Heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes continue to be leading causes of death among older adults, based on the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (saving lives and protecting people…CDC).  They also provide the following:                                                               

Baby Boomers for the next 25 years equating to over 70 million people can live longer lives with them combining to double the population of older Americans in the next quarter of a century.  Baby Boomers can take steps to live long and healthy lives as opposed to a lot of their parents who died much younger.   Living healthier will play a positive impact on the health care system.  Starting a step towards prevention or treatment (Rx) of a present disease that you can improve is a mission we Americans owe to ourselves, our young ones, and to our nation’s future.

Through healthy dieting and behaviors (Ex. activity, nutrition, staying in your therapeutic body mass index, controlling stress both physically and mentally, oral health and dealing with any disability reaching the optimal health level you can reach) you can reach a healthier way to living.  If the majority of our nation lives healthier, shows progress in promoting prevention, improving the health and well-being of older adults with reducing behaviors that contribute to premature death and disability will increase a healthier population in the U.S.

Baby boomers should do the following with diet and exercise:

Get Screened

Get screened including flu vaccine, pneumonia vaccine, colorectal cancer screening, and mammography for women.

Mammography is the best available method to detect breast cancer in its earliest, most treatable stage before it is big enough to feel or cause symptoms. Women aged 50 and over should get mammograms every two years.

Colorectal cancer screening tests can find precancerous polyps so that they can be removed before they turn into cancer. They can also detect colorectal cancer early, when treatment works best. Older adults should be screened for colorectal cancer by having a fecal occult blood test during the past year or a colonoscopy within 10 years.

Get Vaccinated

Flu and pneumonia is the seventh leading cause of death among adults 65 years or older, despite the availability of effective vaccines. Older adults should get the flu vaccine every year and get the pneumonia vaccine at least once.

Be Physically Active

Regular physical activity is one of the most important things older adults can do for their health. Physical activity can prevent many of the health problems that may come with age, including the risk of falls.

How Much Activity Do Older Adults Need?

2 hours and 30 minutes (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., brisk walking) every week and muscle-strengthening activities for 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups.

OR

1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (i.e., jogging or running) every week and muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups.

OR

An equivalent mix of moderate and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity and muscle strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups.

Eat Fruits and Vegetables Daily

Diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of some cancers and chronic diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Quit Smoking

Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. For help visit www.smokefree.gov.

Take Medication for High Blood Pressure and Diabetes

High blood pressure & Diabetes is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, it’s one of the leading causes of illness and death among older adults. More than ½ of Americans don’t have their blood pressure under control.  Complianceis so essential in treating HTN, Diabetes or any disease including what your M.D. feels you need as a medication, if needed.  The only way to find out is by seeing your health care providers, such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, who can track their patient’s blood pressure, prescribe once-a-day medications, and give clear instructions on how to take blood pressure & diabetic medications.

Patients should take the initiative or responsibility to monitor their blood pressure and sugar levels (finger sticks) between medical visits and know what abnormal values to report to their MD.  Including taking their medications as prescribed, tell their doctor about any side effects, and make lifestyle changes, such as eating a low-sodium/low-calorie diet, exercising, and stopping smoking.

Do you want a better body, or a healthier society making our country America better overall?, than go no further and click onto healthy usa.tsfl.com. that will give you the direction to reaching both a better body and society if enough do it.   Healthyusa.tsfl.com provides you with information that you get to decide in choosing whether or not to use.  We provide through Dr. Anderson and his book “Dr. A’s healthy habits” and even provided your own private health coach me (an RN 25 years plus).  This is no donation site, no hacking website, just a site providing information on how to live a healthier life.  I hope

How to stay healthy with acid reflux-GERD-Part 2.

