Personal Blog

Can depression be treated with something as simple as meditation and prayer?
Several studies indicate, yes!

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how we can use prayer, meditation, and socialization as an alternative to medication. Add exercise to the treatment and you have a threefold treatment.

Depression is physiologically correlated to low levels of Serotonin, Dopamine, and Noradrenalin. Chemical treatments (anti-depressant drugs) are based on this knowledge. The drugs increase the levels of neurotransmitters that relieve depression. A University of Wisconsin study with Monks showed that meditation and prayer is an effective anti-depressant and that our brain has an optimistic center that works with serotonin and dopamine production– calm, peaceful, anti-addictive neurotransmitters.

The optimistic center promotes production of serotonin and dopamine and, in turn, serotonin and dopamine (Grace-Amine) allows the optimistic center to be easily accessed and turned on. As exercise helps you lose weight, losing weight makes it easier to exercise.

Serotonin is an integral part of the biorhythm sleep cycle. During sleep, especially stage III and IV, serotonin and dopamine are produced in the median raphe, substantia nigra and several other places. As these neurotransmitters, especially serotonin rise, so does our ability to sleep. When sleep is chronically disturbed, by a stressful day or chronic stress, (lasting more than 15 days), it causes a chronic increase in cortisol, our alarm and aging hormone that turns on our alarm sympathetic nervous system. (There really is nothing sympathetic about the sympathetic nervous system) Our ability to sleep worsens. We have difficulty falling asleep (insomnia) and staying asleep (fragmented sleep), which is often due to a combination of physiological problems resulting in a decrease in serotonin and an increase in the hormone cortisol.

Cortisol: The Stress Hormone
As serotonin decreases so does our ability to stay calm and handle everyday stressors. As cortisol increases so does our general alarm to even minor events. The result is anxiety leading to panic disorders, heightened adrenaline and cortisol, which ends in depression when these hormones and neurotransmitters are depleted.

Prayer and meditation can augment both serotonin and dopamine production and your optimistic center. It turns on the vagal system, the optimistic center and suppresses the pessimistic center and the sympathetic nervous system- reversing a downward trend. The same is true about negative thought, such as anger and uncontrolled stress. This turns on cortisol and the pessimistic center that cause further deterioration leading to depression and sleeplessness.

Prayer and meditation also allow one to forgive and let go of negative thoughts, which decreases the production of our aging hormone, cortisol. Dopamine and serotonin aid in forgiveness, but the actual forgiving is freewill (Grace). We give our negative feelings and thoughts to God to handle. We forgive and let go of the very things that will cause us physiologically to destroy ourselves (The poisons that kills us, not those we hate)

What to do
I’m often asked, “Doctor, what medications can I take to help sleep?” The answer is a good dose of Prayer and meditation. This is how I recommend it:

• Find a quiet, peaceful place without distractions.
• Start with a slow inspiration that begins from your abdomen. Watch it expand and at its peak fully exhale over a 10-15 second period. Sigh if need be. This will evoke a vagal nervous system response, one that provokes calm, release of serotonin and dopamine and stimulates the optimistic center.
• One’s prayer should be positive for the welfare of others. Visual images such as gardens or a solitary beach help the centering. Repetitious prayer such as a Rosary or a Mantra work for many. Body image relaxation might also be done at the same time. Relaxing one’s jaw, neck, shoulders, etc.
• Be attentive to one’s bodily reaction to meditation and prayer. You will feel your hands become warmer, your muscle relaxing, and a feeling of calm and contentment.
• Allow drowsiness to set in without willing it.

Additionally, add exercise to decrease stress and increase your youthful hormone growths including HGH, Thyroid, and Testosterone. Exercising or praying in a social setting stimulates dopamine and serotonin and enhances their positive effects.

The trio of prayer, exercise, and socialization leads to an extra sensory perception of spirituality and leads to peace and happiness.

We plant the seeds of future Alzheimer’s disease in our children by what we feed them; and, more importantly, by the lifestyle we instill and expose them to…one that is sedentary, stressful, and sleepless.

