Several weeks ago I hurt my achilles. I’m embarrassed to admit how I did it, but I’m going to anyway. I was running sprints up our super-steep driveway as part of a high-intensity interval workout. I was on my final sprint when my achilles just exploded in pain, right at the end.

I knew it wasn’t ruptured since I had an old injury on that same achilles from playing college basketball.  I figured I had just re-injured it, but nothing major. I’ve been dealing with it since, and when I do a lot of climbing on the bike, it continues to hurt. But Sunday morning, (after Saturday’s steep climb in a short period of time), my achilles not only hurt but was bruised, so I knew something was/is definitely not right.

As a result I had to ride on flat roads instead yesterday. I was able to ride part of the route of the Ironman competition, and I had the ocean to one side the whole time, but I also faced 13 miles of a headwind, too. Jonathan, on the other hand, did a pretty epic ride (one that I’m pretty sure would have put me in the hospital).

Jonathan’s ride involved 4000 feet of climbing in about 10 miles. The road was absolutely beautiful, and had sustained 17 – 20% parts. We drove it after so I could see what I missed out on. Below are a few pictures from the top. And, Jonathan got his first-ever callus as a result. I’m not kidding. But I refuse to post a picture of the callus. John D. – it’s here in the blog, so it happened!

We then had an amazing kalua pork bowl for lunch, and after a quick swim we visited a beautiful coffee plantation with amazing coffee. We took the tour and learned all about the coffee making process. I took pictures of the local caretakers, Marjorie and Hubert.

We were treated to another beautiful sunset while sitting on the patio. We head home tonight, so no more rides, just recovery!

Jonathan and I arrived Friday night for some high humidity, high temperature bike training (who does that?). And a long weekend of fun in Kona…assuming we can still move after our rides.

Today we  climbed about 2,000 feet and rode just under 30 miles. We did a similar route about 6 years ago and I was pretty sure I was going to fall off of my bike because the road was so steep. But because we didn’t do the exact route today, Jonathan thinks we have to do it tomorrow, and add 6 more miles plus another 1000 feet of climbing. It’s going to hurt. I don’t think most people realize how hilly Kona is and how many steep roads there are here. It’s quite impressive, actually.

We had a great lunch after our ride today at the highest rated poke bowl restaurant in Kona. I rarely take pictures of food, but the “Big Boy” poke bowl was a sight to behold. We had 2 kinds of ahi poke, some kind of crab salad that was amazing, garlic edamame, and brown rice. Wow.

We are renting a home here up in the hills of Kona, so we get to look out over the town and the water below.

And tonight we were treated to a beautiful sunset. This was taken from the front patio (as was the one above).

Oh, and I got sunburned. But not in a normal way. I apparently had a “mishap” when applying sunscreen so I have random patches of red mixed in with otherwise bright white skin. Jonathan can’t look at me without laughing. It’s embarrassing.

Now it’s off to bed so I can rest as much as possible before tomorrow’s suffer fest on the bike.  Here’s to hoping I can apply sunscreen correctly.

I recently had a friend send me a video about art and Alzheimer’s. It’s short, about 7 min long, but is very interesting. You’ll find it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/I_Te-s6M4qc

While not directly related to Alzheimer’s, another friend sent me this article about how fasting for 72 hours can positively impact your immune system: http://awarenessact.com/study-finds-that-fasting-for-72-hours-can-regenerate-the-entire-immune-system/

And last but not least, Max Lugavere has announced the release of his first book, Genius Foods.  Max has been digging into the science of food and dementia for several years now, ever since his mom was diagnosed with early-onset dementia. I had the pleasure of meeting Max a few years ago when he spoke for an ElderCounsel conference on this topic.  I can’t wait to read the book!

Dr. Mark Hyman is hosting a free docuseries called “Broken Brain.” It features a number of “all stars” in the area of brain health, including Dr. Perlmutter, Dave Asprey, Max Lugavere, and many more. I wanted to get this post out quickly, as each episode is only available for 24 hours. You can, however, choose to purchase the entire series.

Here’s the link to sign up and get started (a few episodes have passed, but it’s not too late to take advantage of the remaining episodes). https://brokenbrain.com/trailer/

I’ve known aspartame is really bad for you, but after reading compelling evidence in this article of the link between aspartame and leukemia and lymphoma, I’m pretty sure I’ll never touch another Diet Dr. Pepper.  The article is short but compelling (22  years studying over 2 million people), so I won’t repeat it here, but I hope you’ll take a look. And then put down the diet soda and read labels religiously as it’s in a lot more than just diet soda (Red Bull, lots of other “healthy” drinks).

