Unbelievably (well, almost), it is already January 18, 2020, and this is my first forray back into blogging. In truth I hope it is not my last this year, but if it is, so be it. I’m delighted though, that although I have about 300 blogs in my draft folder, a post and video on the value of healthy eating is my first for this year!
It has been believed since the time of Hippocrates that food can heal, or, that is can also be the root cause of disease. I find it hard to argue with that, from both my own personal experience, and science.
Take a listen to this psychiatrist from New York on the power of what he refers to as ‘Farmology’, in his TEDx talk below. His talk is not new… but nor is holistic medicine!
Frankly, I do find it hard to believe that health care professionals are so dedicated to ‘western medicine’, and so anti holistic health and medicine, including the possibility that diet and lifestyle can change outcomes for people with dementia.
Weirdly, they now believe it to be true for conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, so why not dementia?
Perhaps they are not a cure, but these changes can definitely slow the progression of dementia, or at worst, GREATLY improve our Quality of Life.
Healthy food, regular exercise, and holistic health is equally, if not more important than western medicine.
For example, if we feed kids junk food, we double the risk of depression and ADHD. After changing their diets, 80% changed, and 50% of those children diagnosed with ADHD who changed their diets (reduced bad fats, processed sugar and processed food, etc, and increased fresh vegetables and fruit), no longer meet the dignostic criteria for ADHD.
Real food saves brains.
Imagine if we fed people living in nursing homes this type of ‘fast’ food full of processed sugar and bad fats.
Oh, wait… we do! No wonder they occasionally act as if they have ADHD… as we blame it on the pathology of dementia, and call it BPSD!
Psychiatrist, Dr. Drew Ramsey, says, “Food is medicine,” and he is one of psychiatry’s leading proponents of dietary change to balance mood, sharpen brain function and improve mental health. An assistant clinical professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York, his clinical work focuses on the treatment of depression and anxiety with a combination of psychotherapy, diet and lifestyle modification and psychopharmacology.
His books “The Happiness Diet” (Rodale 2011) and “50 Shades of Kale” (Harper/Wave 2013) and blogs The Farmacy and Recipe for Happiness aim to help people eat to for better brain health.
💯% you are what you eat
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I agree with you but many probably won’t…
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True, too bad for them.
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Happy 2020 Kate! Good to see you back…♥
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Thanks for the encouragement to be back xx
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♥♥♥ Keep shining Kate! We support you!! ♥♥♥
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Thank you xx
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Dear Kate
Hope the New Year is a great one!
Always wishing you the best. Enid
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And to you dear Enid xx
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Thanks, Kate, for adding your voice (and credibility) to the argument that food and lifestyle are grossly overlooked by the health care profession. It’s as bad as insisting we all drive cars because everyone has forgotten how to walk. Or is too impatient. The “fix me now, get me there quickly” mentality does not encourage looking at the source. I’m actually flabbergasted that we never hear of any research into what causes dementia. In the meantime, though, and from all I have read, food and lifestyle changes are the wisest course of action for all of our health solutions, and could be the best way to minimize dementia’s effects. Great post!
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Thanks dear Lorrie xx
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Deep gratitude to you and your work, Kate. Your blog was one of the first I found after my father’s diagnosis of dementia and your posts helped me tremendously…to learn more, to have a different perspective on the disease and to not feel so lost. Thank you for putting a life-line out there for others and for publicly advocating for people with dementia. I hope you are able to post again but if not, know that everything you’ve done has been appreciated. My best to you and your family.
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Thanks dear Robin xx
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Lovely to see you Kate, and thank you for this. Good food and exercise are a huge help in keeping us all as well as possible, good to be reminded!
Wishing you and yours a belated Happy New Year xx
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Thanks Trish… and new year wishes to you as well. I thought I may stop blogging completely, but will see how I go. Take care xx
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Yep. Makes sense to me.
That said, we all die of something no matter what we eat.
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