Great News! Many Holiday Favorites are Actually Good for Your Brain! This holiday season, there's a good chance you're going to eatyour fill of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pecan pie. And you'llprobably polish it all off with a good cup of coffee. And if you're tempted to feel guilty about chowing down on all yourholiday favorites, maybe this'll make you feel better: Many traditional holiday favorites are actually good for your brain! Stuffing, for example, is chock-full of bread crust, which is rich in antioxidants.And researchers say that the ursolic acid found in cranberries can improvecognitive function by increasing the brain's sensitivity to insulin.It can also correct metabolism errors caused by obesity and protect againstbrain damage immediately following a stroke. And as for that pie and coffee, you'll be happy to know that a recentstudy conducted at the Center of Cellular Neurobiology at the Universityof Massachusetts recommends eating about a handful of pecans every dayto delay the progression of age-related motor neuron degeneration. Andthe Journal of Alzheimer's Disease published a study indicating thatthe caffeine in coffee at least partially blocked the production of aprotein that can clog the brains of Alzheimer's patients, as wellas stimulate the production of GCSF, improving communication between neurons. More pie, anyone?