Preventing Cognitive Decline with a Nutrition Perspective

Welcome to the Living to 100 Club Podcast. Here's our host, Dr. Joseph Casciani.

Well, good day to everyone joining our podcast. Today we're going to be discussing preventing cognitive decline with a nutrition perspective. I'm Dr. Joe Casciani, and I'll be the host for today's program. Our conversations are all about aging well and doing what it takes mentally and physically to live longer and healthier. Our guests share insights and recommendations about successful aging, stories of perseverance, and inspiration about our future. This is the second guest appearance with Marie Ruggles, RD, nutritionist, and award-winning author of Optimize Your Immune System. In her first appearance on the Living to 100 Club podcast, Marie shared her insights and experience about optimizing our immune system for healthier functioning. Today's program explores foods for improving our focus, our memory, and mood. Research has revealed that there are a lot of specific foods and lifestyle enhancements that can create a healthier brain and reduce our risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. Marie presents expert tips so we can all start right away. First, just a little background on our guest. Marie Ruggles, MS, RD, CN, CDE, is an author, clinical nutritionist, certified diabetes educator, and is known as the Kitchen Pharmacist. She started her career in research at Columbia University, where she earned a degree in nutrition and public health. She drills down the science into simple action steps to help busy people stay healthy and age gracefully. Her book, Optimize Your Immune System: Create Health and Resilience with a Kitchen Pharmacy, is a winner of the Reader's Favorite Award. It reveals the secret sauce for viral protection and aging gracefully. In her telehealth private practice, Marie specializes in creating personalized nutrition plans for prediabetes, diabetes, soothing achy joints, bone health, and prevention of cognitive decline. Marie, welcome to our program today.

Thank you so much for having me back, Joe. It's wonderful to be here. We have some exciting information to talk about today.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this. Thank you for returning.

Yeah.

Well, I always like to open by asking our guests to tell us a little bit about the journey that brought you to where you are today.

Okay, great. Well, I started my career in research and, you know, I just found that there was so much useful information, but it was kind of staying, you know, in the laboratories and in the clinical journals and not getting out to the public. So I decided to take my career sort of away from the lab setting and into public health. And also what I do now is private practice. And it's so important in terms, you know, of aging gracefully to know what the research is saying because it's really a wonderful message. You know, you have a choice about how you go forward. And yeah, sometimes things happen out of our control, but there's so much that's in our control. And so I really call myself a teacher. I wanted to be in that role where I translate the science into simple action steps. And what that means in a nutshell is, what are you going to have at your next meal? What are you going to snack on? And then I always incorporate the lifestyle measures as well. And once I started doing this people really expressed a great appreciation because they're not getting this information. We have scientists as we speak who are in the major universities in their, you know, research arms looking at green tea and flaxseed and olive oil. This is what they're looking at because they're getting amazing results. But there's a gap in getting that information into the hands of the people who need it. That's where I come in as a clinical nutritionist and an educator.

Sure.

To make sense. You don't have to read a 50-page journal article. Yeah. To know what to do to protect your brain. So that's what I do.

Yeah, that's great. You're right. We can't rely on a lot of the extended scientific journals and all to learn what steps do we take today? How do we translate that information into improvement. So I appreciate what you're doing, and I like what you said about the small steps. What do we change today? What do we change tomorrow? Rather than looking ahead at, you know, maybe 6 months from now, how we're gonna change our lives. It's really a matter of what do I need to start doing today?

Today, right? And I love to talk about baby steps because a lot of people are somewhat overwhelmed either in their current life or with applying information. And it's really great to start with baby steps because I always recommend start with something small where, you know, there's a very good likelihood that you'll have a good outcome. You'll be able to do it because the energy from that will then feed the next step you take, which might be a little bit more challenging. But now you've moved into can-do mindset. You know, you can do it. Sure. So baby steps.

Yeah. Yeah. We're definitely on the same channel there. I talk about the same things, small steps. I call them turtle steps. Each time we take that step, we build a little bit of success, a little bit of that confidence, self-efficacy. Yes. And it reinforces the next one. So it does, it builds that motivation, doesn't it?

Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. Great. Well, we're learning so much today, Marie, about dementia, especially preventable dementias, reversible dementias. I know you've immersed yourself a lot and some of the cognitive changes, some of the cognitive decline that comes from the foods that we eat. So let's start here. What's the latest research telling us on preventing cognitive decline through the foods that we eat?

Yeah, well, it's pretty exciting. There's good news on this front and it's good news for all of us. Look, I'm in my 60s and I've started to experience some of those changes and I've worked with many of these people and we know that we can improve this. We can use food and lifestyle in a way to either slow the progression or all the way to preventing the cognitive decline that leads to a serious diagnosis. And it's really a message of hope. So I want to start with a little phrase that the researchers have been using. They're calling this active prevention for early stage reversal. And every word in there is actually really important. I especially love the word active because that's what can I do? That's those baby steps we were talking about. This is what you can do at home in your own kitchen or the walkway in front of your home. Active prevention for early stage reversal. And with anything else, we know getting in there early is always where you get the biggest bang for your buck. And they're using the word reversal, and the, this is coming from the PhDs who are in the laboratory and their life is studying brain function. And they're using the word reversal because they've seen it in human trials and the outcomes are pretty exciting. So there are a number of foods that they have, you know, seen are making a difference. And some of my favorite foods— the brain, first of all, is made up, we believe, about 60% fat. Now I've seen some controversy on that number lately, but the big picture is your brain contains a lot of fat, which means We're always in a process of maintenance and renewal. So that means that we need to feed the brain with replacement fats. And some of the best fats are those that contain these compounds that we call ALAs or the omega-3s. Now the ALAs convert to omega-3s. And the ALAs are in flax oil, walnuts, which is really interesting because if you look at a picture of a walnut, it actually looks like a brain. I believe there's something to that. It's actually called the doctrine of signatures. You will You'll see this with a lot of foods that resemble a particular body part. And then there's the fatty fish like salmon or sardines. And, you know, salmon has become really expensive, but you can buy canned salmon and it has the exact same benefits. As a matter of fact, if you get canned salmon with bones, it actually has more benefits because now it's helping your bones because the The compounds in the fish bones are what your human bones need to stay strong. So it's cheaper. And if you get the one with bones, could be better. Walnuts are a fantastic snack. There's also been research on what we call neuroinflammation, inflammation of the brain, and dark chocolate. So a handful of walnuts and dark chocolate makes a wonderful snack. And there's the sardines. And then the flax oil should never be heated because the fatty acids in it will be degraded. But it's a wonderful item to use to make your own salad dressing. And I think almost every store has these powdered Italian salad dressing mixes, so you could add your own. The oils in store The commercial salad dressings that are made are pretty much always toxic to the brain. They are old. They're super refined. The nourishment has been removed. They always cause inflammation. That's why I recommend getting a mix to make it easy and adding your own olive oil, vinegar, or the flaxseed oil. And you could do half and half, half olive, half flaxseed, because there's also quite a bit of research on the olive oil as well.

So the bottled salad dressings, the vinaigrette or the Italian dressings, that's made with an oil that's— did you say? Yeah, not so healthy.

Toxic and inflammatory. They're going to— that's the main ingredient in the product. And you'll notice these products, sometimes they're kind of cheap, like $0.99 a bottle. And you say, well, how do they do that? Because they're using the cheapest of the cheap and you don't wanna put that stuff into your body. Mm-hmm. And you'll see a lot of like the soy oils or like corn oil. You don't wanna use those.

Mm-hmm.

And you certainly don't wanna use something like that that's been further degraded by sitting on the shelf.

Mm-hmm.

Making your own salad dressing, it takes a few minutes. I, I mean, we're talking about 3 ingredients here. You know, one is the mix. One is your, say, maybe balsamic vinegar, and one is your oil. It, it's so simple. And then you have it for 2 weeks. Let's say you have a salad every day, so that's gonna last you for at least 2 weeks.

Sure. Okay. Okay, good.

