What is the MIND Diet? Your Complete Guide + Meal Plan + Shopping List

Over the last few years, research has been coming about how dietary patterns can affect brain health and the cognitive decline that’s associated with aging. 

Using these results, researchers developed the MIND diet.

Unlike other diets that are focused on weight loss, it’s specifically designed for brain health and protecting against diseases like Alzheimer’s, thanks to its emphasis on antioxidant-rich foods. 

Let’s take a closer look at the MIND diet, the types of foods it recommends, and its potential benefits for your health. 

What is the MIND Diet? 

MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. 

As you can tell from the name, it’s a combination of two popular diets: the Mediterranean Diet and the DASH Diet. 

While they have subtle differences, both the DASH and Mediterranean diets emphasize eating more whole foods, particularly fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.

And in terms of health benefits, both diets have been shown to reduce the risk of several chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. 

The MIND diet takes inspiration from these two diets but with an emphasis on foods that have been linked with benefits for brain health and reduced risk of dementia. 

What can you eat on the MIND diet? 

While there aren’t any calorie or macronutrient guidelines, the MIND diet encourages eating more of these ten foods and limiting (or avoiding) five other categories. 

The 10 foods emphasized on the MIND diet include: 

1. Green leafy vegetables: at least 1 serving per day. Unlike the Mediterranean diet, which just encourages eating a variety of vegetables, the MIND diet specifically encourages eating leafy green vegetables daily. 
2. All other vegetables: at least 1 serving per day. In addition to getting a serving of leafy greens each day, the encourages eating at least 1 serving of other types of veggies daily as well. 
3. Berries: at least 2 servings per week. Another recommendation that’s unique to the MIND diet, only berries are specifically recommended. According to the developers of the MIND diet, this is because berries, but not fruits in general, have been associated with improvements in brain functioning (more on this below). 
4. Nuts: at least 5 servings per week. As nuts are a rich source of healthy fats and vitamin E, they’re encouraged on the MIND diet. 
5. Olive oil: use as the main cooking oil. Similarly to the Mediterranean diet, the MIND diet encourages using olive oil as the main cooking oil as it is rich in vitamin E and monounsaturated fats. 
6. Whole grains: aim for 3 servings per day. Specifically, it’s recommended to consume as many minimally processed whole grains. This means choosing steel-cut or rolled oats for breakfast rather than whole-grain Cheerios. Gluten-free, pseudo-grains are also included in this recommendation, like quinoa and amaranth. 
7. Fish: at least 1 serving per week. As omega-3 fatty acids have been linked with brain health, focusing on fatty fish, like salmon, sardines, tuna, or trout is encouraged. 
8. Legumes: at least 4 servings per week. Specifically, it’s encouraged to include beans, chickpeas, lentils, or soybeans in at least 4 meals per week. 
9. Poultry: at least 2 servings per week. This includes any non-fried preparations of chicken or turkey.
10. Wine: no more than 1 glass per day. Another similarity to the Mediterranean diet, wine is included in the MIND diet due to an antioxidant called resveratrol, which is found in wine and is linked with brain health protection. However, wine is not a must. You can follow the MIND diet without drinking as well. 

And while these foods listed above are the ones to focus on in your diet, they aren’t the only foods you can eat. Unless listed below as a food choice to limit/avoid, feel free to include items that aren’t mentioned. 

For example, the MIND diet has recommendations for berries, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat other types of fruit as well. 

The 5 foods to limit or avoid: 

1. Butter/margarine: less than 1 tablespoon per day. Ideally, the MIND diet wants you to use olive oil, but there’s still a little wiggle room if you just really enjoy a little butter in your diet. 
2. Cheese: 1 serving or less per week. This includes all hard and soft cheeses, regardless of fat content. 
3. Red meat: 3 servings or less per week. This includes all beef, lamb, pork, game meats, and products made from these meats. 
4. Fried food: less than once per week. Fried food, and fast food in general, is strongly discouraged on the MIND diet. 
5. Sweets: less than 4 servings per week. Again, the MIND diet recommends limiting these as much as possible, but there’s still a little wiggle room. This category includes candy, pastries, baked goods, and all processed sweet treats.

Does the MIND diet help protect against cognitive decline? 

Unlike the Mediterranean and DASH diets, research on the MIND diet itself is still relatively new (the first official paper on it was published in 2015). As a result, studies are currently limited to just a few observational studies. 

However, a controlled trial is currently underway, so keep your eyes peeled in the next few years once data from it start rolling out.

Okay, so with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s discuss what the research has shown so far. 

In the first study of the diet, researchers assigned a MIND diet score to the diets of 960 adults who were already enrolled in the Memory and Aging Project (MAP). Note that prior to enrollment in MAP, none of the participants had dementia or other signs of cognitive decline. 

