225+ short stories + 1 Fiction Novel (3 "Maury" Novellas) plus More

Art Youmans Stories

225+ short stories + 1 Fiction Novel (3 "Maury" Novellas) plus More

Dementia

Dementia story #1

FROM: Art Youmans, “Preventing Dementia With Strong Bones & Vitamin D,” 28 May 2019
A FORMULA FOR PREVENTING DEMENTIA

Strong Bones = Little Chance for Dementia

Do you remember the spiritual song, “Dem Bones, where the “Toe bone connected the foot bone, Foot bone connected to the heal bone,” & so on?

Your bones are also connected to your brain health.
If your doctor tells you that you have osteoporosis – a thinning of the bones, he should have also explained what University of Kansas researchers found in a 2009 follow-up study of a 1999 study of 8,000 osteoporotic women:

“Bone mineral density is reduced in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease and is associated with brain and memory atrophy.”

The bones of an average woman are half the thickness of the bones of an average man. Therefore women are at most risk for thin bones & dementia.

The latest study on how osteoporosis can lead to Alzheimer’s disease was published in August, 2018, in the “Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.” This European study from 29,983 osteoporosis patients showed that women with osteoporosis were 25% more likely to get dementia & men with osteoporosis were 47% more inclined to get dementia than those with normal bones. A co-author of this study was Louis Jacob from the University of Paris. (SOURCE: Cancerdefeated.com, “Connection Found Between Dementia and Common Health Problem,”9/14/2018)

HOW TO STRENGTHEN YOUR BONES
Remember that half the bone structure is built from protein, so get sufficient protein from fish, fowl, meat, beans & vegetable protein.
Take a multi-mineral pill that includes mineral nutrients like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, potassium & Vitamin K. Also, eat plenty of green, leafy vegetables & lots of fruit. Chelated minerals (more bioavailable) are better assimilated by you.
Also eat lots of eggs & liver, get plenty of sunshine & do weight-bearing exercise at least 3 times a week, like walking, jogging, climbing stairs & dancing.

VITAMIN D (AKA VITAMIN D3)
Besides the B-complex vitamins, including B-12 methyl-cobalamin, vitamin D can also protect you from dementia. Research suggests that as you grow older, your ability to soak up vitamin D from the sun gets less efficient. This is why a vitamin supplement is so important. A recent study confirmed this. It found that a vitamin D deficiency in midlife (ages 55-67) is connected to cognitive decline in later years (ages 65-77).
Studies have found that people with very low levels of Vitamin D (lower than 25 nmol/L) had 122% higher risk of developing dementia.

Scientists are not sure about why a lack of Vitamin D leads to dementia, but receptors in the brain impacts your thoughts, actions & ability to learn. Past research has shown that there are less Vitamin D receptors in the hippocampus in the brain of folks who have Alzheimer’s. Since the hippocampus (which is responsible for memories & learning) is the first area impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, this becomes another clue in solving the multiple causes of dementia.

If you suffer from an autoimmune disease, you are likely deficient in Vitamin D. For those who don’t have an autoimmune disease, like multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, lupus, IBD & psoriatic arthritis, a lack of Vitamin D increases your risk of getting one.

If you already have an autoimmune disease, Vitamin supplementation should help your body in fighting these painful diseases.

About 5 years ago, my doctor, who was an M.D. with a Ph.D in nutrition, advised me to take 5,000 I.U. of Vitamin D, daily. I’m also taking many other vitamins & minerals that he suggested I take. So far, his advice has helped my mind, today, to stay at approximately 70% of the memory & brain sharpness I had in the 1950s. (Two years ago, I believe I had about 80% brain sharpness.)

A medical column in the “Tulsa World,” our daily newspaper, provides the following information about how the loss of your muscle mass & obesity are risk factors for dementia. “A recent study published this year in the journal “Clinical Interventions in Aging,” show loss of muscle mass & obesity as risk factors for cognitive decline that leads to dementia. Doctors say we lose 3 to 5% of total muscle mass per decade as we age, so when we’re 80 we’ve possibly lost as much as 30% of the muscles we had at 20. The two doctors, Dr. Ko & Dr. Glazier from UCLA Health (Hospital) suggest weight-bearing & aerobic exercises to combat your loss of muscles. (“Tulsa World,” Study Examined How Low Muscle Mass May be Predictor of Dementia, 17 September 2018, Section A, page 10)

In summary, weak bones & the shrinking-with-age muscles they are connected to by tendons, are risk factors for severe brain problems.
Future newsletters will discuss lifestyle choices (June 4), cancer (June 11), air pollution (June 18) & new trends in the marketplace that affect you (June 27).

The End

Dementia Story 2

Art Youmans, “Slowing Dementia,” 8 January, 2019

“A fool is one who locks the barn door after the horse is stolen.”
“A greater fool is one who doesn’t lock the barn door before the horse is stolen.”

Those words of wisdom (above) were correct then, when horse thieves were hung from trees. A paraphrased saying, today, shown below, describes most of us folks over age 60.

“An age 60+ fool is one who doesn’t take steps to prevent dementia until after he develops minor thinking problems & memory loss.”
“A greater age 60+ fool is one who finally considers combatting dementia only after his doctor certifies him as an Alzheimer’s patient.”
“An intelligent age 60+ person is anyone who takes steps to fight dementia before it overwhelms his brain, in the later stage of his life.”
However, the smartest person of them all is someone younger than age 60, who takes steps NOW, to prevent or delay dementia from destroying his/her brain in future years.

AS WE AGE
Everything slows down as we age.
You don’t see any track stars at the Olympics in their 50s & 60s. By then, we lose a step or two both physically & mentally.
Unless you take steps, now, you are probably on a downhill slide toward disease & mild to complete dementia, tomorrow.

