YOU Decide the Validity of This Alzheimer’s Treatment Study

“What do I think of this latest Alzheimer’s treatment?” was the question given with this article in a recent FaceBook conversation announcing the results of a Phase II Trial just embarked by West Virginia University.  (Here is the link to the Facebook conversation, feel free to comment.)

Have a Quick Read: 775 Words, approximately 6 Minutes

Following a good four hour+ investigative behind the scenes research quest…here are the cliff notes…

 

The Study Background:

Insightec, out of Israel, makes a helmet MRI/Ultrasound machine which is the machine used to treat Alzheimer’s  in the phase II study done through West Virginia University School of Medicine Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute.  This is the first study done in the US, where they separated the blood brain barrier (BBB) with this machine and kept it open for 36 hours.

 

But does it treat Alzheimer’s?  That is the question, followed by what is the promise and what are the specifics?

 

How it Works:

Through sound waves, the ultrasound finds targeted tissues and by increasing the power of the waves trough MRI observation, these tissues are disintegrated.  The machine has been successful with 1.  destroying uterine fibroids or leiomyomas/myomas and 2. after specifically targeting bone nerves, the machine destroys nerve cells at the outermost area of the affected bone to relieve pain.  (If you have ever known anyone with bone cancer you know bone cancer gives pain a new definition, it floods intolerable torturous pain.)

 

While opening the BBB is NOT the cure for Alzheimer’s, the goal of the study is to keep the BBB open to allow ‘medicines’ in to destroy or, through perhaps an additional ultrasound technique, to clear beta amyloid plaques and tau tangles.

 

My Opinion:

A now retired Dr. David Snowden, PhD spent nearly 25 years studying the brains of nearly 1000 nuns from various convents in the Midwest to understand the causes of Alzheimer’s. These nuns donate their brains to science where after their death, Snowden and his teams extensively dissected, analyzed and probed every brain.

There is so much to be pulled out of Snowden’s study but the main concept, theory, observation was that those nuns who died of Alzheimer’s had the same amount of beta amyloid plaques in their brains as those who died with their full cognizance, with a full functioning brain.

That needs repeating:  the nuns that died from old age or other non Alzheimer’s causes whether an automobile accident, cancer or pneumonia, where they had their full cognition right prior to their death, had the same amount of beta amyloid plaques as those nuns who died while in the full onset,  final stages of Alzheimer’s.

As a brain researcher concentrating on dementia, I’ve got an electronic filing cabinet drawer on beta amyloid plaques and their ‘place’ in the brain. Based on my research, beta amyloid plaques are formed as a protective measure.  They are needed by the brain.

For these ‘cliff notes’ let me just say removing beta amyloid plaques is not the answer, rightly as Snowden and his study of near 1000 nuns showed us.  He has written a book on his study or studies called Aging with Grace.

Opening up the BBB via The Phase II Trial conducted by West Virginia University School of Medicine Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute using Insightec MRI/Ultrasound machine to get rid of the beta amyloid plaques… is questionable.

 

There are three main causes of dementia/Azheimer’s. The proven key, what has worked to reverse dementia in thousands of invaded patients. is to get to the root of the cause of the symptoms and then counter the prognosis or projection.  Through my 9 Step Alzheimer’s Reversal/Memory Retention Map, (the map found here, the explanation here), we go step by step with an individualized plan to find and keep your memory. First we scrutinize your causes through medical testing and  your medical history topped with analysis to develop your individualized plan.  The remainder 8 steps follow to find equilibrium and balance in your body, in your brain and in your mind so to keep it fully functioning, for the rest of your life!

 

Would I subject my mother or father to this procedure of the Insightec machine?  Absolutely not.

 

What do I say to/about this study? 

  1. I’ll be watching. There will be a couple of years for trials to be finalized. Again, hats off to those searching for a clue.
  2. Insightec has a business to run and machines to sell. They’ve done well with dissolving myomas and alleviating pain from bone cancers. Has it justified their ROI? Are they trying to find another means for the machine?
  3. UVW, like all other universities, has to prove their worth and showcase their productivity to ensure steady stream of government and private funding.

 

Here is the other side of the story.  What is your decision?

 

Send me more articles and question me about other studies and new drugs targeted to treating Alzheimer’s!

 

If I can ever help you or yours, reach out.  Schedule a 10-5 minute free call by clicking here to see if you/yours would be a candidate for my 9 Step Alzheimer’s Reversal/Memory Retention Protocol where we see full results in 3-4 months, immediate changes in as little as two weeks.  And if not for the full program, I can at least provide a lengthy strategy session or make recommendations so to get back your memory and keep it, to keep your brain fully and successfully functioning.

I stand ready to help and assist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schedule a quick free strategy session click here.

For more information on my 9 Step Alzheimer’s/dementia Reversal Map/Plan click here.

Janet is a Certified Dementia Practitioner and former Dementia Healthcare Administrator.  After years of being at the bedside, holding your mother’s hand trying to caress the dementia way, Janet immersed herself in brain research, attended two neurological ‘brain health schools’ and has been trained in the Dale Bredesen, MD Dementia Reversal RECODE Program.  Now Janet is on a mission to power up people’s brains to prevent Alzheimer’s and other dementias and reverse cognitive impairment.  She has a 9 Step Process and counsels many one-on-one, learn about it here. Learn more about Janet here.

 

The purpose of this information is to convey knowledge. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any condition or to be a substitute for advice from your healthcare professional. Sincerely, I wish you and yours the very best in brain health.   