This is the fourth blog of a four part series explaining each major lifestyle risk factor common to both childhood obesity and Alzheimer’s disease:  sedentary, stressful, and sleepless.  .  In Part One, I gave an overview to the childhood obesity epidemic that exists in the US today.  In Part Two, I discussed the effects of stress on the brain and how to manage your child’s stress.  In Part Three, I discussed sedentary lifestyle as one of the major causes of obesity and Alzheimer’s disease.  In this fourth blog, I will discuss sleeplessness and I will make recommendations on how you can encourage and implement good sleep habits in your child’s life.

Sleepless, No Sleep for Young Men & Women

Why is sleep so important?  Kids who spend too much time not only watching TV, playing video games, talking on the phone, on extracurricular activities and staying up late to study or “cram” –at the expense of sleep time, simply do less well in school.  Later in life, they are more prone to addiction, psychological disorders, memory deficits, and Alzheimer’s Disease.  Lack of sleep compromises many of the skills that make for healthy living – attention, organization, creative thinking, and efficiency.  It also erodes the motivation that kids have to do well in the first place.  Why is this?  During stages 3 and 4 of REM sleep, occurring only when we get 7 or more hours of sleep, our brain is able to rejuvenate our healthy neurotransmitters: Dopamine and Serotonin.  These neurotransmitters are essential to our ability to have willpower and a general feeling of happiness and good mood.

Technology is killing the minds of our kids!  The Kaiser Family Foundation in 2000 reported that one-third of two-to-seven-year-olds and two-thirds of eight-to-eighteen-year-olds already have a television in their bedroom.  And the most recent data from 2004 shows that this number is continues to grow.  A National Sleep Foundation poll found that 30 percent of preschoolers and 43 percent of school-aged children have a television in their bedroom.  What’s more, the National Institute on Media and the Family reported that children with a television in their bedroom are likely to spend an additional five and a half hours a week watching it. That’s about forty-five minutes a day that could be better spent reading, playing outside, or sleeping.

Television is a stimulating activity.  Television watching (and video games and computer games) is much more likely to wake kids up than to put them to sleep.  In other words, watching TV is counterproductive to achieving the state of relaxation that we all need in order to fall asleep.  Television programming is all about “what’s coming up next.” The whole point is to try to hook the viewer into watching one more segment, one more episode, one more show. You, as an adult, might be able to ignore that message, but most kids can’t.

Studies have shown that television can lead to sleep problems. Children who watch a lot of television, watch television as part of their bedtime routine, and especially children who have a television in their room are more likely to have sleep difficulties. These include difficulty falling asleep, anxiety at bedtime, and night wakings. These children are also more likely to get less sleep than they need.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children’s bedrooms be “media-free zones.”  That means no computer, video games, and no television set.  There may be some biological reasons why television watching might be “anti-sleep.” Noise and particularly light, even low levels of light, can make falling asleep more difficult.  Light prevents the brain from turning on the production of the hormone melatonin, which in turn is absolutely critical to turning on sleep. The bottom line is that bedrooms should be for quiet activities like reading, listening to music, daydream, and above all, sleeping.

Additionally, what your child watches can affect their dreams. Jo Anne Cantor’s book, “Mommy, I’m Scared: How TV and Movies Frighten Children and What We Can Do to Protect Them,” describes the negative effects that the vivid visual pictures on the television screen can have on children (and the same would certainly apply to computer game graphics).  As an adult, you can process and put into context the disturbing images you seen on the nightly news or the latest crime drama, but your child may not be able to do the same and may incorporate those images into nightmares.

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/site/c.huIXKjM0IxF/b.2574219/k.A9ED/Sleep_Stealers_Overweight_and_overtired_How_those_excess_pounds_might_be_costing_your_child_a_good_nights_sleep.htm

Finally, it is important to discuss the confounding stress childhood obesity and lack of sleep places on health.  A number of studies suggest that there is a link between lack of sleep and weight gain.  Some of these studies have looked at how sleep deprivation changes the body’s normal metabolism and hormone function, and the results are not good.  Not getting enough sleep seems to affect not only how inefficiently you metabolize calories, but also how hungry you feel by altering the level of a number of hormones—serotonin, leptin, perhaps others—in the body.  Lack of sleep reduces serotonin and leptin causing us to crave food, especially food high in sugar and carbohydrates.  A diet high in sugar & carbohydrates causes weight gain and obesity.