CAN MY DOCTOR HELP?
The typical American doctor lives only 62 years, whereas his patients live 79 to 81 years. If your doctor knew something to keep himself alive longer than you, I’d say “yes.”
A typical non-surgical U.S. doctor has been transformed into a dispenser of pills for every symptom you have. He has never been trained to get to the source of your problem. Medical School trained him to use drugs to mask your symptoms, not to cure anything during your short, 20-minute appointment. You need to see him periodically to get your prescriptions renewed or increased/decreased in potency.
If you want any help, in my opinion, anything you do to extend your life will have to be done by someone except your local general practitioner with an M.D. or D.O. after his/her name.

THINK OF YOUR BODY AS AN OLD JALOPY
Example: Joe is 50-years old, born in 1968. He decides to do the same things with his body as he would if he had just purchased a 1968 Chevy. He does a mechanical check on the car’s motor & finds that all is well.

Since his heart is like the motor of a car, Joe asks his general practitioner to arrange an appointment with a cardiologist. As Joe has experienced occasional chest pains, the cardiologist arranges a CT scan, which shows collateral arteries have formed around a small coronary artery, closed by a mild heart attack in the past.
The cardiologist recommends a stent to re-open the blocked artery & discusses those risk factors for heart disease that are controllable. Joe had no idea that smoking & second-hand smoke harms almost every organ in his body or that smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans every year. Joe was also surprised to learn the damage that alcohol does to the liver & the disease-causing inflammation it produced that weakens his immune system.

Besides stressing the importance of exercise to relieve stress, improve heart & lung efficiency, & keep Body Mass Index (BMI) under 30 (Obese), Joe’s cardiologist recommended he switch to a no-junk-food Mediterranean or Paleo Diet, both sugar-free diets shown to reduce the risk for heart disease by lowering cholesterol & reducing risk of type 2 diabetes.

CHEMICALS HARM YOUR LUNGS & BRAIN
Chemical cleaners which contain harsh agents like bleach, ammonia, chlorine & 2-butoxyethanol, have a negative effect on your organs including the lungs & brain.
A recent study in the American Thoracic Society’s “American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine,” found that using chemical cleaners long-term could damage your lungs & other organs as much as smoking 20 cigarettes a day for 10 to 20 years.
Common symptoms of long-term use of chemical cleaners in your home are emphysema, bronchitis, COPD & brain fog. Brain fog leads to memory problems, on the slippery slope toward dementia.

Instead of buying a toxic chemical cleaner for your stove top, dishes, countertops, walls etc. make your own natural cleaner by mixing four (4) tablespoons of baking soda in a quart of warm water. Another natural cleaner is vinegar. Mix nine (9) parts water with one (1) part vinegar in a spray bottle for a good, non-toxic cleaner in your home. NOTE: If you work in a chemical plant, get another job that won’t harm your lungs & brain.

DEMENTIA AMONG POLITICIANS
About 8 years ago, I realized the Obamacare was a ticking time bomb that would bankrupt the USA. I asked Betty if she’d consider moving to Panama & getting most of our money out of the U.S. dollar & into a safe currency like silver or gold, to protect against hyperinflation.

My wife gave me a simple answer, “Not a chance. Nope. I’m going nowhere. You can go if you want.”
So I stayed in Tulsa, but, since have watched closely as out-of-control, demented politicians, each year, over-spent our tax money at both the federal & local level, especially since 2009.

The recently-issued “2018 Financial State of the State Report,” found that 40 states do NOT have enough money to pay their bills, including pensions & have foolishly racked up over $1.5 TRILLION in unfunded state debt.

Did you read my 1 January 2018 family newsletter, “Follow-Up on Your 18 December newsletter, “Politicians Are The Enemy,” Extra newsletter, Part 2 of 2?” If so, you read about a December 2018 ruling by the First Circuit Court that sided with the broke state of Rhode Island to establish a precedent that the state does NOT have to pay pensions promised to state employees if it does NOT have the money. It could pay less or nothing.

This precedent also allows Social Security or any company, where you work, to renege on its pension promises if it doesn’t have the funding.
Be aware that your future financial retirement is not guaranteed, mostly because of out-of-control politicians. They have screwed YOU.

The ten states in the worst financial condition are all liberal states, many with sanctuary cities:
Vermont (Bernie Sanders’ state) the very worst financial shape New York California (A Sanctuary state) Delaware (Joe Biden’s state) Hawaii (Barack Obama’s boyhood state) Massachusetts (the 1ststate to have a form of Obamacare) Kentucky (until very recently, ane extremely-liberal state) Illinois (A Sanctuary state, Barack Obama’s former home state) Connecticut (a very liberal state where I lived as a kid) & New Jersey

There is no doubt that we’ve lived in insane times for the past decade.
This politically-correct country has not only elected a bunch of demented crackpots to the U.S. House of Representatives, who guarantee that nothing meaningful will get done in the House of Representatives for the next 2 years except “Impeach X########### Trump Legislation,” but other elected crackpots at the state level are allowing Sharia Law to replace the constitution across America.

It’s discouraging to live in a country where dumb voters, brainwashed by a biased media, elect absolute morons to congress, as well as at the state level in very liberal states, like California, Illinois, New York. & in the Detroit, Michigan area.

A recent, politically-correct example is New York City, where civilian Muslims now enforce Sharia Law in Muslim neighborhoods. Cops are not permitted in these neighborhoods, just as Sharia Law is enforced in Muslim areas of France, like Marseille, which is over 25% Muslim.
The sight of these Muslim white Ford Taurus police cars, bearing insignia nearly identical to those of a NYPD patrol car, & with Arabic lettering added & driven by civilians in a blue Sharia uniform, has people, including me, worried about creeping Sharia in America.

