Read Part I here
We had a two-pronged strategy
1.) Stop further deterioration of her mental faculties by not taking the statins anymore.
2.) Reverse and restore her memory and mental acuity through diet and supplementation.
It was still early days for me as well and I was debating whether I was sentencing my mother to cardiac arrest city if I recommended she stop the statins but because she hated that particular medication with a passion, she already took the initiative to flush the pills down the toilet before I was even said a word.
Of course, I kept her doctor in the loop and he was not happy but keep in mind that a doctor can only recommend. He can’t force anyone to take pills. We imbue doctors with a lot of authority and part of my own paradigm shift was to realize and act on the fact that we inidividually should take an active role in maintaining our health, and not give up so much control to institutional authorities, including doctors and the medical and pharmaceutical systems.
Next step was to start her on a paleo-ish diet, with lots of:
1.) Protein: Red meat (beef, lamb), chicken, eggs, fish.
3.) Natural Carbohydrates: Lots of vegetables and some fruits (later I realized she was overfond of fruits and tried to ban it but it is still a struggle for her).
4.) Fats: High fat dairy like butter and cream. Tropical oils like coconut oil.
What did I eliminate?
1.) Anything made from grains, sugar and vegetable oils.
2.) Anything processed.
3.) Anything that came in a box or a package.
4.) Anything low-fat including skim milk and fat-free yofurts (if it’s low fat then it’s high in sugar – the taste has to come from SOMEWHERE).
Essentially, I put her on a diet where her carbohydrate intake was under 50 grams a day. I was aiming for under 30 grams of carbs a day, making it a ketogenic diet, but knowing my mother, under 50 grams was a bit more reasonable as that would increase her rate of adherence. In contrast, the Canadian Food Agency recommends a daily intake of approximately 240-275 grams of carbs per day for a woman of my mother’s age.
Speaking of ketogenic diets, which have been found to be very effective for reducing epileptic fits in children, a pilot study revealed that these diets were found to be therapuetic for Alzheimers. Keto diets are an extremely high fat diet, and they supplying plenty of fat for the brain. The result is the brain is then able to use alternative energy sources (ketones) that skip pathways that synthesize glucose (main energy source when eating carb heavy Standard American Diet).
Back to my mother’s treatment.
I kept a food diary for her, for monitoring and tracking purposes, and below is an example of what she would eat in a day.
Menu
Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled, cooked in butter, with cucumber and sausage. 3 beef sausages.
Lunch: Zucchini and eggplant lasagna with bechamel sauce (almond flour, parmesan cheese, 3.5% milk and 1 egg) and meat tomato sauce.
Dinner: 2 buttered oven-baked chicken breasts, marinated in mustard sauce. Spinach salad with tomatoes and cucumbers, with olive oil and lemon dressing.
Her and my father ate like royalty.