We know that PET scans have shown impaired glucose uptake/metabolism (IGU) in the brains of Alz. and PD patients, and as I read more about this, I discover more conditions associated with IGU: neuropathy, erectile dysfuntion (20% of men admitting to this condition show impaired glucose function), it is appearing more and more and across a broader spectrum of conditions. Most of the time the person has no clue there is a problem until it becomes a big problem and by then drugs are recommended....often with little to no relief and the problem just keeps getting worse.

What to do? What Dr. Wahls, Dr. Newport, and others seem to intuitively be doing is following a diet which steadily supplies fuel while at the same time limits the blood sugar spikes so common to the typical US diet. Basically the protocol is something like this:

1. instead of 3 larger meals a day, which creates quite a spike in blood sugar levels, eat 8-9 smaller (almost snack-like) high-quality meals;

2. very limited, if any, sugar, obviously, as well as fruit juices...

3. very limited, if any, processed carbs (crackers, ugh, so hard to give those up-but they spike the sugar pretty high and fast from what I understand)

4. lots of veggies (remember Dr. Wahls' 9 cups a day? works for her MS!)

5. fat is GOOD! A full 1/3 of our brain is fat! About a third of our diet should also be good, healthy fats (no trans fats ever, read Dr. Newport's book) Thank heavens for this, because we love butter and cream cheese at our house.

6. healthy carbs, so probably not much pasta or rice, but quinoa is great (also incredibly rich in minerals, including magnesium (lots of threads about magnesium deficiency on this and other forums at NT) try substituting it for rice as many people do).

I know you're all wondering, well, what about that coconut fudge she mentions in the title? Dr. Newport gives a few coconut oil recipes in her book, and of course the first one I made is her coconut fudge! Amazingly easy, delicious, and healthy. I added walnuts to put in some Omega 3 fats in with the Omega 6 you get from the coconut oil, and here's my take on her recipe:

1 cup non-processed organic coconut oil (we really like Nature's Way)
1 cup chocolate chips
shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a loaf pan, put in the chips and coconut oil and walnuts, and place on your stove burner on "melt" If you don't have a "melt" setting, you can just set it on there on the lowest setting and watch so it doesn't start to smoke or burn...the chips will start to melt. Stir slowly so you mix everything up as it melts...when it is all melted and mixed together, take it off the stove, throw some shredded coconut on top, and place the loaf pan in the freezer. In less than 15 minutes it will be hard enough to cut with a warm knife. We keep it in the freezer and cut pieces off as we need them.

You can actually have this as a treat after dinner and get your coconut oil dose in before bedtime in a most delicious way As I mentioned on another thread, we are trying coconut oil and are into week two. I'll keep everyone posted although I understand that we probably will not notice any change for a least a month.