Additionally, after Iran announced that after they destroy Israel with the atomic bomb they’ve been building for years, the Great Satan., America will be the next target. Several years ago, when the U.S. President & Secretary of State decided to give Iran about $1.2 billion to build such a bomb & also sold a company owning 20% of our uranium to Russia, in the Uranium One deal, where $135 million in kickbacks to politicians was involved, I began to feel helpless living in a country run by crooked, demented politicians.

  I have no solution to the problems, above, as long as dumb voters keep re-electing crooks & demented folks to higher office.

I don’t mean to sound like Chicken Little, but when the sky does fall, you’ll know who to blame!

                                                                            The End

Dementia Story 3

Art Youmans, “Coconut Oil for Alzheimer’s.” 16 October 2018

Did you know that extra-virgin organic coconut oil is an effective remedy for Alzheimer’s disease & other forms of dementia?

Since taking 4 inexpensive teaspoons of extra-virgin organic coconut oil per day by Alzheimer’s patients gets much better results than Big Pharma’s expensive, ineffective drugs & as a natural product can’t be patented, Big Pharma tries to suppress this information to the public.

To date, there are ZERO effective Big Pharma drugs for Alzheimer’s disease, but there are several effective natural remedies that are seldom mentioned in the media.
One of the most effective remedies is using the coconut’s medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) & ketone bodies for Alzheimer’s treatment & reversal

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If a family member develops Alzheimer’s, consider the use of extra-virgin organic coconut oil (buy it at a health food store) to restore some of the brain cells of the family member. Only extra-virgin organic coconut oil is effective. Cheap, overheated coconut oil, marked just “coconut oil” is ineffective since heating, at 194f, kills most of the good stuff in it.

However, if you believe, like I do, that it’s more effective to prevent any disease than to try to treat it once it’s begun to debilitate you, you’ll want to investigate natural products that help protect your brain from dementia, skin & other organs, plus your immune system from, inflammation, bacteria, viruses, yeast infections while boosting immunity from a host of infections & diseases.

Coconut oil helps you lose weight, improves your digestion & stomach problems (e.g. IBS) & is a health-packed therapeutic silver bullet that can also help solve thyroid problems.
Women are 10 times more likely to have thyroid problems than men, according to Robin Miller, MD. Author of “The Smart Woman’s Guide to Midlife and Beyond.” Thyroid hormones are necessary for normal health & cellular activity, & if thyroid function is not normal, weight loss is impossible.

Like over 40% of the U.S. population, I have low thyroid function, known as hypothyroidism. Some endocrinologists believe that this is an autoimmune disease, which makes Big Pharma thyroid pills ineffective & expensive as hell. (Mine cost about $1.50 per daily thyroid pill.)

Starting April, 2018, I’ve been spreading 2 teaspoons of coconut oil on my gluten-free oatmeal, which I often eat for supper, along with gluten-free cereal & with a few cups of organic, extra-virgin coconut milk. I also use a cup of organic coconut milk mixed in my buckwheat banana pancake recipe that Betty cooked for me from 1965 to her death in December 2016, every other breakfast.

Coconut oil absorbs into the skin & is very effective when massaged into the scalp to prevent dandruff & cure or fight skin problems like eczema.
In addition to being a silver bullet to protect your brain & other organs, extra virgin organic coconut oil is useful as a detoxifier for your mouth, ears, nose & eyes.

Toxins in the air give you a higher risk of dementia. In the USA, about 2/3rds of people live in areas where pollutants in the air are above “recommended.” We are exposed to an obscene amount of toxins every day. One way to fight back against these toxins is using the Coconut Oil Pulling Method,” which is used by naturopathic practitioners to detoxify the mouth & head area.
Does it work?

Who knows? I started using this detoxifying method on June 26, 2018 & plan to continue to see what happens. Remember, this must be done on an empty stomach 1stthing in the morning: Gargle a teaspoon of extra-virgin, organic coconut oil (do NOT swallow it), swishing it around in your mouth for 5 to 10 minutes. Spit out all the oil along with the toxins it will pull out of your mouth area. This is an excellent detoxifier if you have amalgam (mercury-based) tooth cavity fillings. Then rinse your mouth with water & spit it out in the sink. Brush your teeth with a non-fluoridated toothpaste afterward. (I’ve avoided fluoride (a toxin) by using Baking Soda instead of toothpaste for more than 20 years.) With practice, try to increase your swishing time to 20 minutes & double the amount of extra-virgin organic coconut oil to a tablespoon.

Beside detoxifying you & strengthening your organs & immune system, this versatile oil reduces inflammation in the body, helps sinus congestion, helps with insomnia, corrects hormone imbalance, helps improve your vision & provides hundreds of more benefits to the body..

Extra-virgin organic coconut oil is cheap, effective & one inexpensive way to improve your health.
Try it. You might even like it.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Coconut oil comes from the coconut meat, known as the kernel. Coconut water is the water found in a coconut. Coconut milk is the result of crushing coconut meat & mixing it about 50% with water The coconut, botanically, is a fruit. Extra-Virgin Organic coconut oil is the only coconut oil NOT subjected to intense heat that kills most of its effectiveness. If you see a jar marked only “Coconut Oil,” don’t waste your money on it. Lauric acid in extra-virgin organic coconut oil kills viruses & helps prevent disease by boosting immunity against many infections & diseases. Store extra-virgin organic coconut oil at room temperature. NEVER store it in the refrigerator.

The End

Dementia Story 4

Art Youmans, “Help Your Brain Fight Dementia,” 9 October 2018
Your fist-sized brain has little protection in your skull.

Besides limited protection from your immune system & cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), your brain is at the mercy of whatever food, drink or polluted air (e.g. cigarette or 2ndhand smoke) you put into your body.

CSF circulates nutrients in your brain ventricles & provides chemical stability to the brain & also acts as a shock absorber to protect the brain from impact against the skull.
Further protection for your brain in up to you.

Your lifestyle & genetics will determine how well your brain will function when you reach old age, which can be any time after 60. What you do, today, will influence what your brain will function like tomorrow.