Understanding what GERD is, its causes, its symptoms, the effects it has on your body and the way your body responds to specific treatments is necessary to help you devise a plan with your activities of daily living, including diet, to help manage the condition.  If you haven’t seen my Part 1 just click on it onto my webpage than read yesterday’s article part 1 than read this.   All you can do is apply your own GERD diet experimentation to the suggestions of others and try available treatments until you find what works for you.  Also, there are foods that have a reputation for being ‘safe’ (foods to avoid acid reflux) in most cases, as well as others that are known for being main contributors to acid reflux.

I recommend you go tohttp://www.gerd-diet.com which helps explain about foods and how they work with GERD.  They do state the following:                                       

Armoring Yourself with Patience and Willingness to Experiment (meaning this takes time in finding out what exacerbates your GERD and what helps it heal—Like an open wound, it takes time.)  Sorry,There Is No One-Size-To-Fit-All With-A-GERD Diet (for relief or resolution).

Your Own Trigger Foods.

Given the complex nature of GERD, this one has to be added. I know it is repetitive, but everyone has certain foods that irritate their condition and causes severe symptoms. Make a list of these foods and avoid them in the future.  This means make a journal for the next 2 weeks or more and see what caused your GERD symptoms to remember them with not eating fast which can cause GERD also (habit change).

GERD Diet FoodsA List of Food Groups and What Is Safe and Best to Avoid

The following lists are comprised of foods that are typically known to be ‘safe’ or to ‘trigger’ symptoms.

Again, just because something is on the “avoid” list does not mean that you cannot eat it. Similarly, something appearing on the “safe” list does not guarantee that it will not cause a problem for you. This is simply provided as a guideline to give you a place to start and to make it easier for you design your own personal GERD diet.

At this point, there is no alternative medicine therapies that have been accepted as proof for treatment(s) or 100% resolution for GERD.

However, like every other aspect of the disease, it really is an individual decision. Some people have reported natural remedies that have given amazing results with their GERD diet (healthier approach) while others find that prescription medications have little effect (meds can cause side effects temporary or permanently, depending on what it is).

GERD can be due obesity, lifestyle (unhealthy habits) and diet. **It is recommended to see an MD first before making any decision on your own in treatment with a combination of or just one of the following: meds, diet or even health habit changes, especially for those people with disease/illness (s) present (Ex. Diabetes, cardiac disease, etc…).**  If you need help with your GERD in prevention or treatment, that is primary or secondary care, than stay on this webpage which can help you out with your healthy GERD plan.

**We can show you many healthy habits to use in your daily  life regarding what foods are healthy in eating (using all 4 food groups), how to properly eat your meals, how to lose weight effectively because of obesity, how to maintain an ideal weight, know what healthy activity/exercise is for you (non-strenuous to work out) and lastly knowing how you control or increase your metabolism with how it works with the different food groups, including the size of the meals you eat.  You make the choices of what foods you want in your body.  You will be able to treat yourself to foods high in fats, carbohydrates or sugars occasionally when you reach your therapeutic ratio of your body mass index=BMI (ideal weight).  I hope you join me like so many others that were so happy with our results and how it financially keeps you within your budget (not unreachable).

*You take a look for yourself and I think you may just like what you see.  No gimmick, No hacking, No contract, No fee, and No donations it’s just a look at the website healthyusa.tsfl.com.**

*I have been a RN a quarter of a century, have seen disease from oncology units to cardiac units (telemetry, ICU, Pulmonary care units), to all types of med surg., to rehab facilities, to spinal cord injuries and amputee units & could go on with my experience.  I have worked from sea to shining sea, NY to California.  I saw what unhealthy habits have done to many people regarding their bodies, of all ages, in the U.S.  I will try every attempt not to end up like that but be healthier in living my life with staying out of facilities within my ability.  I’m not just a sales person with a pitch.  I even have GERD due to eating too fast over the years as a RN and did learn and practice healthier habits.  Join me and so many others where you can make yourself healthier and then even possibly others with just passing on what you have learned.  You may even get this urge to pass this knowledge on to others, like I did.  Spreading this kind of lifestyle all over can only help our country with decreasing many numbers of diseases that we have inflicted on ourselves regarding certain diseases (Ex. Obesity, Diabetes II, Cardiac, Lung Cancer, GERD etc…) due to living unhealthy lifestyles with poor diets.   Let us make a healthier USA for us now and in the future generations to come.   I hope you have found this article educational and useful in learning about understanding how the disease GERD works with knowing the symptoms that can arise when it’s active with some of the treatments.

