Nutrients to protect brain featured

link Sheryl Borden

Creative Living

Information on hiring a team for a remodeling project, foods and nutrients to protect our brain, and re-doing a teen’s bedroom on a budget will be the featured topics on “Creative Living” this week.

Showtimes are at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday and noon on Thursday.

Why is it important to hire the right team when doing a remodeling project? Jenny Rausch is an interior designer, and she’ll explain what typically makes up a good team and share some of her thoughts about undertaking such a project.

Elizabeth Somer, a registered dietitian and author, will explain what foods and nutrients can help to protect your brain and keep you smart today and down the road. She’s a part of the “Beautiful Minds” program. She lives in Salem, Oregon.

Bruce Johnson is going to show how to re-do a teen’s bedroom on a budget. He’ll also explain how the environmentally friendly bedroom re-do features soap and water cleanup.

Information on removing scratches and dents on furniture, making tin can sheets of paper, and new cleaning products on the market will be the featured topics on “Creative Living” episodes scheduled for noon Tuesday and 2 p.m. Saturday.

Furniture refinishing expert Lynn Hack Gerhart will show how to remove scratches and dents on furniture, how to remove varnish and other finishes and how to protect and seal unfinished wood.

Arnold Grummer, author and professional papermaker, will show how to make tin can sheets of paper. Using items from the kitchen, Grummer will show how anyone can quickly and easily make their own homemade paper.

Chef and cookbook author, Marcie Rothman will share some handy hints for making kitchen cleanup easier and more sanitary. She’ll show new cleaning products on the market that make cleanup a breeze.

‘Beautiful Minds’

Today we know that up to 66 percent of brain aging is within your control and diet plays a huge part in that (social connectedness, challenging your brain, and staying physically fit are the other three brain-health factors).

Eating and living right at any age can help to grow new brain cells, increase connections between cells, and even expand your memory center — the hippocampus.

That is what the “Beautiful Minds” program is all about. “Beautiful Minds” is a partnership between the National Center for Creative Aging (NCCA) and DSM Nutritional Products. It is a national health education campaign designed to empower Americans to develop and maintain healthy, beautiful minds by focusing on the four dimensions of brain health: both physical and mental health, social well-being, and nutrition.

People who eat the traditional Mediterranean diet think more clearly, have better memories, and are at lower risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Recent studies report improvements in thinking by following this eating style. This is the more traditional diet, which is packed with produce, nuts, olive oil, some seafood, and a little red wine.

Is fish really a brain food? Your brain is greasy, but in a good way. More than 60 percent of it is fat. Unlike the lazy fat stored on the hips or belly, fat in the brain is a worker bee. It makes up the cell membranes that surround each cell and the insulation sheath around neurons that allows thoughts to travel fast from one cell to another. The more fluid and flexible those membranes, the faster you react, the more you remember, and the more creative and clever you are.

The most fluid fats are the omega-3s, and the brain must love the omega-3 DHA, because 97 percent of the omega-3s in your brain are DHA. An accumulating body of research shows that children, adolescents, and young adults think better, perform better on tests, and react faster when their diets are optimal in DHA.

A recent study found that children performed up to 50 percent better on reading tests when they supplemented with the DHA, and studies (including the MIDAS study) find that seniors remember more and might even be at lower risk for cognitive decline when daily intake averages between 220 and 900 milligrams.

Note: your body can’t make this fat. It has to come from the diet.

“Creative Living” is produced and hosted by Sheryl Borden. Contact her at:

[email protected]