When it comes to brain degeneration in old age or sooner, medical experts are still in the dark ages about its underlying causes. Big Pharma has a few worthless drugs that mask symptoms but do nothing to cure brain degeneration.

There are many natural scientific solutions (that, fortunately, cannot be patented by Big Pharma) to reduce the risk of getting a brain disease like Alzheimer’s, or, if you already have it, to possibly reverse it. In this newsletter & in others to follow, I plan to list as many of these natural scientific solutions that I’m aware of. I’m using many of them on me & they have worked okay so far on my brain, which is in much better health, now, that either my heart, lungs or legs.

KISS
This acronym describes the B.S. fake medical news that Big Pharma spoon-feeds us about what the drug industry is doing to combat dementia. When they give us the KISS song & dance routine of “keep it simple, stupid,” I hope that they’re not fooling you.

According to a short article in my daily newspaper, “The Tulsa World,” one answer is given as to the questions of why Americans are so obese & why are some folks getting dementia symptoms, like brain fog & memory lapses, in their 40s. After reading this article, you don’t need to be Albert Einstein to answer this question.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a government study on October 4, 2018 about how often Americans eat fast foods. The study of 10,000 adults over a 4 year period found that 1 of every 3 American adults eat fast foods every day. That’s 85 million adults. There was no significant difference between men & women in this study, the 1st one ever done about adults & fast foods. A similar government study done on children, sometime in the past, found similar results.

“Government health officials concluded from this study that too much high calorie fast food can lead to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other health problems.” (SOURCE: “Tulsa World,” October 4, 2018, p.A8)

In my opinion, it’s the sugar in almost everything you buy in a fast food restaurant that will cause inflammation & age your organs, including your brain, prematurely. Even the white grain hamburger buns are normally about 10% sugar & the added salt will round out your hips & belly. A toxic soda will helps destroy detoxifying organs, like the kidneys & liver, over time & will pack on the pounds, making you a candidate for dementia & a premature death.
I certainly don’t want you to become a senile, babbling idiot or a candidate for a size 50” waistline or funeral home casket, prematurely. Do you??????????????????????????????

QUESTION 1. Thanks to Computer-aided Tomography (CT scan) & Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans we know that your brain can shrink about 1% a year. That’s scary, especially if you’re close to 100. What can I do to stop this shrinkage?
ANSWER: Every time you feel thirsty you are dehydrated. Every time you’re dehydrated your brain shrinks a tiny amount & never regains that lost shrinkage. Therefore, keep drinking water throughout the day so you’ll seldom become dehydrated. Drink half your weight in ounces of water every day. (EXAMPLE: If you weigh 150 lbs. then drink 75 ounces of water a day.)

QUESTION 2 Scientists believe that the brain is damaged by a natural build-up of too many free radicals that cause swelling & inflammation in the brain, causing less energy & impaired thinking. What can neutralize these bad excess free radicals?

ANSWER. Always remember that free radical damage to your brain causes the same oxidative damage that it does to a sliced apple exposed to the air. Antioxidants neutralize the damage to your brain in the same way that a highway crew repairs a highway. Imagine your brain as a highway near your home filled with potholes. Excess free radicals in the brain deepen & widen these potholes in the road, while antioxidants act as the highway maintenance crew who work filling these potholes so you don’t end up permanently damaged.

Antioxidants are free radical scavengers that help to slow down the aging process. Think of antioxidants like you would an anteater & free radicals as ants in a huge ant hill that keeps enlarging. Just like the anteater destroys thousands of ants, antioxidants destroys/neutralizes thousands or tens of thousands of free radicals.

Antioxidants are found in rich food sources like berries, cruciferous vegetables & most raw vegetables, shown in the list, below:
BERRIES: Blueberries, cherries, watermelon etc. CRUCIFEROUS VEGETABLES: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage etc.

Most natural supplements like vitamins, minerals, amino acids contain antioxidants.
In my opinion, the more antioxidants in your diet, the better the chance that you will live a long, healthy life, as long as you avoid the speed bumps in life, like tobacco, boozing, fast food, sugar & illegal drugs.

Future newsletters will include the benefits of natural products on your brain, including extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, green tea, cinnamon & others.

If you do nothing to protect your brain & become an Alzheimer’s patient, you’ll have a disease that these six (6) famous Americans had in the past:

Singer Perry Como died from Alzheimer’s disease in 2001 at age 89. Record-setting Tennessee woman’s basketball coach, Pat Summitt, died from Alzheimer’s at age 64

in 2016. Former 40th U.S. President Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1994 & died of it about 10 years later in 2004. Perhaps America’s most famous artist & illustrator, Norman Rockwell, a heavy tobacco pipe user, had Alzheimer’s but died of emphysema in 1978 at age 84. Civil rights activist Rosa Parks died of Alzheimer’s in 2005 at age 93. Country music star, Glen Campbell’s struggles with dementia & Alzheimer’s caused him to stop performing (he couldn’t remember the music or lyrics), and finally killed him in 2017.

Always remember that if you don’t maintain a strong immune system, for protection against the 30,000 known diseases on Planet Earth, no one else will.
For 20,000 of these 30,000 diseases there is no known cure, in 2018. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the 20,000 for which there is no known cure.

Start strengthening your immune system by eliminating all junk food & drinks with sugar or sugar substitutes from your diet & use your common sense about everything you eat & drink.

If you don’t follow this advice, then expect the unexpected & never say that an old guy named Arthur didn’t warn you!

The End

Dementia Story 5

FROM: Art Youmans, “Liver & Kidney Problems Can Lead to Dementia,” 5 June, 2018
CLIFF NOTES Review about Dementia (NOTE: It affects most old folks.