And then to that, you could put in one of the other spices that we now have thousands of studies on that also helps with the brain repair maintenance and decreasing inflammation. Which is turmeric. And that is curcumin. You might see curcumin supplements. Curcumin is actually the spice contained in the yellow turmeric.

Hmm. Curcumin.

If you like Indian food, there's turmeric in it because all curries contain some turmeric. So you could take 2 teaspoons of your turmeric. Throw it into that salad dressing. And now between the olive or flax oil and the turmeric, you really have a super anti-inflammatory dressing. Mm-hmm. And then you have a large salad every day and it's just really a bowl of goodness, all brain-supporting compounds in there.

So what's in the turmeric that's healthy?

That's the curcumin. So the curcumin is really what they're studying in the clinical trials.

Okay.

And that is a very powerful anti-inflammatory. As a matter of fact, after having that for a week, you might notice that your joints feel better.

Okay, good. Helpful. Thank you. Yeah. So when you said ALA, the A-L-A?

Uh-huh.

Uh-huh. And that's the same as the omega-3?

It gets converted to the omega-3s. So that's why eating the food like walnuts or the flax oil that have that are also very beneficial. And for people who don't eat fish, for example, or vegans, this is another way to get those neuroprotective compounds.

Okay. Okay. So how does that help protect the brain? Does that interfere with the decline or does it help with the kind of neurogenesis or neuroplasticity, growing new neurons, or—

Yeah, well, we, we know that inflammation is at the root of almost every disease. And when we go to sleep at night, if our brains are inflamed, the body is directing some of its resources to managing that inflammation. Which means resources are being taken away from brain repair and maintenance, because that's what happens when you sleep— detox, repair, and maintenance. And that's why quality sleep is so important, because it supports the detox, repair, and maintenance of the brain. And if we don't do those things, that's when the brain is not functioning as well and doesn't have the reserves to do everything it used to do. And that's when the brain becomes more selective. And for example, I could meet you, talk to you for an hour, and then we say goodbye, and an hour later I have no idea who you are. That means my brain actually never registered you in the first place. So that's one of the first functions that goes because the brain is now more limited.

Sure, sure.

These, I call them careless mistakes. You could, you know, look at a list of all the signs and symptoms of cognitive decline. The people I work with, I could just really put it under the umbrella of careless mistakes. I meant to do something with my right hand, but I did something different with my left. I've gone down this road 1,000 times. I got there today and I made a left instead of are right. I can't remember people's names. Mm-hmm. And these are names that I should know. Mm-hmm. Meaning to go into the kitchen and do one thing and you do something else. Mm-hmm. And I have seen this firsthand that you can actually, this is that early stage reversal that the scientists speak about. You can reverse that process.

Sure. Yeah. As I was saying, we know so much more about the reversibles preventable dementia. So this is what you're talking about, like some of the cognitive limitations from a lack of sleep or smoke or the toxins, environmental toxins. These are coming into the brain and they're affecting our performance. So with proper lifestyle, exercise, sleep, good nutrition, we can reduce some of those buildups, right? Those toxins build up.

So I live in New York, so we don't have the cleanest air on the planet. But I know even though as long as I live here, that's not something I can control. But I know that if I take care of my sleep, that I'm helping the brain to detox, right?

Yeah, especially the deep sleep, right? That's where we get a lot of the cleansing. Yeah, it doesn't come from the REM or the light sleep as much, but the deep sleep.

And that's why we call it a modifiable risk factor.

Exactly.

There's an opportunity to do something about it.

Right. Yeah. And I know I've been interested in this Lancet Commission in the UK, and they've collected a lot of research about these reversible dementias from the modifiable risk factors. And, you know, the factors like smoking and nutrition, toxins, even hearing loss can contribute to some decline. Yeah. Yeah. But again, these are modifiable risks that we can take under our control. Yeah, that's so important. Right. Now you use the phrase, Marie, uh, food as medicine approach. What do you mean by this?