One study in Japan found a link in six and seven-year-olds between obesity and later bedtimes and fewer hours of sleep.  Children who got less than eight hours of sleep had an almost three times greater risk of being obese compared to children who got ten or more hours.  In addition, some of these studies suggest this relationship may also go in the other direction.  In other words, the risk of being obese decreases with each additional hour that your child sleeps!  This may well be the single greatest argument you’ll ever have in getting your teenager to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

http://www.sleepfoundation.org/site/c.huIXKjM0IxF/b.2574219/k.A9ED/Sleep_Stealers_Overweight_and_overtired_How_those_excess_pounds_might_be_costing_your_child_a_good_nights_sleep.htm

In addition, being overweight or obese can greatly increase your child’s chances of having a serious sleep disorder.  Obstructive sleep apnea is a breathing disorder that occurs during sleep and affects about 1-3 percent of children in the United States.  It often leads to problems with attention, behavior, and academics. The most common cause in children is related to being overweight or obese (the best predictor of sleep apnea in adults is having a neck size of seventeen inches or above).  Over the past ten years in our sleep clinic, we have clearly evaluated more and more overweight and obese children and teenagers for sleep apnea.  In fact, about two-thirds of the children diagnosed with sleep apnea are overweight or obese.

The combination of obesity and sleep apnea may also have greater consequences than either condition alone. As it has in adults, sleep apnea in obese children has been associated with insulin resistance, a condition that increases the risk of heart disease, high triglyceride levels, and diabetes later on.  Studies also suggest that both obesity and sleep apnea in children are independently associated with a decreased quality of life (physical, emotional, social, academic functioning) and chronic deficits in sleep cause Alzheimer’s disease.

Action Plan

Ensure and encourage that your child gets 7-9 hours of sleep a night.  Limit television, videogames, phone, and Internet especially right before bed when it will most disrupt their ability to relax.  Eliminate television as part of your child’s sleep routine.  Remove technology from your child’s bedroom, where it cannot be monitored for content or usage.  Monitor your child for sleep apnea and manage your child’s weight by encouraging proper diet and exercise.

The damage of Alzheimer’s disease begins 30 years before the first symptoms.  Alzheimer’s and poor health begins with the choices you make for your child at the grocery store, by the technology you give them, and by the amount of time you allow them to engage in technology over exercise and sleep.  You can stop the cycle of obesity, chronic stress, and disease!

Obesity is the number one risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease that we can control.   It starts with poor lifestyle; poor lifestyle that you, as a parent, create or correct.  It is your choice!  Please give your kids the gift of optimal health by taking the responsibility and teaching them proper lifestyle.  Give them the most precious gift of all, your presence at the dinner table.  Make it a number one priority of your family.

I applaud your personal efforts and concerns for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I wish for you and your kids’ optimal health!  For more information and helpful tips on how to manage obesity and prevent risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease please read the Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription available in all major book stores and online at Amazon.com or visit www.dearprogram.com or www.anti-alzheimers.com

We plant the seeds of future Alzheimer’s disease in our children by what we feed them; and, more importantly, by the lifestyle we instill and expose them to…one that is sedentary, stressful, and sleepless.

This is the third blog of a four part series explaining each major lifestyle risk factor common to both childhood obesity and Alzheimer’s disease:  sedentary, stressful, and sleepless.  In Part One, I gave an overview to the childhood obesity epidemic that exists in the US today.  In Part Two, I discussed the effects of stress on the brain and how to manage your child’s stress.  In this third blog, I will discuss sedentary lifestyle as one of the major causes of obesity and Alzheimer’s disease.  I also will make recommendations on how you can encourage and implement a regular exercise routine in your child’s life. 

