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7 Tips for Packing the Perfect Lunch Box from Registered Dietician Liz Weiss

It’s back-to-school season and that means packing lunches, again! For many parents, packing the lunchbox can send the heart into nervous palpitations. But for registered dietitian Liz Weiss, it’s an art form. After reading her lunchbox ideas, your anxiety will magically transform into inspiration.

Liz is an award-winning broadcast journalist, cookbook author, and radio show host who started Meal Makeover Moms’ Kitchen, a leading blog for parents in search of better ways to feed their family a super-nutritious diet. She’s also the co-author of two great books: No Whine with Dinner: 150 Healthy, Kid-Tested Recipes from The Meal Makeover Moms and The Moms’ Guide to Meal Makeovers: Improving the Way Your Family Eats, One Meal at a Time and she recently released a mobile recipe app called, Meal Makeovers. You can read more about Liz at http://mealmakeovermoms.com/ and you can download the Meal Makeover app here.

Here’s some of the wisdom Liz shared with us about packing lunches.

How do you get inspired with packing a good lunchbox?
To get inspired I think about color, flavor, nutrition, and seasonality. I really like to include all of the senses – smell, sight, touch, and taste when thinking about the lunch box.
What has worked for you in the past?
I have found that it’s really helpful to include my kids in the process. I do this by simply asking them: “What do you want for lunch?” The last thing we want –or I want as a dietitian – is to throw away food or for a child to not eat something because it’s not appealing. Plus, if they don’t eat what you packed for lunch they are getting no nutritional benefit. One of the most important ways to get children excited is to present the food in a kid-appealing way. For example if you’re going to slice up apples, put a little lemon on them so they don’t turn brown. Put grapes in a small container. Think about how you package your food. Use small containers and put a little utensil in there. Make it cute and playful. That’s why Bento Box Lunches are so appealing. Kids like to play, so it pays off to think about finger foods –something easy to pick up and bite into. Most young kids are either missing teeth or they have braces – and it’s important to be mindful and make sure they are physically able to eat the food you pack. For example, I would never send young kids to school with whole pieces of fruit like apples.
How important is it to be organized?
It’s very important. As moms we really relish our sleep. If you can get 5-10 extra minutes of sleep in the morning, wouldn’t you want that? Pack shelf-stable milk boxes in the fridge before going to bed. That way it will be cold in the morning and will help keep your kid’s lunch cold. If you’re packing sandwiches, wash and dry the lettuce leaves the night before, and have them in a bag ready to go. Cut up your veggies the night before – have bell peppers, carrots, and cucumbers ready with a small container of dip. Recently, I sent my son to school with pasta salad. I boiled the whole wheat pasta the night before and it was ready to go in the morning.
Can you provide a few simple ideas for recipes?
There are lots of lunchbox recipes on my website. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Yogurt, granola and fruit cup— morning snack time at school is a perfect time to integrate some healthy options. I like to pack a small container of yogurt and pour some frozen wild blueberries over the top. Then I add a second container of granola to sprinkle on the top.

Pasta salad—I’m all about whole grains, so I start with a whole-wheat rotini. Then I add all-natural deli ham, feta cheese, diced bell peppers, zucchini ribbons, corn on the cob (leftover from last night’s dinner), and some Italian dressing. This is simple and delicious.

Kebabs — These are a favorite. I use cheese cubes, leftover chicken or deli meats like turkey or chicken. Then I add grapes, melon cubes or berries in between.

Chicken salad — Here’s an easy one. I use cubed chicken mixed with plain Greek yogurt, some low-fat mayonnaise. Then I add nuts, dicedgrapes or apples, or diced avocado.

Quesadillas – These are a hit for lunch and offer a nice change of scenery from the standard lunch. I heat the tortilla and then I add beans, veggies, cheese, and BBQ sauce and wrap these hot in foil.

What are some common lunchbox mistakes?
Packing too much food is a common mistake. Kids have about 20 minutes to eat so I encourage parents to pack the right amount of food for their child and prepare it in bite-sized pieces. Be sure to observe what comes back in the lunch box – this can be very telling. A lot of parents tend to focus on refined carbs because they are easy– they will pack a bagel with cream cheese, a juice box, and a bag of chips. The challenge when packing a bagel/juice box/bag of chips is that it lacks color and nutrition, so focus on a rainbow of colors instead!
What is the trick to keeping it healthy?
Make sure you have fresh fruit and a veggie in your lunch box. Some parents consider juice to be a fruit serving, but it’s best to think about fresh, frozen, or dried fruit as a true serving. Don’t forget about snacks. I view snacks as a mini-meal. Snack time is an opportunity to weave in ingredients that are missing in the diet. If they are not getting veggies or fruit in the morning, make sure they’re an option as a snack. One of my favorite snacks is my Mini Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins.

