What you eat shapes your brain — for decades. Mediterranean-style is the most studied pattern. No food is banned. Start with the top 5 actions below.
From midlife, your body needs more protein to hold onto muscle. Spreading it across 3 meals works better than one big serve at dinner.
Red meat, eggs, fish, chicken, and full-fat dairy are excellent choices. They also pack in iron, B12, and other nutrients in forms your body absorbs well.
Oily fish gives you omega-3 fats that build your brain cells. Two 150g serves a week is the target. Sardines from a tin count — they're cheap and easy.
Don't eat fish? An algae-based omega-3 supplement is the next best option.
Variety matters more than quantity. People who eat 30+ different plants a week have the most diverse gut bacteria — which links to better brain health, mood, and lower inflammation.
Every type counts: a sprinkle of parsley, half an apple, a few almonds — all on the list.
Extra virgin olive oil is the single most-studied food for heart and brain health. The big PREDIMED trial showed it cut heart events and slowed thinking decline.
Buy cold-pressed. Store it away from heat and light. Use it everywhere.
Ultra-processed foods — packaged snacks, sugary drinks, ready meals with long ingredient lists — are linked to higher dementia risk and heart disease.
This is not the same as all processed food. Tinned fish, frozen veg, and Greek yoghurt are fine. The target is the stuff you couldn't make at home.
Multiply your weight in kg by 1.0 to 1.2. That's your daily protein target in grams. A 70kg person needs 70–84g a day.
Most adults in this age group don't even hit 1.0g/kg. Track your food for 3 days to see where you're starting.
Cereal, toast, or fruit alone is mostly carbs. Adding protein at breakfast helps your body build muscle through the day. Eggs, Greek yoghurt, smoked salmon, or last night's leftovers all work.
Don't overhaul. Pick two meals where you don't normally eat veg and add one. Spinach in eggs. Roast veg next to your dinner protein. A handful of tinned legumes thrown in.
Most Australians eat well under 25g a day. Fibre cuts heart risk, feeds gut bacteria, steadies blood sugar, and keeps your bowels healthy. Track for 3 days to find your starting point.
People who cook most nights eat far less salt, bad fats, and processed ingredients than those who eat out a lot. The win is control over what goes in — not gourmet meals.
Added sugar (in drinks, sauces, packaged food) drives insulin problems and inflammation — both raise dementia risk. Sugar in whole fruit, dairy, and veg behaves differently and isn't the issue.
Read labels on the things you eat most. Fix the top 2–3 sources first.
The Lancet Commission 2024 lists too much alcohol as one of 14 things that raise dementia risk in midlife. The old idea that a glass of red wine protects you has been pulled apart — when researchers fix the flaws in earlier studies, the protective effect disappears.
The program doesn't tell you to give up alcohol. But it doesn't endorse any amount as brain-protective either. If you drink, less and less often is better. If you drink heavily, cutting back is one of the biggest wins you can make.
High homocysteine (above 11) is linked to faster brain shrinkage. The VITACOG trial showed that fixing it with B vitamins slowed brain loss by 30% in people with mild memory issues.
You don't need to supplement blindly. Get the test. If your levels are off, B12 or folate is usually the fix and it's easy. B12 deficiency is common if you eat low amounts of meat, fish, eggs, or dairy.
A 2025 review of 22 studies found people with the lowest vitamin D levels had 49% higher dementia risk. But supplementing when levels are normal hasn't been shown to help.
The smart move: get tested. In Queensland, sun is usually enough — but desk workers, shift workers, and people with darker skin can run low. A simple GP blood test sorts it out.
Eating in a fixed window (like 7am to 7pm) lines up with your body clock. Animal studies and small human trials show benefits, but the direct brain evidence in older adults isn't strong enough yet to call it a must.
Treat this as one to try if it suits your life — not a rule. Skip it entirely if you have any history of disordered eating.
The Mediterranean way of eating is the most-studied pattern in dementia prevention. It's not a strict diet — it's a framework: lots of vegetables, legumes, wholegrains, olive oil, nuts, fish, and moderate red meat.
No food is banned. The overall pattern is what matters. We don't push a plant-only approach — red meat, eggs, and dairy are part of the picture, not the enemy.
Your nutrition runs on four areas. Get these right and most of the noise drops away.
Month 4 — Nutrition Fundamentals. This is where we go deep on why most diets work short-term and fail long-term, how to work out what your body actually needs, and how to build a way of eating that fits your life.
You'll also learn to read nutrition headlines critically — so you stop second-guessing yourself every time a new study hits the news.
The actions above are your foundation. Start them now and Month 4 lands much harder.
reMYnd is a prevention program, not a clinical treatment. Speak with your GP before making big changes to your diet, medication, or supplements — especially if you take blood thinners, diabetes medication, or have a history of disordered eating. © reMYnd by Naomi Ferstera — remynd.com.au