****If you would like to know more about these healthy habits in getting to your ideal weight through your diet, activity/exercise and food groups with knowing how and when to eat healthy foods than go take a peek at healthyusa.tsfl.com.  I hope you come aboard where Dr. Anderson with his book “Dr. A’s healthy habits” , myself as a free health coach and our foods (in you choosing the foods) which can get you in the right direction to help you stay healthy and overall feel better with having high odds of living a life longer.

While you can, treat it or prevent it before something like CANCER happens which GERD can cause in time!

Each year, Mayo Clinic doctors diagnose and treat more than 28,000 adults and children who have gastroesophageal reflux disease. Mayo Clinic specialists are skilled in distinguishing GERD from other disorders that may cause similar symptoms.

Gastroesophageal Reflux DiseasePrevalence:  Reflux symptoms at least weekly: 20 percent of the population (2004)¹⁵Ambulatory care visits:  8.9 million (2009)⁶Hospitalizations:  4.7 million (2010)⁵Mortality:  1,653 deaths (2010)¹⁰Prescriptions:  64.6 million (2004)⁸

What is acid reflux?  A GI disease that is caused by a valve located between the esophagus and stomach, which normally is a strong muscular ring of tissue.  This valve normally opens and closes completely preventing food backing up (called reflux) in the esophagus allowing the contents to reach the throat to the mouth.  With acid reflux, what happens is this valve gets over expanded frequently to the point the valve gets overstretched and no longer fits over the opening between the esophagus and the stomach with a tight fit.  Due to loss of the elasticity it now is allowing leakage from the stomach with both food and fluids going up the esophagus to the throat to the mouth due to the action of reflux, during the digestion process.  What happens during digestion the stomach contents with digestive fluids (which are acidic) are refluxed, that are not normally in the esophagus. In conclusion, reflux sends stomach contents that’s returning (an acidic environment) upward in the esophagus which is now in an environment not use to being exposed to the digestive fluids =acidity, which are needed to perform the digestion process of our foods/fluids that are in the stomach only.   This leakage of the valve is the cause of this problem occurring=GERD or BETTER KNOWN AS gastrointestinal reflux.

When you don’t have GERD food and fluids when swallowed go down the esophagus to the valve where it opens letting the contents into the stomach, where digestion takes place in about 1-2 hours after eating. Normally the valve is tight enough in preventing reflux=no leakage (the primary purpose of its function).  This means during digestion the food gets into the stomach which is broken down into smaller particles by the digestive acid fluids allowing the nutrients to pass into the bloodstream with the waste products staying in the stomach but when stomach digestion is complete it passes all the waste products onto the smaller intestines to the larger intestines to the rectum to be evacuated, without leakage or reflux.

The signs and symptoms (s/s) of GERD or acid reflux:

1-Heartburn is the classic GERD symptom. It’s best described as a burning sensation in the chest and/or discomfort in the upper belly or abdomen accompanied by a feeling of fullness.  

2- Regurgitation is the involuntary return of partially digested food from the stomach into the mouth.  This uncomfortable symptom is commonly caused by GERD, since the esophageal sphincter (valve) is damaged to such a severe degree that the stomach juices (acidotic) can freely reflux to the level of the throat or mouth.

3-Pain present behind the sternum (chest pain) to the upper mid abdomen (where the stomach is).  If severe call your M.D. or doctor to have evaluated (especially if in the chest).