If you smoke, drink alcohol excessively (2+ hard drinks a day) or have high blood pressure (over 140/90), you are at high risk for dementia. As dementia progresses, your brain becomes so damaged it can no longer control your body & it effectively closes down slowly, like sand in a giant hourglass. Expect to live no more than up to 8 to 10 years with dementia. There has been NO NEW dementia drug discovered in the past 15 years.

Although very few get demented earlier, this disease usually affects folks over 60. Even if you don’t develop dementia when you’re in your 60s, 70s or 80s or 90s expect to find a new word in your vocabulary about your hippocampus, your “forgetter.” At some advanced age you will discover that your memory isn’t as good as it was a decade before & something called “brain fog” pops up in your mind, occasionally. Because of my “forgetter,” I’ve used a blank sheet of paper, every day, for the past 20 years or so, to list the most important things to do that day. List them in order of importance. (The most important thing is #1, the second most important thing is #2 etc.)

Medicine is still in the Dark Ages.
Of the 30,000 diseases currently known to mankind, cures have been found for only about a third of them, leaving about 20,000 incurable at this time.

Since two-thirds of all known diseases are incurable once you get them, it seems to me that folks with any common sense would want to avoid getting an incurable disease, especially one like dementia that ends in death.

On April 1, 2018, I read a lengthy, local newspaper obituary of Dr. G.B. Smith, which included this sentence: “He left this world peacefully on March 22, 2018 surrounded by family after a very long battle with the effects of dementia.”

In my opinion, dementia likely has hundreds of triggers. It could be a genetic cause that kills brain cells, like Huntington’s disease or it might lead to a more violent form of dementia, like Alzheimer’s, where a build-up of heavy metals, like aluminum or mercury could be triggers.

U.S. medical doctors are trained, today, to treat symptoms of disease. U.S. medical researchers spend 95% or more of their time developing patentable drugs that Big Pharma can sell you that will alleviate symptoms of one or more diseases. Very little time is spent in the USA on how to prevent disease. Most research on preventing dementia & other disease is done outside the U.S.A.

So my advice to you is to try to prevent or slow down dementia. That’s what I’m trying to do. My procedure has worked so far me at age 86. Maybe it will help you, too.
I have always followed the principle that “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” In my opinion, “The body (like a chain) is only as strong as its weakest organ or system.” What’s your weakest link? Whatever it is, strengthen it! (My weakest links are my heart & right knee.)

After reading hundreds of medically-related articles, I believe that any malfunction in any organ like the kidneys & liver, or system, like the immune system, can lead to dementia.
For the past 50 years or so, I’ve protected my internal organs by taking numerous vitamins, minerals, amino acids etc. & taken daily probiotics to protect my gut, where about 80% of the immune system is found. This is called preventive medicine by most folks. I call it common sense.

Up until now, very little advancement has been made in the treatment of dementia. According to an April 1, 2018 Internet article, “Surprising dementia link found in your liver and kidneys” by Virginia Tims-Lawson, the link starts with ammonia that’s produced when gut bacteria break down protein into ammonia. The gut sends the ammonia to the liver to be converted to urea & then, as urea, to the kidneys to be eliminated in the urine.

Any liver or kidney problem you may have can likely result in an ammonia or urea build-up in the brain, resulting in brain damage leading to dementia, according to a global team of researchers from Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital & a few medical colleges in England, New Zealand & Australia.

Food manufacturers & restaurants have overloaded our food with hidden sugar which can lead to an overdose of fat on the liver (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.). This can lead to hepatitis & liver cancer. Signs of liver problems include weakness, tiredness, itching, fluid build-up, swelling in your legs & mental confusion.

I’ve been using all three of these liver-support compounds recommended in this article for about a year. See below:
1.N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) is an amino acid which helps the liver detoxify & get rid of pollutants. 2. Milk Thistle helps liver detox by getting rid of heavy metals, environmental pollutants etc. 3. Alpha Lipoic Acid keeps fats from accumulating in the liver & destroying its function.

In addition to these 3 compounds (above) I take Tumeric (600mg) & Selenium (200mcg) to protect my liver, every day.

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For kidney-support: Stay hydrated. Your kidneys don’t operate correctly unless you drink lots of water. Slim down. Excess weight stresses the kidneys. Exercise, walk around the block, do gardening etc. Exercise keeps your blood pressure down. High blood pressure damages the kidneys. Quit bad habits that damage blood vessels, like smoking & boozing.
In previous weekly newsletters, I’ve discussed the importance of natural B-Complex vitamins in protecting the brain. You might also refer to my April 3, 2018 newsletter “Vitamins & Lifestyle.”

In summary, since two-thirds of all known diseases have no cure at this time, an intelligent approach would be to make your body as strong as possible to fight off any disease you may encounter, whether in a hospital or from a 3rd-world infected immigrant crossing our porous southern border..

Keep the body strong with daily nutritional supplements, 7-9 hours of sleep, a healthy diet, no sugar or sugar substitutes, 8 glasses of water a day etc.

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Give your kidneys & liver a break. Exercise, slim down, drink water & eliminate sugar, smoking/2ndhand smoke & booze from your life & you may escape end-of-life dementia.

You can do this with knowledge from these newsletters & other secondary sources. Good luck!

The End

Dementia Story 6

Art Youmans, ”Preventing Dementia,” Part 1 of 2, 22 May 2018

Mathematics plays a major role in our lives.

We inherit about 70% of our genes from our parents. The remaining 30% of our genes are from previous ancestors. It’s dumb luck whether we get good or bad ones from our relatives back to cave man days. If lucky, we didn’t inherit the ApoE4 gene, which increases your risk for Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s affects 5.4 million Americans & is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S.A. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2050, 1 in 6 adults will be living with dementia.

Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s, but a number of lifestyle strategies show promise for preventing & slowing down its progression.

According to Dr. Dale Bredesen, director of neurodegenerative disease research at the UCLA School of Medicine, you must minimize the inflammation in your body, which Bredesen calls “mitochonondrial dysfunction.” This can be done with diet modification to achieve an alkaline condition in your body.