We know that there are compounds in foods that are therapeutic, that they have very powerful effects on influencing how our biology works. Now, our genes cannot be changed, but our genes do not determine our destiny. For example, if you have someone in your family with Alzheimer's, they may have those genes, they may have passed them on. That does not mean that you are destined to get Alzheimer's, because these compounds in foods can direct your biology to go one way or the other. They don't have to go in the direction where the Alzheimer's is expressed. And that's one of the reasons why I use the food as medicine term. Now, a lot of my work has also been in the area of nutritional immunology. So in simple terms, how not to get a cold or every virus that's going around your community, workplace, or family. And this is a place where we really see food making a difference because we know, for example, that zinc let's say, component of oysters and many other foods, can actually stop a virus from replicating. The virus gets into your body. If you have enough zinc on board, it helps to stop viral replication. And the same with many foods. For example, nutritional yeast also helps to essentially delete viruses. Elderberries, the same thing. So I would like people to think of food as their medicine because What you put in your body really matters.

Mm-hmm.

And I want you to enjoy your food, but to also be purposeful about how you select and prepare your food because it will help you to age much more gracefully. The compounds in food can be either inflammatory, think sugar, cow's milk, pizza, donuts, brownies, or anti-inflammatory. Think leafy greens, blueberries, you know, olive oils, nuts, basically a plant-strong Mediterranean diet.

Mm-hmm.

And nobody's going to tell this to you because you can't patent it.

Mm-hmm.

And I have, you know, seen many people who have told me they're practitioners. Will poo-poo, you know, this information. Studies are out there. You just have to go to, you know, PubMed.

Sure.

And there have been many clinical trials where they actually run a food against a prescription medicine, and the foods sometimes do as well. Sometimes they do even better, except there's never a side effect with the food. Now, I'm not suggesting that anyone discontinues their medication, you know, when they get off the podcast. Speak to your healthcare provider, but educate yourself. Know what your options are. And that's why these researchers, the PhDs at the, you know, NIH and the universities are doing more and more research on a variety of green and other teas. On cocoa, which really is the beneficial compound when we talk about chocolate.

Mm-hmm.

On basil and rosemary and extracts from the skin like lemon oil because they're getting such interesting results. We're going to see more and more of this, but we need to get the information out there.

Sure. Yeah. As you're talking about educating the consumer and what I call helping them to make more informed decisions about how to stay healthy.

I call it taking back your power. Yeah, because you have power if you have information, right? And you are, you know, the person who knows your body. You sense when something is right and you sense something wrong. And so really, you know, take more responsibility. Put yourself in the driver's seat. You know, self-care begins when your feet hit the floor in the morning. Decisions. Am I going to get outside today? Socially connect? Am I going to have cereal and milk for breakfast, or am I gonna have a healthier alternative? Maybe, you know, an egg with some leftover vegetables. From dinner. And this starts in the morning when, when we think about how our day's going to go.

Uh-huh. Yeah, no, I agree. I agree. And as you talk about so many other choices we can make, avoiding the sugars, the processed foods, a lot of the heavy starches and carbs, are there other classes, groups of foods for the cognitive decline that help us kind of avoiding that? Slowing down those careless mistakes. Yeah, I mean, you talked about the omega-3 and the, the flax oil and those things, but is there another group? Are there other foods that we should think about besides that category?

Oh yes, having. So yes, so just to backpedal a second, the processed foods that you mentioned, I wrote a whole blog on that. It's on my website, so you could just look at the list because I have all the processed and then next to it in a list form, the unprocessed. So just print it out, circle what you're eating, what you'd like to try. And then, yeah, so let's talk about leafy greens. Leafy greens, I'm going to suggest daily consumption. There is a compound in leafy greens, folate. Oh, and this relates to those clinical trials where I told you a food is compared to a medicine. And folate is actually acts as an antidepressant. Because it has the same effect on the neurotransmitters that some antidepressants do. So again, do not stop your medication. You can always use food along with your medication, and that's why I recommend daily leafy greens. Could be cooked or could be raw in a salad, or both. And in the Journal of Neurology, there was a 2018 study with over 1,000 participants, and they found that 1 to 3 servings a day of a green leafy vegetable decreased the risk of cognitive decline.

Mm-hmm.