4-Chronic cough to hoarseness  5-Recurrent pneumonias  6-Bloating 7-Nausea 8-Vomiting (yellow/green)

9-Lump in the throat 10-Difficulty swallowing 11-Chronic sore throat 12-Laryngitis 13-Post nasal drip

14-Ear Aches 15-Tooth decay or gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) or bad breath this is due to the acid fluids with the foods and fluids regurgitated back to the mouth from the stomach.

Complications that are caused by GERD when left untreated: 1-Narrowing of the esophagus called esophageal stricture.  This is due to damage to cells in the lower esophageal from acid exposure that leads to scarring of the tissue.  The scar tissue narrows the food pathway causing difficulty to swallow called dysphagia.                                                         

2-Esophagitis – inflammation of the esophagus.  This constant backwash of acid can irritate the lining of your esophagus. Over time, the inflammation can cause complications such as bleeding or breathing problems leading  into this condition Esophagitis. *

3-Esophageal Ulcers – Due to frequent exposure to acidic fluids and foods to the esophagus the mucosa gets irritated so bad it will even erode the mucosa causing skin ulceration.  The esophagus environment is not use to the stomach’s = acidic.  Take the outer skin of the body, if exposed long enough to acidic chemicals the skin will burn.  Same principle for the esophagus constantly  exposed to the environment of the stomach’s content of acidic fluids every time digestion takes place.

4-Precancerous changes to the esophagus (Barrett’s esophagus).  In Barrett’s esophagus, the color and composition of the tissue lining the lower esophagus change.  These changes are associated with risk of esophageal cancer.  The risk of cancer is low.  Cancer is rare but can happen (adenocarcinoma of the esophagus).

Risk factors=Conditions that increase the risk of GERD would include:   Obesity, Pregnancy, Smoking, Dry Mouth, Diabetes, Asthma, Connective Tissue Disorders like scleroderma, delayed stomach empting, Zollinger-Ellison syndrome (ZES) (This is a rare disorder characterized by one or more tumors in the pancreas, duodenum, or both. The tumors cause the stomach to make too much acid, leading to peptic ulcers in the duodenum. The tumors are sometimes cancerous and spread to other areas of the body.).

The key to treatment is prevention but if already with the Ds. GERD than it would be maintenance.  There is no one answer but start with being checked by your physician if you have any symptoms indicative of this diagnosis.  Start with a getting a very good diagnostic tool ordered by your doctor called an Upper GI series (endoscopy) and when it’s done it will tell the M.D. a lot in what’s going on.  Then there is medications as a remedy, that can be useful, they are classified as proton pump inhibitors to H2 Inhibitors with more.  Another great key to the treatment is your LIFESTYLE=Diet (not eating acid foods, not eating fast), activity/exercise, your height compared to your weight (BMI or simply what you weigh) and lastly if you practice healthy vs. unhealthy habits.  If you would like to learn more about this come back tomorrow to my web page when I go further on the topic GERD (part 2) regarding the diet for the disease.  Including how you can access information in helping you learn how to lose weight effectively, with how to access healthy habits through Dr. Anderson who even wrote a book on healthy habits and has lived a life just like his book.  I hope you found this article helpful and if you’re interested already in getting access on the information go to healthyusa.tsfl.com.  I HOPE YOU TAKE A PEEK!  Catch Part 2 on GERD TOMORROW!

More Tips for Avoiding Alzheimer’s Disease

The beauty of following a healthy diet is that it helps treat and prevent all chronic degenerative diseases, from the common ones like heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity and Alzheimer’s to the ones you have never heard of or can’t even pronounce.

The first step is to eat healthy, maintaining exercise balanced with rest and practice healthy habits in addressing Alzheimer’s disease, which is currently at epidemic proportions, with 5.4 million Americans – including one in eight people aged 65 and over – living with the disease.

