Eat well, stay active, be fit was a result of three studies and the theme of the 9th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias. To date the best medical approach is prevention or delayed onset.

• Lose weight at midlife. Incorporate diet and exercise into your lifestyle! Weight training is particularly effective driving oxygen and glucose into the brain. Keep a trim waistline. Fat around the middle is not heart smart or brain smart.
• Keep your mind active and stimulated! Learn something new everyday even if it is a phone number or new vocabulary word.
• Eat a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables. Diet superstars are cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and Popeye was right- eat your spinach!
• Don’t be a shut-in or a loner. Get out there and socialize. There is good energy, stimulation and less stress when you interact with positive people.
• Cut down on stress. Walk away your stress, get out into the light, listen to music, meditate (for quick and effective meditations please see my e-book Meditation Made Easy), watch comedies and ask for help.
• Aricept has been shown to delay onset when subtle symptoms of memory loss first appear lasting for about a year to a year and a half. However, the drug has only a minimal effect in the middle stages.

---

Debbie Mandel, MA is the author of Turn On Your Inner Light: Fitness for Body, Mind and Soul, a stress-reduction specialist, motivational speaker, a personal trainer and mind/body lecturer at Southampton College. She is the host of the weekly Turn On Your Inner Light Show on WHLI 1100AM in New York City , produces a weekly wellness newsletter, and has been featured on radio/ TV and print media. To learn more visit: www.turnonyourinnerlight.com