You didn’t misread that title.
The only misleading part is that it should really finish with “11 years younger.”
That’s right — consuming a big salad every day is associated with the brain being 11 years younger.
That is according to a study of 960 people ages 58–99 who completed food questionnaires and had multiple cognitive assessments over about 5 years.
The findings held true even after adjusting for age, sex, education, participation in cognitive activities, physical activities, smoking, alcohol consumption, and other lifestyle factors.
Specifically, the people who consumed the most green leafy vegetables daily — a median amount of just 1.3 servings per day — were able to slow their cognitive decline by the equivalent of being 11 years younger in age.
Eating a large salad every day is one of the simplest ways to reduce brain aging. Just load up your plate with dark leafy greens such as spinach, kale, or arugula.
It is important to always add a fat source as well — like an egg, avocado, a piece of fatty fish, or a tablespoon or two of extra-virgin olive oil, according to brain expert Max Lugavere (bestselling author of Genius Foods and The Genius Life). This aids nutrient absorption of important compounds found in the leafy greens.
Lugavere calls this a “fatty” salad — eating a large one every day is an ideal way to load up on your veggies and keep your mind sharp at the same time.
This would be the perfect lunch during your workday to fuel your mind for top performance.
But it doesn’t really matter when you eat the salad — just make sure it’s a part of your daily routine to reap the powerful brain benefits.