SELF HELP FOR AD - - A REGIMEN OF THE BEST PRACTICES

Redundant I’ve been, Redundant I will continue to be the Best Practices are worth reciting until they have the sound of Mantra.

Eat Right, Exercise Daily Become Involved in Stimulating Intellectual, Social and Creative Activity, Take your Medication.

Each one of these practices is a MAGIC MEDICINE for prolonging good health, quality of life and extending Early Stage Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) as long as possible. We will dwell on each aspect in the chapters that follow. Enough cannot be said about the application of admonition we hear about overall maintenance of good health. For prolonging the Early Stage of Alzheimer’s Disease it is particularly effective, thus the need for redundancy about it.

Eating right is not difficult if appropriate attention is paid to the meaning of Eating Right. Eating fats or all carbohydrates can be eating right is some eyes, less stomachs, but is not appropriate Eating Right. What is meant by eating right is most closely described as following a Mediterranean diet.

Mediterranean diet defined by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

This article is about the dietary recommendation that became popular in the 1990s. For food of the areas around the Mediterranean Sea, see Cuisine of the Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of coastal regions of southern Italy as well as Crete and other parts of Greece in the 1960s.[1]

On November 17, 2010, UNESCO recognized this diet pattern as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Spain, Greece, Italy and Morocco, thus reinforcing it not only as a fundamental part of their history and background, but also as a great contribution to the world.[2]

Despite its name, this diet is not typical of all Mediterranean cuisine. In Northern Italy, for instance, lard and butter are commonly used in cooking, and olive oil is reserved for dressing salads and cooked vegetables.[3] In North Africa, wine is traditionally avoided by Muslims. In both North Africa and the Levant, along with olive oil, sheep’s tail fat and rendered butter (samna) are traditional staple fats.[4]

The most commonly-understood version of the Mediterranean diet was presented, amongst others, by Dr Walter Willett of Harvard University’s School of Public Health from the mid-1990s on,[5][6][7][8][9] including a book for the general public.[10] Based on “food patterns typical of Crete, much of the rest of Greece, and southern Italy in the early 1960s”, this diet, in addition to “regular physical activity,” emphasizes “abundant plant foods, fresh fruit as the typical daily dessert, olive oil as the principal source of fat, dairy products (principally cheese and yogurt), and fish and poultry consumed in low to moderate amounts, zero to four eggs consumed weekly, red meat consumed in low amounts, and wine consumed in low to moderate amounts”. Total fat in this diet is 25% to 35% of calories, with saturated fat at 8% or less of calories.[11]

The principal aspects of this diet include high olive oil consumption, high consumption of legumes, high consumption of unrefined cereals, high consumption of fruits, high consumption of vegetables, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly as cheese and yogurt), moderate to high consumption of fish, low consumption of meat and meat products, and moderate wine consumption.[12]

Olive oil is particularly characteristic of the Mediterranean diet. It contains a very high level of monounsaturated fats, most notably oleic acid, which epidemiological studies suggest may be linked to a reduction in coronary heart disease risk.[13] There is also evidence that the antioxidants in olive oil improve cholesterol regulation and LDL cholesterol reduction, and that it has other anti-inflammatory and anti-hypertensive effects.[14]

It is good for the heart. It is good for the circulatory system. The vascular system almost depends on it as does a responsible level of weight. This is so true as you compare it to the normal American Diet, heavy in fast food, fat, trans fat, hydrogenated fat, saturated fats, and simple carbohydrates.

The American Diet depends more on great taste, preservation, pleasant after effects just like sugar and encourage the foods that offer these factors with no regard for nutritional or health considerations. They stimulate your appetite for more of the same. In the bodies greediness it stores it as fat for later consumption. This is a biological trigger of our primeval ancestors passed down to us to eat while you can before the onset of the drought then the famine.

So, is that all bad? Along with the hunger it creates for itself and the appearance we take on as we add to our fat storage bins it also attacks our body in even more serious ways. It attacks our vascular system, our heart, arteries, pancreas, and yes, our brains.

Conditions like Diabetes (secondary attacks on heart, on circulation, producing amputations) on blood pressure, on stamina and endurance, the list is endless. It attacks and attacks some more. So many conditions for which we treat relentlessly are directly associated with overweight and obesity.

The Mediterranean Diet arrests the process by a mix of food heavy in protein, complex carbohydrates, monounsaturated and to a lesser degree polyunsaturated fat, food heavy in Anti-Oxidants (defined below), fish particularly, are recommended in most circles however with some caution

Antioxidant: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  

Space-filling model of the antioxidant metaboliteglutathione. The yellow sphere is the redox-active sulfur atom that provides antioxidant activity, while the red, blue, white, and dark grey spheres represent oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon atoms, respectively.

An antioxidant is a molecule capable of inhibiting the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals. In turn, these radicals can start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions. They do this by being oxidized themselves, so antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols, ascorbic acid or polyphenols.[1]

Although oxidation reactions are crucial for life, they can also be damaging; hence, plants and animals maintain complex systems of multiple types of antioxidants, such as glutathione, vitamin C, and vitamin E as well as enzymes such  as catalase, superoxide dismutase and various peroxidases. Low levels of antioxidants, or inhibition of the antioxidant enzymes, cause oxidative stress and may damage or kill cells.[citation needed]

As oxidative stress might bean important part of many human diseases, the use of antioxidants in pharmacology is intensively studied, particularly as treatments for stroke and neurodegenerative diseases. However, it is unknown whether oxidative stress is the cause or the consequence of disease.

Antioxidants are widely used as ingredients in dietary supplements and have been investigated for the prevention of diseases such as cancer, coronary heart disease and even altitude sickness. Although initial studies suggested that antioxidant supplements might promote health, later large clinical trials did not detect any benefit and suggested instead that excess supplementation may be harmful.[2][3] In addition to these uses of natural antioxidants in medicine, these compounds have many industrial uses, such as preservatives in food and cosmetics and preventing the degradation of rubber and gasoline.

I will next go into exercise, which is simple enough and then into stimulation by way of social, intellectual and creative activity. The stimulation portion should be interesting and I believe a factor that should produce more programs to occupy those of us afflicted enhancing our quality of life and keeping us out of the “Home”.