ActiveAging

1 R Special Advertising Section | Sunday, March 28, 2021 17 it. Plus, putting a puzzle together with family and friends is a fun way to connect. Doing puzzles related to your hobbies and interests — such as Disney characters, fields filled with colorful flowers, different breeds of dogs or anything else you like — can make the project visually stimulating and more fun. Beat boredom with board games There’s no better way to beat the digital doldrums than having a game night with family and friends — vir- tual game nights count, too. Classic games like checkers, dominoes and chess involve strategic thinking to defeat your opponent. Word-related board games like Scrabble, Boggle, Upwords and Dabble help stimulate memory, sharpen focus and promote learning new vocabulary. Whether you’re using deductive reasoning to guess whodunit in Clue or attempting to broker a property trade in Mo- nopoly, the wide array of game-night options can provide hours of fun social interactions while you exercise mul- tiple parts of your brain. Play your cards wisely Card games like poker, bridge, pinochle, euchre and rummy have brought players together around a table to shuffle, cut, deal and hope for a favorable hand for decades. Games like these require strategy, math skills, reasoning, logic, decision-making and more! If you’re not feeling up for a virtual card game with others, solitaire is a tried and true favorite. Staying mentally fit is an essential part of a healthy, active aging lifestyle. Any of these suggestions offer a fun way to take a break from electronic de- vices and give your brain the workout it needs. ACTIVE AGING women who regularly ate yogurt with probiotics experienced improvements in brain function. Look for the Live & Active Cultures (LAC) seal Some yogurts are heat-treated after they’re fermented — a process that de- stroys the finished product’s beneficial active cultures. The International Dairy Foods Association created a special seal to mark which yogurts contain live and active cultures. The Live & Active Cultures (LAC) seal appears on yogurt containers for products that contain “significant amounts of live and active cultures.” Look for the LAC seal to ensure that the yogurt you’re buying has these important benefits. Which yogurt is for you? Yogurt comes in several different types. You might try a few varieties before deciding which one is best for you. Regular-fat yogurt uses whole milk, low-fat is made from 2% milk, and nonfat is typically made from skim or 0% milk. If you can’t tolerate dairy or don’t consume animal products, nondairy yogurt alternatives have grown in popularity, and many of them contain probiotics. They’re made from dairy- free ingredients such as soy, almonds, coconut or oats. Greek yogurt is strained during pro- duction to remove extra liquid, making it thicker and creamier than regular yo- gurt. Greek yogurt has become popular due to its protein content and because it can serve as a substitute for foods like sour cream, buttermilk and cottage cheese. While higher in protein, Greek yogurt might contain less calcium. Another way to make sure your gut is happy is to drink kefir, a drinkable form of yogurt that contains probiotics. Avoid excess sugar and additives Try to avoid yogurt that contains too much sugar, artificial sweeteners or other unhealthy additives. Ingesting too much sugar can elevate blood pres- sure and cause systemic inflammation, negatively impacting gut bacteria. For healthier options, look for yogurt with less than 15 grams of sugar. Koelsch Communities has been family-owned and -operated for three generations, providing 60 years of signature services to families. Our continued success is compelled by our founding principles as we strive to serve our residents with respect, dignity and compassion. Information: koelschseniorcommunities.com Yogurt Continued from page 9 Games Continued from page 15