And the way the researchers described it is that the participants in the study were the equivalent of being 11 years younger.

Hmm.

Now, again, going back to the baby steps, What I want to point out here is the servings, 1 to 3 servings a day. That means that the people who had 1 serving also experienced a significant reduction in risk. So that's easy to do. If you're having lentil soup tonight, just stir in baby spinach.

Mm-hmm.

Don't need another pot. You can even buy those clamshells of the baby spinach where it's already washed, picked over, and ready to go.

Sure.

Or that large salad that I recommend having every day and then using that fantastic salad dressing. You can really, you know, get creative with leafy greens. If you like Italian food, you can cook them in garlic and oil and then sprinkle a grated cheese like a good boccatelli or Parmesan on top. You could add a few nuts or raisins. You could add your favorite spice. You can make a casserole or a sauté and then throw in a few handfuls of the greens. So that's one of my top.

Sure.

The next one is berries. Now, I believe we're going to see a lot of berries being beneficial. I think the Blueberry Trade Association seems to have a lot of money to do research. Sometimes that's what it comes down to is what trade association in the food world has the money to do the research. And there was just last month, another fabulous study came out. And it— I'm trying to think of the headline. It really didn't get much attention, but the results were amazing. This is a quote from the study: "Blueberry supplementation may provide an effective countermeasure to age-related declines in functional mobility." Hmm. Now, sometimes with cognitive decline, One of the early features that we see is balance, tripping, falling, just not being quite as coordinated. Sometimes a sense that the brain is not providing the right directions to the right hand and the left hand, things like that.

Sure.

Now, they found that 1 cup a day can improve cognitive function. This is another study. It also improves cognitive function. Okay, so both of these studies used 1 cup a day. And I believe this study was about 7 weeks. So you don't have to have a cup a day. I know, especially in the off-season months where blueberries aren't available fresh, they're hard to get, but you can get the frozen, which tends to be less expensive and just as good.

Just as good, right?

Yeah. And have a half cup several times a week. See, you know, when you shop, when they have the deals. And don't worry about blueberries. Pick up blackberries, raspberries, strawberries. Strawberries are pretty highly sprayed, so try and get organic strawberries because you don't want to, you know, add the pesticides along with all the good stuff. But this is telling us that there's a compound in blueberries that's very important to the brain. We're talking about balance, cognitive function. And by the way, you know, if you have children or grandchildren, this has also been studied in children and they seem to have an immediate reaction within an hour. Of improved focus. Wow. Improved cognitive function and feeling more uplifted. So this is a great food to get onto the menu.

Hmm. Good to know. So the greens, the berries, other, other foods. What about the root vegetables? Parsnips, turnips, sweet potatoes. I love purple sweet potatoes. They're just Great to me.

Yeah, they are fantastic. And there has been quite a bit of interest in research in these blue purple foods. When we speak about food as medicine, they contain— it's called flavonoids— these pigments that seem to be related to a reduction in risk of all disease. Yes, the root vegetables are good, even potatoes, which kind of got a bad reputation, and rice. It is better if you cool them down a little bit because they develop this what we call resistant starch, and that helps to feed the microbiome. And the microbiome Is the collection of bacteria that live in your gut. And so those foods are good for that.

Mm-hmm.

You want to make sure you keep your blood sugar in balance, and we'll come back to that cuz that's super important.

Sure.

But you want to make sure that you are developing a good microbiome that's in your gut where about 75% of your immune system lies. That is where some of your serotonin, most of your serotonin is made. So we call that, you know, the happy compound. It manufactures vitamins and minerals. It manufactures compounds that become part of your immune system. And there's a direct link between the stomach and the brain. And so it manufactures compounds that either nourish or protect the brain.

Mm-hmm.

And one of the best ways to do that is to eat a wide variety of colors between your vegetables and fruit. In one day, for example, you might have an orange tangerine, a red and yellow bell pepper, your green leafy vegetables, and then your purple potatoes. It's easy to get 5 colors. It just takes a little planning ahead. And Joe, to be honest with you, all of this really starts when you're emptying your cart at the cash register. What is going from your cart onto the belt?