Eliminate a habit of eating too much protein. For example, meat is acidic (pH <7.0) & creates free radicals which cause inflammation. Limit yourself to 6 ounces of meat a day.
Eliminate other foods that cause inflammation, especially sugar & sugar substitutes. This includes boycotts of ALL non-organic, ready-for-eating meals, like TV dinners. (SOURCE: www.mercola.com“Unique Care Facilities Offer Hope for Dementia Patients,” 3/9/2018)

Some folks, like me, create an alkaline level (e.g. pH 7.4 or so) in their body by drinking a glass of apple cider vinegar & honey, a few hours before bedtime. Into a few inches of distilled water I put 2 teaspoons full of apple cider vinegar & 1 teaspoon full of honey. Then, I stir & drink, like Vermont’s D.C. Jarvis M.D. recommended in 1958, in his bestseller, “Folk Medicine.”

During the day, I’ll snack on raw fruit, like figs, to build up the alkaline content of my blood & try to eat many alkaline foods like beans, raw fruit & vegetables.

Numerous (53) scientific studies prove that the more alkaline your diet, the longer & healthier you will live. Alkalizing your diet can fight chronic health conditions like high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes, reducing chronic pain & killing cancer cells. Avoid acidic things like alcohol, caffeine, processed meats, dairy products, bread, pasta, rice & cereals. .(SOURCE:Easyhealthoptions.com, “6 Ways to Shift to an Alkaline Diet and why you Should,” Dr. Adria Schmeddthorst)

Before making dietary changes, you may wish to purchase a pH testing kit that tests the acidity/alkalinity of your urine or saliva. If checking your urine, do it when you visit the bathroom for the 2nd time, every day, to get a true reading. If your local health food or drug store doesn’t have them, you can buy pH strips online. I buy mine at walmart.com.

I believe that taking steps to prevent dementia are wiser taken before dementia rears its ugly head than taken after dementia has already set in. My goal has always been to be one of the smartest guys in the cemetery. 

Unless we’re identical twins, none of us are the same. We’re snowflakes, each different from any other. What works for one, may not work for another. Trial & error & benefitting from secondary sources & the experiences of others, like these weekly newsletters, are the way that you will discover the best path to take in the pursuit of your good health.

No one has all the answers. To date, no one has lived forever. Just use good judgement in what food & drink you put into your body. A good diet can be like Miracle-Gro sprinkled into a moist garden. A good diet is what your body needs for a chance at a long & healthy, painless life.
The idiot who puts sugared junk food into his mouth is no different from the idiot who puts sugared cheap dirty gasoline into his car’s gas tank & expects a problem-free future..

Some of us die slowly, like paralyzed genius, theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, who recently died at age 76, but maintained his intelligence until the end of his life.
Hawking died from the toes up. His brain was the last organ to go.
In my opinion, that’s the best way to leave this world. If you want to exit this incredible world with full knowledge of everything happening around you, like Hawking did, you better do a good job selecting the food you eat, today. Food is the fuel that your body uses for energy. It’s fuel for the organs in the body including your fist-sized brain.

A good brain uses about 25% of your energy. If you seldom use it & you have a crappy, junk food diet of greasy, sugary foods, your brain likely uses a lot less energy & may be one of the first organs to fail you when you pass the 60-year-old mark.

Unless you’re dumb as a bucket of rocks, you don’t wait until your brain fails to function before you do something about fixing it. You anticipate that your brain will eventually fail you, so keep it strong & healthy in your youth, so it will be strong & healthy for you in old age.
People who practice preventive medicine on their brain are smart.

Few folks realize that every time you feel dehydrated (thirsty), your brain shrinks a tiny amount & never regains the lost brain cells. Smart people drink water throughout the day, never feel thirsty, & never have to worry about losing brain cells to thirst. If you’re smart, try drinking half your body weight in ounces of water every day. (I have never tried any, but some doctors encourage patients to drink alkaline water with a pH of above 9 in order to raise a low pH.)

For example, if you’re 150 pounds (stripped), drink about 75 ounces of water a day.

Smart people avoid all junk foods, all sodas, all packaged foods, all sugared products…all of which cause inflammation in the body which promotes many types of diseases, including cancer, diabetes…which end in premature death.

I prefer to die from the toes up, like Hawking did. What about you?????????????????????? It’s a free country, so if you want to die from the ears down, that’s your right, too. I hope you pick the right course of action for a long & healthy life on earth.

You don’t have to be a genius like Hawking or Einstein to live a long, healthy life. All you have to do is to have a bit of common sense regarding how diet affects the health of your major organs, especially the brain.

NOTE: In late 2018 or early 2019, I plan to write a few more newsletters about Dementia unless Father Time has other plans for me.

The next 2 newsletters are: “Preventing Dementia,” Part 2 of 2, 29 May 2018, and; “Liver & Kidney Problems Can Lead to Dementia,” 5 June 2018.

The End

Dementia Story 7

Art Youmans, “Preventing Dementia,” Part 2 of 2, 29 May 2018

What Are Your Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease? Age is the risk factor for this terminal disease. One in every nine people over 65 have Alzheimer’s, and One in every three folks over 85 have it.

How Many Americans Suffer from Alzheimer’s? About 5 million unfortunate folks.

What is Alzheimer’s Disease? Alzheimer’s is the most severe form of dementia, where you lose the ability to think, remember things & solve life’s problems, including getting food from a plate to your mouth. Often, an Alzheimer’s patient is more difficult to control (more violent) than the typical dementia sufferer. About 80% of dementia cases are caused by Alzheimer’s, which is currently the 3rd leading cause of death in elderly people, (The 1stcause of death is Heart Disease & the 2nd cause is Cancer.)