7. What are some of the worst lunch boxes you’ve seen?

I’ve seen a morning snack of Hawaiian punch and chips. I’ve also seen Gatorade and chocolate chip cookies. These “snacks” bring calories and sugar to the diet, but not much more. Remember that kids are small, and it doesn’t take much to fill their stomachs – so every bite should be packed with nutrition – think nutrient rich and the colors of the rainbow. Every time you pack that lunchbox ask yourself: “What is this ingredient doing for my child?”

What are favorite things to pack for your kids’ lunches? What’s the worst lunch box you’ve ever seen?

Purple Potatoes, “The Newsroom” & Plenty of Wild, Healthy Blues: Our Top Ten Posts of 2012

What posts had the biggest impact on our readers this year? The top ten posts of 2012 included everything from purple potatoes to HBO’s “The Newsroom”. We’re pleased to have been a part of sharing health and nutrition research, news, information, fun stories and recipes with you during the past twelve months. We’re looking forward to much more to come in 2013. Here’s to a healthy, wild, well new year!

1. Dig In: Purple Potatoes Have Vibrant Health Benefits
Health benefits from a colorful vegetable caught our readers’ attention this year – so much so, it was the top viewed post of 2012. Hat’s off to the unique power of purple!

2. Five Very Unexpected Benefits of Eating Fruits & Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables are healthy, sure – but they also help with depression, provide benefits for smokers who want to quit, and improve your love life.

3. Wild Blueberry Favorites – Your Top 5 Recipes
What are wild blues best at? Here’s the definitive list straight from those who know – our readers!

4. Pterostilbene: Big Promise for an Amazing Antioxidant
As research into the benefits of blueberries continues, one compound is showing a unique anti-cancer potential.

5. Fresh Maine Blueberries: A Summer Tradition
Those berries on your plate are more than just delicious – they are also a wild summer tradition.

6. Wild Blueberry Research You Should Know About
This new research into cancer, bowel health, heart health and weight made waves this year.

7. LATEST NEWS: Victory for the Frozen Message
When Dr. Oz spoke out about frozen, the message spanned the globe – and the cover of TIME.

8. Blueberries May Preserve Brain Health: How A New Study Affects You
You wanted to know more about good news for an important part of preserving the brain as we age.

9. Want a Little Belly? Try a Little Blueberry
Resolving to battle belly bulge? Arm yourself with phyto-rich foods.

10. Diabetes, Wild & “The Newsroom”
Your love for all three inched this post into the top 10 this year, and helped get this diabetes story the press it deserves.

Enjoying these top posts from 2012? Subscribe to have weekly headlines from Wild About Health sent right to your inbox all year long, or send us a story you’d like to see on Wild About Health on 2013!

Brainberries: Heralding a Major Health Message

Heard about the berry-brain connection?

Strong scientific evidence continues to reinforce the connection between berries and health. It’s led some to call these high-nutrition berries “brainberries”, the latest moniker for potent berries like blueberries and strawberries that, when integrated into a daily diet, may help preserve and protect the brain as we age. The latest brain-berry research is taking us further in our understanding of a devastating problem affecting an aging population.

Barbara Shukitt-Hale, Ph.D., of the USDA, Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, recently shared her contribution to this research on a podcast at the American Chemical Society. Shukitt-Hale’s research focuses on the science behind the value of eating berry fruits, and her findings, which appear in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, suggest that eating berries has beneficial effects on the brain and may help prevent age-related memory loss and other changes such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Shukitt-Hale is a valued member of the Bar Harbor Group, a group of top scientists from the U.S. and Canada that meet in Bar Harbor, Maine each year to present research into the connection between a blueberry-rich diet and disease prevention. Members have been a force behind research into Azhiemer’s disease, diabetes, heart disease, vision health and metabolic syndrome. This past fall, Shukitt-Hale presented work at the Bar Harbor Summit concerning memory and motor function and their connection with blueberries.

On the podcast, Shukitt-Hale explains that the high antioxidant benefit is what acts on the part of the brain responsible for cognitive function. Berries contain high levels of antioxidants (with their dark phyto-rich skin, wild blueberries are leaders in antioxidants). She also points out that “…berry fruits change the way neurons in the brain communicate.” These changes in signaling, she says, can prevent inflammation in the brain, the key to preventing neuron damage that specifically affects cognitive function. While ongoing research is required to fully understand this mechanism, we are closer than ever to a major health message that could help millions.

Brain Benefits Now & Later

Reducing Alzheimer’s disease can translate into reduced health care challenges for families, lowered costs of care, and improved quality of life for millions. Today, 5.4 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease and it is the sixth leading cause of death. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the direct costs of caring for those with Alzheimer’s or other dementias to American society will total an estimated $200 billion in 2012.

Should we change our behavior based on the research of Shukkit-Hale and the recent findings from the Nurses Health Study?

We should. If you are not eating berries in your daily diet, begin. Even if we have more to understand about the mechanism behind the berry benefits, increasing our fruit and veggie intake with a focus on berries is, according to the best experts in the field, the right move. Everyone can reap benefit from berries, and bumping up your intake is easy – there’s simply no downside, and the upside can be huge.