Mm-hmm.

Because you need to have it in your house in order to eat it. And so it takes a little bit of planning ahead, and I can do this too. We all kind of get into a rut of eating the same things, familiar things, and a great way to get out of that is to either visit a farmer's market, eat what's in season. Because that's really the only thing that changes in your supermarket is you'll see more of the seasonal vegetables. Or if you have, like, for example, in the Northeast, we have some areas where the farms from Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, where there's a very large Amish farming community, they deliver all over and they have stops that you can go to Some of them, the one I belong to, Pleasant Pastures Farm, actually does home delivery for very, very— sometimes it's free, sometimes it's like $5. It's very reasonable. And you know that the produce was picked either the day before or that morning, so it's going to have a lot more nutrients.

Yeah.

And this is how you feed the microbiome. Another great way is to use miso. Which is fermented soybeans or actually real sauerkraut or other fermented vegetables. Now I'm not talking about the sauerkraut that we grew up with that was in the bags in the supermarket. This would say raw fermented probiotic rich, you know, something like that. And unfortunately they tend to be more expensive. Just like why I like the miso, because you can use that in place of salt. It, it does have a very salty base. And because it's fermented, it will feed the probiotics. You just can't heat it because then the probiotics will die. But even yogurt, full-fat plain yogurt, and then kind of sweeten it up and season it yourself. And again, on my website, I have a blog that's about some natural zero-calorie, zero-sugar sweeteners. So use that in your yogurt with some berries.

Sure. So the sauerkraut on a hot dog from the Subretz hot dog cart isn't quite the right sauerkraut to eat.

Exactly. No.

Okay. How about the shoofly pie from Lancaster?

Oh, Pennsylvania. Oh, all sugar. But yeah, you only go there once a year. Why not?

Yes, of course.

Yeah. What we're talking about here is really, you know, what you do most of the time that matters, right? And I have certain things that I like, you know, let's say, to splurge on, and that's fine. It's really what you're doing day in and day out.

How about the beverages? What do you recommend? I mean, we know a lot of the juices are loaded with sugar these days, so what kind of beverages do you recommend?

Uh, the first thing is to know how much. So if you divide your weight in half, your healthy weight, that's how many ounces you should be drinking a day. So for For most average-sized people, that's, you know, about 8 or 10 glass, 8-ounce glasses. And then you can have water, you can have tea. You don't wanna be drinking caffeinated teas at night. So you can have herbal teas such as holy basil and just look around your store for your teas with interesting names. Like some of them are great to have at night and they'll be called sleepy or bedtime tea or chamomile tea. Is great. Some people find that very calming and soothing. There are teas called, uh, like Immunoberry Detox, Positive Uplift. You know, experiment with different flavors. And most of those are all herbal teas.

Mm-hmm.

And then there's intriguing research on coconut water. It seems that, uh, coconut water has lauric acid in it. And that is, uh, neuroprotective. It seems to be involved in, uh, the repair and maintenance of brain cells. Now, coconut oil is very high in potassium, so for some people that's good, but if you need to be careful with potassium, for example, if you are on certain medications or you kidney disease, then you need to be very careful with the amount, or it might not be right for you at all. But even if it is, if you don't have any of those, just a quarter cup to a half cup a day is fine because it's also high in sugar. It has its own natural sugar.

Mm-hmm.

But coconut in general is really shining right now, showing a lot of Benefits.

I promise. What was the ingredient in coconut water that had that?

Lauric acid.

How do you spell that?

Uh, L-A-U-R-I-C. Oh, okay.

I haven't heard that one.

Yeah.

So I know we don't have a lot of time left, but I'd like to get your opinion, Marie, on the whole notion of, you know, a lot of the nutrients being stripped from our fresh fruits and vegetables over farming and, you know, a lot of the problems. So people are recommending a lot of supplements, you know, take the vitamins, take the extra probiotics, take the extra nutrients that we're missing in our normal healthy diets, where generations earlier they weren't missing, but they appear to be missing now. What's your thinking on supplements?

