Challenges
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Quick Win
The extra protein may make the dish more filling and bring you important nutrients.
Try This Today
- Swap beans for ground beef in tacos, burritos, wraps or chili.
- Scoop nut butter into oatmeal or hummus onto a bagel. You can even top the hummus with your favorite veggies, tomatoes or cucumbers.
- Add chickpeas, nuts or seeds to your favorite salad to add an extra dose of protein and turn a simple salad into a more nourishing meal.
Why
Ongoing research suggests that diets rich in beans and nuts, like the Mediterranean diet, may help protect the brain against memory decline. Among 512 people ages 59-86, those who ate the Mediterranean way had fewer plaque deposits in their brains and better memory, in a study reported in 2021 in Neurology. In a larger diet study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2021, people ages 30 to 75 who had adequate protein intake, especially plant-based protein, had lower odds of cognitive decline over four years than those with low protein intake.
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