My Full Disclosure is Here:

Making it Through the 4th, Secrets to Eating Right

 

You’re following my emails, blog posts and FaceBook posts giving hints and facts of eating to make you ‘brain smart’ and age ‘successfully’ and healthy. You’re feeling great. But now it’s time to go out to or host the BBQ gathering for the 4th.

Complete with BBQ pork ribs or pulled pork laden with sauce loaded with high fructose corn syrup, HFCS, and other preservative chemicals, a typical 4th of July food table will most probably abundantly host store made potato salad and cole slaw, potato chips, jarred spinach dip, corn chips, hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids, complete with water melon, maybe a box cake with red, white and blue icing and/or ‘gourmet’ cookies size of mini Frisbees.

And that is just the food.

What about ice chest full of sodas, red and blue dye sugar drinks, did you read my article We Are Dying Our Brains? get it here, various beers and low and behold pina coladas and daiquiri’s from bottled premix.

Of course this table and all its accoutrements is the center piece of any July 4th outing. Except for the watermelon and drowned cabbage in the slaw, the table serves no brain foods.

Okay, so what do you serve?

Here is a list of typical 4th of July foods, why they are brain bad for you complete with suggested substitutions.

Store Potato Salad
Why Bad: White potato is one of 5 White Brain Damaging foods. For the others check out the article I wrote here. Plus, what is that white stuff? Dairy? Oil? What type of oil?
Replacement Suggestion: If you have time to make homemade mayo and make your own pickles (some store bought are okay, read the ingredients!!!!) power to you and could you please come to my house? Like me, many of us are still trying to figure out if we invited everyone and who did we leave out along with what is the total to feed going to be and where is the grocery list again? much less cook all day for this event. So, tonight when you go to bed toss in the oven a couple of medium sweet potatoes cut into chunks with skin on and doused in olive oil, bake for about 30-40 minutes because you want them chewy smooth, not mush. Keep in the fridge or if ready to make the salad, add slices of apples (be sure to coat, maybe soak a bit first in real lemon juice so they will not turn brown), raisins and throw in some nuts, roasted walnuts or pecans and salt and pepper to taste. Viola! Great potato salad. (Yea, I always keep sweet potatoes in my refrige for quick go to side dish.)

Store Cole Slaw
Why Bad: Again, what’s the white stuff? Oil? Preservatives? Your brains don’t know how to digest all the hydrogenated oils and it is true torture to our brain cells. (Stay tuned for the how and why, that is my next big article.)
Replacement Suggestion: Buy your own cut up cabbage and add your own homemade mayo, recipe given below except add extra garlic or hot sauce or both. OR you could make a quick balsamic dressing with balsamic vinegar and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). Not for the kids? What about ranch? Search the internet and make your own ranch dressing, yes there is a way, bit involved but taste is all natural and NOT commercial, so good for the kids!!! You’ll love it too!

Chips
Why Bad: Again, white potato problem, it’s a White Brain Damaging food. Why? How? Check out 5 White ‘Brain Damaging’ Foods article I wrote here. Plus it is cooked in hydrogenated omega 6 rich bad fat. Over time, omega 6 oils really do a number on your brain. (Again, that article is coming.)
Replacement Suggestion: if using for a base for a dip try sliced cucumbers, zucchini and yellow squash as crackers. For a snack,concentrate on serving good dips.  Keep reading, recipes coming.

Jarred Spinach Dip:
Why Bad: It’s a time issue, I get it. But there is nothing natural in that jar of spinach pulled off the rack by the potato chips. I mean really? Again, what is that white stuff.  To be honest, I am afraid to even read the ingredients.
Replacement Suggestion: Make your own spinach dip with homemade mayo, recipe below, and drained and thawed from frozen spinach from the grocery. Throw in few sprinkles of Cajun seasoning, be adventurous and add chopped water chestnuts, jalapeno peppers, cherry tomatoes or red bell pepper. No homemade mayo? When you make a batch once a week, there is no going back. Still no time, go to the gourmet deli cooler in the grocery, pick up spinach dip container and read the ingredients.
How to eat it? Celery hunks are GREAT for scooping, say NO to corn chips!

What about adding some of these following suggested items to your 4th of July table?

Homemade Hummus
How to make it easy: Once a month I soak, then boil up a bag of garbonzo beans, drain, cool, divide up and load one cup into a zip lock bag and freeze. When time to cook, I thaw out a bag night before and get up few minutes early and make the dip when I finish making breakfast. See another easy recipe below. Of course you have not done this for this forth gathering, but maybe next time or next event. For now, buy a can of garbanzo or chick peas at the store. Check the ingredients.
Replacement Suggestion: store bought hummus in the deli cooler, read the ingredients.
Dip with celery hunks, sliced cucumbers, zucchini and/or yellow squash.

Homemade Guacamole
How to make it easy: Easy is an understatement. Making fresh guac is time consuming. Actually peeling and seeding the avocados is the heavy time consuming part. So, next time, divide it up. Buy your avocados say week before needed. For the ripe avocados, peel and pull out the seed the night before you have to whip it up and serve the dip.  For storage, make sure you seal well so flesh will not brown. Then toss all ingredients together and poof, great guac at hand. I do have a great guac recipe but I do not have it ready at this article publication date. Stay tuned.
Replacement Suggestion: You can find all natural store made guac but I have not found one that is fantastic. If you have, tell us from what store and let’s try it out!

 

The 4th of July, it’s a fun event. I get it and it only happens once a year. But instead of grabbing or serving a box cake and Frisbee size cookies, celebrate the summer with blackberry almond/coconut flour cobbler or simple watermelon slices along with all your other foods you have made substitutions for.

If time is not on your side, just serve your best. Hopefully this article will plant a seed, giving other ways of eating healthy for both your brains.

