Alzheimer’s disease is more than just memory loss — it can kill you.

Although your doctor may have told you that Alzheimer’s is not preventable, there ARE steps you can take to help prevent age-related mental problems or even full dementia

New research shows that physical exercise protects your brain against age-related problems.
People who took part in the most physical exercise showed the least brain shrinkage.
Exercise, diet, and stress management are 3 primary factors that play key roles in maintaining sharp mental function as you age.
Exercise promotes brain cell production of important brain chemicals and growth factors such as BDNF, which is important in maintaining memory, skilled task performance, and overall cognitive function.

Your dietary choices are also another important factor in brain health. Since your brain is comprised mostly of fat, you require abundant dietary fats in order to repair and regenerate your aging brain cells. One of the most potent and bio-available sources of animal-based omega-3 fat for your brain is Krill oil
Some of the best brain foods are fresh vegetables, berries, organic eggs from free-range hens, raw milk and organic meat products, nuts, avocados, coconut oil and olive oil.

The 3 Major Requirements for Brain Power

[colored_box color=”blue”]There are three primary factors that play a powerful role in maintaining sharp mental function, even as you grow older:
1. Regular exercise
2. Thefoods you choose to eat or avoid
3. Managing your emotional stress
[/colored_box]

Exercise Builds Bigger Brains

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh followed more than 600 people, starting at age 70, and kept detailed logs of their daily physical, mental and social habits. Three years later, their brains were imaged for age-related changes, such as brain shrinkage and damage to the white matter, which is considered the “wiring” of your brain’s communication system. They found that people who engaged in the most physical exercise showed the least amount of brain shrinkage.

Kirk I. Erickson, PhD of the University of Pittsburgh, found that adults aged 60 to 80 walking moderately (just 30 to 45 minutes, three days per week for one year) showed a two percent increase in the volume of their hippocampus. The hippocampus is a region of your brain important for memory.

The important take-away from these studies is that mental decline is NOT inevitable!
Exercise is as good for your brain as it is for the rest of your body.
Exercise Protects Your Brain from Stress Hormones

Exercise improves your brain health in many of ways:

• It kick-starts neurogenesis – creation of new brain cells. More new cells equals faster brain function.
• Exercise helps new brain cells learn how to “multitask.”
• Increases production of brain chemicals which are vital to maintaining memory and cognitive function.
• Lifts your mood and neutralizes stress by boosting neurotransmitters, like serotonin and dopamine.
• Increases insulin response and help you make better food choices.

A Healthy Brain Diet

Another major factor in supporting your brain as you age is diet. Your brain cells cannot repair unless they have the necessary nutrients. And this is best achieved by optimizing insulin and leptin signaling.
And the way to achieve this optimum signaling is by lowering your carb intake and limiting your protein consumption to one gram of protein per kilogram of lean body mass.ie.,for most adult men this is 75 grams of protein every day. It is important to replace the reduced carb and protein intake with healthy fats such as coconut oil, avocado, butter, olive oil and fats from healthy pastured animals. Coconut oil is particularly beneficial for brain health and has actually been shown to be helpful in senile dementia.

[colored_box color=”grey”]
The 2 MOST important nutrients for your brain are fats and antioxidants

FAT – The Most Important Brain Macronutrient
60 percent of your brain is fat. DHA makes up about 15 to 20 percent of your brain’s cerebral cortex, as well as 30 to 60 percent of your retina, making it an essential nutrient for both your brain and eyes.
The protective sheath surrounding your neurons(myelin), is composed of 30 percent protein and 70 percent fat.
Protect your brain by giving it healthy fats from whole foods, like organic eggs, whole raw milk, raw nuts, avocados, and olive oil.
Eggs and dairy are a rich source of lecithin, choline and vitamin B12 – nutrients that are important for good brain function.
There is increasing evidence that coconut oil may offer very significant protection against brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and may even put a stop to brain atrophy.
It is crucial to make sure you are getting the essential ‘marine’ fats in the form of omega-3 fats.

If you not getting enough animal-based omega-3 fats from your diet alone, please consider a supplement like Krill oil –a highly potent and environmentally sustainable form of omega-3 fat that contains both DHA and EPA. Krill oil is special in that it crosses the blood-brain barrier, so it’s highly bio-available to your brain. Most people only need two to three 500 mg capsules of krill oil per day in order to get all of the DHA and EPA they need.

Vegetables & Fruit Keep Your Brain Alert
The best sources of antioxidants are from fruits and vegetables.
And If you chose to use a supplemental antioxidant, then Astaxanthin is your best choice.
According to a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, a vegetable-rich diet helps prevent age-related mental decline.

