A Mind of Your Own
We can grow old without brain degeneration. Death is inevitable. Dementia is not.
Dementia is not a normal process of aging, but is damage to specific areas of the brain. A disease has a cause, and with understanding we can avoid the cause or, if we are overtaken, we can find a solution to the cause.
The things that we can do to prevent diseases of the brain are the things we must do to restore brain function, but we may have to do them more intensely. When we have drifted too far to the east on a journey, we must overcompensate by drifting too far to the west to get back on course.
Chronic diseases are multi-factorial. There is a combination of failures that result in collapse of one or more systems. There is not a pill for arthritis, brain degeneration, cancer, diabetes, etc. Addressing the causes, whichever of the “36 holes in the roof” (according to Dr. Dale Bredesen) apply to you, or at least as many causes as possible, is key. You will find an improvement in overall health of the body as you improve brain health because it is all connected.
There are some commonalities of the different natural perspectives on causes and corrections of the various diseases of the brain. We will start with the one that may be most relevant today.
NOTE: Please work with your healthcare provider to ensure that you select the correct steps for YOU and that current medications are handled properly.
These steps are not necessarily to be accomplished in order since their effects on the body are interrelated. Accomplish what you can with as many of these tasks as possible, taking baby steps as appropriate for your situation in order to increase rather than decrease health. For example, easing into a ketogenic diet, exercise routine, or stress reduction is more beneficial than attempting to do everything at once.
The first preventative step is maintaining stable blood sugar with low insulin. The corresponding corrective step is restoring insulin sensitivity and returning to stable blood sugar with low insulin.
Our American diet with a high carbohydrate and sugar focus is the primary driver of our obesity and diabetic epidemics. There is a large overlap in these two groups as the diet puts a high demand on pancreatic production of insulin to clear away blood glucose. The cells become dependent on the glucose pathway for energy production and will not burn ketones, the stored fat in our bodies.
The ketogenic diet is a great corrective measure for restoring the ability to burn fat for energy. With a low carbohydrate component, modest protein, and high fat, the body’s ability to utilize ketones for energy will be restored. This is not necessarily a lifelong diet, but one that help restore many people to balance. Find a practitioner to guide you safely through the diet change.
This must be coupled with the second preventative and restorative step, exercise. Some cardio exercises, such as walking and swimming, paired with strength training, such as isometrics or weights, work to boost metabolism and to restore insulin sensitivity. This cannot be ignored, no matter how small the effort of which you are capable. Again, work with your healthcare provider on safely initiating a program geared to your capabilities.
The third step, which really is no less important than the first two, is stress reduction. Continued high adrenaline wears out the adrenals – and the rest of the body. The corresponding high cortisol (like all steroids) contributes to insulin resistance and weight gain, reduces cellular energy production, kills neurons (especially in the hippocampus, the seat of memory), reduces immune function, reduces pregnenolone available for DHEA and sex hormones, etc. It is a long list only partially addressed on consumer websites, such as Mayo Clinic. Chronic high cortisol results in cellular cortisol resistance and runaway inflammation as cortisol loses ability to put out the fire. Chronic dental infection (or any low grade chronic infection like Epstein-Barr) is a tremendous stressor on the body, as well as a source of toxicity.
The fourth step, sleep, is so related to the first three that separating it is almost impossible. Because the body is an integral unit, achieving restorative sleep is almost impossible without the above. Effects of inadequate sleep may include memory loss, trouble concentrating, mood changes, high blood pressure, weight gain, risk of diabetes, poor balance, and more.
Optimizing nutrition is the fifth step, including not only choosing whole foods with the nutrition still attached, but avoiding inflammatory foods, including gluten, dairy, and any foods that you do not handle well. These create stress and add to toxicity while degrading the body’s ability to digest, the ability to extract nutrition from food and to utilize it efficiently. Slowly adding nutritious foods and shedding processed and non-beneficial foods will help with all of the steps above and below.
A reduction in toxicity has already begun in many of the above steps. Reducing toxic foods, stress, and infections helps to reduce the flow of toxins into the body. Foods such as cruciferous vegetables, plenty of clean water, and therapies such as sauna are helpful in removing toxins (detoxification). Brightly colored vegetables full of polyphenols and flavonoids are sources of antioxidants to reduce the damage of oxidation.
