Category: lifestyle

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Diet and Dementia

Findings  In this cohort study of 1865 older adults without dementia followed up for up to 15 years, higher diet quality was associated with lower dementia risk. Among participants at higher risk, only a dietary pattern with lower inflammatory potential showed consistent inverse associations. Diet Quality and Dementia Risk in Older Adults With Alzheimer Pathology – https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2850780

This morning I lowered my risk for dementia with a bowl of berries, banana, and Greek yogurt.

Last Night

Smoked Pulled Pork, Mac & Cheese, Bacon, Cheddar-Jack, Sweet & Smokey BBQ Sauce and Green Onions.

At least the potato didn’t do any damage.

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Food Inflation in America – Scary Charts 03.14.26

Food Inflation in America – https://wolfstreet.com/2026/03/11/food-inflation-in-america/

As one reader commented “learn to grow your own veggies and do community chickens
otherwise learn to eat soy products.”

I Googled “community chickens” and found this:

Must be getting rough out there. Health insurance companies are offering mental health counseling to their customers free of charge.

Funny thing is my health insurance company isn’t Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oklahoma but somehow I’m on their email mailing list.

These services are probably useful but you have to have health insurance to use them.

One-Third of Americans Cut Back to Cover Healthcare Expenses – https://news.gallup.com/poll/702596/one-third-americans-cut-back-cover-healthcare-expenses.aspx

I’ve noticed some food blogs I follow are posting recipes focusing on using up leftovers. https://www.budgetbytes.com/leftover-rice-recipes/

Maybe I need to start a struggle meal post series.

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Eat More Beans, Peas and Lentils

The scientific report has some positive recommendations. It recommends that Americans eat more beans, peas, and lentils and eat less red and processed meat. It recommends that Beans, Peas, and Lentils move from a subgroup of the Vegetables Food Group to a subgroup of the Protein Food Group. When listing foods in the Protein Food Group, Beans/Peas/Lentils should be listed first, followed by Nuts/Seeds/Soy products, then Seafood, and lastly Meats/Poultry/Eggs. – 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s Scientific Report Recommends Eating More Beans, Peas, and Lentils and Eating Less Red and Processed Meat – http://www.vrg.org/blog/2025/01/31/2025-dietary-guidelines-advisory-committees-scientific-report-recommends-eating-more-beans-peas-and-lentils-and-eating-less-red-and-processed-meat/

If you want to geek out on the full report here’s the download link – https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/2025-advisory-committee-report

U.S. rates of nutrition-related chronic health conditions are high, and data show significant differences in prevalence across socio-demographic groups. For example, the prevalence of obesity is lower among non-Hispanic Asian children compared to all other race and/or ethnicity groups examined, and the prevalence is lower in non-Hispanic White children compared to non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic and/or Latino children. Obesity is significantly lower among children with higher family income compared to those with lower family income. Among adults, the prevalence of obesity is lower among non-Hispanic Asian adults and higher in non-Hispanic Black adults. Prevalence of hypertension is higher in non-Hispanic Black adults than adults of all other race and/or ethnicity groups examined. Diabetes is lower in non-Hispanic White adults compared to all other race and/or ethnicity groups examined, while gestational diabetes is highest among non-Hispanic Asian adults and lowest among non-Hispanic Black adults. Income data show that among adults, the prevalence of obesity, of hypertension, and of diabetes are higher among families with lower incomes compared to higher incomes.

I’ve not read the entire report but judging from what I’ve read so far it is definitely Geek Paradise.

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Eat Less Processed Red Meat

Yikes

To examine the risk of dementia, researchers included a group of 133,771 people with an average age of 49 who did not have dementia at the start of the study. They were followed up to 43 years. Of this group, 11,173 people developed dementia. Participants completed a food diary every two to four years, listing what they ate and how often. Researchers defined processed red meat as bacon, hot dogs, sausages, salami, bologna and other processed meat products. They defined unprocessed red meat as beef, pork, lamb and hamburger. A serving of red meat is three ounces, about the size of a deck of cards. Researchers calculated how much red meat participants ate on average per day. For processed red meat, they divided participants into three groups. The low group ate an average of fewer than 0.10 servings per day; the medium group ate between 0.10 and 0.24 servings per day; and the high group, 0.25 or more servings per day. After adjusting for factors such as age, sex and other risk factors for cognitive decline, researchers found that participants in the high group had a 13% higher risk of developing dementia compared to those in the low group. Is Eating More Red Meat Bad for Your Brain? – https://www.aan.com/PressRoom/Home/PressRelease/1082

This large study is a collaboration funded by the National Institutes of Health to NYU Langone Health and includes authors from Johns Hopkins University and other U.S. institutions. The new study relies on information gathered from the ongoing Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-NCS), which since 1987 has closely tracked the vascular health and cognitive function of nearly 16,000 participants as they age. ARIC-NCS is also, the researchers say, the longest-followed cohort of African Americans for researching cognition and heart health. Published in the journal Nature Medicine online January 13, the study concludes that from 1987 until 2020, there were 3,252 study participants who were documented as having developed dementia. This translates to an overall lifetime risk for dementia among middle-aged Americans of 42 percent, which is an average of the 35 percent risk in men and the 48 percent risk in women. The excess risk in women was largely due to their lower death rates. United States Dementia Cases Estimated to Double by 2060 – https://nyulangone.org/news/united-states-dementia-cases-estimated-double-2060

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The Best Replacements for Meat and Milk (no, it’s not plant milks, veggie burgers or tofu)

Beans and peas are the best meat and milk replacement from nutritional, health, environmental, and cost perspectives.

Our findings suggest that suitable alternatives to meat and milk exist and are available and affordable without necessarily requiring new technologies or product development. This contrasts with discussions in high-income countries on the needs to develop novel replacement foods, especially those that would completely mimic meat and dairy (18). Our nutritional, health, environmental, and cost analyses suggest that if one is prepared to consider foods for their properties instead of whether they are completely mimicking meat or dairy—and surveys suggest that consumers are (49)—then unprocessed legumes are, for the most part, superior to processed alternatives. This is also relevant for low and middle-income countries where legumes are readily available, but discussions on processed meat and milk alternatives are at an earlier stage, despite diets rapidly becoming similarly imbalanced as in high-income countries (1, 50). M. Springmann, A multicriteria analysis of meat and milk alternatives from nutritional, health, environmental, and cost perspectives, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 121 (50) e2319010121, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2319010121 (2024).

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
Photo by Digital Buggu on Pexels.com

Keep it simple.

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Boomers Worry About Moving to Senior Communities for One Significant Reason

A new survey, The Great Expectations survey by Age of Majority, a consultancy specializing in the 55+ market, found that when considering a residential facility, boomers prioritize their tummies. A whopping 71% say food quality is a “very important” factor when deciding on a move to a new community.

Source – Boomers Worry About Moving to Senior Communities for 1 Surprising Reason—but Would Thrive in These 10 Retirement Spots – https://www.realtor.com/news/trends/boomers-senior-communities-the-villages/

Second Source – The link in the quote takes you here – Here’s a surprising reason most boomers are worried about moving to a senior residence – https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-do-some-boomers-shun-living-in-senior-residences-theydontwant-to-eat-cafeteriafood

One senior community mentioned in the MarketWatch article has entrance fees starting at $285,740 and monthly fees on top of that starting at $3,980. Another senior residence rates start at $12,600 per month for one person in a studio unit.

I have to remind myself this is a food blog.

At these prices you can buy a lot of food and cook it yourself.

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