When you were growing up, your mom probably ragged on you to eat your vegetables. And so you did to make her be quiet. But once you became an adult, you put those habits on the shelf because you never really believed in them. You switched over to fast food, getting a piece of lettuce and tomato here or there, or you got your vegetables, covered in butter.
But that’s just not good enough for what the body really needs. Vegetables are much more important to a full, healthy body. And a recent study proved this.
We all know that vegetables should be part of a balanced diet. But did you know it’s recommended we get 5 servings of vegetables a day? And when you’re getting the appropriate amount of vegetables, it can actually stave off dementia.
The World Health Organization studied 17,700 older Chinese adults with a baseline free of dementia. They followed the adults for six years and recorded their diets.
The study discovered what many of us inherently know. Vegetables are good for us.
Compared with adults who did not adhere to WHO recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, adults who consumed three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruits daily were found to be at lower risk of dementia development over 6 years.
The study didn’t set out to determine why the vegetables staved off such a terrible disease. But dementia or Alzheimer’s as it is also called, is caused by inflammation within the body.
Our diets are loaded with foods that cause inflammation: Grains, processed dairy, real dairy, hard-to-digest processed food, and a host of other things.
Study after study consistently show that vegetables, fruits, and herbs prevent and reduce inflammation. According to Dr. Axe, there are 15 foods that rank as the “top” anti-inflammatory food. They are: leafy green veggies, bok choy, celery, beets, broccoli, blueberries, pineapple, salmon, bone broth, walnuts, coconut oil, chia seed, flax seed, turmeric, and ginger.
The first 7 are fruits and vegetables!
So if these fruits and vegetables are identified as anti-inflammatory and a study with over 17,000 adults showed that when they ate the recommended three servings of vegetables and f2 fruit servings, they staved off dementia, the link is not definite, but it bears giving some consideration.
Simple food is better for you. You can’t get much simpler than fruits and vegetables.