Short-term benefits: Berries, namely the antioxidant leader wild blueberries, are considered brain food because their cognitive benefits can keep our brains working whether we are having fun or we are hard at work. Berries’ immediate brain benefits are a result of being well-rounded: they are a low GI food as well as a low calorie, high-fiber food that keeps weight and blood sugar levels in check. They also provide essential brain nutrients that support mental clarity and enhance performance in the here and now.

Long-term benefits: The most compelling evidence that connects berries and diet suggests that we could prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s by eating more. Just a serving per day provides the benefit. Even for those who are not destined to have Alzheimer’s, the most recent research indicates that a diet that includes berries may still preserve brain function as we age by preventing memory loss and loss of motor function, and it could help decrease depression.

A Serving a Day: For Your Brain Health

In the case “brainberries” more is actually better. But according to researchers, just one serving a day of wild blueberries can translate into advantages to the brain – they are that powerful. Do you know what constitutes a serving?

Q: One serving of wild blueberries is equal to:

a: 12-oz bag of berries

b. 1 cup of berries

c. ½ cup of berries

Answer: c. While the definition of a serving depends on your age and gender, just ½ cup is considered a serving size for most people. Want to do something good for your brain? Just eat ½ cup of delicious, sweet, tangy wild blueberries today.

Interested in other benefits? Get the FAQs about Blues.

Blueberries May Preserve Brain Health: How A New Study Affects You

Blueberries have been honored with the “brain food” label for some time — even before we understood exactly what was meant by the term. For nutritionists, researchers, doctors, and even the layperson, it was clear that blueberries, especially the small, nutrient-dense wild blueberry, had an effect on brain clarity, brain performance, memory, and motor skills.

Through the years, researchers were able to understand more about why that moniker was so appropriate. They isolated components like antioxidants, and they began to gather data on which antioxidants affected brain function and brain aging. They discovered advantages for the heart, for cancer prevention, for inflammation, and for digestive and vision issues as well.

Research into brain health and blueberries is becoming well documented and better understood. Now, exciting new research reported last week provides additional evidence that a simple addition to the diet may help cognitive function and prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

New Research on Cognitive Health

The long-term study, conducted on humans by Harvard Researchers, is part of the Nurse’s Health Study. This study gathered data from 121,700 female, registered nurses between the ages of 30 and 55. They provided data beginning in 1976, and since 1980, reported on their food consumption and were tested for their cognitive function. The result of the study showed that those who ate more servings of blueberries and strawberries preserved their brain function to a greater degree than those who ate less.

The amounts consumed by nurses who were part of the study were completely manageable, topping out at around a serving or more per day, and the study showed the more intake the better. Those who consumed the most berries were able to delay cognitive aging by up to two and a half years. It will be no surprise to those who follow nutrition that some familiar compounds in these berries were at work: anthocyanidins (an anthocyanin counterpart) and flavonoids, which have powerful antioxidant properties, were found to be particularly effective in areas of intellectual performance, memory, and brain performance related to aging.

Brain Power & Blue

According to the study, smaller amounts of blueberries compared with strawberries were shown to make the difference in inhibiting cognitive decline. The study suggests, as reported in Huff Post Healthy Living, that eating one or more servings of blueberries or two or more servings of strawberries each week made the difference. These strikingly manageable amounts may be because of the concentrated nutrition, dark antioxidant-rich skin, and high skin-to-pulp ratio that is present in blueberries, especially wild blueberries.

Researchers allow that the study is not definitive – studies into the brain-berry connection is just beginning. For example, we have yet to understand exactly how these influential antioxidants work, and have not yet isolated the component that acts on the brain. We don’t yet know if these components act in conjunction with other components, or even with other foods. So what makes this study so important, and what does it mean to us as consumers right now?

Why This Study is Important to You

1) It will help change our behavior. According to press, the berry-brain study is the first large, epidemiologic study of the berry, something heartening to researchers and nutritionists alike. Studies devoted to nutritional health are simply less exciting and less funded than those that promise new, non-food breakthroughs. Too bad: the knowledge we obtain as a result can have major implications. This study provides crucial new information that substantiates a less-than-sexy but ultimately powerfully nutritious food. While there has been previous research into the benefits of eating blueberries, and in particular the benefits to the brain, this new research helps to add to the evidence and may actually begin to shift our behavior.

2) The amounts are easy to achieve. This latest study was on humans living a normal life. Unlike well-known studies of mice consuming highly concentrated unmanageable amounts of nutritional components, this study indicates that just a few servings per week is all it might take to create a major health difference. According to the lead study author, Dr. Elizabeth Devore, a “simple dietary modification” was used to tests cognitive health, and it’s one accessible to all of us.

3) Improvement is significant and measurable. Results of the study indicate that those who consumed the most antioxidant-rich berries showed the most significant reduction in cognitive decline, with the largest delay being two and a half years. This sort of outcome is not just helpful for the individual; it could also add up to major gains for society at large.

