Beating Alzheimer's....

This is an important and hopeful book.

As the author says early on: "Here, finally, is nothing less than the first good news about Alzheimer's disease. It is a chronicle of joy, of the blessing of getting your life back. One of the patients you shall read about said he has allowed himself to think about the future once again when he talks to his grandchildren. Another said her memory is better than it has been in thirty years.... What you read about here is the beginning of a changed world, the beginning of the end of Alzheimer's disease."

We learn about a specific patient named Kristin who was noticing some decline in her mental abilities. She would get lost driving on the highway and forget which exit to take. She was finding it more difficult to analyze data at work and started thinking about resigning. She couldn't remember simple bits of information and had to start writing everything down.

Kristin worked with her own doctor to start following the author's ReCODE protocol and within three months she saw great improvement! No more worries about work, no more getting lost on the highway, no more forgetting little bits of information.

If his theory is correct Dr. Bredesen thinks there are three threats the brain is trying to protect itself against when it produces amyloid that is associated with Alzheimer's:

1. Inflammation from infection, diet, or some other source.
2. Lack of proper nutrients for the brain.
3. Toxic substances such as metals or biotoxins.

The goal of the ReCODE protocol is to:

1. Remove these threats to the brain.
2. Then remove the amyloid.
3. Then rebuild any damaged synapses.

As an overarching principle the author says that anything that is bad for general health or cardiovascular health is probably going to increase your risk of Alzheimers, so many of the things he mentions will sound familiar.

Here are some of the things that can increase our risk of Alzheimer's according to this book:

1. Too much sugar
2. Lack of rest
3. Being overweight
4. Too much stress
5. Lack of exercise
6. Lack of sunlight
7. Eating trans-fats
8. Smoking
9. High blood pressure
10. Too many Omega-6 fats and too few Omega-3 fats

The author also mentioned some things that surprised me a bit:

1. Too much dairy (which can trigger inflammation)
2. Too much gluten (which can damage the gastrointestinal tract and trigger inflammation)
3. Taking too many antacids (which reduces the body's ability to extract nutrients from food)
4. Too many statins (Cholesterol too LOW can increase risk of brain atrophy! I never heard of this one!)
5. Poor oral hygiene

I am not a doctor so I cannot evaluate the medical advice given by Dr. Bredesen in this book. However, I do feel confident that if you want to help a loved one with Alzheimer's or avoid Alzheimer's yourself reading this book will NOT be a waste of time.

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[Read this great book on beating Alzheimer's.]

[If you want to support "Anything Smart" just click on book links like the one below to buy your books. "Anything Smart" will receive a commission. Thanks!]

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Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Wayne Gadway

Tyrants turned pale.... : Studying Voltaire

Sunday morning.
My favorite time.
MY time!
Let's LEARN!

This morning I am studying the life of Voltaire. He spent decades fighting for tolerance and freedom and changed the world for the better. He fought tyranny and fanaticism and cruelty and he didn't care if his enemies were priests or bishops or aristocrats or kings he fought them all and he would never stop.

Two times he was arrested and sent to the Bastille and three times he was exiled from his homeland. Later in life he lived on the border between France and Switzerland so when the authorities came for him he could run! He would antagonize the rulers of the land with his criticisms and mockery and then, when they came for him, he would escape across the border.

Some people criticized him for running but I admire him. He was a guerrilla fighter against an oppressive government. Hit and run! We should ALWAYS hit the bad people. But then we have no obligation to let the bad people hit us back....

Voltaire was one of the most brilliant men of the 1700's and a literary genius whose pen made him the most famous man in the world and, ultimately, one of the richest.

He lived long enough to be recognized as a hero of civilization and great people from all over the world, people like Benjamin Franklin from the United States, made pilgrimages to his home to visit the giant of the age.

The French philosopher, and editor of the famous Encyclopedie, Diderot wrote of Voltaire while he was still alive: “Pile assumptions on assumptions; accumulate wars on wars; make interminable disturbances succeed to interminable disturbances; let the universe be inundated by a general spirit of confusion; and it would take a hundred thousand years for the works and the name of Voltaire to be lost.”

In the 1800's the British historian Thomas Babington Macaulay wrote: “In truth, of all the intellectual weapons that have been wielded by man, the most terrible was the mockery of Voltaire. Bigots and tyrants, who had never been moved by the wailings and cursing of millions, turned pale at his name.”

Whenever we feel grateful for being free, we should remember Voltaire.

[Read this excellent biography of the great Voltaire.]

[If you want to support "Anything Smart" just click on book links like the one below to buy your books. "Anything Smart" will receive a commission. Thanks!]

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Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Wayne Gadway