If Uncle Joe Had Alzheimer’s. Will I get it, too? If a current or former blood relative has or had Alzheimer’s, you’ve got a 70% probability of getting this disease genetically.

What Can I Do to Lower My Risk of Ever Getting Alzheimer’s? You have 2 choices: You can cross your fingers & hope you’ll slip between the cracks & avoid Alzheimer’s. Or if you’re smarter than most, you’ll take these steps, below, which include doing everything that increases the flow of blood to your brain. Lose Weight Obesity increases the accumulation of beta amyloid peptides & tau proteins in your brain, which are toxic proteins that harm neurons. If obesity lasts over 10 years, the accumulation of these toxic proteins in the brain can lead to cognitive impairment, dementia & Alzheimer’s disease. If you are overweight, all the advice that follows, below, will likely do you little good. Get as skinny as possible, starting now. Keep your BMI (Body Mass Index) well under 30, the obesity level. Here are some BMI levels examples for 4 adults with certain heights & weight:
HEIGHT WEIGHT (naked) BMI 6’ 180 24.4 5’ 9” 168 24.9 5’ 6” 140 22.6 5’ 3” 130 23.0 SOURCE: Adult BMI Calculator, Centers for Disease Control. Overweight is 25.0-29.9; Obese is 30.0 & above. I measure out at about a 22.6 BMI.

Your BMI score is a ball-park estimate of your body composition. Not everyone with a BMI of over 30 is Obese, but most are. An exception was 1970 Mr. Universe, a 23-year old Austrian named Arnold Schwarzenegger. Standing at 6’2” and weighing 235 pounds of solid muscle, the former California governor could bench press more than 500 pounds, yet his BMI was 30.5. If you’re not muscular like Arnold & have a BMI north of 30 you have a 99% probability of being obese, especially if your belly obscures the dial on your scale when you’re standing on it.

Take Vitamins with Meals (I take mine directly after the meal.) All vitamins & minerals are important to prevent or delay dementia, but some are more important than others. The

more important ones are listed on the next page:

Vitamin A (daily 2,000IU) Vitamin A regulates the growth of brain neurons to enhance memory, cognition & brain plasticity. A deficiency diminishes antioxidant capacity & exacerbates oxidative damage to the brain, leading to Alzheimer’s Disease. I’ve taken 10,000 IU of Vitamin A, an oil-based vitamin, daily, for over 40 years.

Vitamin C (daily 200 mg) Vitamin C deficiency increases the risk of Alzheimer’s. I’ve taken 1,000 mg of Vitamin C (either Lypo-spheric or Liposomal to bypass the stomach’s digestive enzymes) with EVERY meal for over 10 years. Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin which lasts only 3 to 4 hours in your body before ending up in the urine. The stomach’s digestive enzymes can kill up to 7/8th of your vitamin C. according to reports I’ve read.

Vitamin D3 (daily 800 IU) Low blood levels of vitamin D during young adult years increases the risk of Alzheimer’s in old age. Vitamin D, an oil-based vitamin, that is stored in the body’s fat cells, protects neurons from cognitive impairment. I’ve taken 2000IU to 5,000IU every day for more than 30 years.
According to a report from Al Sears M.D., a Florida doctor, in a large study of 1,658 seniors, those with mild vitamin D deficiency had a +53% increased risk of Alzheimer’s. Those who were severely deficient had a +125% increased risk. (SOURCE: “Doctor’s House Call,” 28 May 2018, alsears.com)
Call your doctor, immediately, to ensure that your next blood test includes testing your vitamin D level.

Vitamin E (daily 30 IU) This oil-based vitamin protects against neuron damage much like Vitamin D3 also does. Studies that used MRIs, found that Vitamin E supplementation decreased the brain atrophy even in confirmed Alzheimer’s patients. I’ve taken 400 IU daily of “Unique E,” manufactured by A.C. Grace Co., ever since this product was recommended by neurosurgeon Russel Blaylock M.D. in his February, 2009 newsletter on page 5.

Zinc (daily 10 mg) This mineral is the only one recommended that protects the brain from oxidative damage done by Alzheimer’s. I’ve taken 10 mg of zinc daily, along with many other minerals, for over 20 years. TIP: Zinc is better absorbed if taken at a meal at which you do NOT take a multivitamin. So take each at different meals. (SOURCE FOR MOST OF THE PRECEDING MATERIAL: “”The Vitamin Cure,” pp. 181-187, Monte Lai, Ph.D, , Humanix Books , 2018

I would like to add another vitamin with each meal, B-Complex, that Dr. Lai has overlooked in his quest to fight dementia. I first read about Vitamin B Complex as a stimulus for the brain when I was about 25. I’ve been taking this important brain vitamin ever since. For more than 10 years it was the only vitamin I took daily. After 2 years on Vitamin B complex my brain seemed more focused & my memory improved. When my employer gave 3-hour I.Q. tests to all management trainees, I scored 5% higher than I had in the Army, a few years earlier. Four years later I scored another 9% higher when I flunked the Mensa I.Q. Test.

I attributed the increase in my I.Q. scores mostly from the benefits of taking Vitamin B Complex at each meal, plus a 5 mg sublingual B-12 methylcobalin pill with 2 daily meals. (Sublingual pills dissolve under your tongue & go directly into the bloodstream for maximum absorption.) Low B-12 levels in the brain make your memory fuzzy, cause cognitive difficulties, & can impair the function of the nerve cells in your brain that control how you feel, think & behave.

A natural, not synthetic, Vitamin B Complex helped build up my brain & I believe is a major reason that I have little brain fog, my memory is not perfect but is adequate, & I’ve hypothesized that, were it not that I’ve exercised my body & nourished my brain with vitamins & minerals for over 40 years, I’d possibly be an over-medicated, babbling idiot with 24% heart function, watching soap operas 18-hours-a-day in a Tulsa nursing home.