Want more suggestions for everyday substitutions? Check out my three page white paper 5 Secrets to Getting Your Gut-in-Gear, click here for the link.

Maybe you could make spinach dip and hummus your ‘go to’ quick and easy chip and dip food. Over time you will be able to snap them up and get good at improvising, adding different ingredients for additional flavors.

Concerned the kids or other family will not like it? They probably won’t, now. But if you keep serving all natural foods and making suggestions such as these given, they will have no other choice but to starve. Of course they are not going to starve, I don’t mean to be harsh, just making the point. Eventually they will come around, I promise! You are, you are coming around, right? Don’t give in, we all benefit from tough love.

Over time, your family and friends will want no one else’s _____________ (you fill in the blank) but yours.

Happy 4th of July and thank you God for giving us the freedom to make choices and substitutions.

Helping us Get our Gut-in-Gear so to keep our memory, have good brain health and age successfully.

Mayo Recipe
1 egg yolk
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice (got to be fresh or else taste is way off)
salt and pepper to taste
½ cup REGULAR olive oil (extra virgin is tooooo strong)
With an emulsion hand held stir blender, blend first five ingredients. Slowly drizzle in olive oil while blending. It will get very thick. If you want it a bit thinner, add little bit egg white back in. (Yes it is raw but the lemon juice and salt ‘cook’ the egg!) (What to do with extra egg white?  Throw it in your next smoothie!)

Hummus
1 can (15oz give or take) drained garbanzo beans, sometimes called chick peas (really try and boil your own because can brine is taste displeaser)
3-4 Tablespoons lemon juice (juice from one large lemon, got to be real!)
1 large clove garlic
½ cup tahini (this is sunflower seed paste concoction found in many Mediterranean dishes, can get it at the store, check the ingredients, get as all natural as possible with no additives, some processors add soy and other preservatives, again read the ingredients!)
salt and 5 or so rounds of cracked pepper
¼ teaspoon cumin
2 Tablespoons water (you could use left over egg white if making mayo)
3 Tablespoons olive oil (can be EVOO, depends on your taste)

With hand help emulsion blender or in a lid covered blender, add all ingredients except oil. After you get a paste consistency, trickle in oil to emulsify. Next time instead of cumin, add z’atar seasoning or Cajun seasoning, or sundried tomatoes and basil or add a red bell pepper or loaded it up with just garlic.

PS—these are my tried and true recipes.  Hope you enjoy! Get my 5 Secrets to Getting Your Gut-in-Gear.  You’ll get a laugh and learn too!

The purpose of this information is to convey knowledge. It is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure your condition or to be a substitute for advice from your main healthcare professional. Sincerely, I wish you and yours the very best in brain health.

www.JanetRichPittman.com

5 White, ‘Brain Damaging’ Foods

They kill your brain cells, point blank. Over time, brain fog, lack of memory, and additional cognitive impairment leading to Alzheimer’s and other dementias pursues.

 

What are “they”?  The 5 white brain damaging foods.  These include:

1) white wheat flour

2) white rice

3) white corn (yes it is white when processed, when the skin is removed)

4) white potato and

5) white sugar

 

All of the above damage, stop or even kill the neurotransmitter communication between your gut brain (the gastrointestinal tract or GI tract) and your head brain (the Central Nervous System).   With no communication, the cells in both brains die.

 

Here’s how the killing spree begins:

 

It starts with gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley.

 

Some perspective. Did you know that we humans have nearly 23,000 genes in our bodies? Guess how many wheat gluten has? The answer: around 150,000.

 

So, in a nutshell, we can’t digest gluten, which essentially eats us, not the reverse.

According to Alessio Fasano, M.D., the father of ‘no gluten’, Harvard scientist and author of book, Gluten Freedom, whether you are a celiac disease victim or not, gluten dissolves the lining of every consumer’s small intestine allowing partially digested foods to seep out of the intestine into gut tissues, eventually ending up in your blood.  Your immune system is called in to attack these invading, partially digested food particles.

 

Think of it this way, your immune system is constantly in attack mode whenever you eat:

 

  • cereal for breakfast
  • a donut for morning snack
  • a  sandwich for lunch, along with crackers and pretzels for an afternoon snack
  • a roll with dinner or
  • a cookie for a midnight snack

 

Do this every day, 365 days a year, for all of your life (but hopefully not beyond this reading) …and your immune system never rests.  It just sort of goes mad, crazy.

As your immune system eats up all the invading chemicals, it eats up the good healthy cells too.  This is called chronic inflammation or hyper inflammation.

 

Gluten eventually gets into your blood, eats the lining of the blood vessels and breaks the blood head brain barrier where these undigested particles seep out into your brain, depositing toxins and other invading chemicals.

 

The head brain’s own separate immune system (the glyphatic system) is then called into action to flush out these foreign invaders.  BUT, it too goes mad, resulting in hyper inflammation and killing more head brain cells, the good and the bad.

 

Additionally, the blood bowel barrier is also broken where foreign invaders run rampant and hyper inflammation ensues (no one ever talks about that—hello IBS, hemorrhoids, constant diarrhea or other elimination troubles!)

 

The solution and the near instant reversal of such problems?

 

Give up the gluten!

 

AND say bye bye to white foods that turn into sugar, like white potatoes, rice and corn — all simple carbohydrates which turn immediately into sugar.

 

Did you now that consumption of excess sugar creates insulin resistance? Let’s take a look at this.

 

Insulin is needed to get nutrients into our cells. It’s also a major switching station for many processes in the body. We all know the pancreas produces insulin.  Well, our head brain also produces insulin and head brain insulin is specifically used to get nutrients into our head brain cells.

