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I thought I fed them well. I was wrong.
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I Was Raised This Way.
I Raised My Girls This Way.
I've been blessed. I have only happy memories of my childhood, of the time we spent together as a family in the kitchen, gathered around the dining table
And I have only happy memories of raising our daughters.
Those years were exhausting and exhilarating, and so many of our best moments were built around family meals.
Joyful. Messy. Wonderful.
But today, I can’t think about those moments without something else creeping in.
A little regret.
A little guilt.
A little fear.
Because it turns out…
the food I raised my family on may not have been as healthy as I believed.
And that’s a hard thing to live with.
Let's talk about it.
😔 I was raised this way.
Without thinking twice, I raised my girls this way too.
The food.
The rules.
The idea of what “healthy” looked like.
. Low fat.
. Whole grains.
Everything we were told to do.
It was normal.
😔 I grew up on this food.
And today, every one of my sisters is dealing with some form of chronic illness.
Not Alzheimer’s.
But something tied to inflammation.
That part doesn’t surprise me anymore.
What surprises me is this:
Not one of them is willing to try a different way of eating.
😔 The bigger heartache? My girls.
They are healthy.
So was I at their age.
And this is something I found myself thinking about just this morning.
Did you know that women make up nearly two-thirds of Alzheimer’s cases?
That alone gives me pause.
“Nearly two-thirds of Americans living with Alzheimer’s are women.”
— from the Alzheimer's Association, https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/facts-figures
😔 Women and Alzheimer's
An article in Prevention, published in April, discussed research linking early menopause to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s, pointing to hormonal changes as one possible factor.
That may be part of the story.
But I keep coming back to this:
For decades, women were told to avoid fat.
To eat low-fat, high-carb diets.
And fat is exactly what our hormones depend on.
Is it possible we’ve been working against ourselves all along?
If you’d like to read that article, you can find it here:
https://www.prevention.com/health/a43508392/early-menopause-alzheimers-hormone-therapy-study/
🧠 Changing my diet reversed the worst of my early Alzheimer's symptoms.
And I am not alone.
More and more women are realizing that they have the power to heal (or harm!) their brains with food.
That part is hopeful.
But it leads to a painful question.
About how I raised my girls.
They’re grown now.
They have their own lives, their own habits, their own choices.
And I don’t get to stand in the kitchen and say,
“eat this, not that.”
I am haunted by this:
Will my girls reject and recover from the Standard American Diet that I raised them on? Or have I doomed them to a future of chronic illness?
☀️ Hope!
Just when I feel deepest in despair, something small happens.
Earlier this week, I got a text.
A picture from one of my girls of...
an omelet at an airport.
And I thought…
Okay.
There is hope.
I can’t change how I was raised.
I can’t change how I raised them.
But I can live differently now.
I eat like my brain matters.
And maybe they are still watching their old mother's example after all.
Were you raised on The Standard American Diet?
Grab your free copy of Are You Starving?, which outlines the shifts that changed my relationship with food.
And if you’re ready to take the next step, The 14-Day Clear Mind Reset is now open.
Are you eating for Nutrition First?
Are your children?
Hope so!
Thank you for your time.
Until next week, let’s all stay strong, wise, and good.
I'm Glad You're Here
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Until next time, stay strong, wise, kind, and good.
Choose real food for real health.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, scientist, or nutritionist. I do not provide medical advice. I share personal experience and ongoing learning about health through real food.
Good morning!
I am a late boomer spreading the gospel of good health through good food.
My bona fides?
Beating back Alzheimer's by eating clean low-carb.
And dropping a little weight effortlessly as a bonus.
Real food for real health.
Join me?
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