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100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s (Review of an Outstanding Book)

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100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's
100 Simple Things You Can Do To Prevent Alzheimer’s And Age-Related Memory Loss by Jean Carper is one of my favorite books in my entire personal library. It’s also one that I reopen again and again. The information the author shares is fascinating as well as vital.

What’s more, it’s also exciting because  there are things we can do (and avoid doing) to increase our odds of avoiding Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and other forms of memory loss.

It’s like being in a room with the scariest zombie you ever saw and suddenly seeing an escape hatch.

Most people think there is little or nothing you can do to avoid Alzheimer’s. But scientists know this is no longer true. In fact, prominent researchers now say that our best and perhaps only hope of defeating Alzheimer’s is to prevent it.

After best-selling author Jean Carper discovered that she had the major susceptibility gene for Alzheimer’s, she was determined to find all the latest scientific evidence on how to escape it. She discovered 100 surprisingly simple scientifically tested ways to radically cut the odds of Alzheimer’s, memory decline, and other forms of dementia.

Did you know that vitamin B 12 helps keep your brain from shrinking? Apple juice mimics a common Alzheimer’s drug? Surfing the internet strengthens aging brain cells? Exercise is like Miracle-Gro for your brain?

Even a few preventive actions could dramatically change your future by postponing Alzheimer’s as long as possible. If you can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s for five years, you cut your odds of having it in half.  Postpone it for ten years, and you’ll most likely never live to see it.  100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s will change the way you look at Alzheimer’s and provides exciting new answers from the frontiers of brain research to help keep you and your family free of this heartbreaking disease. – From the Inside Cover

Each of the 100 “simple things” include 2-4 pages of information to back it up. There are quotes from leading experts, research data, and fruits of research the author (a medical journalist) has conducted over the years.

A WEALTH of information.

The 100 tips are easy to implement in your daily life and, here’s a wonderful bonus – whatever benefits your brain benefits your heart. Follow these wonderful steps and they’ll lead you to a healthier brain and heart…. now that’s someplace worth going!

I want very much for you to grab your own copy of this book, so I don’t want to give much away. However, I will share one of the tips with you: #44 Google Something! Surfing the internet actually exercises your brain.

It’s a scientific fact: doing an Internet search can stimulate aging brains even more than reading a book. So finds Gary Small, MD, director of the UCLA Center on Aging. “Internet searching,” he says, “engages complicated brain activity, which may help exercise and improve brain function.”…… One reason Web surfing is so demanding is that you are forced to make multiple decisions as you click, click, click to get to the ultimate information you want. Such constant decision making “engages important cognitive circuits in the brain,” say researchers, giving your brain a significant workout.  Mental exercise, like physical exercise, appears to strengthen your brain’s resistance to mental decline and Alzheimer’s. – Pages 132 – 133, 100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s

100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer's
100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s
Who is This Book For?

You may automatically associate this book with readers who are over 50 and, while we Baby Boomers can benefit greatly from it, let’s not leave out the youngin’s! I wish I had had access to this information when I was in my 20’s, I could have made smarter decisions then that would help protect me now. Make no mistake about it, this book is for anyone in any age group.

Basically, anyone who values their brain enough to protect it will love this book. The information could prove to be the weapons you need to save you from that scary zombie – the one no one wants to talk about, but everyone thinks about: Alzheimer’s Disease.

See 100 Simple Things You Can Do to Prevent Alzheimer’s for more information. This one qualifies as a MUST HAVE.

Staying Mentally Strong is A Huge Part of Aging Well

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Henry Ford Quote About Learning

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.” – Henry Ford

In addition to Self Help Daily, I have a brain health and mental fitness blog, “Out of Bounds.”  Mental fitness and all that goes with it (preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, brain strength, overcoming stress, dealing with anxiety, etc) is one of my greatest passions. I spend as much time reading about brain health as I spend reading anything.

