“Can Diet and Nutrition Reduce My Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease?

Research suggests that adopting a “brain-healthy” diet can reduce our risk of Alzheimer’s. What’s a brain-healthy diet? First, it’s a diet that avoids saturated fat and cholesterol. Second, it’s a diet that includes:

• Dark-skinned fruits and vegetables, such as eggplant, red bell peppers, beets, broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts, red grapes, cherries, oranges, and all kinds of berries (blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, strawberries, and raspberries are great choices). Dark-skinned fruits and vegetables have the highest levels of naturally occurring antioxidants, which protect the brain from free radical formation.
• Coldwater fish, such as tuna, mackerel, anchovies, trout, herring, salmon, sardines, and whitefish. Coldwater fish contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are beneficial to cell membranes.
• Other foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids, such as green leafy vegetables, avocados, Brazil nuts, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, canola oil, flaxseed oil, olive oil, and peanut oil. Nuts also contain vitamin E, which is a potent antioxidant.

Supplements like vitamins B-12, C, E, and folate may also help maintain a healthy brain. In fact, a 2007 international study published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry found that those with a folate deficiency were over three times as likely to develop dementia than those with adequate folate levels. However, it’s better to obtain these nutrients directly from food, if possible.

What about Exercise?

A great way to reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease is through physical exercise. Starting and sticking with a regular exercise program is often the most difficult lifestyle change we try to make. Many of us work full-time, run a household, and rarely get eight hours of sleep each night, let alone find time to go to the gym. The good news is that physical activity doesn’t have to be strenuous or involve a huge time commitment. The most important thing is that it’s done on a regular basis.

Exercise strengthens the pumping force of your heart, increases blood flow to your brain, increases exercise tolerance, reduces body weight, lowers blood pressure, reduces bad cholesterol (both LDL and total), increases good cholesterol (HDL), and increases insulin sensitivity, all of which enhance health and reduce the risk for diseases that can affect brain functioning, such as cardiovascular conditions.

Try walking, jogging, hiking, swimming, cycling, or cross-country skiing. Strength exercises such as sit-ups, push-ups, and weight-lifting are also good. Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day for a healthy brain and body.”

http://alzheimers.about.com/od/prevention/f/physexercise.htm

Here are 10 warning signs:

*memory loss that disrupts daily life

*challenges in planning or solving problems

*difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, work, and leisure

*confusion with time or place

*trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships

*new problems with words in speaking or writing

*misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps

*decreased or poor judgement

*withdrawal from work or social activities

*changes in mood and personality

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Starting the day with a cup of coffee, a breakfast meal for you and your children, running out the door to work, only to end your day watching TV at home, quickly talking to your spouse and trying to unwind….WHEW!! Trying to accomplish things in the day simultaneously can often feel stressful and a constant catch up. All that we do may actually be making us more stressed and less happy! “A study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that when we try to accomplish too many tasks at once, our bodies release adrenaline and stress hormones, which create an anxious cycle: The more frenzied we feel, the more we take on, making us even more stressed and less happy.”

“A man is an architect of his own fate and it requires proper planning, to make things easy and joyful. All are in search of happiness and still the world is full of miseries.” (articlebase.com)

Some of the effects of prolonged stress on the body are; difficulty in sleeping, indigestion, erectile dysfunction, low libido, back pain, headache, heart disease, hypertension, low immunity and unhealthy skin! (Just to name a few) There is a connection between the way one handles stress/anxiety and your overall health. Understand that your mind and body work together and trying to avoid getting worked up over minor things will help reduce the stress hormone cortisol. “The principal steroid hormone produced by the adrenal cortex. It regulates carbohydrate metabolism and the immune system and maintains blood pressure.” (dictionary.com)

Remember that you have a voice as well, so if something is truly wrong ask for some help! Everyone cannot be happy all the time, but putting your best foot forward and attempting to seek a positive and healthful mindset will really start to change your attitude. Wake up every morning with a goal in mind and take it from there. Every morning is new, every morning is fresh and every morning is a gift. Although you may not get dealt a great hand, understanding yourself is what usually works best, all from past research.

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Reducing salt intake can lower a persons’ risk for coronary heart disease, stroke,  kidney failure, congestive heart failure and hypertension. A persons’ salt intake is directly related to blood pressure! Often times manufacturers will use the word sodium on a nutrition label, really meaning salt. Sodium is none other then sodium chloride, which is table salt. Sodium/salt is one of the most commonly used  additives in the American food processing businesses.

To help stop/prevent these re-occurring problems, changes in the diet will substantially benefit the individual!  “These changes include reducing salt intake, increasing potassium intake, losing excess body weight, increasing physical activity, and eating an overall healthful diet.” (nutrition.gov)

Recommendations include consuming less then 2300 mg (or just a teaspoon) of sodium/salt per day. Try to not use salt while cooking, while increasing your potassium intake with more fruits and vegetables! Make sure when eating out or buying at the grocery store to look at food labels, focusing on sodium content! 75% of most salt consumed is from a food manufacturing company, with the rest from salt added from cooking, and 5-10% from natural salts within foods. Just remember that the body will adjust naturally to however much you feed it. The less salt you consume the more your appetite does not want it!

Something that is interesting, is the effect of potassium rich foods on blood pressure! This seems to work with sodium levels in the blood, making it easier to bring that hypertension down! “A potassium-rich diet also blunts the effects of salt on blood pressure, may reduce the risk of developing kidney stones, and possibly decrease bone loss with age.” (nutrition.gov)

Leafy green vegetables, fruit, plant roots, and vine-derived foods are packed full of potassium! Dairy also contains some amounts of potassium, but it will not effect your metabolism and blood in the same way that others will. We hope this helps with all out there!

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