A healthy serving of vegetables. - Barbara Ellington/Lifestyle Editor

Here's another reason to boost your intake of fruits and vegetables - what you eat affects your brain health. What you eat and how you live can affect memory, mental acuity, concentration and possibly help prevent Alzheimer's disease, according to a recent article in Environmental Nutrition's January newsletter.

Research from the Chicago Health and Aging Project suggests that older folks who eat at least two cups of vegetables a day can slow mental decline by about 40 per cent more than those who eat less than one serving a day. Eating fruit did not offer the same mental benefits; what people put on veggies (e.g., salad dressing or margarine, which both contain vitamin E) may give vegetables the edge.

Still, many animal studies suggest that the antioxidants in certain fruits - notably blueberries - help reverse age-related declines in thinking and neuromotor skills by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain. While researchers caution they don't know if the cognitive benefits seen in animals translate to humans, the research suggests a way the brain might protect itself from mental decline.

- Environmental Nutrition

Dining out

Eating out can sabotage healthy eating plans. Here are some guidelines from Harvard Medical School on making good choices:

At a pizzeria, choose plain cheese pizza or pizza with vegetable toppings instead of meat toppings. Plain cheese pizza (181 calories) and vegetable pizza (188 calories) both weigh in with about seven grams of fat and 460 milligrams of sodium. By contrast, meat pizza (234 calories) has 12 grams of fat and 611 milligrams of sodium. [Source: USDA]

In an Italian restaurant, ask for breadsticks instead of bread, and ask for oil and vinegar on the side to dress your own salad. Order pasta with red sauce such as marinara instead of such creamy white or butter sauces as alfredo. Choose chicken dishes instead of meat and sausage dishes. Have a cappuccino for dessert.

In a Chinese restaurant, choose steamed rice instead of fried rice, steamed dumplings instead of fried, and vegetarian entrees that include a number of different vegetables.

In a Japanese restaurant, pass up tempura in any form because fried food should be avoided.

In a Mexican restaurant, choose salsa instead of sour cream or cheese dips. Choose dishes made with plain, soft tortillas that aren't fried, such as burritos, soft tacos and enchiladas. Have black bean soup as a first course.

In a cafeteria or food-buffet restaurant, fill your plate with plain vegetable side dishes before you go for the meat. Look for grilled, broiled or flame-cooked chicken, fish and lean meats, and avoid anything breaded, batter-dipped or fried. If there's a salad bar, concentrate on crisp, crunchy vegetable and bean mixtures; leave the potato, macaroni and tuna salads behind.

- IntelliHealth.com