It depends on who you ask! Chris Carmichael and Jim Rutberg recently published an article discussing this exact topic. As I expected, they do not believe a ketogenic diet will improve overall performance for endurance athletes. I expected this as the research and science supporting a ketogenic diet is still relatively new, and it would take a major paradigm shift for coaches like this who have been following a successful nutrition program with their athletes for a long, long time.

But I did find the comments at the end of the article very interesting. Several who commented did find their performance has improved on a ketogenic diet. Others saw improvement with a low carb  diet and  strategic carb cycling.

If you ask Stephen Phinney or Jeff Volek, I suspect they would tell you that a low carb or ketogenic diet absolutely improves performance based on research they have done with cyclists and other endurance athletes. As you’ll note in their research and something I completely believe in, they key is to be fat adapted. It took me several months to become fat adapted and to start reaping the benefits of a ketogenic diet when I was riding my bike. Many people give up before truly becoming fat adapted – it’s not easy, and your performance will suffer while you are getting there. I remember that vividly, and even blogged about it.

My reasons for starting a ketogenic diet had nothing to do with athletic performance. I started this lifestyle to give myself every chance possible to avoid dementia. Since starting over 2 years ago, I’ve learned I’m also giving myself a fighting chance to avoid cancer, Parkinsons’ disease, and many other autoimmune diseases caused by inflammation. Improved performance on my bike was an added benefit I wasn’t expecting.

My point is, your reasons for adopting a ketogenic lifestyle make a huge difference in how you approach it and whether you stick to it. I had strong reasons for doing so, and I was willing to suffer through poor performance on the bike because I believed in the science and I know it would get better. I had no idea how much better, but I did my research and stayed strong.

People who lament the fact that they can’t have birthday cake at a celebration may not be truly committed to a ketogenic lifestyle for the rest of their life. I couldn’t care less about eating a piece of cake. But if I did, because I’m fat adapted, I would be able to get back into nutritional ketosis very quickly (and yes, I’ve tried it with other foods, just not cake!). But again, the key is that my body is fat adapted and has been for a long time. This allows you the flexibility to fuel from carbs if needed, and then get back into burning fat.

Once you’re clear with yourself on what you want to achieve, then stick to that plan for at least 6 months. After that you can start experimenting to see if there are other ways of eating or fueling that can enhance what you are already doing.

Today my heart is heavy, as I learned of the death of 2 people, Steve Graber and Elmer Kuntz, whom I admired very much.

Steve was a mentor to me when I was a young attorney first taking on elder law. He took me under his wing and encouraged me to dive in to elder law head first. While he did not practice in that area, he realized the great need for it and believed I could take it on and make a real difference to a lot of people. I can’t thank him enough for coming beside me and encouraging me to take a leap of faith. Cancer took his body, but his spirit is where it should be – in heaven. You are with the angels now, Steve.  I hope you knew how much I appreciated you.

Elmer is my sister’s father-in-law, and a figure in my life since I was a teenager. He always had a smile on his face, and his hug could brighten any bad day you were having. Unfortunately, dementia wreaked havoc with Elmer’s memory the last year, but his spirit remained strong. When he set his mind to something, there was no stopping him! Like Steve, Elmer had a strong faith in God and is no doubt reminiscing with my dad in heaven as I type.

I try to appreciate my good health and the people I love every day, but I’m sure I fall short. For those of you reading this, I hope you can give your loved ones a hug, and recommit yourself to a healthy lifestyle so you can spend as much time as possible with them on this earth. What’s next is up to you…

I was searching for research tonight on telomares, and came across this report from the Alzheimer’s Prevention website about how a certain type of meditation has been shown to improve brain function, decrease stress, and even lengthen telomeres .  The studies described in the link have been conducted since 2000 and have focused on the effects of a specific type of meditation – Kirtan Kriya – on the brain and memory.

I must warn you – Kirtan Kriya is not a silent meditation. You will be chanting. And the Alzheimer’s Prevention and Research Foundation stresses that to get the positive effects found in their research, this exact type of meditation should be followed. You’ll find a link to more information on their website, including step-by-step instructions.  You will also find a number of helpful videos on this type of meditation on YouTube.

12 minutes  a day.  Yes, I’ll be trying it!