^{7 By 2050, this is expected to jump to 16 million, and in the next 20 years it is projected that Alzheimer’s will affect one in four Americans. People we need to live healthier if not to help ourselves our future young ones.}

In spite of how common^{memory loss is among Westerners, it is NOT a “normal” part of aging.  While even mild “senior moments” may be caused by the same brain lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, these cognitive changes are by no means inevitable! People who experience very little decline in their cognitive function up until their deaths have been found (post-mortem) to be free of brain lesions, showing that it’s entirely possible to prevent the damage from occurring in the first place and one of the best ways to do this is by leading a healthy lifestyle.}

^{Fructose. As mentioned, most everyone will benefit from keeping their total fructose consumed to below 25 grams per day.}

Improve Magnesium Levels.

There is some exciting preliminary research strongly suggesting a decrease in Alzheimer symptoms with increased levels of magnesium in the brain. Unfortunately most magnesium supplements do not pass the blood brain levels, but a new one, magnesium threonate, appears to and holds some promise for the future for treating this condition.

Optimize your vitamin D levels with safe sun exposure.

Strong links between low levels of vitamin D in Alzheimer’s patients and poor outcomes on cognitive tests have been revealed.

Researchers believe that optimal vitamin D levels may enhance the amount of important chemicals in your brain and protect brain cells by increasing the effectiveness of the glial cells in nursing damaged neurons back to health.

Vitamin D may also exert some of its beneficial effects on Alzheimer’s through its anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. Sufficient vitamin D is imperative for proper functioning of your immune system to combat inflammation that is also associated with Alzheimer’s.

^{Vitamin B12: According to a small Finnish study recently published in the journal Neurology,9 people who consume foods rich in B12 may reduce their risk of Alzheimer’s in their later years. For each unit increase in the marker of vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin) the risk of developing Alzheimer’s was reduced by 2 percent. Very high doses of B vitamins have also been found to treat Alzheimer’s disease and reduce memory loss.}

Eat a nutritious diet, rich in folate, vegetables, without question, are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh raw veggies every day.

High-quality animal-based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. (I recommend avoiding most fish because, although fish is naturally high in omega-3, most fish are now severely contaminated with mercury.) High intake of the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA help by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease, thereby slowing down its progression, and lowering your risk of developing the disorder.

Avoid and remove mercury from your body.

Dental amalgam fillings, which are 50% mercury by weight, are one of the major sources of heavy metal toxicity, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed.

Avoid aluminum, such as antiperspirants, non-stick cookware,^{vaccine adjuvants, etc.}

Exercise regularly.

It’s been suggested that exercise can trigger a change in the way the amyloid precursor protein is metabolized, thus, slowing down the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s. Exercise also increases levels of the protein PGC-1alpha. Research has also shown that people with Alzheimer’s have less PGC-1alpha in their brains11 and cells that contain more of the protein produce less of the toxic amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer’s. I would strongly recommend reviewing the

^{Peak Fitness Technique for my specific recommendations.}

Avoid flu vaccinations as most contain both mercury and aluminum, well-known neurotoxic and immunotoxic agents.

Eat plenty of blueberries.

Wild blueberries, which have high anthocyanin and antioxidant content, are known to guard against Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases.

Challenge your mind daily.

Mental stimulation, especially learning something new, such as learning to play an instrument or a new language, is associated with a decreased risk of Alzheimer’s. Researchers suspect that mental challenge helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

AVOID ANTICHOLINERGICS and ^{STATIN DRUGS.   Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain nighttime pain relievers, antihistamines, sleep aids, certain antidepressants, medications to control incontinence, and certain narcotic pain relievers.}

Statin drugs are particularly problematic because they suppress the synthesis of cholesterol, deplete your brain of coenzyme Q10 and neurotransmitter precursors, and prevent adequate delivery of essential fatty acids and fat-soluble antioxidants to your brain by inhibiting the production of the indispensable carrier biomolecule known as low-density lipoprotein.