If I could recommend just three things to you to incorporate into your life to improve the health of you brain, they would be:

  • Eating a “heart healthy” diet – lots of fruit, healthy nuts, vegetables, and fish, while cutting WAY back on fried food, saturated fat, red meat, and sugar.
  • Getting plenty of activity – whether it’s yard work, housework, walking, or yoga… don’t be a couch potato. You do not have to go to a gym or buy special equipment. If you’re moving and grooving, your brain doesn’t know (or care) whether you’re at the gym, on a trail, or in your yard.
  • Keep learning every single day of your life. Use it or you’ll lose it. Literally.

I’m not going to “mother hen” you about the first two (today anyway), but I do want to encourage you with third. When my girls were little, one of the first things I ingrained into their minds was this: “A day spent without learning something is a day wasted.” Since I home-schooled them from Kindergarten through 12th grade, it was easy to make sure they wasted as little time as possible.

Like my girls, all of us have ample opportunities to learn something new every day as long as we’re in school. The challenge comes when “school isn’t in session,” whether that’s weekends, holidays, summers, or the all-encompassing rest of our lives.

A lot of people have the mistaken assumption that their work or vocation provides “enough” learning.  While having a challenging job does help keep our minds active, we need MORE. Why? Well, one reason is the fact that we become programmed to respond to the challenges of our daily job.

For example, I work full-time from home as a blogger/web publisher/writer.  While things such as developing a recipe for my food blog, writing a book review, or researching for an article on early-stage dementia keep my brain cells busy, it’s all in my wheelhouse.

However, if I work on developing a recipe in an area I’m not the least bit familiar with (such as Indian cooking) or research/read up on a subject entirely new to me – it’s a wake up call for my brain cells and they love it.

This “in your wheelhouse” dilemma is one of the reasons why so many educated and intelligent people are developing dementia. Each day, they stay firmly in their wheelhouse. Whether they’re afraid they don’t have the time to venture out or they lack the inclination, I honestly believe it’s at least part of their downfall.

So, the lesson for you is this – get out of your wheelhouse and learn more every single day.

One fun, inexpensive, and mentally stimulating way to do just that is to “go back to school” – or to be more precise, “go back to school books.”  Get your hands on a few schoolbooks, covering different subjects, and read through them as you did in school…

  • take notes as you read
  • look up words you aren’t familiar with
  • answer the questions that inevitably hold you accountable at the end of each chapter

While I wholeheartedly encourage finding textbooks dealing with your “old favorites” (for me, these would be History, Literature, and English), the real magic happens when you dig deep into those subjects you didn’t particularly care for (my mortal enemies were science, geography, and anything with numbers).

Recently, I sorted through some of the textbooks I saved from my daughters’ home-schooling days and found just what I was looking for Geography for Christian Schools (on Amazon for $1.14, hardback). Geography – one of my mortal enemies.  Even when my daughters studied Geography in our home-school, I didn’t immerse myself in the subject – I did as I did in school, payed just enough attention to get by.  Aside from the flags of the countries (which I find uncommonly fascinating), all other aspects of Geography always made my eyes glaze over. When I was in school, I’d daydream about my basset hound, Siamese cat, lunch, softball… anything BUT what was in my textbook or on the chalkboard.

I decided to go back this time and REALLY delve in – memorize the capitals of the countries of the world, the desserts, lakes, rivers, and as many other geographically-inclined facts I used to snub. Oddly enough, I’m actually finding it incredibly interesting this time around.  Imagine if I’d just paid attention back then.

{Continued Below…}

Geography Textbook
A Few Tips for Finding/Using Textbooks:

  • Amazon has A LOT of Textbooks and many are ridiculously cheap. Anyone who home-schools today really has it made. There are textbooks and workbooks for both high school and college. If you really, really, really need to go back and brush up on a subject – start with the lowest grade level needed and move up. When it comes to math, I don’t even want to think how far back I’d have to go.  I seriously think I have a math allergy.
  • When you buy an “older” history or geography textbook, keep in mind that some details and information has, undoubtedly, changed. The fact that you’ll find yourself on Google double-checking information simply means you’re doing more research and using your brain EVEN more.
  • A lot of used bookstores and “Teacher Supply Stores” have textbooks and workbooks. They’re definitely worth checking out.
  • If you’re really brave (and we’re talking braver than I am), grab foreign language textbooks and brush up on a language you once knew or even learn a totally new one.
  • When you come across a subject that’s especially interesting, go deeper. Find more books dealing with the subject and uncover everything you can find online.