 

The more sugar we eat, the more insulin is needed to get the nutrients up in the head brain cells, until finally our brain just gets worn out and quits producing insulin, and becomes insulin resistant.

 

And really, can you blame it?  It is over worked with trying to get rid of the sugar plus it has better things to do like ensure the heart keeps beating and the lungs get enough oxygen.

Kim and Feldman from the neurology department at the University of Michigan published a study reviewing insulin resistance at the core of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Interestingly, another name for some types of dementia and varying stages of Alzheimer’s is “Diabetes III”.

Here, the insulin resistant brain cells are starving, our head brain immune system then goes mad, and all this results in hyper inflammation…all due to our MAD diet (Modern American Diet).

 

Yes, we are doing this to ourselves. The top caloric intake foods in the United States as per the US Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee: grains/dessert breads, breaded chicken, soda, pizza, alcoholic beverages and pasta.  Look at how the 5 White Damaging Brain Foods make up the top of the MAD diet and perhaps the daily diet for many of us.

 

To make sure we keep our memory and full cognizance as well as overall good health, we’ve got to treat and feed both our head brain and our gut brain with all natural, no processed foods, specifically staying away from the 5 White Brain Damaging Foods…I’ll say it again….white wheat flour, white rice, white corn, white potatoes and white sugar.

 

What you eat, affects your brain. Eat to better your brain, not damage it.

 

Helping get and keep your Gut-in-Gear so you can keep your memory, have good brain health and age successfully,

 

 

 

 

Sources:

Alessio Fasano, M.D.

https://www.massgeneral.org/doctors/doctor.aspx?id=19184

Info on no gluten:

His book, Gluten Freedom

And video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=0rTAhlJ9PMM

Kim and Feldman from the neurology department at the University of Michigan published a study reviewing insulin resistance is at the core of developing Alzheimer’s disease.

https://www.nature.com/articles/emm20153

 

 

Special thanks to Healthy Meals Supreme, reprinted from their blog https://healthymealssupreme.com/5-white-brain-damaging-foods/

 

 

The purpose of this information is to convey knowledge. It is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure your condition or to be a substitute for advice from your main healthcare professional. Sincerely, I wish you and yours the very best in brain health.

www.JanetRichPittman.com

 

Janet is a Certified Dementia Practitioner and former Dementia Healthcare Administrator.  After years of being at the bedside, holding your mother’s hand trying to caress the dementia way, Janet immersed herself in brain research.  Now Janet is on a mission to power up people’s brains to prevent Alzheimer’s and other dementias, even reverse cognitive impairment.  Learn more about Janet here.

 

Greek Yogurt and Kefir—Are They ‘Brain’ Safe to Eat?

No, and here are four quick reasons, but…

The four reasons:

Casein

Lactose

IGF-1

Gut Intolerance

 

Casein is a protein that envelopes nutrients and will not allow their absorption.  So when you put fruit on your cereal and coat it with milk, it is a waste, you just pass all the nutrients.

IGF-1, or insulin growth factor1, is a hormone our bodies naturally create and which dairy consumption increases.  We need IGF-1 to develop and grow our bodies from infancy onward but after our late 20s, when our brain has fully developed, we don’t produce as much or need as much, a balance must be established.  When we don’t have enough IGF-1 our brain function suffers, when we have too much, damage ensures due to overabundance, damage like cancer progression.  Just let your body makes its own IGF-1, and you do that by eating clean, go moderate on meat proteins and by-pass the milk.

Lactose is a type of sugar that requires a special enzyme to digest it.  Many folks don’t produce this enzyme or call it up to digest the lactose in milk.  Consequently, bloating, pain, cramps, diarrhea, gas, nausea and possibly vomiting –just general all out stomach torture–is a result of not being able to digest the lactose. Is this you?  If not, intolerance has been known to occur suddenly so be watchful, just bypass the milk.

Even if you seem to digest milk okay, it still messes up your gut flora; it keeps your microbiome off kilter.  Gut imbalance leads to difficulty digesting foods, inflammation and overall problems with immunity.

Yet with everything, there is an exception….kefir and Greek yogurt.  Again, your microbiome must be in balance, the good and the bad bacteria equaling out. Your microbiome needs just a bit of fermented food to keep the good bacteria stirring and working.  Fermented products such as kefir and Greek yogurt can give the gut needed bacteria and help it stay in balance.  But, understanding the intolerance, just omit it from your diet. Eat kombucha, sauerkraut, kimchi and miso; these are other fermented foods that will certainly do the gut bacteria balance trick.

If Greek yogurt and or kefir are all you have and if you can tolerate it, consume it with the knowledge of IGF-1 and casein. To get around casein, eat your Greek yogurt or kefir first thing in the morning with no additives and at least 30 minutes to an hour prior to consuming with other foods. In other words, no blueberries with the yogurt and wait an hour before you sip on your morning bone broth.  To ease with the IGF-1 production and prevent an overload, go easy on other animal proteins same day.

Basically know, only baby cows are to drink cow’s milk. Omit it from your diet to ensure the best brain health.

So how do you get rid of dairy?  If you are used to it every day, i.e. nightly ice cream, yogurt or cream in your coffee, check out my 5 Secrets to Getting Your Gut in Gear, found here.

Here’s to your good brain health,

 

 

Janet Rich Pittman, SCALA, CDP

Brain Health Specialist

 

The purpose of this information is to convey knowledge. It is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure your condition or to be a substitute for advice from your main healthcare professional. Sincerely, I wish you and yours the very best in brain health.

www.JanetRichPittman.com

Again, if you are used to it every day, i.e. nightly ice cream, yogurt or cream in your coffee, how do you get rid of dairy?  Check out my 5 Secrets to Getting Your Gut in Gear, found here.