4) It has implications for Alzheimer’s disease. Berry consumption could be one way to combat one of the more dire health issues facing an aging population. Alzheimer’s Association experts say that cognitive decline develops over many years and early signs of decline could indicate future dementia or Alzheimer’s onset. By consuming berries, you may be doing much more than just improving brain fog or senior moments – you may be protecting yourself against a destructive age-related disease.

5) You can begin today. To begin brain health preservation, there is no doctor’s appointment and no prescription necessary. Simply getting a serving of wild blueberries today can mark the beginning of your efforts to maintain brain health as you age. Visit your grocery store, make a stop at the freezer case, and buy them frozen, so getting a serving every day is easy. It could be one of the best things you’ll do for your health and your head.

Begin Today. Find our where to buy wild blueberries wherever you are.

What’s So Great About Good Health

The Brain-Nutrition Connection & the Real Payoff of Being Healthy

We log time on the treadmill. We scrutinize our plates for nutrition. We watch our portions and increase our fruit and vegetable servings.

Why do we do it?

We want to be healthy. But what is good health? And why can “healthy” sometimes seem like it has a PR problem?

Here’s the “problem” with healthy:

You can’t show it off like a purse or a haircut.
Unlike a weight loss effort or 5K race, it’s constant, dynamic, and never-ending.
You can’t plan a party to celebrate the results – health benefits often occur 10, 20, even 50 years down the line.

So what’s to like about health? Where’s the flash? Where’s the sizzle?

Why Healthy Sizzles

First, health does have some immediate benefits to relish. While it may take decades to see some of the effects of disease prevention, health has advantages in the present as well. It may not be as noticeable as a Gucci purse, but good nutrition is something you can wear – you can see it on your face, in the brightness of your skin and the glow in your eyes, and in the clothes that fit you better. If you are healthy, you can achieve more because you feel better and stronger inside and out, and that’s pretty flashy.

But here’s the real sizzle: health contributes to living a better life. Superfood orginator Dr. Steve Pratt explains health and longevity this way:

“Brain heart, eyes—they all go together. Rarely do you see a brain that’s top notch and poor eyesight. It’s good for the eyes, it’s good for the brain and if it’s good for the brain it’s good for the heart.”

Being healthy means being healthy all over. We don’t want to age without it—getting older is not what it’s cracked up to be if we can’t see, we can’t move, and we can’t remember.

Your Brain IS Your Health

For today’s growing population of baby boomers, cognitive health and health is one and the same. Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline is a grave concern as our longevity potential grows. Without affordable genetic testing, most of us simply don’t know to what degree we are predisposed to diseases of the brain.

All we know is that having our health tomorrow means making efforts to prevent brain disease, among other diseases of aging, today. And if you think about it, the idea that prevention could be possible is as exciting as a purse, a 5K, or the biggest celebration. When you believe that, you’ve got your own definition of good health, and that’s the most important step toward achieving it.

Healthy Today & Tomorrow

According to Susan Davis, MS, RD, nutrition advisor to the Wild Blueberry Association of North America, “New research is really bearing out the idea that a diet rich in wild blueberries may help prevent cognitive decline.” AARP The Magazine named wild blueberries to its list of the most powerful disease-fighting foods. The research into wild blueberries and their positive effect on the brain in mounting. Areas of recent study include their potential for improving memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive impairment.

Notably, recent research shows wild blueberry supplemented diets could improve memory function and mood in older adults with early memory decline. The effect of a short-term blueberry-enriched diet on aged lab animals suggests that they may prevent and reverse a considerable degree of age-related object memory decline. And, in another study, researchers have found that the deeply colored berries enable “housekeeper” cells in the brain to remove biochemical debris, which is believed to contribute to the decline of mental functioning with age. It’s the natural pigments called anthocyanins that give the berries their deep-blue color as well as their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory power. They score twice as high in antioxidant capacity per serving as cultivated blueberries, making them the go-to berry for brain protection.

The bottom line is that something in a large blue bag in your freezer can be your definition of health. The intense benefit of wild blueberries is the best way we can think of to illustrate the potential of nutritional prevention. A small act of eating daily servings have the attention of nutritionists, scientists and consumers alike, especially those of retirement age and beyond. So put a little sizzle in your life (you’ll know it’s there). But do it today. And every day of your long, healthy life.

Read More: See the press release Wild Blueberries – Brain Food for Boomers? in MaineToday.

Can something delicious and readily available help protect you from cognitive decline? Babble attempts to answer with their post Blueberry Brain Boosters and enters their recipe for Fresh Blueberry Morning Bread, which is anything but medicinal, as evidence.

Blueberry Breakdown: Help Berries Help You!

It’s not just a Dr. Oz favorite food. It’s a superfruit people consume as part of favorite recipes or all by themselves the world over. That’s because of their unique taste, versatility, availability fresh or frozen, and big potential for health. Whenever we make an effort to get the most concentrated nutrition in the form of fruit and veggie servings, wild blueberries are the food millions turn to every day.