Every organ in the body is like a link in a chain, in my opinion. Since a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, I believe that using vitamins, minerals, amino acids & herbs to strengthen your body & its organs is only common sense. To see what your body is deficient in, you may wish to have your doctor check your blood for deficiencies in vitamin, minerals & amino acids. My last test cost me about $135 in October, 2015. My doctor sent, by overnight delivery, one or more vials of my blood to SpectraCell Laboratories, 10401 Town Park Drive, Houston, Texas 77072 .spectracell.com, TOLL FREE (800) 227-5227. The test showed I was deficient in only the mineral magnesium. He had the results faxed back to him within 3 days.

Exercise, including walking, dancing, gardening, running on a treadmill etc. protects the brain by increasing both the number of new neurons produced in the brain (which are integrated into areas of the brain associated with memory loss or dementia) as well as increasing the size of the hippocampus, the brain structure that controls learning, memory & balance.

Exercise also increases blood flow to the brain, increasing oxygen & micro-nutrients that are vital to brain function, brain self-maintenance, self-repair & overall memory & mental cognition. Try to exercise at least 30 minutes every other day.

Every night, I say this silent prayer, before I turn out the lights: “Thank you, Lord, for letting me be master of my fate by not allowing me to believe the first doctor, circa 1957, the first of many, who told me this untrue propaganda: “If you eat a balanced diet, Art, you get all the vitamins & minerals you need. Don’t waste your money on self-medication.”

  I consider every dollar I’ve spent on vitamins, minerals & other health foods as an investment in a healthy future. Aside from a few lung, heart, blood clot & leg amputation problems, I’m in good shape for an old guy & expect to be around for another year or two. Unless Father Time has other plans for me, I expect to attend my 70th prep school reunion in Connecticut, next year. 

“…It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”   “ INVICTUS,” Ernest Henley, English poet, circa 1866, written when he was about 17.

The End

Dementia Story 8

Art Youmans, “Hidden Reason Why Your Body May Be Aging Too Fast,” 2 July 2019

I consider the organs in your body to be like football players, whose job is to protect the quarterback.

The brain is the quarterback of your body.

In order for the brain to be protected, all organs of the body must work smoothly-together like an elite eleven-player football team.

The liver is like a football nose guard, the first line of defense against the run of toxins that want to attack the brain & other organs.

When you’re young, your liver can easily protect the brain & other organs from a toxic junk-food diet, but as you age the liver becomes less efficient, especially after decades of exposure to pesticides, heavy metals, chemicals, air pollution, sugar & similar toxins that cause the liver to age faster & shrink.

As a result, you may feel tired much of the time, since your aging liver can’t convert glucose to energy quickly, leading to pounds around the waistline as your liver becomes clogged with fat deposits.

Besides causing you a trip to Weight Watchers, a fatigued liver can lead to many symptoms, including the following:

Poor sex drive, Age spots, Memory problems, Weak immune system, Indigestion, Constipation High cholesterol, High triglycerides, High blood pressure, Joint & back pain, Muscle loss, Vision problems. Skin problems & many more.

Like a football nose guard, the liver does not function in isolation. To be effective, a defensive unit on a football team works smoothly together, just like organs in the body must to protect against toxic overload.

The liver’s performance depends on support it gets from other organs in your body, especially your adrenal glands, which are like synergistic defensive ends aiding & flanking the nose guard (Liver).

If your adrenal glands are malfunctioning, your liver suffers. In scientific studies, it was found that 65% of patients with poorly functioning livers also had poor-performing adrenal glands

. In one instance, treating poorly-functioning adrenals restored a patient’s poor liver function to normal. (SOURCE: E-mail from Frank Shallenberger M.D., “The Hidden Reason Why Your Body is Falling Apart,” October, 2018)

Since you need strong adrenal glands for your liver to work optimally, Dr. Shallenberger recommends taking a compound named Licorice root, which “takes a lot of stress off your adrenal glands.”

If you have fat deposits or liver damage caused by alcohol, viruses or toxins, Dr. Shallenberger recommends a nutrient called Phosphatidylcholine or PCfor short. PC can help the liver grow new cells & regenerate. PC is also a brain nutrient that produces “messenger chemicals” that help your memory

The liver is responsible for detoxification (along with the kidneys & skin), but also contains part of your immune system, like natural killer cells, T-cells, B-cells & more. Dr. Shallenberger states that one of the best ways to strengthen your immune system is to take a medicinal mushroom called Royal Agaricus which has the highest-known levels of Beta-1.3-glucans of any mushroom

. Besides strengthening the immune system, Royal Agaricus fights off viruses, bacteria & other pathogens.
The good news is that all three compounds, Licorice root, PC & Royal Agaricus are available in capsules or pills at my favorite vitamin/mineral website vitacost.com

The bad news is that they are not cheap. but they are about 40% less online.

Dr. Shallenberger also recommended the following five (5) super-antioxidants for your liver.

Co-incidentally, my personal doctor (J.B. M.D.) who also had a Ph.D. in nutrition, told me to take these same compounds in my old age.

I’ve been taking them since about 2014. Quercetin, a bioflavonoid that protects the liver from free radical attacks & DNA damage, guards the liver against inflammation & prevents fatty liver. N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine (NAC) is a precursor to glutathione, one of the body’s most powerful antioxidants. It neutralizes free radicals (that cause diseases like cancer) & protects you from oxidative damage. It also helps detox your liver of heavy metals & other harmful toxins. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) doubles the effectiveness of Vitamins C & E, fights free radicals & triglyceride build-up in the liver & helps control weight. Selenium, a trace mineral, produces an enzyme called glutathione peroxidase that protects the liver against oxidative injury. Selenium also detoxes the body by getting rid of heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium & arsenic. Milk thistle protects the liver from alcohol, drugs & toxins, regulates cholesterol improves blood sugar, neutralizes free radicals etc.

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Art Youmans Stories