Avoidance of toxicity is difficult in our chemical laden world. Silver (mercury) fillings, chlorine in the water (a great addition until the moment before it touches your lips), chemical additives to food, pesticides, herbicides....the list is ever growing. Reasonable care is the best we can do.
One of the most damaging and preventable sources of toxicity is well within our control: toxic thoughts. Our thought signals travel to every cell of the body. Hold every thought captive.
Supplementation may be helpful, particularly at first until balance is achieved. At that point, there may be some areas where supplementation is necessary long term, or maybe not. Working with a practitioner to know your specific needs is best.
The Blood Nutrition Charts ($4 each, free S&H >$30) that are in stock are available online or by email: overton@att.net, They provide some good general information on diet, lifestyle and supplementation for each of the four blood types. There are definitely NOT just four diets appropriate for the whole world, but the general suggestions appear accurate and a person can adjust foods to include in their unique diet by the taste, texture, and desire for the food, and by how they feel after eating.
This article has painted the various diseases of the brain with a broad brush. According to his website, the protocol of Dr. Bredesen, for example, addresses only Alzheimer's and its precursors. Mild Cognitive Impairment and Severe Cognitive Impairment. That gives him enough challenges!
You might read an article of one of Dr. Bredesen's disciples on a patient with Parkinson's, in which a gut issue prompts creation of an abnormal protein that travelled the vagus nerve to the brain, where it destroyed the cells producing dopamine.
Or take a look at Dr. Bruce Fife's website concerning brain diseases generally.
Or read Dr. Natasha McBride's Gut and Psychology Syndrome to see how intestinal permeability triggers autoimmune, such as MS, and leads to toxicity in the brain..
Or read Dr. Kelly Brogan's book, A Mind of Your Own, with a natural approach to depression.
Or research natural approaches to your concerns, looking for understanding and not a quick fix.
Whatever part of the body is showing symptoms, and whatever the name that we give the symptoms, we must remember that chronic disease is often a long time in manifesting and that there are many underlying issues. Drugs or surgery may save a life in a crisis and give the body an opportunity to heal. Our work begins before that crisis, or we learn from the crisis and that is where our own work begins.
Note: This article, like all others in these e-newsletters and website, is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This is not a substitute for medical advice. If you have a health condition requiring treatment, please consult a healthcare professional.
We can grow old without brain degeneration. Death is inevitable. Dementia is not.
Dementia is not a normal process of aging, but is damage to specific areas of the brain. A disease has a cause, and with understanding we can avoid the cause or, if we are overtaken, we can find a solution to the cause.
The things that we can do to prevent diseases of the brain are the things we must do to restore brain function, but we may have to do them more intensely. When we have drifted too far to the east on a journey, we must overcompensate by drifting too far to the west to get back on course.
Chronic diseases are multi-factorial. There is a combination of failures that result in collapse of one or more systems. There is not a pill for arthritis, brain degeneration, cancer, diabetes, etc. Addressing the causes, whichever of the “36 holes in the roof” (according to Dr. Dale Bredesen) apply to you, or at least as many causes as possible, is key. You will find an improvement in overall health of the body as you improve brain health because it is all connected.
There are some commonalities of the different natural perspectives on causes and corrections of the various diseases of the brain. We will start with the one that may be most relevant today.
NOTE: Please work with your healthcare provider to ensure that you select the correct steps for YOU and that current medications are handled properly.
These steps are not necessarily to be accomplished in order since their effects on the body are interrelated. Accomplish what you can with as many of these tasks as possible, taking baby steps as appropriate for your situation in order to increase rather than decrease health. For example, easing into a ketogenic diet, exercise routine, or stress reduction is more beneficial than attempting to do everything at once.
The first preventative step is maintaining stable blood sugar with low insulin. The corresponding corrective step is restoring insulin sensitivity and returning to stable blood sugar with low insulin.
Our American diet with a high carbohydrate and sugar focus is the primary driver of our obesity and diabetic epidemics. There is a large overlap in these two groups as the diet puts a high demand on pancreatic production of insulin to clear away blood glucose. The cells become dependent on the glucose pathway for energy production and will not burn ketones, the stored fat in our bodies.
The ketogenic diet is a great corrective measure for restoring the ability to burn fat for energy. With a low carbohydrate component, modest protein, and high fat, the body’s ability to utilize ketones for energy will be restored. This is not necessarily a lifelong diet, but one that help restore many people to balance. Find a practitioner to guide you safely through the diet change.