But as much as we love them, sometimes it’s easy to set our diet on berry autopilot. Maybe you’ve become a little complacent with your eating habits. Maybe your servings count has slipped from five to one or two – on a good day. Maybe your MyPlate plate looks more like a paper bag stamped with a P.F. Chang logo.

It happens. Every once in a while it’s worth taking stock of what the wild blueberries we rely on are doing to help us – inside and out – as a way to rekindle the flame that keeps our daily nutrition smoldering. Knowing the health advantages of wild blueberries is like doing your morning affirmations. Reinforcing the benefits can help keep blues and other healthy foods at the top of your list every day, where they should be. And every effort you make toward better nutrition in the course of a day adds up to big health payoffs over time.

Wild Blueberry Breakdown

Can’t quite recall what the wild blueberries benefits are? Not to worry. Here’s your blueberry breakdown of the five most compelling ways blueberries, especially wild blueberries, are benefiting your health.

1. Your Brain

When it comes to blueberries, the “brain food” moniker is earned, and antioxidants are the key. They protect against inflammation, which is thought to be a leading factor in brain aging, including Alzheimer’s disease. And blueberries, especially wild blueberries, are higher than nearly all other fruits when it comes to antioxidants. In addition, ongoing brain research shows that blueberries may improve motor skills and actually reverse the short-term memory loss that comes with aging. Other fruits and vegetables have been studied, but it was blueberries that were shown to be effective.

2. Your Cancer Prevention Efforts

Blueberries are especially potent when it comes to the body’s battle against free radicals, and research shows that blueberry compounds may inhibit all stages of cancer. Part of the ongoing research into the benefit of blueberries for cancer prevention includes the exciting studies conducted by Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., and Lynn Adams, Ph.D., of the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, who demonstrated the potential of blueberries to inhibit the growth of Triple Negative Breast Cancer, a particularly aggressive and hard to treat form of breast tumor. Studies into the link between blueberries and cancer continue, but researchers are already taking a stand – most say eating blueberries is akin to a daily dose of cancer prevention.

3. Your Heart

Who knew something so delicious could be such a life saver? Thank the berry’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents for its cardiovascular benefit. Research indicates that blueberries may protect against heart disease and damage from stroke, and scientists have found a blueberry-enriched diet may protect the heart muscle from damage and regulate blood pressure. What’s more, blueberries may reduce the build up of so called “bad” cholesterol that contributes to cardiovascular disease and stroke, making every blue platter a heart-healthy one, cross our heart.

4. Your Diabetes Risk

If you have an increased chance of getting diabetes (and today, 1 in 10 Americans have Type 2 diabetes, more than ever before) eating blueberries is a smart line of defense. Consuming low Glycemic Index foods causes a smaller rise in blood glucose levels than consuming high GI foods – an important consideration for people with diabetes. Wild blueberries scored 53 on the GI scale making them a clear low GI food and an excellent choice for those struggling with or trying to prevent diabetes.

5. Your Skin

Nature gave us skin damage and wrinkles. It also gave us high antioxidant foods to fight back. The anti-inflammation properties found in blueberries act as anti-aging agents, fighting off environmental hazards to the skin, protecting the skin from sun damage and even preventing wrinkles. Some studies suggest that eating blueberries regularly can even help improve acne-prone skin. Is it any wonder products like Blueberry Eye Firming Treatment are capitalizing on the blueberry benefits?

Wild Blueberries – On Every Plate.

We know fruit and vegetable intake is important. While all fruits are good, wild blueberries outperformed two dozen commonly consumed fruits like pomegranates, strawberries, cultivated blueberries, cranberries, apples and red grapes. Researchers are continuing their study into the anti-inflammatory potential of the polyphenols in blueberries, since chronic inflammation at the cellular level is at the heart of many degenerative age-related diseases. Besides the benefits listed above, blueberries hold other promise that has scientists engaged in ongoing research into their potential for mood enhancement, weight loss, appetite control, improvements in vision, and as pain fighters.

There are more than enough reasons not to let your nutrition flame-out. One clear solution that you can start implementing today is to put wild blueberries to work for you. Put them on your plate at every meal, and know you are doing something good for your health and disease prevention.

How much do I have to eat? Getting the recommendation amount of wild blueberries to make a difference is so doable! Recommended daily intake differs depending on age and gender, but approximately two cups of fruit is usually recommended for adults – easy to achieve throughout the day in snacks and as part of meals. And, at just 45 calories per serving, wild blueberries deliver substantial nutrients for every calorie consumed.

Find out more about the health benefits and recommended daily intake.

Need recipe ideas to rekindle your diet? Wild blueberries are easy to cook with and add surprising taste variations that make dishes shine. Search the Wild Blueberry Association’s database of recipes. It includes recipes from some of the best chefs and nutritionists guaranteed to refresh your palate and your plate!

Juice: The Beverage with Benefits

If you’re a juicer, you’re familiar with the benefits of getting fruits and vegetables in liquid fashion: drinking juice can be a fun, easy way to get your daily servings of fruits and veggies, as well as a way to incorporate some you might otherwise not eat.

