We’ve said it all along, and the research supports it. Want to avoid dementia? Then avoid meat and dairy. It’s so mainstream, it’s on the front of CNN.com.

Here’s an excerpt:

Eating a diet rich in healthy fats and
limiting dairy and meat could do more than keep
your heart healthier. It could also help keep you
thinking clearly.

New research shows that sticking to the
Mediterranean diet, previously shown to reduce
heart and other health issues, also may help
lower the risk of having small areas of dead
tissue linked to thinking problems. Known as
brain infarcts, they’re involved in vascular
dementia, the second most common form of
dementia, after Alzheimer’s disease.

“We’ve got these diseases of aging that cause
disability, cost a ton of money to treat and
manage, and wreck people’s lives,” said Dr.
Gregory Cole, a professor of medicine and
neurology at the University of California, Los
Angeles, who was not involved in this new study.
“You’ve got to get in there and figure out what
actually works for prevention, and not have
people guessing.”

A Mediterranean diet includes a lot of fruit,
vegetables and fish, olive oil, legumes and
cereals, and fewer dishes containing dairy, meat,
poultry, and saturated fatty acids than other
diets. It also involves small to moderate amounts
of alcohol.

A Mediterranean Diet has less of what’s bad for you in it. It’s definitely better than the Standard American Diet, but not nearly as good as a healthy plant-based diet.

The closer you eat to a 100% plant-based diet, the healthier you can be.