I hope this book provides you with new insights into important health issues and gives you tools to tackle them. Before we begin, let me mention two important points:
See your health-care provider. Memory problems are serious business. It is important to have an appropriate evaluation and care. I would also encourage you to speak with your provider before making any diet change. This is not because changing your diet is necessarily dangerous. Quite the opposite. Adjusting the menu is a good idea. But people who are taking medications—for diabetes or high blood pressure, for example—very often need to adjust their medications when they improve their diets. Sometimes they are able to discontinue their drugs altogether. Do not do this on your own. Work with your health-care provider to reduce or discontinue medicines if and when the time is right.
Also, talk with your doctor before you jump into a new exercise routine. If you have been sedentary, have any serious health problems, have a great deal of weight to lose, or are over forty, have your provider check whether you are ready for exercise, and how rapidly to begin.
Get complete nutrition. The way of eating presented in this book is likely to improve your nutrition overall, in addition to the specific health benefits it may bring. Even so, you will want to ensure that you get complete nutrition. Please read the details in chapter 10. In particular, be sure to take a daily multiple vitamin or other reliable source of vitamin B12, such as fortified cereals or fortified soy milk. Vitamin B12 is essential for healthy nerves and healthy blood.