Veggies, especially spinach, were found to bebeneficial in retarding central nervous system and cognitive behavioral deficits. Older people who ate more than two servings of vegetables daily were mentally sharper than those who ate less.
Your diet should be low in sugar, especially fructose. Studies indicate that glucose metabolism plays an important role and diabetics have four times the risk of Alzheimer’s .
Veggies are generally better than fruits because of their lower sugar content, but the exception is berries.
Berries contain ‘pterostilbene’, which reverse the negative brain effects of aging. Wild blueberries are high in anthocyanin and other antioxidants, and are known to guard against Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.
[/colored_box]

Emotional Stress Makes Your Brain Age Faster

Apart from exercise, you need to manage your stress to allow your brain to do it’s thing.
When you are stressed out, your adrenal and pituitary glands switch into the “flight, fight, or freeze” mode and pump adrenaline, cortisol and dopamine into your bloodstream and can be problematic when released too frequently in your brain.
High cortisol levels are associated with faster aging, mood problems such as depression and anxiety, and many chronic diseases.
To avoid these, you must learn how to relax and reestablish balance.

[colored_box color=”yellow”]

One of the best tools for decreasing stress is Yoga. It significantly improves both stress levels and psychological symptoms. Meditation helps profoundly too – LEARN MORE .

[/colored_box]

[colored_box color=”red”]

THREE Brain POISONS to Watch Out For:
Mercury, Aluminum & Artificial Sweeteners

Exposure to MERCURY is extremely toxic to your brain. Dental amalgam fillings are one of the worst sources of mercury. If you have amalgams, you may want to consider having them removed, but you should ONLY have this done by a qualified biological dentist.

Also avoid ALUMINIUM, such as in antiperspirants, cookware, etc.

Avoid FLU VACCINATIONS as they contain BOTH mercury and aluminum.

And also stay away from all ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, such as Aspartame, which are highly toxic to your brain.
[/colored_box]

Other Strategies to Lower Your Alzheimer’s Risk

If you are developing changes in your brain that are symptomatic of Alzheimer’s, you’re probably also experiencing signs of insulin resistance, such as diabetes or obesity.
Meanwhile, you may also be showing signs of heart disease, such as high blood pressure.
And since chronic diseases are usually intertwined, they are the result of long-term imbalances in your body .
Implementing a few simple techniques can address the underlying causes of multiple chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s .

This includes:
• Optimize Vitamin D intake:
Optimal vitamin D levels enhances and protects brain cells.
Vitamin D is also imperative for the proper functioning of your immune system to combat inflammation.

• Reduce Fructose:
Do not consume more than 25 grams per day. Since the average person is exceeding this recommendation by 300 percent this is a serious issue and is the MOST important step you can take. Your liver converts fructose into fat and excessive  fructose consumption is highly detrimental to your health. Keep your fasting insulin levels below 3. This is indirectly related to fructose, as it will clearly lead to insulin resistance.

• Take Vitamin B12:
Foods rich in B12 may reduce risk of Alzheimer’s . 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.
Strict vegetarian diets have been shown to INCREASE Alzheimer’s risk, whereas diets high in omega-3’s lower your risk. Vegetables are your best form of folate, and we should all eat plenty of fresh RAW veggies every day.

• Take high-quality animal based omega-3 fats, such as krill oil. ( but eat fish moderately because although fish is naturally high in omega-3, most fish are now severely contaminated with mercury.)
High intake of the omega-3 fatty acid DHA helps by preventing cell damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease.

• Avoid and remove mercury from your body.
Dental amalgam fillings are one of the major sources of mercury, however you should be healthy prior to having them removed.

• Avoid aluminum
such as antiperspirants, non-stick cookware, vaccine adjuvants, etc.

• Exercise regularly.
Exercise slows down the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s. Exercise also increases levels of the protein PGC-1alpha. New research has shown that people with Alzheimer’s have less PGC-1alpha in their brains, and cells that contain more  of the protein produce less of the toxic amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer’s.

• Avoid flu vaccinations
 as most contain both mercury and aluminum.

• Eat 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 and helps to build up your brain, making it less susceptible to the lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

• Avoid anticholinergic and statin drugs.
Drugs that block acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter, have been shown to increase your risk of dementia. These drugs include certain night-time 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, which is one of the primary building blocks of your brain.

As Dr. Stephanie Seneff reports:
“Statin drugs interfere with cholesterol synthesis in the liver, but the lipophilic statin drugs (like lovastatin and simvastatin) also interfere with the synthesis of cholesterol in the brain. This would then directly impact the neurons’ ability to maintain adequate cholesterol in their membranes. Indeed, a population-based study showed that people who had ever taken statins had an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a hazard ratio of 1.21. More alarmingly, people who used to take statins had a hazard ratio of 2.54 (over two and a half times the risk to Alzheimer’s) compared to people who never took statins.”