Individuals with the highest MIND diet score (meaning that their diets were closest to the MIND diet guidelines) experienced a significantly slower decline in brain function over 4.7 years than those with the MIND diet lowest score. 

Another study of 923 individuals from the MAP cohort looked at the potential relationship between the MIND diet and Alzheimer’s disease.

Over 4.7 years, the study found that individuals who followed the MIND diet the closest had a 57% lower risk of developing Alzheimer‘s compared to those who followed the diet the least. 

What’s more, even individuals with moderate compliance to the MIND diet still had a 35% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s. 

Recently, a study out of Australia found that a higher MIND diet score was associated with significantly reduced odds of cognitive impairment over 12 years. 

Finally, a 2018 observational study of 706 participants from the MAP cohort found a link between the MIND diet and a decreased risk and slower progression of Parkinson’s Disease over 4.6 years.

Summary: While the research is currently limited, early observational research suggests that good compliance to a MIND-style diet may help risk of cognitive decline and diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. 

Why the MIND diet may be good for brain health 

As mentioned above, there’s still a lot we don’t know about the MIND diet, including if and why it could help prevent cognitive decline and the onset of diseases like Alzheimer’s. 

However, the diet was designed based on foods, nutrients, and dietary patterns that previous research has shown either benefit or may potentially harm brain health. 

For example, leafy greens are rich in vitamin K, which is important for brain cell membranes. And whole grains are a good source of magnesium, which has also been researched for its potential role in protecting against neurological disorders. 

But overall, one of the main theories of why the MIND diet is good for brain health is that the foods it emphasizes are rich in antioxidants or anti-inflammatory compounds. 

In particular, antioxidants found in berries and vitamin E found in olive oil, nuts, and leafy green vegetables are thought to be good for brain health and functioning by protecting brain cells from damage due to oxidative stress. 

Finally, omega-3 fatty acids, especially those found in fatty fish, have been associated with reduced inflammation and the protection of brain health. 

What are beta-amyloid proteins? And what do they have to do with brain health? 

Another theory is that the foods on the MIND diet may also help inhibit the production of beta-amyloid proteins. 

Beta-amyloid proteins are naturally occurring protein fragments in the body. However, when they accumulate, they can form plaques that can build up in the brain. 

While more research is needed, some researchers hypothesize that this plaque buildup may have an important role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease. 

So what does this have to do with the MIND diet? 

Well, many foods in the MIND diet are high in vitamin E, folate, flavonoids, and carotenoids, all of which have been shown in animal or test tube studies to help prevent the buildup of beta-amyloid proteins. 

But again, we still need much more research before this theory can be confirmed. 

Sample 5-day meal plan on the MIND diet 

So what does the MIND diet look like in practice? Here’s a sample 5-day meal plan to give you some inspiration. 

Monday

• Breakfast: Steel-cut oatmeal topped with blueberries and slivered almonds. 
• Lunch: Burrito bowl made with brown rice and topped with beans, fajita vegetables, avocado slices, and fresh salsa. 
• Dinner: Homemade baked oatmeal-crusted chicken tenders served with a spinach, strawberry, and walnut salad. 

Tuesday

• Breakfast: Whole wheat toast with almond butter, sliced banana, and sprinkled with chia seeds. 
• Lunch: Lentil and kale soup with a side of fresh fruit. 
• Dinner: Salmon veggie stir-fry topped with cashews and served over quinoa. 

Wednesday

• Breakfast: Unsweetened Greek yogurt with raspberries, mixed nuts, and a drizzle of local honey. 
• Lunch: Mixed green salad with roasted chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, cucumbers, and sliced red onions. Tossed with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette. 
• Dinner: Veggie-baked pasta made with whole wheat penne. 

Thursday

• Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with spinach, cooked in olive oil and seasoned with fresh or dried herbs. Served with whole wheat toast and avocado. 
• Lunch: Mediterranean grilled chicken and veggie wrap with hummus and a side of almonds. 
• Dinner: Bean and veggie chili. 

Friday 

• Breakfast: Green smoothie made with spinach, frozen fruit, flax seeds, and milk of choice. 
• Lunch: Homemade vegetable curry with chickpeas or lentils over brown basmati rice. 
• Dinner: Fish tacos with a side of purple cabbage slaw tossed with an olive oil and lime vinaigrette. 

The bottom line 

The MIND diet is similar to the Mediterranean and DASH diets in that it emphasizes the intake of whole, minimally processed foods. 

To support brain health and potentially reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, the MIND diet focuses on the intake of antioxidant-rich berries and leafy green vegetables. 

It also includes whole grains, fish, nuts, poultry, and olive oil, while limiting the intake of red meat, fried foods, cheese, butter, and sweets. 

While promising, more research is needed on whether or not this diet is effective in reducing the risk of cognitive decline and neurological conditions.

Still, as the diet is filled with nutrient-rich foods, the MIND diet is still a healthy option worth trying.