It appears that eating healthy can not only help your body, but can also help your brain. As I was flipping through the imaginary online pages of the NYTimes this morning, I came across an article that caught my eye called "Is Alzheimer's Type 3 Diabetes?". The title is pretty much a dead give away as to what the article is about. Essentially, scientists are drawing stronger and stronger connections between the onset of Alzheimer's and poor eating habits associated with low insulin levels. Type 2 Diabetes, the kind that people develop over time versus the kind your born with (Type 1), is a disease in which the body over time produces lower and lower insulin levels. This can lead to a wide range of health problems that, once passing a certain point, are incurable. Well, it appears that low insulin levels within the body have a much farther reach than previously thought. It is now being shown that low insulin levels also affect the brain by reducing brain function. If left to develop long enough, the low insulin levels in the brain start causing all the signs of Alzheimer's; loss of memory, disorientation, possible loss of personality. While nothing has been concretely proven yet, the connections are becoming more and more apparent and when you look at the rationale behind it, it all starts to make sense. After all, Alzheimer's has not been around for centuries, rather, it is a more recent discovery and has been on the increase almost every year. All indications show that it will continue to increase unless something is done about it. Well, perhaps we now have a remedy, or at least a way to avoid it altogether and that is perhaps the simplest of all remedy's; eating healthy.
The whole reason this caught my eye and drove me to write about it is because one of my grandmothers, Baba, seems to be developing Alzheimer's or some form of dementia as she progresses through her 90's. Trust me, at 92 years old, she has lived a long life and there is probably little that can be done to reverse anything at this point, but imagine if we had known about this sooner. The positive effects of eating healthy seem to have no end in sight. With all the new diseases that have come about over the last 50-60 years, it is about time we started making the connection between the influx of garbage food (i.e. McDonald's) and the influx of all the diseases (i.e. heart disease, Type 2 diabetes). Imagine the health care reform we could enact for ourselves if we all simply started eating healthier. We could literally save billions of dollars each year if we just cut out all the processed foods, fast foods, snack foods, sugary drinks, etc that we consume every year. But there is a far more important reason than money to start eating healthier and that is to prevent unnecessary deaths due to the effects of eating unhealthy. Perhaps the worst out of all the diseases we can get is Alzheimer's. It is a mostly slow decline, affecting those around the victim (term used loosely) more than the victim themselves. With Alzheimer's, the victim only notices the effect at the beginning and slowly but surely loses the ability to function, remember, and live. The effect on the surrounding family is devastating. Here is a family member you have known your whole life and now they can't even remember your face, who you are, or their relation to you. It is a sad and slow way to die. Yet, if we can prevent this from happening, why wouldn't we? Simply put, the allure of fast food, processed food, and sugary foods is just too hard to resist for a lot of people. It is much quicker than cooking your own food and often times cheaper. Yet the long term effects are much more costly when you boil it all down.
How many more diseases need to be discovered or linked to poor eating habits before we decide enough is enough and start making a change for the better? For some, that change will never happen unfortunately, but hopefully for many, they will see the benefits and start to change themselves before it is too late. I have concerns even now within my own family about eating habits. I will not indicate who it is, but if they are reading this now, they will probably figure it out for themselves. All I will say is that I hope they make a change before something irreversible happens to their body. Life is too short as it is. Why would we want to sacrifice more time just so we can get a Happy Meal for $2.00 (For the record, I don't know what the exact cost of a happy meal is these days)? In any case, I am sure that for my grandmother it is too late to change the course of events. Getting an ornery women in her early 90's to make changes to her diet would be a feat akin to my son climbing Mount Everest when he can't even walk yet. There is always hope though. Perhaps if she did decide to eat healthier now, the decline could be slowed down and she could keep her wits about her for a little longer. Then again, maybe it wouldn't make a difference at all. All I know is that the link between low insulin levels and Alzheimer's is one that many can find comfort in. With many people worried about developing Alzheimer's or seeing their family members go through it, they can now find comfort in the fact that by starting to eat healthy now can change the course of events in the future. Why take a risk at losing your memory when the only thing standing in the way of prevention is eating healthier?
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