Getting older and losing at least some of your memory seems to just go together.

But as we all age there are some ways to fight memory loss by adding certain foods to our diet.

According to Diane Morris, a registered dietician and health care specialist with US Food Service, heart health and brain health go together.

"We want to stay healthy and we kind of forget about the brain," she said. "I think it's because it's disconnected from the rest of the body. We don't always think of the brain as an organ as well, and as more research comes out there's more of a brain/heart connection.

"Social interaction is an important part of keeping your brain healthy."

Morris spoke to a group of health-conscious seniors last Thursday during Eat to Remember - Top 10 Foods that Fight Memory Loss, a luncheon sponsored by The Holbrook of Lake Lanier.

She identified and spoke about 11 foods that lead to heart and memory health while attendees enjoyed sampling the memory-aiding foods.

Morris said the best food to prevent memory loss is the blueberry.

"It has the highest number of antioxidants of all fruits or vegetables," she said. "The cells hold onto the free radicals, and if your body is not healthy or you aren't eating the right foods to feed the cells, those environmental free radicals will enter the cell and cause the cell to die, starve, and that's when disease will start."

Chef Dean LaMaine, dining service coordinator at The Holbrook of Lake Lanier and Dogwood Forest, came up with all the dishes served at the luncheon that featured the top 10 foods for memory. The Holbrook is an active-adult community and Dogwood Forest is an assisted-living facility, both located in Gainesville.

To highlight blueberries, LaMaine created the Best Ever Blueberry Cobbler.

"I use fresh blueberries - they are never canned, which you actually could use frozen blueberries," he said. "I sweeten them up with sugar, orange juice, real butter ... actually, real vanilla.

"If you were going to make something like that at home you would use 2 pints of blueberries and half a cup of sugar. You could do peaches that way, apples that way - I'm pretty creative so I try to ... use whatever I've got to use. I'm on a budget."

LaMaine said he lets the blueberries sit overnight with the orange juice and sugar to make them even sweeter.

Salmon, Morris said, is also a heart-healthy food that helps prevent memory loss.

"With salmon, you have the omega-3 fatty acids," she said. "When you find those, it will help with memory loss; it's an anti-inflammatory and we've also seen that it's an antihistamine.

A perfect portion is about 3 ounces, and Morris added that the "American Heart Association recommends that twice a week eating a fatty fish."

Grapes also are a great fruit for memory retention, so LaMaine incorporated the sweet, juicy fruit into Pork Tenderloin with Red Grapes and Herb Cream Sauce.

The grapes give pork "a sweeter flavor. It's a good combination with cream sauce," he said. "A lot of people don't think it is, but it is. It is different; it makes it sweeter. The cream sauce is just basically heavy cream, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, all-purpose flour, crushed thyme, and I use Carnation evaporated milk. And then I use a bunch of grapes.

Morris said grapes, along with apples, are important for everyone's diet.

"We've got the green, red, purple, black - we have a variety of grapes," she said. "Grapes also have vitamin C and fiber. Those are very important in your diet. With grapes is called anthocyanins, which is a flavonoid that helps with memory. Another one is called quercetin ... that is another phytochemical that you will see with grapes; the skin of apples and the white of the apple, too."

Eggplant also helps reduce memory loss. A hearty way to prepare eggplant at home is Eggplant Rollatini. The eggplant is battered and lightly fried for the Italian dish.

Incorporating some or all of these memory-aiding foods in your diet may seem difficult, but Morris disagrees.

"Some people will say, ‘I can't change my diet, it doesn't taste good' or ‘it's too expensive' or ‘there's no flavor,'" she said. "One cup of raw fruits or vegetables and a half a cup cooked vegetables is a standard serving size. Phytochemicals are the ones that give all the beautiful colors to fruits and vegetables - all of those are there to help you with your memory."