Sedentary Kids, Not Sitting So Pretty

As previously mentioned, the percentage of overweight kids has more than doubled over the past 30 years.  Many factors contribute to this epidemic, including the trend that kids are becoming more sedentary. As they spend more time lounging and watching TV, they spend less time running and playing.  In other words, they’re sitting around a lot more than they used to.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the average child is watching about 3 hours of television a day.  The average kid spends 5.5 hours on all media combined, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Young kids should not be inactive for prolonged periods of time — no more than 1 hour unless they’re sleeping. And school-age children should not be inactive for periods longer than 2 hours.

One of the best ways to get kids to be more active is to limit the amount of time spent in sedentary activities, especially watching TV or playing video games. The AAP recommends that children under the age of 2 years watch no TV at all and that screen time should be limited to no more than 1 to 2 hours of quality programming a day for kids 2 years and older.

Exercise has been shown to do more than just manage weight, it reduces stress.  In the long term, exercise increases brain agility and memory by increasing brain-preserving neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, which increase endorphins, and decrease stress hormones.

Parents, it is your responsibility need ensure that your kids get enough exercise.  How much is enough? According to the 2005 dietary guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), all children 2 years and older should get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise on most, preferably all, days of the week.

Tips for raising fit kids:

• Help your child participate in a variety of activities that are age-appropriate;
• Establish a regular schedule for physical activity;
• Incorporate activity into daily routines, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator;
• Embrace a healthier lifestyle yourself, so you’ll be a positive role model for your family;
• Keep it fun, so you can count on your child to come back for more.

www.kidshealth.org

I applaud your personal efforts and concerns for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I wish for you and your kids’ optimal health!  For more information and helpful tips on how to manage obesity and prevent risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease please read the Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription available in all major book stores and online at Amazon.com or visit www.dearprogram.com or www.anti-alzheimers.com.  Also read my next blog as a part of this series, “Part Four: Sleepless, No Sleep for Young Men and Women.”

Stop what you are doing right now and write down the 3 things that bother you the most about your life.
 
Next, out of those 3 things which ones do you have control over?  Hint:  you only have control over your behavior and your thoughts.

Now, pick one of your behaviors that is bothering you and write out specifically what it is that you do that bothers you.  Be behaviorally specific as possible.  For instance,  instead of writing “I’m overweight.”  Substitute, “I eat sweets at night when I’m watching television.”  Instead of writing, “I’m disorganized,”  substitute, “I haven’t allowed myself time in the day to properly put things away.”s

Then write down, being as behaviorally specific as possible what you will do about it.  For example:  I eat sweets at night,  Write down:  I will go to the store, and buy things to munch on that I like for when I need something at night. 

     When you are attempting to change a behavior, you want to first understand all the good reasons that you have that behavior.  For instance, I eat sweets at night because it gives me something to look forward to before I eat it, it initially lowers my anxiety level,  it tastes good and makes me feel good, it raises my blood sugar and physiologically gives me a lift, I get a feeling of satisfaction when I eat.
Then ask yourself:  How long do the good feelings last?  Next:  Is it worth it?  If not, what would I like to do for myself that would make the positive feelings last longer, promote health, make me feel more in control of myself and subsequently increase  my self esteem?

     Understanding how important a behavior is to you is extremely important in figuring out how best to discontine it.  You may want to rate it on a one to ten scale.  If it is too high, you may want to pick a different behavior to change–one that will more likely lead to success.

     Attempt to figure out what behavior you could substitute for eating sweets.  Make a list of possiblilties.  For instance; you could substitute healthier foods or you could substitute healthier behaviors.  Then, being honest with yourself, think about what would be the most likely thing you would commit to.  Then think about even starting with the easiest and working up to more difficult behaviors.  For instance, you may want to initially start with food substitutions for two weeks, next start with exercise for 5 minutes before you eat the foods, gradually increase the exercise time.  Or you may want to journal the feelings you are attempting to assuade before you eat, then eat.  Then write down how you feel afterwards.