At one time Alzheimer’s disease was a disease considered with unknown etiology (or cause).  Today it is considered different in the eyes of many in the medical profession.  By a Dr. Mercola a physician who founded Mercola.com (Mercola.com is now the world’s top natural health resource site, with over 1.5 million subscribers.) feels this about alzeiher’s disease:

“The cause of the debilitating, and fatal, brain disease Alzheimer’s is conventionally said to be a mystery.

While we know that certain diseases, like type 2 diabetes, are definitively connected to the foods you eat, Alzheimer’s is generally thought to strike without warning or reason.

That is, until recently.

Now, a growing body of

research suggests there may be a powerful connection between the foods you eat and your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, via similar pathways that cause type 2 diabetes.  Some have even re-named Alzheimer’s as “type 3 diabetes.”“

Can You Eat Your Way to Alzheimer’s?

In a recent animal study, researchers from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island were able to induce many of the characteristic brain changes seen with Alzheimer’s disease (disorientation, confusion, inability to learn and remember) by interfering with insulin signaling in their brains.

Know that faulty insulin (and leptin, another hormone) signaling is an underlying cause for insulin resistance, which, of course, typically leads to type 2 diabetes. However, while insulin is usually associated with its role in keeping your

^{blood sugar levels in a healthy range, it also plays a role in brain signaling. When researchers disrupted the proper signaling of insulin in the brain, it resulted in dementia.}

What does this have to do with your diet?  Let us go back to one of my articles on diabetes and how it impacts your diet.  It states “The foods we eat that contain starches, carbohydrates, calories are made up of sugar.  When food reaches our stomach in time digestion starts to take place where these foods are broken down in the stomach into individual or complex sugar molecules ( glucose being one of the most common and important ones).  The glucose then passes from our stomach into our bloodstream when it reaches the liver 60 to 80 % of the glucose gets stored in that organ turning glucose into inactive glucose that’s converted to glycogen.  The purpose for glycogen is when our glucose is low and our body needing energy we have this extra stored sugar, glycogen,  to rely on.  This is done by the liver which allows the sugar to be stored and released back into the bloodstream if we need it=energy,  since nothing is in our stomach at that time, in that case scenario).  When glucose=an active sugar, it is our energy for our cells and tissues and is a sugar ready to be utilized by the body where it is needed,  by many organs.  Think of a car for one moment, and what makes it run?  That would be gas/fuel for it to function.  The same principle with glucose in your bloodstream=fuel for the human body so we can function, for without it we wouldn’t survive.  That is the problem with a person that has diabetes.  They eat, they break the food down, the glucose gets in the blood but the glucose fuel can’t be used due to lack of or NO insulin at all.  Insulin allows glucose to pass into our cells and tissues to be used as energy/fuel for the body parts to work.  Glucose is used as the principle source of energy (It is used by the brain for energy, the muscles for both energy and some storage, liver for more glucose storage=that is where glucose is converted to glycogen, and even stored in fat tissue using it for triglyceride production).  Glucose does get sent to other organs for more storage, as well.  Insulin plays that vital role in allowing glucose to be distributed throughout the body.  Without insulin the glucose has nowhere to go.”

So how does this impact your brain thinking?   “This new focus on the Alzheimer’s/Diabetes/Insulin connection follows a growing recognition of insulin’s role in the brain. Until recently, the hormone was typecast as a regulator of blood sugar, giving the cue for muscles, liver and fat cells to extract sugar from the blood and either use it for energy or store it as fat. We now know that it is also a master multitasker: it helps neurons, particularly in the hippocampus and frontal lobe, take up glucose for energy, and it also regulates neurotransmitters, like acetylcholine, which are crucial for memory and learning.”  What is effected with Alzheimer’s disease? Your memory and learning,  So your diet plays a big role in Alzheimer’s disease.”                                                                                        

Over-consumption of sugars and grains is what ultimately causes your body to be incapable of “hearing” the proper signals from insulin and leptin, leaving you insulin resistant in both body and brain.  Alzheimer’s disease was tentatively dubbed “type 3 diabetes” in early 2005 when researchers learned that the pancreas is not the only organ that produces insulin. Your brain also produces insulin, and this brain insulin is necessary for the survival of your brain cells.