I think supplements can play an important role. Now, typically when I evaluate somebody, or in these brain research centers, when they do evaluations, they can see to see exactly where the imbalances are, and then they make very, you know, very specific recommendations can be made. But in general, I would say the soil has become depleted. We don't always eat as we should. And so probably taking a multivitamin, uh, one that I like, but works for most people, uh, designed— the company's Designs for Health. They have, uh, something called Two a Day. I have no connection to that company. I just think I like that they divide it into two because We don't eat food all in one instant, so why would we want to get all of our nutrients? So I like that they divide it. And you have to be careful because a lot of these companies put in fillers. They get their ingredients from other countries and we don't know what's coming. So you really want to only use a, a good company so you know that there's nothing suspicious in your supplements.

What did you recommend? What was the brand you recommend?

Designs for Health has a product called Two a Day multivitamin. Not just one, there are several good ones out there.

A lot. Yeah. A lot. Yeah. So I do— I mean, 3 or 4 aisles now of vitamins and supplements.

Yes.

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So that's a whole nother maze to sort through, but there are definitely standout companies. I tend to like to recommend companies who are meticulous about sorting their ingredients because the supplements are like cake. It's only as good as the ingredients you put into it. And some companies will get, for example, their selenium from a company in New Zealand, and then they'll get their folate from a company in Italy. Like, they go through a painstaking process to get the very, very best ingredient, because some of these nutrients aren't even absorbed. You have to get them in a form that's actually going to be absorbed by your body and get into your cells.

Sure.

A lot of these nutrients actually sit in your bloodstream but don't get into your cells. So that's why I'm meticulous about the companies that I recommend.

Does higher price represent better quality in general?

No, but I can tell you at the other end, cheap, like getting the cheapest thing possible, mm-hmm. Is not good.

Mm-hmm.

With one exception, vitamin D3. Vitamin D3 is actually very inexpensive to manufacture.

Sure.

And that is a nutrient that I do recommend supplementation if you're not getting D from a regular dose of sunshine. Mm-hmm. Especially now as we head into the flu season. Vitamin D is really essential for reducing the risk of getting a respiratory infection, reduces the risk of it getting escalating if it, you do get it. And it's essential for mood and brain health.

Mm-hmm.

And if you go to my website, there's on the first, as soon as you land there, there's a free guide on vitamin D, which will show you there's a calculator so you could put your lab work, the number from your lab work in there, and it will tell you what dose you need to get to the minimum healthy number, which is like 50 to 60. That's the minimum of where your vitamin D should be. In that guide, I also give you a few recommended supplements, language for speaking to your healthcare practitioner because some— they're not up on the science, they won't know. But this is essential, especially if you're a person who catches everything that's going around the community. Especially if you're experiencing the beginning of, you know, carelessness and memory issues.

Mm-hmm.

It's very important.

Yeah. So be informed about the language and the terminology. That's good advice. So we're just about outta time, but let me ask you, we're bombarded all the time with ads on television and fast food places, even regular restaurants, just casual restaurants and It's just a lot of pressure to eat unhealthy foods. I mean, you do a fair amount of discipline and resistance, but how do people stay hopeful about their future when we're so bombarded with all this bad stuff? Yeah.

Yeah. Well, I can relate to, you know, my experience. I've been in the field of nutrition for over 40 years, and I've seen the difference it makes in people's lives. And I, I see both ends of the spectrum. I see when you don't pay attention to food and lifestyle, you know, and sleep being so important, it can be a slippery slope. People make really a profound turnaround in their health trajectory, in their mood, and, and, and just their enjoyment of life by just getting on a better plan. And it doesn't have to be complex. But the other side of that, that I have seen is what happens when you really ignore this. And it can really be the difference between remaining active and enjoying life and engaging, being connected, to spending your older years with your calendar making doctor's appointments telling people, I don't think I have time for lunch or even tea because I have too many appointments. That's sort of a nutshell. But, you know, I'm here to say that the research is in and it's never too late to start. And you can make a difference that you actually feel in your body and your mind and your mood. When you, you know, decide to take back your power and take care of yourself. And once you're in that mindset, when you're in the store or, you know, you're out and you're hungry, you're being bombarded, that stuff, it won't even really affect you anymore because you will be so convicted about the path that you're on that you'll just see it for what it is.