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698444/

https://academic.oup.com/endo/article/149/12/5958/2455262

https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/18/11/2441/htm

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/lactose-intolerance

http://naturalsociety.com/dairy-antioxidants-nearly-useless/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17213230

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Antioxidant+activity+of+blueberry+fruit+is+impaired+by+association+with+milk

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24939339

Transcript for Video on The #1Way to Get and Keep YOUR Brain in Gear!

Transcript
Video on
#1 Way to Get and Keep Your Brain in Gear

Hello, so glad to see you and glad you tuned in. You are here because I am going to reveal the latest science that tells us #1 Way to Get and Keep Your Brain In Gear.
In this video you are also going to learn the 3 main causes of brain drain,
brain fog leading to Alzheimer’s.

And I’ll show you how you can venture further to keep your cognition intact and your brain fully functioning. This video is about 13 minutes long so you might want to pause the video and go up and save the url or the address on your internet browser so you can come back to it if we are interrupted.

If you are like me and many of the other people I work more closely with, you want to save and review the information, good information that can help you get ahead in life, help you get into good brain health.

Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Janet Rich Pittman. It’s very nice to see you. I am a brain health specialist. I am a former dementia administrator and dementia practitioner.
I served three locked down dementia facilities, in the range of 16 to 54 beds. And because of the small size I was able to give hands on service to my patients. And I truly grew to love some of my patients. The humiliation, the agony, the suffering my patients and their families went through, to finally my patients giving in, to death, just took it’s toll on me.

In our dementia training they teach us how to care for patients, they tell us what is happening, but they don’t give us the why or the possible causes. I wanted to know why. Why could Mr. Riley put together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle in two or three hours but could not speak or feed himself? And here we have Roger Gentlihome who won the tennis championship at the Senior Olympic Games at age 102.

So I hit the books, actually medical reports, combing through journal after journal and database after database. I found and follow a number of scientists who are making strides in Alzheimer’s and other dementias, other neurological degenerative issues. And I have latched on to four from US and one from Italy. Just a few years ago they reversed severe cognitive impairment of 9 out of 10 patients, participants if you will.

Next study 45 of 45 were reversed and today’s date hundreds have been reversed right up at the 1000 mark.

These are people like Mr. Riley who can now talk and feed themselves not to mention snuggle up with their grandchildren, remember their birthdays and fix them supper—plan a fun night for the grandchildren
to sleep over!

Today I’m going to give you the foundation of how to keep our brain healthy and give you the beginning, the foundation, #1 way to keep our brain in gear and prevent our cognition from fully slipping into Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

First, what is happening in the brain is that a vast hunk of brain cells in a certain section of our brain are dying. The amount of cell death and the location varies from person to person.

Okay, brain cells are dying. Why? And how?

Here is the secret, the #1 reason we get brain fog, brain drain, leading to Alzheimer’s… Alzheimer’s at first is really not a head disease, it is a gut disease. What we eat combined with our DNA can make or break us. In other words, the foods we eat, what we put into our gut, combined with our DNA, can increase our health or make us sick.

Science recently tells us that we have two brains, we have the head brain, area between our ears, behind our eyes and a gut brain, area under our chin down to our hip bones. We create more neurotransmitters in our gut brain that we do in our head brain. Consequently we have more neurotransmitters in our gut brain than in our head brain.

What are neurotransmitters? These are messenger chemicals that travel along our neurons, they send nutrients up to our head brain get dispersed around where these messenger chemicals are now commands that are sent back down to our gut and other organs to tell us how to function and operate. This communication is called

Health.

We’ve always know about this brain gut connection. It can be delayed …how about all of us who have embedded in too much alcohol and woken up with horrible hangover and headache.

With heavy stress, a test or presentation coming up we get sick to our stomachs, have diarrhea or vomit.

Or this brain gut connection can be acute-right away. My girlfriend is allergic to crab, we were at a holiday open house, she looks at me and says, “that dip had crab in it”. I knew of her condition and I parted the waters, the people and barely made it to the kitchen sink where she upchucked and upchucked.

Cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s, is not acute, symptoms are not going to pop up right away.

Over time based on what we put in our gut and our DNA we starve our brain cells and create hyper inflammation and/or a combination of this starvation and inflammation.

Right there are the three causes of Alzheimer’s and cognitive impairment. 1. We starve or brain cells, 2. We cause hyper inflammation in our brain cells and 3. A combination of this starvation and hyper inflammation.

Let’s go a little bit deeper, when brain cells are starved, they cannot get the nutrients needed to operate, for those messenger molecules to run and command so the neurons shrivel up and die. Inflammation is like when you get a cut and maybe a little infection with puss, that’s inflammation working, your immune system is in operation, getting the bacteria and toxins out of that particular area, out of your body. A scab forms, new skin grows back. This is inflammation working, killing bad and damaged cells, creating growing new cells.

But hyper inflammation is when something triggers inflammation in your brain and the bad cells are eaten—but inflammation just keeps eating and eating all the cells, the good cells too, it cannot shut off.

So what causes this starvation and inflammation? Roughly, there are 7 triggers but the problem is there is not one acting alone. There are two, usually three to four that start a cascade of brain cell death and it all depends upon your intake or consumption of these triggers—the intake of these triggers in association with your DNA.