At the same time, juice contains calories, and its name has been sullied by its link to obesity, especially in children. Too much juice, like too much anything, can contribute to weight gain, and juice is so drinkable it’s easy to consume a lot. However, recent studies have confirmed that drinking moderate amounts of 100% fruit juice doesn’t affect a child’s weight. And, if you are careful about differentiating between 100% juice and those cocktails and concoctions that contain additives, juice can triumph in the health arena because it provides more vitamins and nutrients per calorie than a lot of other things that might enter small (or big) mouths.

There are other reasons to love juice. While consuming the fruit of the juice and not the fruit itself means missing out on some fiber, researchers continue to look into the ways in which fruit offers particular advantages. For instance, pomegranate juice may lower cholesterol and even slow prostate cancer. Blueberry juice is popularly known to enhance brain health – a fantastic advantage, especially from such a naturally sweet package. The key to incorporating healthful juices comes down to avoiding fructose and the empty calories in juice “concoctions” that can take the bite out of its benefits.

Brain Boost from Juice?

While different types of juices promise targeted benefits, research indicates blueberry juice specifically excels in its potential to combat brain diseases. A study into the effects of blueberry juice published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry tested blueberry juice on people with age-related memory disease. After drinking 16 to 20 ounces of blueberry juice every day for two months, the group showed significant improvements in learning and memory over the control group.

What’s happening in the brain that leads to this remarkable brain benefit? Here’s the rundown: blueberries contain polyphenols that we know as anthocyanins. Anthocyanins provide the important antioxidant effect (which is why blueberries are known as a top antioxidant superfruit). Antioxidants in turn provide an anti-inflammatory effect, which is responsible for aging and disease in all parts of the body, including the blood vessels, eyes and the brain. Also, anthocyanins have been associated with increased neuronal signaling in brain centers. That improves memory function, and improves glucose disposal, which can prevent neurodegeneration—neuron death in the brain that can lead to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

What’s most exciting is that wild blueberry juice may provide more than just a memory boost – it could be responsible for a breakthrough in understanding how to prevent these devastating brain diseases. The sample in this study was small, but it marks an advance because the testing occurred on humans, not animals. Scientists concluded that the preliminary findings were encouraging and that “consistent supplementation with blueberries might offer an approach to forestall or mitigate neurodegeneration,” – definitely a juicy endorsement.

Juices & Health

You may have heard that cranberry juice is good for urinary infections, and grapefruit juice is a weight loss sensation, but what’s apple juice good for? Here’s UK’s Daily Mail list of juices that provide benefits from beets to carrots. (Concerning apple juice, the research says it’s also good for brain health—and digestion).

TrueBlue® Provides a New Chance to Get Your Juice

Get ready to welcome some new blues to store shelves. A new product out of Vancouver called TrueBlue™ offers up some sensational superfruit flavors including Wild Blueberry, Wild Blueberry and Pomegranate, and Wild Blueberry and Blackberry juice. They all feature 100% juice, not to mention a they’re a great way to nourish your brain with wild blueberries in a whole different way. Currently found primarily in health foods stores, TrueBlue™ has appeared on the West Coast, and its availability is expected across the U.S.

The company is also making efforts to educate consumers about ingredients and competitive labels in a program called “Learn the Truth” where polysyllables are simply not welcome. (The TrueBlue™ label makes for easy reading: there’s no filler or apple or pear juice, which can sometimes pose as filler, in their product.)

Start channeling Jack Lalanne! Discover great 100% juice recipes, including recipes that use juice as their sweet secret and integrate those important fruit and veggie servings into some unlikely places such as breads and desserts.

Can You Clean Your Brain? New Research Shows Berries Can Eliminate Brain “Debris”

It sounds as wonderful as it does impossible: that our brain can be cleaned, restored, and refreshed by eliminating harmful clutter. There’s some brand new research indicating that this clean sweep is no new age fantasy, and it may be achieved by what we eat.

The latest scientific research reveals that what is cluttering up the brain and leaving us susceptible to its diseases of aging such as Azhiemer’s and memory loss can be tidied up through berries – specifically blueberries, strawberries and acai berries, frozen or fresh. The concept marks a leap in a compelling area of science focused on maintaining the health of the brain. It also strengthens an already compelling link between diet and prevention.

The study was presented at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, and it showed that berries (and possibly walnuts), activate the brain’s natural “housekeeper” mechanism, which cleans up and recycles toxic proteins linked to age-related memory loss and other mental decline.

If all this talk of garbage and recycling sounds more like working at a landfill than working on your health, here’s some new concepts to start thinking about:

Brain “Debris”

Previous research has suggested that one factor involved in aging is a steady decline in the body’s ability to protect itself against inflammation and oxidative damage. This damage results when normally protective cells become overactivated to the point that they damage healthy cells. This is, in a sense, the origin of brain debris, or the buildup of biochemical waste. This waste of the nervous system collects during aging, essentially gumming up the works. Without a little cleanup, this can prevent the brain from working the way it should.

