Lake Oconee Dentistry October 2017

4 WAYS YOU MAY BE ABLE TO PREVENT DEMENTIA B reItSt rts

exercises. Check out eldergym.com for more info on staying active as you age. Heart-healthy eating may also protect the brain. Limit your intake of sugar and saturated fats and eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Replace butter and margarine with olive or canola oil. Two diets that have been linked to heart health are the DASH diet (dashdiet.org) and the Mediterranean diet. Frequent social engagement may help keep your brain sharp. Make efforts to speak face to face with someone you’re close to as often as you can. Try to make new friends, volunteer, join a club or social group, get to know your neighbors, or connect with people over social media. Mental stimulation may also be important to brain health as we age. Study something new to you, such as a foreign language or a musical instrument. Make reading books and newspapers part of your regular routine. Try doing crossword or sudoku puzzles. It’s not difficult to find an activity you enjoy that will also help keep your brain active. REFRIED BEAN POBLANOS With Cheese

From the moment you wake up in the morning, it feels like a dense fog fills your head. When you drag yourself out of bed and go to make yourself a plate of eggs and toast, it suddenly seems like a much more complicated task than before. You lose track of time, and the smell of smoke enters your nostrils. Frantically turning the burner off, it occurs to you that you can’t remember the day of the week. According to Time Magazine, 47 million people around the world live with some type of dementia. Typically, as we age, we’re told that all we can do is hope for the best and bide our time until there’s a cure, but recent research by the Alzheimer’s Research Center paints a different picture. A set of simple lifestyle changes may be the key to staving off cognitive decline as we get older. Regular exercise has been shown to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s by up to 50 percent, according to Help Guide, and it can even slow the onset of already-present cognitive decline. Walk or swim for about 150 minutes each week, along with two to three sessions of moderate resistance training, as well as balance and coordination

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Ingredients • 4 medium poblano

• 1 cup (4 ounces) pre- shredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend • Chopped fresh cilantro (optional) • Snipped fresh basil • Grated Parmesan cheese

chilies, halved and seeded • 1 (16-ounce) can fat-free refried beans • 1 (8.8-ounce) pouch microwaveable cooked long-grain rice • 1/2 cup picante sauce

to look through our candy before we could dig in. It was always strange how we were missing a few chocolate candy bars after my dad’s inspection. I prefer gummy candies now, so my kids always hide their gummies before letting me look through their candy. I remember trick-or-treating at houses that gave out apples instead of candy, and I was always disappointed by the healthy treat. Those feelings stayed with me until I was an adult, and when Patti and I got married, we decided we weren’t going to be the house that handed out apples and toothbrushes. We wanted kids to enjoy trick-or-treating at our house, and we love to see all the hard work the kids put into their costumes. So, we hand out candy like many of our neighbors. I hope you have a safe and happy Halloween. See you soon! — Dr. David

Instructions 1. Place chili halves, cut sides up, on a round microwave- safe plate. Cover with wax paper; microwave on high 3 minutes. 2. While chilies cook, combine beans, rice, and picante sauce in a medium bowl, stirring well. Spoon bean mixture into chili halves. Cover with wax paper; microwave on high 2 minutes. 3. Uncover chilies, sprinkle each half with 2 tablespoons cheese, and microwave on high 1–2 minutes or until cheese melts. Sprinkle with cilantro, if desired.

Recipe courtesy of CookingLight.com.

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