I met Juliana at a marketing conference. She was not as sharp and pungent as I felt an accountant should be. She is an accounting consultant. When she learned of my training, she confided in me of her continual cognitive slipping, forgetting clients, not understanding formulas she had created on the spread sheets a year ago. She said she was leaving out details in her analysis. “Janet”, she sighed, “I’m just tired and lethargic all the time.”

Even though we live on opposite sides of the county, she wanted me to help her. I worked with her GP, we had some testing done where we learned she had a high level on her hs-CRP test, this is a blood test for inflammation. After Juliana and I put our heads together we realized it was a continual infection in her mouth from where she had her wisdom teeth removed about 4 years earlier. It took a few months after a ‘cleaning out dental procedure’ but all her cognitive failing are gone and she is sharp as a tack—crunching those numbers!

Mike and I are runners. He’s about 5’11” and skinnier than I am, just a string bean. When he found out what I do he confided in me he, that he was, in his words, “losing his marbles” and he was about to lose his job. It was everything he said, he could not remember his computer password, had trouble recognizing faces at work, he’d miss meetings, even if he’d written them down. His neurologist told him: get your affairs in order. He asked me what would I suggest. Everyone wants a snap decision, a quick cure. Alzheimer’s and other dementias have taken years to percolate in your mind, and it affects everyone differently pending your DNA and lifestyle. I told Mike it is a complicated disease and unfortunately turnaround can be complicated that if he would share with me his test results and go over a bit of history I’d be glad to help him. So we did, went over all he had but he was missing some hormone test results. He didn’t want to do testing again so I combed his lifestyle started with his running and diet, changed 1 thing and I added a couple of other supplements and boom…night and day difference. He is thriving now at work and has gained about 20 pounds.

Every time we see each other at races or with our running group Mike hugs me and brags on me but I always turn the conversation because he did it. He just had my help. Just like Juliana had my help. And I have helped a lot more. Currently I am getting their testimonies and will put them on my website. But now the questions is, How can I help you? Can I help you or a loved one?

You’re a member of my brain health revolution so I give you quick and short information here and there. I do try not to wear out my welcome. But I know it is not enough. Even when I give speeches 30 minutes to an hour up to half day seminars, I walk away saying to myself there is so much more I can give.

Would you like to set up a meeting and see what I can do for you or a loved one in your family? And if not now, maybe in the future, let’s stay in touch. My mission is to help you or a loved one take hold of your brain health and get the brain is gear so to be fully functioning.

Usually when I meet with folks, I charge a basic fee to begin consultation. But with this video, I offer a FREE, free strategy session where we will access you or a loved one’s current situation and determine what is needed right away to get the brain in gear.

Simply email me with subject line “free strategy session” so in turn you can have the ability and freedom to engage in life, like Mike and Juliana, where YOU or a loved one will feel a new found freedom after the brain fog lifts, where the knack to concentrate swings back and confusion is replaced with crystal clear thinking and proper decision making. Your confidence returns confirming you can remain and live independent for years to come.

Below, I’ve given you 2 flyers of what we talked about earlier, 3 Causes of Alzheimer’s and 7 Triggers of Alzheimer’s. As you can see, these flyers and this video just scratch the surface.

Together we can go deeper into your specific brain situation and have you and your brain in gear and operating on all cylinders.

Email me your free strategy session. I’m Janet Rich Pittman wishing you the very best in good brain health.

 

 

Three Main Causes of Alzheimer’s, click here.

Seven Triggers of Alzheimer’s, click here.

 

Have You Fallen Lately?

NOT FINISHED

How’s your balance?   Do you fall frequently?  Take a simple balancing test.  Go barefoot.  Grab a clock with a second hand or hit the timer on your cell phone.  Place your right hand on a bath or kitchen counter and bend your left knee which will pull up your left leg.  You can either hold knee at a 45 degree angle or try and hit your butt.  Slide your hand from the counter and stand one-footed for as long as possible.  Note the time.

 

How many minutes can you stand tall and straight before toppling?  If you hit the 5 minute mark, congratulations.

 

If you only last less than a minute, you may be on your way for a fall, provided you have not had a bad one already.  According to the Center for Disease Control, falls are the leading cause of accidental death for those 65 and older.

 

In order to fight this statistic and prolong your life, you must improve your balance. The best way to improve your balance is by strengthening the core of your body.  Your core is the area of your torso, actually from your shoulders down to the top of your hips, or lower pelvic area.

 

Your core holds the center of your personal gravity to lift, sit, stand, lie down or bend over.  When your core is not strong, your balance is off.  When your balance is off, your confidence is diminished and you are unsure of yourself, making it easy to give in to a fall.

 

You stand tall and straight with a strong core, you are in alignment having good posture. Tammy Wise,  is a widely respected mind-body fitness expert, practitioner of holistic healing and Tao minister practicing in New York City.  In her article Strengthen Your Will To Align,  she explains one must recognize the importance of their posture. “Posture”, she states, “is the first thing that cues you in on how you feel”.  Weak posture leads to imbalance which leads to lack of confidence which leads to a fall.

 

Strengthening your body core also ensures a strong mind.  Core building exercises shoots demands for actions to the cerebellum, the area of the brain in the back of your head next to the brain stem.  The cerebellum area acts as a computer processing information for a quick and clear response involving your balance, equilibrium, muscle coordination and positional awareness.  Strengthening your core improves your brain health, your brain’s ability to quickly think on your feet, correcting actions and movement, thereby preventing falls.

 

A strong core tightens abdominal muscles to support the diaphragm permitting deeper and fuller breathing, allowing more oxygen to circulate in your blood finally reaching then penetrating the capillaries in your brain flooding it with nutrients.

 

So how do you strengthen your core?