Brain “Cleansing”

Now that we have the dirt, we need the broom. Enter cells called microglia. They are the housekeepers of the brain that in normal functioning collect, remove, and actually “recycle” the biochemical debris in a process called autophagy.

This process can be hindered as we get older, and without this “sweeping” process, we are left with the buildup. As a result of this slowing of the natural protective process, we are left vulnerable to degenerative brain diseases, heart disease, cancer, and other age-related disorders.

Restoring a Cluttered Brain

We know that natural compounds called polyphenolics found in fruits and vegetables have an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect that may protect against age-associated decline. Shibu Poulose, Ph.D. and James Joseph, Ph.D., (Joseph passed away in June; you can read our rememberance of Jim Joseph here) did the latest research that takes these details and ties them directly to the berries in question.

The research by Poulose and Joseph suggests that the berries’ polyphonolics are responsible for what they call a “rescuing effect”. They restore the housekeeping action – the normal function of sweeping away debris – that hinders the function of the brain.

A Growing Area of Study

While we are already aware of the disease preventing effects of polyphenols, this “rescuing” process has been previously unrecognized by researchers. It furthers the science behind an important link between diet and maintaining healthy brain aging.

Keeping diseases of the brain at bay seems to be more and more within reach by accessing the great foods that surround us. As research into the astonishing benefits of berries continues, researchers continue to provide compelling data about their disease preventing power – and that means hope for all of our aging, cluttered brains.

Grim Alzheimer’s News Hides Hints of Hope

If you read the recent news concerning Alzheimer’s prevention, you know it led with less than hopeful headlines. Reports revealed that studies investigating measures of prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, such as antihypertensive drugs, omega-3 fatty acids, physical activity, and cognitive engagement, are so far proving to be ineffective.

Those who either have Alzheimer’s in their family or have simply been focused on prevention, may have thought they were helping themselves with supplements, exercise, and cognitive “work outs”. These latest findings show their efforts may have been for naught. However, buried in the data was some hopeful news: while loading up on salmon and doing crossword puzzles may not help preserve brain function, the data does indicate that dietary patterns are – in some way – connected to warding of the disease and cognitive decline.

A Baffling Brain Disease

In a previous post, we discussed the struggle to understand this disease which continues to affect millions. While the latest news does not get us any closer to pinpointing measures of prevention, it does mean that researchers are continuing to gather information to help us understand it. What’s more, those involved in the independent panel convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) who reviewed the data did find a relationship between heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and physical exercise. In reaction to these findings, Maria W. Carrillo, PhD, senior director of medical and scientific relations of the Alzheimer’s Association, said aptly, “What is good for your heart is good for your brain.”

Hints of Hope Hinge on Fruits & Veggies

More specific was the panel’s inclination to focus on the relationship between nutrition and cognitive preservation. “The two components that keep popping up are a reduction in saturated fat and an increase in fruits and vegetables,” said one member of the panel. Despite the lack of evidence for some touted prevention measures, those who concentrate their efforts on eating well may possess the secret weapon.

The connection between the brain and fruits and veggies is inescapable – time will tell just how vital their role is in keeping our brains healthy along with our bodies.

Anti-Aging Uncovered Part II: Alzheimer’s, Aging & The Brain

In the quest to uncover the secrets of youth and longevity, the foremost concern is the brain. If we can extend our lives by remaining mobile and disease free, that must include diseases that wreak havoc on our ability to understand and process information from the world around us. Preserving brain function generally means preserving memory.

While it seems all we hear is bad news about poor health and growing obesity rates, the modern lifestyle, taken as a whole, has provided human beings with improved diets, more health conscious lifestyles, and improved social involvement, all crucial elements to life extension. As a result, our life expectancy has increased; many of us expect to live into our 80s and beyond. Consequently, as the population ages, issues of senility and Alzheimer’s have become epidemic. More than 5 millions people have Alzheimer’s disease today and are dealing with its devastating effects.

An Alzheimer’s Epidemic

At the same time, there have been exciting strides in understanding the aging brain. Today, because of this understanding, we no longer feel that senility is just an inevitable part of getting older. We also know that Alzheimer’s disease targets certain segments of the population and is connected to the genes and is therefore inheritable. Also, researchers have found that regular memory loss that accompanies aging and memory loss associated with Alzheimer’s disease happen in two very distinct parts of the brain.

One of the groundbreaking discoveries in research on the aging brain has revealed that aging degrades certain types of memory while leaving others intact. Memory occurs in the temporal lobe, but within this temporal lobe, differences are clear. These differences are in the “declarative system” – which can be considered a sort of conscious, readily available memory for things like people and places – and the “nondeclarative system” – an unconscious or gained memory of sorts, such as memory for a learned motor skill or for perception and experiences.

While we might consider these both “memory” (we “remember” how to play tennis or that we have a fear of dogs, just as we “remember” what we had for breakfast or who our friends are), they are in fact not unified systems at all. Consider a patient who, because of a disease of the brain, cannot remember relatives or store any memory of meeting or seeing people that he or she has just seen early in the day. Then, consider that this patient can learn a skill over the course of several days and improve upon it. In both of these scenarios memory seems to be at work, but the two systems are not connected.