This must be coupled with the second preventative and restorative step, exercise. Some cardio exercises, such as walking and swimming, paired with strength training, such as isometrics or weights, work to boost metabolism and to restore insulin sensitivity. This cannot be ignored, no matter how small the effort of which you are capable. Again, work with your healthcare provider on safely initiating a program geared to your capabilities.
The third step, which really is no less important than the first two, is stress reduction. Continued high adrenaline wears out the adrenals – and the rest of the body. The corresponding high cortisol (like all steroids) contributes to insulin resistance and weight gain, reduces cellular energy production, kills neurons (especially in the hippocampus, the seat of memory), reduces immune function, reduces pregnenolone available for DHEA and sex hormones, etc. It is a long list only partially addressed on consumer websites, such as Mayo Clinic. Chronic high cortisol results in cellular cortisol resistance and runaway inflammation as cortisol loses ability to put out the fire. Chronic dental infection (or any low grade chronic infection like Epstein-Barr) is a tremendous stressor on the body, as well as a source of toxicity.
The fourth step, sleep, is so related to the first three that separating it is almost impossible. Because the body is an integral unit, achieving restorative sleep is almost impossible without the above. Effects of inadequate sleep may include memory loss, trouble concentrating, mood changes, high blood pressure, weight gain, risk of diabetes, poor balance, and more.
Optimizing nutrition is the fifth step, including not only choosing whole foods with the nutrition still attached, but avoiding inflammatory foods, including gluten, dairy, and any foods that you do not handle well. These create stress and add to toxicity while degrading the body’s ability to digest, the ability to extract nutrition from food and to utilize it efficiently. Slowly adding nutritious foods and shedding processed and non-beneficial foods will help with all of the steps above and below.
A reduction in toxicity has already begun in many of the above steps. Reducing toxic foods, stress, and infections helps to reduce the flow of toxins into the body. Foods such as cruciferous vegetables, plenty of clean water, and therapies such as sauna are helpful in removing toxins (detoxification). Brightly colored vegetables full of polyphenols and flavonoids are sources of antioxidants to reduce the damage of oxidation.
Avoidance of toxicity is difficult in our chemical laden world. Silver (mercury) fillings, chlorine in the water (a great addition until the moment before it touches your lips), chemical additives to food, pesticides, herbicides....the list is ever growing. Reasonable care is the best we can do.
One of the most damaging and preventable sources of toxicity is well within our control: toxic thoughts. Our thought signals travel to every cell of the body. Hold every thought captive.
Supplementation may be helpful, particularly at first until balance is achieved. At that point, there may be some areas where supplementation is necessary long term, or maybe not. Working with a practitioner to know your specific needs is best.
The Blood Nutrition Charts ($4 each, free S&H >$30) that are in stock are available online or by email: overton@att.net, They provide some good general information on diet, lifestyle and supplementation for each of the four blood types. There are definitely NOT just four diets appropriate for the whole world, but the general suggestions appear accurate and a person can adjust foods to include in their unique diet by the taste, texture, and desire for the food, and by how they feel after eating.
This article has painted the various diseases of the brain with a broad brush. According to his website, the protocol of Dr. Bredesen, for example, addresses only Alzheimer's and its precursors. Mild Cognitive Impairment and Severe Cognitive Impairment. That gives him enough challenges!
You might read an article of one of Dr. Bredesen's disciples on a patient with Parkinson's, in which a gut issue prompts creation of an abnormal protein that travelled the vagus nerve to the brain, where it destroyed the cells producing dopamine.
Or take a look at Dr. Bruce Fife's website concerning brain diseases generally.
Or read Dr. Natasha McBride's Gut and Psychology Syndrome to see how intestinal permeability triggers autoimmune, such as MS, and leads to toxicity in the brain..
Or read Dr. Kelly Brogan's book, A Mind of Your Own, with a natural approach to depression.
Or research natural approaches to your concerns, looking for understanding and not a quick fix.
Whatever part of the body is showing symptoms, and whatever the name that we give the symptoms, we must remember that chronic disease is often a long time in manifesting and that there are many underlying issues. Drugs or surgery may save a life in a crisis and give the body an opportunity to heal. Our work begins before that crisis, or we learn from the crisis and that is where our own work begins.
Note: This article, like all others in these e-newsletters and website, is provided as an information resource only, and is not to be used or relied on for any diagnostic or treatment purposes. This is not a substitute for medical advice. If you have a health condition requiring treatment, please consult a healthcare professional.