 

Power walking, running especially—as much as you can do, jiggles all your core organs and muscles.  Over time they become strong and synergize to strengthen your core.  Plus, aerobic and brain exercises help create and develop your brain cells to be quick on your feet for snap balancing decisions.  Any exercise though helps to build core muscles.

 

General sit ups, 5 to 10 to 50 per day, are a great start.  Yoga and pilate exercising concentrates mainly on developing core inner strength.  But you don’t have to go out and join a health club or hire a personal trainer.

 

Improve your balance by having a strong body core and with a strong core, you will have good brain health which will help prolong your life and prevent falls!.

595

 

 

 

Prevent Falls Check List

 

To Prevent Falls:

Improve Your Balance

The Best Way to Improve Your Balance:

STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE

STRENGTHEN YOUR BRAIN HEALTH

Your core is the area of your torso, actually from your shoulders down to the top of your hips, or lower pelvic area. Your core holds the center of your personal gravity to lift, sit, stand, lie down or bend over.

 

HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR CORE AND YOUR BRAIN HEALTH?

Participate in Aerobic Exercise to

  1. strengthen core muscles connecting to core or gut organs and
  2. create new brain neurons and supporting brain glia cells for quick thought to your cerebellum for immediate balancing action.  The cerebellum area acts as a computer processing information for a quick and clear response involving your balance, equilibrium, muscle coordination and positional awareness.

 

After a steady Exercise Program of 6 months and Your

Balance is Still Off

  • Strengthen your ankles, calves and feet. Research exercises and resistance training to strengthen them, incorporate them into your weekly workout routine.  You may need to see a Physical Therapist who specializes in balance issues.
  • How are your ears? Have a professional check for any severe wax buildup
  • What foods are you eating? Daily intake of alcohol, overeating every day, too much sugar and way overload of gluten all stress your equilibrium.  A 2000 calorie or less paleo or keto diet is the best brain diet.
  • Are your eustachian tubes clogged? Theses are tubes that connect middle ear to back of throat, one per ear, that could become clogged with thick mucus.
  • Might have you vertigo or Meniere’s Disease? These are balance/dizzy diseases. Research them, see if you could be a victim, find causes, see about eliminating the causes and maybe see a doctor.

 

 

The purpose of this information is to convey knowledge. It is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure your condition or to be a substitute for advice from your main healthcare professional. Sincerely, I wish you and yours the very best in brain health.

www.JanetRichPittman.com

President Trump, to quell the Alzheimer’s questions, here is what to do:

(a quick 3 minute read)

Former White House Aid Omarosa Manigault Newman in her book Unhinged claims that changes in President Trump’s actions stem from his mental decline which is leading to dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s. This ‘does Trump have Alzheimer’s?’ question has been raised by opponents since his candidacy. And now various articles from Business Insider, The Hill, Page Six, Washington Examiner, USA Today, The Splinter and The Wall Street Journal , while covering Omarosa and her new book, print the question again.

The August 14, 2018 issue of Quartz Magazine specifically points out 4 examples – each of which don’t have scientific backing. In my article, “Does Trump Have Dementia? Not So Fast! “, I countered each of Omarosa’s accusations WITH scientific backing. Here is the article for your review, a quick 5 minute read.

Coupled with Business Insider’s article January 16, 2018 by Hilary Brueck “Trump got a perfect score on a screening test for dementia and Alzheimer’s”, both articles should nail shut the coffin of continual questions pertaining to Trump suffering from mild cognitive behavior.

But let’s just say, Mr. Trump does have dementia percolating in his brain.

But let’s just say, Mr. Trump does have dementia percolating in his brain. He is the president of the United States, now what? It’s not like a parent, where you are troubled by their actions, consequently seek help from a neurologist. Plus in Brueck’s article, Trump has already been through the neurological testing.

‘Presidential Brain Health Counsel’

The last step to quell the question: create a Presidential Brain Health Counsel.  Have the top Trump advisers discretely gather three, five to seven dementia experts comprised of PhDs, physicians and neurological nutritionists scattered across the county who are responsible for reversing the various diseases of dementia. After observation, blood and nutritional testing as well as brain scans and secretive mirrored observations to reflect response times, thought processing and oxygen intake(physical exertion)[your general neurologist just isn’t going to do that], the group could issue a report on President Trump’s current neurological health with a prognosis for his future head brain health. This assessment report, from the nation’s top dementia experts, would give the final answer, once and for all.

I’ve created a list of 17 scientific leaders who have reversed and curtailed the progression of various dementias, including Alzheimer’s. A ‘Presidential Brain Health Counsel’ could surely be appointed from this list. I would be more than happy to offer my continual advisement to the White House.

 

 

Omarosa raises new questions about Trump, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease but she’s got it all wrong.

Omarosa Manigault Newman claims in her new book “Unhinged” that changes in President Trump’s actions stem from his mental decline which is leading to dementia, specifically Alzheimer’s.

As highlighted in the August 14, 2018 issue of Quartz Magazine she points out 4 examples – each of which don’t have scientific backing.  I say that as a brain health specialist and dementia practitioner, a former dementia healthcare administrator, who has spent years studying the brain and causes of dementia.

It is not mental decline Omarosa is describing, it is change in mental direction, actually mental enhancement, specifically mental perspicacity.

Let’s assess her accusations:

     “Apparent difficulty retaining new information, he doesn’t recognize new hires…”

Continual lack of instant recall, based on ill cognitive reasoning, is a precursor to dementia.  Of the 50 to 100 people the president of the US has to meet on a daily basis, as well as the dozens of issues needing attention, it is common and understandable to only remember that person who is most important to the situation at hand and the situation that calls for immediate priority.