Has Rick Castle Solved the Mysteries of the Brain?

The nature of this disconnection is not known. However, we do know that this “declarative” or conscious memory system is susceptible to age, whereas the “nondeclarative” memory (or skill at tennis and our fear of dogs) is much less susceptible. We can see evidence of this in an episode of Castle this season, a prime time procedural about solving murder cases. As part of the episode’s plot, a man who may have witnessed or committed a murder had lost his memory. He had no recollection of who he was, where he lived, or who he was married to. In an effort to determine his identity, the quick-thinking detective asked the man to sign something. With pen and paper in front of him, he signed effortlessly, and his name was discovered.

The sly Rick Castle realized that although the man could not recall his name (declarative memory) he would still be able to sign his name (nondeclarative memory) because it was something he had repeated so often, it had become second nature – the act of moving the pen was a motor skill, like driving, not a conscious recollection of what he was writing. While access to one type memory had been blocked, the other was wide open.

While a prime time murder series shouldn’t be considered a reliable source for science, the scene seemed to have a handle on the idea that different types of memory occur in different systems, and while one can be eroded or wiped clean, the other can remain intact. Finding out what portion of the temporal lobe is in charge of the declarative and nondeclarative systems can play an important role in isolating the disease discovered by Dr. Alzheimer back in 1906.

Brain Aging & Cholesterol Metabolism

Isolating Alzheimer’s disease is one step toward the achieving the ideal: anti-aging. If we can preserve brain function, along with body function, we can delay the aging process. Unfortunately, we cannot currently modify our genes or treat Alzheimer’s disease or the memory loss that comes with the aging brain. We can only take precautions by understanding its risk factors. Researchers have discovered that one of the risk factors appears to be how the body handles glucose. Studies of the genetic code of those with Alzheimer’s disease appear to suggest it is connected to cholesterol metabolism.

One of the normal processes in our body is that it releases insulin from the pancreas and allows the muscles to metabolize it. But as we age, we all become a bit insulin resistant. For some, this can lead to type-2 diabetes, an age-related disease. For others, it may not lead to a diagnosis of diabetes, but it can still pose challenges to the aging body.

Knowing that increases in insulin are risk factors provides important knowledge in the prevention of this disease. For example, lately there has been much interest in eating foods with a low glycemic index as part of a healthy diet. Understanding the glycemic values of food makes healthy meal planning easier especially for people with diabetes. A food’s glycemic load measures both the type and quantity of carbohydrate consumed, telling us how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar and how much of that carbohydrate a particular food contains. (While research is currently underway to evaluate these claims, GI foods may also have an effect on weight loss and appetite control.)

When we talk about “brain food” we are talking about food that is good for our brain because of how efficiently our body can process its glucose. Foods with a low glycemic load keep our glucose levels steady and can keep us clear headed – perhaps not just in the short term but in the long term. So, when it comes to preventing diseases of the aging brain, one thing we can do is watch our glucose intake and take measures to prevent diabetes.

What else can we do to prevent aging in the brain?

1) We can exercise – our bodies and our minds. That the healthy brain is associated with a healthy body is not just lip service. Moreover, high brain function is related to social engagement and intellectual activity. Cognitive involvement, especially social involvement, is a major factor in preserving brain function.

2) We can hope for a cure. First stage Alzheimer’s disease is known to affect the synapses of the brain, not the cell itself. This means that if caught and treated early, because cell death is not occurring, chances are good that the brain could repair itself. At the same time, finding the gene responsible for Alzheimer’s does not automatically mean there will be a cure. (Consider the search for the right drug to treat Huntington’s disease: while the gene can be isolated and families can be tested, finding out you have the gene only means you can prepare, not be cured.) It is, however, a first step.

3) We can embrace the benefits of the aging brain. While age-related memory loss and Alzheimer’s can occur, there are other benefits to growing old with the brain you have. The aging brain retains wisdom and perspective. Anxiety generally decreases in the aging brain. And, while details may be lost, the big picture is not: the aging brain appears to retain is ability to grasps the “gist” of things – a benefit that is both advantageous and valued.

Interested in more information on Alzheimer’s Disease? The Alzheimer’s Project is a series of films produced by HBO which provide an in-depth look into the scientific advances being made in research and medical understanding of this disease.

Participate in Alzheimer’s Research. Scientists are making great strides in identifying potential new interventions to diagnose, slow, prevent, treat, and someday cure Alzheimer’s disease. Currently, more than 90 drugs are in clinical trials for AD, and more are in the pipeline awaiting Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to enter human testing. Find out about how to be part of a trial or study at the National Institute of Aging.

Educate Yourself & Find Support. The Alzheimer’ Association can help you to understand the warning signs of aging and provide you with avenues for support when it comes to living with this disease.

The Charlie Rose Brain Series was used as a source for some of the information in the above post.