How to Boost Your Mental Functioning

spinach

We may accept it or not, mental performance decline as we age. But, it does not mean that we have no control of our aging process, it is just a matter of choice. You can hasten your aging process if you want by taking drugs, drinking alcoholic drinks, smoking, and other unhealthy practices. You can also delay the aging process by practicing healthy lifestyle.

Right diet is part of healthy lifestyle. What we eat plays a great role in how our body function. Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP) and National Institute of Aging encourage us to eat 3 servings of yellow, green leafy, and cruciferous vegetables everyday for a slow decline of about 40% in our mental functioning.

Eating spinach, which is a green leafy vegetable, could protect our brain from oxidative stress aside from it reduces the effects of age related decline in functioning of our brain. Vitamin E in spinach and other green leafy vegetables could help lower the loss of mental functioning.

Aside from powerful vitamin E antioxidant in spinach, folate or folic acid, potassium and other antioxidants could boost our neurological health. It was detected that level of folate is low on patients who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Why not boost your folic acid level now for you not to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and improve your motor skills and learning capacity instead by eating 3 servings of spinach and other vegetables everyday?

Health Benefits of Spinach

As one of my friends paid visit to our humble home, she noticed the green leafy plant on our yard that most people treat as unwanted plant. She said, “Convince me, how essential that plant is to our health and site some of its advantages why you guys grow it in your yard.” Of course, she does not know yet that time that the plant she was pointing at is the powerful spinach plant.

I really love to eat green leafy vegetables and spinach is one of my favorites. We grow spinach in our yard so as some of vegetables that do not take large space to grow. As for those who do not know its nutrient dense value, spinach plant is just one of wild plants that manage to survive on its own in our front yard because they easily grow like other unwanted grasses. Me and my friends use its leaves as our “sipa” for our playtime during our childhood days. But, to those who know the health benefits of spinach, they are so precious. In fact, my mom not just waters those precious plants we grow in our yard but cultivate and take care of it.

Who could not remember cartoon character Popeye the sailor man? By consuming spinach, old Popeye could transform himself to a super strong man. We may not feel literally strong like Popeye after we consume spinach, but if you’ll know that it is rich in vitamins (A, B, C, E, K), minerals (calcium, manganese, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, copper), fibers and protein you will feel the energy Popeye has experienced upon consuming it, right?

It is not just because of the essential nutrients that spinach could boost good health but its phytochemical contents to that could give us protection against heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, skin cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, almost all kinds of cancer and other diseases. Flavanoid contents of spinach could protect us against memory loss and any type of cancer, while its lutein content could promote good eyesight and protect us against cataract and Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

Consuming more or less half kilo of spinach a day could produce satiety advantage thus promoting weight loss and talkyloid content in spinach is responsible for this. It may sound not possible for you to consume that much of spinach daily for you to lose weight but incorporating spinach as much as you can and take it raw as much as possible could help, right?

Spinach is so easy to grow, it is wide in distribution. Growing spinach on your yard could not eat much of your time. So, why not let the small space in your yard stays vacant if you can grow a power-boosting plant like spinach? If you have no space to grow or no time to take care a plant, it is very affordable in the market.

Health Benefits of Green Leafy Vegetables

Green leafy vegetables are great source of beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin K, riboflavin and some vitamin B.  You can also find calcium, iron, fibers and small amount of omega-3 fatty acids in green vegetable. Not only that,  green leafy vegetables has a great capacity to protect your family health against blindness (particularly Age-Related Macular Degeneration), stroke, heart diseases and certain cancers because of the the phytochemicals or phytonutrients that are present in green leafy vegetables.

My family really loves to eat green food, particularly dark green leafy vegetables either it is served as raw or cooked. Some of the green leafy vegetables we love to eat ‘raw’ are loose-leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, mustard spinach, dandelion greens, garden cress, watercress, chicory, and endive.  Collards, kale, mustard green, beet green and horse raddish leaves are best when cooked. Spinach, swiss chard, arugula and sweet potato tops taste great either when served cooked or raw. Green leafy vegetables are packed with essential nutrients and rich in fibers but poor in carbohydrate content making it especially good for those who want to trim down their body and stay fit.

In selecting green leafy vegetables, select those with crisp and unwilted leaves and avoid those with tired looking and brown edge.