We plant the seeds of future Alzheimer’s disease in our children by what we feed them and by the lifestyle we instill and expose them to…one that is sedentary, stressful, and sleepless.

This is the second blog of a four part series explaining each major risk factor common to both childhood obesity and Alzheimer’s disease: sedentary, stressful, and a sleepless lifestyle.  In Part One, I gave an overview to the childhood obesity epidemic that exists in the US today.  I discussed how an increase in the overweight and obese population is directly related to the increase in consumption of carbohydrates and processed foods.  In this blog I will address the effects of stress on children and how to manage a child’s stress levels to encourage and establish a healthy lifestyle.

The Stress Mess

While watching an episode of the Twilight Zone from the early 60’s, I could not help but notice the stark contrast in what I saw.  In the child’s bedroom, there was a picture of Joe Di Maggio on the wall, an uncluttered desk except for a family photo, a baseball glove, a lamp, and a bed.  The scene was simple, peaceful and stress-less.  It was sharp contrast to children’s bedrooms today, which are loaded with visual and audio stimuli.  For children, more lethal than any weapon is over stimulation and stress!

We place in our kids’ bedrooms an electronic sensory overload:  televisions, video games, phones, and computers.  We allow our kids to have posters in their rooms that are often graphic, menacing, or overtly suggestive.  All are capable of causing stress and thus heightened levels of stress hormones such as cortisol because they expose kids to negative information, vengeance, killing, and sexual activity in the bedroom– an environment in which they should have peace, serenity, and sleep.

Constant stressors or stress conditions result in a loss in neural and hormonal balance. This loss of balance causes increased oxidative damage which accelerates aging in our body. That’s because, chronic disturbances in body homeostasis ultimately affects our hormone secreting glands and other hormones such as growth hormone, thyroid, testosterone, and estrogen so essential for their normal development.

Additionally, recent research results suggest that long-term exposure to adrenal stress hormones such as cortisol may boost brain aging in later life.  Scientists at the University of Kentucky in Lexington looked at the results of memory tests taken by elderly patients with high levels of the stress hormone cortisol.  In tests, that high-level group scored lower than others with reduced levels of the hormone.

The level of hormone released appears to affect the total volume of the brain’s hippocampus—a major source of recall and memory function, in later life. Researchers found those with high levels of hormone release, had a hippocampus volume 14 per cent less than those with lower levels. The study results suggest that, “chronic stress may accelerate hippocampal deterioration” leading to an accelerated physical and brain aging.  Thus, constant stimuli can cause chronic stress, heightened levels of cortisol, and brain deterioration leading to Alzheimer’s disease.

Also important to the issue of stress and children was a study done at the University of Rochester, University of Minnesota, and Notre Dame University:  high levels of cortisol where found in children exposed to family disputes.

“Children who were very distressed by the conflicts in the lab had higher levels of cortisol in response to their parents fighting. Children’s levels of hostility and their involvement during the arguments weren’t always related to their levels of cortisol, the study found. But children who were very distressed and very involved in response to parental fighting had especially high levels of cortisol.

Our results indicate that children who are distressed by conflict between their parents show greater biological sensitivity to conflict in the form of higher levels of the stress hormone, cortisol,” according to Patrick T. Davies, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester, who led the study. “Because higher levels of cortisol have been linked to a wide range of mental and physical health difficulties, high levels of cortisol may help explain why children who experience high levels of distress when their parents argue are more likely to experience later health problems.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081114080912.htm

What can you do?

Make sure your child is getting enough sleep.  You can minimize stress and overabundance of stimuli.  Limit your children’s use of the TV, phone, Internet.  Set a good example. Demonstrate self-control and coping skills.  Do not fight in front of children or burden them with your problems.  Kids can benefit by seeing how you cope successfully with stress.  When you are under extra stress, be sure that you are not passing it along to your child. 

Encourage physical exercise and sports to help your child deal with stress.  Encourage relationships with extended family members, friends and helpful neighbors. Just knowing there is someone else to turn to share their feelings can be a relief for children.  Spending time together or having a few good laughs together goes a long way in reducing stress and in building solid family relationships.  Remember, the family that plays together stays together.

