I really want to avoid developing Alzheimer’s Disease. I have seen what it has done to some family members whom I loved.

I remember the worst Christmas Eve of my life when I recognized that one member of my family had Alzheimer’s.  She was always the one who made the oyster stew. She had done that for at least 15 years for our family on Christmas Eve. We had been getting clues that she had been having memory problems, but we didn’t realize the extent. When she arrived on this Christmas Eve, my mother said something like “We are waiting for you to make the oyster stew” and she said ” I have never made oyster stew! I don’t know how!” I remember it like the day President Kennedy was shot and the day the World Trade Center was hit.

That was the moment of acute grief that I remember, but then there was the 10 years that she spent in a nursing home before she died. Another family member was also in a nursing home for 10 years due to Alzheimer’s. And, now the next generation is getting older and some are in the same place.

I have a family history of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, but the disease that scares me the most is Alzheimer’s.  I would rather be diagnosed with cancer and die within 3 months like my mother did than develop Alzheimer’s Disease.

I am almost 70 years old and in good health. I am able to teach a college class and manage the accounting for my husband’s business.  But, every time I can’t remember something, I worry.

I know all the things to do to prevent or at least delay Alzheimer’s.  I keep my brain active; I exercise; I have been trying to eat a health diet most based on what is good for my heart and blood vessels. However, when I saw the MIND diet and the research that supports its effectiveness, I realized that this was something more specific that I could do.

The good news is that by eating healthy for my heart, I had been following the MIND diet fairly closely already.  I do have to work harder to include more nuts, beans, and whole grains.

I hope that by sharing what I am learning about the MIND diet and how to follow it that I can help others follow it also.