You Can Eat Your Way OUT of Dementia

You Can Eat Your Way OUT of Dementia

Have you ever read something that you just couldn’t get out of your mind?  February’s issue of the Reader’s Digest had an article that I’ve been thinking about ever since I read it.  No… not in the Laughter, the Best Medicine section, this article was called “Can You Eat Your Way to Dementia?”  They stated that “An unhealthy diet not only is bad for your waist- it may also trigger Alzheimer’s Disease.” What really kept my interest in this article was the fact that many research studies are linking dementia and Alzheimer’s disease to insulin resistance in the brain…even going as far as calling these diseases Type 3 Diabetes. 

This is very new research, so I googled the term Type 3 Diabetes, and found lots of information besides what was brought up in the Reader’s Digest article.  Here’s the explanation of what is happening – the Reader’s Digest version: “When people frequently gorge on fatty or sugary food, their insulin spikes repeatedly.  Muscle, liver, and fat cells stop responding to the hormone and don’t mop up glucose and fat in the blood.  As a result, the pancreas desperately works overtime to make more insulin to control the glucose, and levels of the two molecules sky-rocket.”  [This goes right along with what we, at Prolean Wellness have been saying about the importance of keeping insulin under control in order to allow our bodies to burn fat.]  “The theory: These constantly high insulin levels also overwhelm the brain, which then becomes less responsive to insulin, impairing the ability to think and form memories, before leading to permanent neural damage.”  This goes right along with Jeff’s experience of being able to think more clearly when his insulin levels came down during the first phase of our weight loss program.  (If you haven’t heard Jeff’s story, give him a call – it’s quite interesting.)

They further discussed a study that confirms that the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease are insulin resistant.  They actually took cadaver brains from people with Alzheimer’s and people who did not have the disease and they bathed them in insulin.  “Tissue from people who had not had Alzheimer’s seemed to spring back to life, triggering a cascade of reactions suggestive of synaptic activity.”  The neurons in the brains of the Alzheimer’s victims barely reacted to the insulin, showing that their insulin signaling was no longer functioning. 

Because we know that Type 2 diabetes can usually be controlled by our diet (until it’s gone on so long that there is permanent damage), I think this is actually good news!!!  If the article in the Reader’s Digest is called “Can You Eat Your Way to Dementia?”, what if we have the mindset that “I Can Eat My Way OUT of Dementia”?  So, when you look at your family history and see anyone with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, or if you see any Type 2 diabetes in your family, or if you’ve been told that you are pre-diabetic, that should be a huge red flag that you need a program in your life to help you get those insulin levels down. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late and you don’t remember your loved-ones’ names.  Do what you must to get insulin levels down, and keep those neurons in your brain firing.  The added benefits can be weight loss, better energy and better overall health.

from Reader’s Digest February 2013 pp117 – 121, written by Bijal Trived for New Scientist (September 3, 2012)

3 Comments
  • Maureen Veit
    Posted at 22:11h, 13 February

    Thanks for the tips. I feel like I have been addicted to sugar most of my life. I don’t feel so good now when I have it. My glucose is at 108, the highest it has ever been. I’m trying hard to eliminate sugar as much as possible because I know it isn’t good for me. I’m starting to feel better! There has been Alzheimer’s in my family , so I’m going to watch my diet more closely.

    • admin
      Posted at 22:18h, 13 February

      I’m so glad you are making changes. Give us a call if you would like to run a test on your insulin levels, not just your glucose levels. That is a better indicator of insulin resistance.

  • Jan Seibert
    Posted at 14:55h, 17 March

    I read this article with great interest. My mom has been diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment, which in most cases leads to Alzheimer’s. She is gettting worse by the day and MY MOM HAS AND ALWAYS HAS A MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR SWEET TOOTH!!!!!!!!!!! Which she unfortunately passed on to me. I wish there was some way to get my mom into some of the research like I read in the Reader’s Digest article, would love to see her get some help because she just isn’t my mom anymore all because of this awful disease : (

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