Teach your children to pray from an early age.  Prayer and a belief that there is someone always in control and someone you can always go to gives one’s child inner strength.  Numerous studies show those with strong faith and faith based groups handle stress better and resist Alzheimer’s disease.

I applaud your personal efforts and concerns for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I wish for you and your kids’ optimal health!  For more information and helpful tips on how to manage obesity and prevent risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease please read the Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription available in all major book stores and online at Amazon.com or visit www.dearprogram.com or www.anti-alzheimers.com.  Also read my next blog as a part of this series, “Part Three: Sedentary Kids, Not Sitting So Pretty.”

An experiment on our trustworthy buddies the rats gives us insight on dealing with Stress.

     Upon shocking a set of rats at random scientist found Cortisol ( the stress hormone)shot up and if the shocks continued the rats died of stress related disease (ulcers). The merciful scientists then gave the rats a lever to push that would stop the shocks .Initially the Cortisol rose but fell after the lever was pushed. Soon when the shocks began again the rats cortisol levels rose only slightly as they knew they were in control.

   Scientist are not always nice. One decided to take those rats who had learned to use the lever and disablee it. Dispite pushing the lever the shocks continud . But to the surprise of the scientist the rats cortisol levels only rose slightly.

    The reason is felt to be the rats thought they were still in control.

How can we apply this to humans? several studies have shown that those who think they or someone else ( like God) is in control do not over-react. Their stress levels(reactions) are less and they live longer . Therefore if you feel prepared or have Faith that there is someone looking after you, you will be less likely to suffer from stress related diseases.

  My advice Prepare - Prioritize - Act -Pray. If you make  this a daily routine you will cut your stress dramatically even if the stressors (Shocks) remain the same. Also having a good spouse to share ones stresses is equally beneficial.    DR.  VINCE

The flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds we plant today.

One of my patients, a former FBI agent, once informed me that their research indicated that a gun located in the home to protect a family, had a greater risk to harm the very family that weapon was supposed to protect.  While perusing the web, out of curiosity, I looked up the actual statistics.  I discovered that a gun in the home is 22-times more likely to be used in a criminal, unintentional, or suicide-related shooting than to be used in self-defense!

That factoid became a personal reality one month later, as I rushed to the emergency room to treat a six-year old patient.  His brain was severely damaged because his older brother accidentally shot him in the head with their father’s gun.  What did I learn?  We are the cause or our own demise.  Often we fear the enemy from without, but not realizing it; we open the door and bring him in.  The irony is that we are harming the ones we want to protect and love.

While most of us do not have guns in the home, we introduce things equally damaging.  The irrationality and shear negligence of “gun-toting” parents is comparable to the more subtle unintentional lifestyle damage I see parents creating daily.  As Parents, we bring into our homes the very elements that destroy our children’s physical and mental health, their future ability to deal with the difficulties in life, and their general wellbeing and happiness.

We plant the seeds of future Alzheimer’s disease in our children by what we feed them; and more importantly, by the lifestyle we instill and expose them to…one that is sedentary, stressful, and sleepless.

This is the first of a four part blog series explaining each major risk factor common to both childhood obesity and Alzheimer’s disease.  In each blog I will explain the risks and show you how to implement proper lifestyle in the lives of your children and yourself.  This first blog addresses the effects of diet on children and how to manage a child’s nutrition and establish a healthy lifestyle.

Diet:  Children & Carbohydrates = a Recipe for Disaster

The damage of Alzheimer’s disease (amyloid and plaques) begins 30 years before the first symptoms.  Obesity rates have now reached epidemic proportions in the US in youth populations and is one of the greatest risk factors for all disease, including Alzheimer’s disease.  It starts with poor lifestyle; one that you, as a parent, create or correct.  The good news is that obesity is the number one risk factor that we can control. 

How do we parents harm our kids?  You do so in the choices you make at the market, by bringing home sweets, colas, and chips for your children to find and snack upon.  These foods are all high in simple carbohydrates, calories, and worse, MSG (Monosodium Glutamate).