It’s the same with memory.  Trying to stuff one more item for recall into the president’s brain holding quadrillions of facts is daunting. He is only going to immediately remember that which is most important.

Psychologist Dr. George Miller gave us the Miller Law in 1956 which holds professional acuity, to this day.  His law states the average person can only remember 7 items at once. [i]   Dr. Nelson Conway, a working memory specialist and director of the working memory laboratory at the University of Missouri says ability to remember boils down to cognitive ability combined with the amount of information to retain; for most us, we can only recall 3-5 items at a time, an average of 4 items[ii].

 

             “…reliance on notes in public speeches”

You’d be hard pressed to find a public speaker who doesn’t rely on notes or a teleprompter for their speeches. Anyone who has to deliver a speech every day, sometimes two to three a day, under the weight of being the leader of the world, would have trouble remembering what to say and scrounge for notes, especially if giving different speeches. If someone is truly suffering from dementia they may forget the purpose for their speaking engagement and could appear rattled and confused. Additionally, reference Miller’s Law.

 

          “His father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s…family history, heredity are the most important factors for determining if you will get the disease.”

According to Dr. David Perlmutter, author of various books on the brain, Grain Brain, Brain Maker and The Better Brain, genes are “a predisposition, not a determinant, meaning that while some people have a higher risk for Alzheimer’s by virtue of their genetics, that isn’t written in stone”.   Dr. Mark Hyman, author of The Ultra Mind Solution, also notes, “our genes do not dictate our destiny”.

Our surroundings and our lifestyle turn on or turn off our genes.

 

      “He’s paranoid and irritable, anything could trigger fits of rage.”

If someone has always been typically sweet yet on a consistent basis becomes very angry and mean, this could be an early sign of dementia. Yes, severe behavior and personality changes are key components of cognitive impairment.  And that is just it, Trump has always been demanding and short-tempered, key personality traits the public has been aware of since following his life’s accomplishments prior to his candidacy as well as the presidency.

 

Omarosa Manigault Newman raises the question if Alzheimer’s disease is present in Trump.  To date, a true diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease can only be made post mortem.  The average viewer can attest, the president’s job is mentally demanding, taxing and trying.  Whether you like him or not, President’s Trump discernment and shrewdness in managing our nation, not Alzheimer’s or dementia, shine through his actions.

Giving the counter measure from an experienced expert, I treat you to a fair and balanced view,

 

 

 

 

[i]The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information[1] is one of the most highly cited papers in psychology.[2][3][4] It was published in 1956 in Psychological Review by the cognitive psychologist George A. Miller of Princeton University‘s Department of Psychology. It is often interpreted to argue that the number of objects an average human can hold in working memory is 7 ± 2. This is frequently referred to as Miller’s law.

 

Miller, G. A. (1956). “The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information”. Psychological Review. 63 (2): 81–97. doi:10.1037/h0043158PMID 13310704.

 

[ii] Nelson Cowan, George Miller’s Magical Number of Immediate Memory in Retrospect: Observations on the Faltering Progression of Science, Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2010 Feb 1; 19(1): 51–57. doi:  10.1177/0963721409359277,  PMCID: PMC2864034, NIHMSID: NIHMS167613, PMID: 20445769

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4486516/

 

If you would like to read the August 14, 2018 Quartz article referenced here, click the link here.

Corn for BREAKFAST? 2nd post to find out why NOT

     In our last ‘corn’ post we ventured into the first fact of how corn causes dementia.

     2. While neurons operate from electric impulses, microglia cells (the cells that turn mad) are fueled by chemicals, i.e. nutrients.  That’s why we eat, to give our microglia cells good nutrients for our brain to function. Processed food is not nutritional, it is nothing more than severely broken down fruits and vegetables ‘beefed’ up with synthetic chemicals to hold it to other chemicals and make it taste better and look nice.  No wonder our brain cells turn mad.

     When was the last time you read a food label?  On your corn flakes ingredient listing it contains trisodium phosphate (TSP).  Yea, I didn’t study chemistry either but TSP is an inorganic water soluble salt used as a food additive that acts as a cleaning agent and degreaser, sometimes used to keep fats blended.

Hmmm..Dawn in your brain?

     How about BHT, listed about 1/3 way down the label.  Study shoes BHT, Butylated Hydroxytoluene, is a synthetic compound used to prevent fat from oxidizing and is a key ingredient to jet fuel, rubber, petroleum products and packaging materials.  Do food processors think if it is good enough for jet fuel, it is good enough for our brain?

     3. Something as potent to our brain as a jet fuel additive is Roundup, an herbicide developed by Monsanto.  Back in the 70s, chemists noticed bacteria growing in the roundup waste dump.  They took the bacteria and genetically implanted it, at first, into potatoes.  When farmers spray Roundup on the potatoes or any other fruit or vegetable, everything dies but the fruit or vegetable. This is the basis of a genetically modified organism and this procedure is responsible for 90% of corn grown in the United States. Yes, the corn you are eating is grown from a genetically modified organism (seed).

     GMOed foods are linked to neurological disorders, not only to Alzheimer’s but other dementias, specifically Parkinson’s disease, autism, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder), schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.  Yep, those are all dementia diseases and obviously another story in itself.

     Over the years the brain just cannot successfully eliminate the bad chemicals we put into our brain by eating corn, or other manipulated foods for that matter.

     Bottom line, reconsider your corn flakes and corn cereal for breakfast. And not just for breakfast, for every food you put in your mouth, know what it is, what is in it and truly shoot to eat nutritional healthy foods.  Your brain will love you, your body will love you.

     Here’s to your good brain health!