You get the picture, wake up those brain cells by snatching them out of their comfort zone.  So few good things happen in the comfort zone and that holds especially true for your brain’s fitness and your mental health.

Never stop learning –  your future self will thank you for it.

~ Joi


Are Grains Harming Our Brains?

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Grain Brain
I often like to remind Self Help Daily readers that I am not a doctor, nurse, or any other variety of medical expert.  I’m like most of you – I gather my information from experts, then come to my own conclusions, based on their years of expertise and research.

I thought this would be an appropriate time to remind you of this very fact as I introduce you to one such expert and his fascinating studies with grain’s effects on the brain.

Renowned neurologist David Perlmutter, MD, has a very popular book that you may have heard of:  Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar–Your Brain’s Silent Killers.

If you’ve read much on the subject of wheat and other forms of gluten, you probably realize that the wheat we have today is not the wheat our great grandparents enjoyed. As William Davis, MD points out in Wheat Belly, “…  today’s wheat has been genetically altered to provide processed-food manufacturers the greatest yield at the lowest cost.”

Grain Brain  and Wheat Belly are filled with information about the negative effects this “genetically altered” wheat has on our bodies and minds.

Here’s a scary statistic: More than 5 million Americans are now living with Alzheimer’s. That doesn’t even count the numbers who are living with other forms of dementia – If we knew the numbers for those, combined with the Alzheimer’s numbers, I’m certain we’d lose sleep.

For weeks.

David Perlmutter, MD, FACN, Board Certified neurologist, and author of the book Grain Brain believes we can do a GREAT deal to prevent Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia by our diet alone.

Perlmutter says we should focus on eating lots of nuts, veggies, olive oil, eggs, wild fish, free-range chicken, grass-fed beef, avocados and some dairy, but to always choose whole milk.

As for what we should avoid, he says to stay away from trans fats, sugars, processed foods and carbs.

He gives the green light for eating fruits sparingly but says we should completely eliminate gluten.

From Amazon:

David Perlmutter, MD, blows the lid off a topic that’s been buried in medical literature for far too long: carbs are destroying your brain. And not just unhealthy carbs, but even healthyones like whole grains can cause dementia, ADHD, anxiety, chronic headaches, depression, and much more. Dr. Perlmutter explains what happens when the brain encounters common ingredients in your daily bread and fruit bowls, why your brain thrives on fat and cholesterol, and how you can spur the growth of new brain cells at any age. He offers an in-depth look at how we can take control of our “smart genes” through specific dietary choices and lifestyle habits, demonstrating how to remedy our most feared maladies without drugs. With a revolutionary 4-week plan, GRAIN BRAIN teaches us how we can reprogram our genetic destiny for the better.

GRAIN BRAIN is a #1 New York Times bestseller and a finalist for a 2013 Books for a Better Life award.

Reviews for Grain Brain:

“Dr. Perlmutter takes us on a detailed tour of the destructive effects that ‘healthy whole grains’ have on our brains. Modern wheat, in particular, is responsible for destroying more brains in this country than all the strokes, car accidents, and head trauma combined. Dr. Perlmutter makes a persuasive case for this wheat-free approach to preserve brain health and functioning, or to begin the process of reversal.” —William Davis, MD, author of Wheat Belly

“If you want to boost your brain power, keep your memory, and lift your mood and energy, as well as heal from a host of other common complaints, Dr. Perlmutter is your guide. This is the definitive instruction book for the care and feeding of your brain!” —Mark Hyman, MD, author of The Blood Sugar Solution

“Dementia and many other brain diseases are not inevitable, nor are they genetic. They are directly and powerfully linked to a diet high in sugar and grains. Grain Brain not only proves this, it also gives you everything you need to know to protect your brain–or a loved one’s–now.”–Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom

If  you’re interested in learning more about Grain Brain, click through one of the links or the picture at the top.

~ Joi

Coming Next Week: My review of Wheat Belly!