim for no more than three servings per week. This category includes all beef, pork, lamb, and products made from these meats.
- Fried Food: The MIND diet highly discourages fried food, especially the kind from fast-food restaurants. Limit your consumption to less than once per week.
- Pastries and Sweets: This includes most of the processed snack foods and desserts you may think of - ice cream, cookies, brownies, snack cakes, doughnuts, candy, and more. Try to limit these to no more than four times per week.
Researchers encourage limiting your consumption of these foods because they contain saturated fats.
It’s worth noting that partially hydrogenated oils (the major source of trans fats in the food supply) have been banned by the Food and Drug Administration since 2020. They’re still naturally found in much lower amounts in fried foods, dairy, or red meat, but margarine, pastries, and sweets are no longer a major source.
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Scientific Evidence Supporting the MIND Diet
The first official paper on the MIND diet was published in 2015. Since then, researchers have performed additional studies to investigate its benefits for brain health.
A 2023 study found that middle-aged adults who closely adhered to the MIND diet had faster information processing speeds than those who did not closely follow the diet.
A 2022 randomized clinical trial found that those who followed a calorie-restricted MIND diet for three months had higher scores for working memory, verbal recognition memory, and attention compared to the calorie-restricted control group.
That said, more research is still needed to gauge the true effectiveness of the MIND diet.
How the MIND Diet Benefits the Brain
Current research on the MIND diet has not been able to determine exactly how it works. However, scientists think it may work by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation.
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Oxidative stress occurs when unstable molecules called free radicals accumulate in the body in large amounts. This often causes damage to cells. The brain is especially vulnerable to this type of damage.
Inflammation is your body’s natural response to injury and infection. But if it’s not properly regulated, inflammation can also be harmful and contribute to many chronic disease.
Together, oxidative stress and inflammation can be quite detrimental to your brain. In recent years, they have been the focus of some interventions to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease.
Following the Mediterranean and DASH diets has been associated with lower levels of oxidative stress and inflammation.
Because the MIND diet is a hybrid of these two diets, the foods that make up the MIND diet probably also have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
7-Day MIND Diet Meal Plan
Making meals for the MIND diet doesn’t have to be complicated. Focus your meals on the 10 foods and food groups that are encouraged on the diet, and try to stay away from the 5 foods that the diet recommends limiting.
Here’s a 7-day meal plan to get you started:
Monday
- Breakfast: Greek yogurt with raspberries and sliced almonds
- Lunch: Mediterranean salad with olive oil-based dressing, grilled chicken, whole wheat pita
- Dinner: Burrito bowl with brown rice, black beans, fajita vegetables, grilled chicken, salsa, and guacamole
Tuesday
- Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with almond butter, scrambled eggs
- Lunch: Grilled chicken sandwich, blackberries, carrots
- Dinner: Grilled salmon, side salad with olive oil-based dressing, brown rice
Wednesday
- Breakfast: Steel-cut oatmeal with strawberries, hard-boiled eggs
- Lunch: Mexican-style salad with mixed greens, black beans, red onion, corn, grilled chicken, and olive oil-based dressing
- Dinner: Chicken and vegetable stir-fry, brown rice
Thursday
- Breakfast: Greek yogurt with peanut butter and banana
- Lunch: Baked trout, collard greens, black-eyed peas
- Dinner: Whole wheat spaghetti with turkey meatballs and marinara sauce, side salad with olive oil-based dressing
Friday
- Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with avocado, omelet with peppers and onions
- Lunch: Chili made with ground turkey
- Dinner: Greek-seasoned baked chicken, oven-roasted potatoes, side salad, whole wheat dinner roll
Saturday
- Breakfast: Overnight oats with strawberries and almond butter
- Lunch: Fish tacos on whole wheat tortillas, brown rice, coleslaw, and pinto beans
- Dinner: Chicken gyro on whole wheat pita, cucumber and tomato salad
Sunday
- Breakfast: Spinach frittata, sliced apple with peanut butter
- Lunch: Tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat bread, plus carrots and celery with hummus
- Dinner: Curry chicken, brown rice, lentils, and a side salad
Most salad dressings you find at the store are not made primarily with olive oil, but you can easily make your own salad dressing at home.
To make a simple balsamic vinaigrette, combine 3 parts extra-virgin olive oil with 1 part balsamic vinegar. Add a little Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper and mix well.
Additional Tips for Following the MIND Diet
The MIND diet is meant to be an adaptable, non-rigid way of eating. The MIND diet is actually a ‘non-diet’ approach. Rather than a strict set of rules about what is or is not ‘on the diet,’ the goal is to form overall healthy eating habits within a set of guidelines. Olive oil should replace your fats for cooking, etc. In addition to focusing on brain-healthy foods, you avoid foods from brain-unhealthy food groups. With butter, you’re limited to one teaspoon or less a day. Similarly, limit red meat, fried foods, processed foods and sweets.
- Plan Your Meals: To stay committed to the diet’s targets, come up with an accountability system and plan out all your meals for the week - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. More labor-intensive meals can be partially prepared ahead of time - precut and store vegetables in containers in your refrigerator, cut up fruit for smoothies and freeze them in portions, and precook your rice and beans.
- Shop Smart: To help save time, you can buy canned beans instead of dried beans without burning a hole in your wallet. Buy no-salt-added canned beans, or rinse them in a colander under running cool water to remove some of the sodium. Frozen fruit without added sugar, such as berries, may be less expensive than fresh fruit while still providing the same nutrients and tasting great in smoothies and baked goods (like whole-grain muffins).
- Consider Alcohol Consumption: Wine was included as one of the 15 original dietary components in the MIND diet score, in which a moderate amount was found to be associated with cognitive health. However, in subsequent MIND trials it was omitted for “safety” reasons. The effect of alcohol on an individual is complex, so that blanket recommendations about alcohol are not possible. Based on one’s unique personal and family history, alcohol offers each person a different spectrum of benefits and risks. Whether or not to include alcohol is a personal decision that should be discussed with your healthcare provider.
Potential Benefits of the MIND Diet
- Reduced Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease: The MIND diet has been shown to help prevent cognitive decline, a finding that has been confirmed by multiple studies, including a 2019 systematic review.
- Improved Brain Health: The MIND diet contains foods rich in certain vitamins, carotenoids, and flavonoids that are believed to protect the brain by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation.
- Improved Heart Health: Because the MIND diet is a combination of two heart-healthy dietary approaches, the Mediterranean and DASH diets, it’s no wonder that it can also promote heart health.
- Healthy Aging and Longevity: The MIND diet can be a healthful eating plan that incorporates dietary patterns from the Mediterranean and DASH, both of which have suggested benefits in preventing and improving cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and supporting healthy aging.
- Weight Loss: Yes, it’s possible to lose weight by following the MIND diet, especially if you’re switching to a healthier diet from a standard American diet, which is notoriously high in sugar, sodium and saturated fat. When used in conjunction with a balanced plate guide, the diet may also promote healthy weight loss if desired.
Potential Risks
Because the diet combines the Mediterranean diet and DASH diet, both of which are widely regarded as two of the healthiest diets, there are no potential health risks associated with the MIND diet.
The MIND diet is generally safe for everyone, including older adults, children and pregnant women.
If you have any chronic diseases, digestive issues or health conditions, be sure to talk with your health care provider or registered dietitian first to make sure the MIND diet is appropriate for you.