Keeping Your Mind Young

As a society, we’re all obsessed with youth, and with looking and feeling young. We use face creams to keep our skin youthful and soft. We drink water to try to keep ourselves healthy and our organs running at their best. We exercise to keep ourselves physically fit and to boost our circulation. Life seems so much easier when you are younger, and everything works properly, and we’re keen to keep it going for as long as we can. Even as early as our twenties, we’re starting to think about how to prevent wrinkles and aging.

But, we rarely worry about keeping our minds young. We assume that we’ve got decades before that’s something to worry about and fail to realize that by then it might be too late. Neurology will be able to help, but it’s much easier to make changes now that will help to keep your mind young in the future.

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Use Your Opposite Hand

The best way to keep your mind young is to use it more and to use parts of it that you don’t usually. As children, we’re always learning and pushing our brains. They’re getting a workout every day. Then, as adults, we stick to what we know. Parts of our minds lay stagnant and unused, leading to decay.

An incredibly easy thing that you can do to challenge your brain in your day to day life is doing things with the opposite hand. Write with your opposite hand, hold your cutlery the other way around and try to rest your dominant hand when you can.

Try New Things

Trying new hobbies can be a fun way to keep your mind young. Every time you do something new, you are using a different part of your brain. Have a go at new hobbies, go to different places and try things that you’ve never done before.

Learn a Language

The language center of our brains is one that many of us rarely use. While you are young, you learn new words every day. Your vocabulary is constantly growing. Then as you get older, you just start to forget them. Reading, and having varied and interesting conversations can help a lot but learning a new language is the ultimate workout for that part of your brain.

Improve Your Diet

Your diet doesn’t just affect your body. It also has an impact on your mind. Eating healthy and getting all of the right vitamins and minerals can boost your brain power and those that regularly eat oily fish are less likely to develop cognitive impairment and dementia as they age.

Drink Less Alcohol

Drinking too much alcohol over a long period is one of the worst things that you can do for your mind and can lead to premature aging both mentally and physically. Try to limit drinking to a few units a week on only two or three evenings.

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Avoid Loneliness

Loneliness is a crucial cause of mental health issues. Being lonely is a common problem as we age, and over time it can lead to increased risk of dementia, depression and even reduced life expectancy.

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Eating Healthy in an Unhealthy Economy

There’s no question that many of the least expensive foods – like starchy foods, sugars, and fats – are also the ones that provide less nutrition than the more expensive items like fruits, vegetables, and healthy sources of protein. But eating well and saving money can go hand-in-hand.

Here are some tips to get you started from nutrition experts at Herbalife:

• Go vegetarian once a week. Combining grains, like rice or corn, with beans, split peas, or lentils, is an inexpensive way to include good quality protein in the diet. Use seasoning to enhance the flavor in dishes like curried lentils with brown rice or spicy black bean soup with cornbread or corn tortillas. Round out the menu with a salad or some fruit in season, and you've got a nutrition-packed meal for pennies per person.
• Skip the drive-through. A protein-packed meal replacement shake like Herbalife® Formula 1 Nutritional Shake Mix, mixed in the blender with milk (or soy milk) and fresh or frozen fruit, can provide more healthy nutrition for a lot less money than fast food choices–while still delivering convenience and nutritional value.
• Freeze the season. Frozen fruits and vegetables are as nutritionally valuable as fresh—in fact, in some cases freezing may preserve more nutrients because the foods are processed so quickly after harvest. Shop the farmer’s markets, buy what’s in season, and freeze it. Frozen pre-made side dishes and vegetables with sauces on them cost more, too. It’s less expensive and better for you to purchase plain vegetables and season them yourself.
• Frozen meals are convenient, but they can be pricey. And, these meals often don’t feel complete unless you add a salad, vegetable or fruit to them, which drives up the total cost of the meal. Instead, cook in bulk some one-dish meals, such as soups, stews, or pasta dishes, and freeze individual portions for workday lunches. Don’t let a thinner wallet lead to a thicker waistline. With a little planning, you can watch your budget and still eat well.

Susan Bowerman is a consultant to Herbalife.

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