If You Have Diabetes, Your Risk of Alzheimer’s Increases Dramatically

Diabetes is linked to a 65 percent increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s, which may be due, in part, because insulin resistance and/or diabetes appear to accelerate the development of plaque in your brain, which is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Separate research has found that impaired insulin response was associated with a 30 percent higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and overall dementia and cognitive risks were associated with high fasting serum insulin, insulin resistance, impaired insulin secretion and glucose intolerance.

A drop in insulin production in your brain may contribute to the degeneration of your brain cells, mainly by depriving them of glucose, and studies have found that people with lower levels of insulin and insulin receptors in their brain often have Alzheimer’s disease (people with type 2 diabetes often wind up with low levels of insulin in their brains as well). As explained in New Scientist, which highlighted this latest research:

What’s more, it encourages the process through which neurons change shape, make new connections and strengthen others. And it is important for the function and growth of blood vessels, which supply the brain with oxygen and glucose.

As a result, reducing the level of insulin in the brain can immediately impair cognition. Spatial memory, in particular, seems to suffer when you block insulin uptake in the hippocampus… Conversely, a boost of insulin seems to improve its functioning.

When people frequently gorge on fatty, sugary food, their insulin spikes repeatedly until it sticks at a high level. Muscle, liver and fat cells then stop responding to the hormone, meaning they don’t mop up glucose and fat in the blood. As a result, the pancreas desperately works overtime to make more insulin to control the glucose – and levels of the two molecules skyrocket.

The pancreas can’t keep up with the demand indefinitely, however, and as time passes people with type 2 diabetes often end up with abnormally low levels of insulin.”

Alzheimer’s Might be “Brain Diabetes”

It’s becoming increasingly clear that the same pathological process that leads to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes may also hold true for your brain. As you over-indulge on sugar and grains, your brain becomes overwhelmed by the consistently high levels of insulin and eventually shuts down its insulin signaling, leading to impairments in your thinking and memory abilities, and eventually causing permanent brain damage.

Regularly consuming more than 25 grams of fructose per day will dramatically increase your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Consuming too much fructose will inevitably wreak havoc on your body’s ability to regulate proper insulin levels.

Although fructose is relatively “low glycemic” on the front end, it reduces the affinity for insulin for its receptor leading to chronic insulin resistance and elevated blood sugar on the back end. So, while you may not notice a steep increase in blood sugar immediately following fructose consumption, it is likely changing your entire endocrine system’s ability to function properly behind the scenes.

Additionally, fructose has other modes of neurotoxicity, including causing damage to the circulatory system upon which the health of your nervous system depends, as well as profoundly changing your brain’s craving mechanism, often resulting in excessive hunger and subsequent consumption of additional empty carbohydrate-based calories.

In one study from UCLA, researchers found that rats fed a fructose-rich and omega-3 fat deficient diet (similar to what is consumed by many Americans) developed both insulin resistance and impaired brain function in just six weeks.

Plus, when your liver is busy processing fructose (which your liver turns into fat), it severely hampers its ability to make

^{cholesterol, an essential building block of your brain crucial to its health. This is yet another important facet that explains how and why excessive fructose consumption is so detrimental to your health.  Decreasing fructose intake is one of the most important moves you can take in decreasing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in your lifetime.}

Tips for avoiding Alzheimer’s Disease is Part 2 tomorrow. 😉

“I keep my diet simple by sticking to mostly fruits and vegetables all day and then having whatever I want for dinner. I end up making healthy choices, like sushi or grilled fish, because I feel so good from eating well.”