Carbohydrates cause a spike in insulin levels at first then a dramatic decrease in blood sugar leaving us hungry, craving more carbohydrates and likely to eat more, and more.  The result: weight gain and obesity!  The average child in 2008 consumed 700 calories more a week than s/he did in 1950.  “In the last four decades, obesity rates have more than tripled for children and adolescents ages 6 to 19. One-third of all children and adolescents in the United States are obese or at risk for becoming obese.” http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2006-releases/press12042006.html

MSG, a brain excitant, may be worse than the “carbohydrate crazy’s” that a bag of candy can produce.  I believe that MSG may in fact precipitate illicit drug use in adolescents and young adults because of the manner at which it stimulates the brain.  Check for MSG on the label.  In fact, did you know that Campbell’s soup (“The Mother of all Soups”) was laced with MSG?  It was eliminated due to many complaints by parents.  Did these food manufactures know what they were doing, addicting our children, giving them a rush of adrenaline, not unlike what they might get from later use of illicit drugs?  Are manufacturers who currently use MSG any different then the tobacco manufactures?  My son Kevin, just ready to turn 21, received his first Campbell’s advertisement with a coupon to buy free Camel’s cigarettes…How did they know?

What can you do?

I encourage you to teach your children to eat one-third protein, one-third fat, and one-third carbohydrates for a balanced meal.  Additionally, the order is important — to prevent insulin peaking, you should eat carbohydrates last.  My diet program in the Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription details proper meals that are appropriate for children as well as adults. 

Be mindful of food labels.  Choose foods that are complex carbohydrates over simple carbohydrates.  Choose carbohydrates that are rich in fiber, they are digested slower and are less likely to peak insulin.  Even more significant, choose foods that have a low Glycemic Index (GI).  For a list of low GI foods visit: http://www.glycemicindex.com/.

Parents please don’t believe those labels “low-fat” and those brands that lace their foods with sugar, corn-syrup, or say “Healthy Selection.”  They know what they are doing.  They are profiting by food that causes cravings and addiction.  When our kids were three years old we had to stop them from crossing the street because they didn’t know any better.  As adolescents we may not be able to stop our kids from eating unhealthy foods, but we must warn them.

The Family that Eats Together

Did you know the most important way to deliver family values is at meal time?  Numerous studies show that taking a client out to eat is the best way for them to buy your message.  It is no different for children.  Eat meals together as a family and eat at the table, not in front of the television.  Eat slowly and enjoy the food.  Don’t use food as a reward or punishment.  Children should be taught to associate food as a source of energy & nourishment.  At the family table children learn life’s lessons and good diet habits.  Furthermore, you can learn from them what is going on at their school or in their life.  You might be surprised!

To reiterate, Alzheimer’s and poor health begins with the choices you make for your child at the grocery store, by the technology you give them, and by the amount of time you allow them to engage in technology over exercise and sleep.  Children and adolescents overweight by 18 are 67% more likely to be obese after 50.

You can make a change!  You can stop the cycle of obesity, chronic stress, and disease!  I encourage your personal efforts and concerns for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I wish for you and your kids’ optimal health!

Please give your kids the gift of optimal health by taking personal responsibility and teaching them proper diet and lifestyle.  Also, give them the most precious gift of all, your presence at the dinner table.  Make it the number one priority for your family.  Remember the family that eats together, grows together healthy.

I applaud your personal efforts and concerns for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and I wish for you and your kids’ optimal health!  For more information and helpful tips on how to manage obesity and prevent risk factors associated with Alzheimer’s disease please read the Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription available in all major book stores and online at Amazon.com or visit www.dearprogram.com or www.anti-alzheimers.com.  Also read my next blog as a part of this series, “Part Two: The Stress Mess: Stress and its Effects on Childhood Obesity and Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Research shows that prayer is nurturing and healing.  Some say that this healing power is the direct hand of God, a miracle.  Though this may be true at times, God has made us a physical being ruled by the laws of science or nature.  Why could he not act through that nature, the basis of science? [click to continue...]

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