Fun with KALE with the Arizona HABIT Team

1 day ago | Dona Locke | @DrDonaLocke | Comments (1)

Yes, you read that right. Fun with kale! In the HABIT program one of the topics we cover is nutrition for brain health. We discuss the MIND Diet (Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay). Originally developed in 2015 at Rush University, I think of the MIND diet as less a "diet" and more a nutritional approach for brain health. This article from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is a very nice summary of the approach and the research. In brief, the approach was organized to recommend 10 "brain healthy" food categories for us to focus on and 5 unhealthy foods (for the brain), to limit. This systematic review by colleagues at Mayo Clinic in Rochester concluded that although the number of studies is still small, high adherence is associated with a reduced risk of progressing from MCI to dementia. Further randomized controlled prospective studies are needed but the evidence is encouraging.

Focus Foods

Whole grains
Green leafy vegetables
Other vegetables
Nuts
Beans
Berries
Poultry
Fish
Olive Oil
Wine***--However, wine has since been removed as a focus food give that the impact of alcohol can be complex and potentially unsafe for some individuals

Foods to Avoid

Pastries and sweets
Red meat
Cheese
Fried foods
Butter/margarine

Each HABIT session, we often have lively discussion about all the food categories and in our most recent session, the green leafy vegetables, especially kale, became the focus. Throughout the session our couples made jokes about kale and kale recipes. The HABIT team was inspired by the ongoing discussion and decided to make unusual kale dishes for our couples to try!

At graduation, we ended up with (from left to right in the photo below) kale and lemon muffins, chocolate chip kale cookies, chocolate kale cookies (that's me!), and sweet kale muffins. The reviews were definitely mixed, but summed up well by my daughter's review of, "It is not the worst thing I've ever tasted." We had fund with it and appreciate our January 2025 group's humor and being willing to taste our creations!

Do you have any recipes using the focus foods we could try?