A: While there is no prescription for a Parkinson’s Disease specific diet, a healthy lifestyle is a big part in improving your overall health and wellbeing. The right foods, along with the right medications, can help ease your symptoms and help maintain your overall health.
Keep in mind when looking at your diet, the food you eat and the medications you take can impact each other. Be sure to follow your physician’s directions for timing of medications, if you need to take them with or without food, and if the medication interacts with any specific types of food.
Your diet is not just the foods you eat. It is a way of life and can affect your energy, your mood and your overall brain function. Eating a diet full of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and protein can improve your health.
There are two leading diets known for promoting brain health, the Mediterranean diet and the DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension or high blood pressure) diet. A combination of both approaches is called the MIND diet. It is considered an intervention for neurodegenerative delay.
The MIND diet is an eating pattern. It states which foods to include in your weekly meals and which foods to limit or avoid. You want to include green leafy vegetables, berries, whole grains, nuts, beans and legumes, poultry (not fried) and fish (not fried). It states to limit or avoid butter, cheese, red meat, and pastries and other sweets.
Do not worry about being perfect at this approach to eating. The good thing about this approach is that even people who only followed the diet moderately well still saw a 35 percent reduction in their risk for Alzheimer’s disease. This shows the importance of even trying to make some changes towards this eating pattern.
So often if we cannot follow a plan perfectly, we may give up completely. This diet will have positive changes to your brain health even if you do not follow it perfectly, so make the changes that you can fit into your lifestyle and work towards these goals.
When you have Parkinson’s Disease, you also want to eat to help ease symptoms. Constipation is a common symptom of Parkinson’s Disease. You can minimize this symptom by drinking at least 6 cups of water a day, increasing your fiber intake, exercising regularly, eating smaller, frequent meals, and eating water filled fruits and vegetables.
Difficulty swallowing is another symptom of Parkinson’s Disease that can lead to weight loss. Adjust your diet to foods that are easier to swallow such as mashed potatoes, pudding and other soft foods.
If you need to increase your weight add caloric good fats to your diet including nuts, avocado and coconut. Limit sugar, which can increase sleeping difficulties and cause a spike in your blood sugar, which increases inflammation.
There are some resources that will provide more in-depth information. You can download a free guide on diet and brain health from the Michal J. Fox Foundation at https://www.michaeljfox.org/form/diet-and-brain-health-guide. There are also some fact sheets you can download from the Parkinson’s Foundation at https://www.parkinson.org/library/fact-sheets/nutrition
Being proactive towards your overall health and mindful in your approach to eating will benefit you in the long run. Start with small, realistic changes and work towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle to ease your symptoms. In a time when many things may feel outside of your control, do what is in your control to increase your overall good health.
Martha Shapiro can be reached at Senior Concerns at 805-497-0189 or by email at mshapiro@seniorconcerns.org.
