Your Perfectly Organized Life

Twice-as-powerful health tricks:

Get slim and prevent brain-aging!

Want to be smarter and skinnier? Just read on for the brain-building, waist-trimming tips proven to give your health twice the boost!

Superfoods with twice the power!

Together, folate, B-6 and B-12 protect your brain, says clinical researcher Neal D. Barnard, M.D., author of Power Foods for the Brain. They work in sync to lower levels of homocysteine, a compound that is toxic to your brain and heart, he explains. Aim for 400 mcg. of folate and 100 mcg. each B-6 and B-12.

Double your brainpower with Bs

Your slimming bonus:

Folate-rich green leafy vegetables keep you satis ed longer, suppressing appetite, explains Dr. Barnard, while foods rich in B-6like lentils and bananasare full of potassium, which helps build lean, fat-burning muscle.

bout three Drinking a ee a day cups of coff risk ur slashes yo ers of Alzheim ! 64%

Tip!

Lifestyle tweaks with twice the bene ts!

Reverse brain aging

with sweet potatoes!

1with a 10-minute walk!

Build your brain

In southern Japan, sh isnt the main foodthe sweet potato is, says Dr. Barnard. They eat them like crazy and enjoy one of the lowest rates of Alzheimers in the world. What about the sweet potato keeps your brain young? Three things: beta-carotene, zero bad fat and good-for-you sugars, says Dr. Barnard. In fact, according to Harvard research, beta-carotene (which gives the sweet potato its vibrant orange color) has an especially powerful impact on verbal memorythe kind you tap into to remember names and lists! Aim for 3,000 IU a day, or do as Dr. Barnard suggests: Just zap a sweet potato in the microwaveits so easy! Your slimming bonus: Energy density is the amount of calories per gram of food, food, explains Dr. Barnard, and the sweet potatos is very low. low. According to studies, eating low energy-density foods is key to losing weight.

Rev your recall

with grape juice!

When it comes to the brain-building bene ts of exercise, its not about exhausting effort, says Dr. Barnard. Its just about elevating your pulse. Shuffle around the room for 10 minutes a couple of times a day. Tack on an extra ve minutes the next week, and another ve the following until youre walking 40 minutes, three times a week. A study showed that people who follow this routine for a year have a bigger hippocampus, the seat of memory! Your slimming bonus: Researchers at Louisianas Pennington Biomedical Research Center found that previously sedentary women who walked just 10 minutes a day for six months boosted their muscle tone and their metabolisms!

Turbo-boost your IQ
by sleeping!

Wine may get all the press, but grape juice is just as powerful when it comes to boosting your healthyour brain health speci callyaccording to University of Cincinnati researchers. In their study, folks with mild memory loss who drank about two cups of 100% Concord grape juice daily for 12 weeks showed marked improvement in learning skills and spatial memory, the kind you use to nd your way in a new city or recall where you placed your keys. Credit goes to antioxidants in the skins of grapes, which help blood vessels stay open. And the more blood that ows to your brain, the better your recall! Your slimming bonus: Grape juice is high in vitamin C, a proven metabolism booster. In fact, upping your vitamin C can help you burn an extra 100 calories per day!
WOMANS WORLD 5/27/13

Getting a good nights sleep helps diminish amyloid plaques, says Dr. Barnard, which are like microscopic meatballs in the brain that can diminish memory and cognitive function. Researchers arent sure why turning in earlier prevents brain plaque; Dr. Barnards best guess is that sleep helps reduce the stress hormone cortisol, which is like food for plaque. And, he says, youll get an even bigger brain boost if you eat breakfast immediately after you wake up. Getting a good nights rest and eating an early breakfast, which also reduces cortisol, is a healthy one-two punch against plaque.

Your slimming bonus:

Lack of sleep spikes ghrelin, the hormone that tells you youre hungry. Cant manage eight hours? Take a nap or meditatethe slimming bene ts are similar to sleep! Kristina Mastrocola

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Photos: Media Bakery (3); Rene Comet Photography, Inc./Stockfood; Jamie Grill/Getty Images; CazG Photography/Getty Images.

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