Yeah, I think that's so true because we can stop and make a decision like, should I reach for that or should I reach for those vegetables? And that discipline comes from the power and the reward, the successes that we see, and it starts to build over time. Like, you know, it snowballs after a while. And I believe that strongly, that we start to build this confidence and we start to make better decisions on a regular basis. Yeah, that's so true. Sure. Any takeaways from our conversation?

Well, when it comes to brain health, what we're seeing is a really startling, you know, projection. Um, if the current trend continues, that in 30 years there will be 152 million people— that's worldwide— That is the projection of the number of people who have cognitive decline. And that's not just a number. When we get into figures that are that large, that means us. It means our spouses, children, siblings, and friends. Nobody will be untouched. And we have something here. We have, uh, to go back to the beginning when I quoted the scientist who said active prevention for early stage reversal. We have the information to do this, so it doesn't have to be the— that way for you. There's hope, there's guidance, and each one of us are biologically different. So, you know, what you may need to make a difference for you is different from the next person.

Sure.

A lot of the people that I work within my practice have diabetes, and that's a situation where it's black and white. You get those blood sugars in control and you see your brain is working better.

Mm-hmm.

But for somebody else, it might be their love of fast food. And so, you know, how do you satisfy the taste buds and the cravings with foods that actually support the brain? And it's doable, but you have to be ready and you can always step in. With these baby steps.

Yeah.

And, you know, just see how good you feel.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I agree. I had an expert on, uh, from the food industry, and he was talking about, uh, how food companies can really tell exactly how to get to your weak spot. And he said it takes discipline, but with that discipline comes freedom. And that made a lot of sense to me because once we can make these, uh, more conscious decisions, we get a lot of freedom that we can have much more control over what happens to us. So this is great.

That's so interesting. I love that.

Yeah, yeah.

With discipline comes freedom. And also it takes less time to shop because there are a few aisles that you'll just completely avoid.

Yeah, that's right. Stay away from those aisles. Yeah, on the ends, right? So great information, Marie. Thanks so much. It looks like we're out of time though, but Before we wrap up, I just want to remind our listeners to visit my website, livingto100.club, sign up for my email list, and download a free copy of my 9 Tips to Make Living Longer Enjoyable. While you're there on the website, be sure to peruse our library of blogs and podcasts. And also, you'll find my email address on the website and an option to set up a brief call. I'd love to hear from our listeners and let me know what you're thinking. And finally, if you're interested, reach out to me to schedule a presentation for your group in person or online. I think there's real value in helping older adults feel inspired about their future. Marie, thanks so much for being a guest. Tell us your website again.

It's just my name, M-A-R-I-E-R-U-G-G-L-E-S, as in Sam, dot com. So it's marieruggles.com. And don't forget to grab that information on vitamin D. That's really one of the most important things you can do for yourself is to get your vitamin D levels in order.

Great.

So that'll pop up as soon as you get on there.

Good resource. MarieRuggles.com. Be sure to visit Marie's website and take advantage of that free information for you. Well, thanks so much for being a guest on our program, Marie. I really enjoyed this conversation.

Yeah, thank you for inviting me back. I always love this. Topic and this conversation. And it's just so wonderful to change the landscape of aging.

Sure.

Love it.

Yeah. Yeah. Be a vehicle for some of the good information that's available. Well, thanks so much to all of our listeners for tuning in. I hope to see you next time. Hey everybody, Jared Sebaste here, host of Retire Repurposed. This podcast is dedicated to help people transition into fulfilling and purposeful retirements. Retirement is a big life change. In fact, the two most dangerous years of a person's life are the year they were born and the year they retire. Few people could just flip the switch from working a career 30 or 40+ years, retiring on Friday, without methodical steps to living what we call a repurposed retirement. To listen now, search Retire Repurpose on your favorite podcast platform, Senior Resource, or Life Audio.