Francie Healey - Eat to Beat Alzheimers: Delicious Recipes and New Research to Prevent and Slow Dementia

SPECIAL BONUS:
This may be the last book about Alzheimers prevention you ever buy. Owners of this book get access to the authors website and blog, with additional delicious recipes and continually updated reports on the latest Alzheimers research: www.EatToBeatAlzheimers.com.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015956143
Distributed by SCB Distributors, (800) 729-6423

Copyright 2016 Francie Healey

Eat to Beat Alzheimers. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without express permission in writing from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews. Send inquiries to Terra Nova Books, 33 Alondra Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508.

Published by Terra Nova Books, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
www.TerraNovaBooks.com

ISBN: 978-1-938288-62-3

Preface

F rancie, you can write your own cookbook.

These words, spoken to me by my stepfather, John Q. Durkin, on a June day in 2012, turned my focus and life in a new direction. At the age of sixty-three, he had undergone his second surgery for cancer, and we were waiting anxiously in the hospital room for the surgeon. I had an opportunity to be alone with John, which was very unusual. I had flown in from New Mexico to New York City, not sure what I would encounter. I was completely unprepared to see my stepfather in this frail condition.

These words, spoken to me by my stepfather, John Q. Durkin, on a June day in 2012, turned my focus and life in a new direction.

While we waited for the doctor, I felt Johns fear, vulnerability, and anxiety. I had never been in this position with him before. The feeling in the room was unfamiliar to me. I had thought he was immune to fear. I became aware that it was my time to show up for John in a way that I had never imagined. It was my time to access the best of me, the parts that had been in training for this moment. It was my time to transcend our history, offer my presence, and show up to create the space of calm. It was our time.

At that moment of awareness, something shifted in the room. It felt different. It felt as though time had stopped and we could really see each other clearly. I felt the purity of the love between us. We began to have an exchange that was effortless. We were not scaredwe were inspired.

In the midst of Johns vulnerability and profound pain, he attuned to me and my life, my passions and my experiences. He gave his loving attention to me, and I felt seen and free.

In the midst of Johns vulnerability and profound pain, he attuned to me and my life, my passions and my experiences. He gave his loving attention to me, and I felt seen and free. John asked about my work as a health counselor and writer.

At that point in my life, I was working too hard for too little, still too afraid to venture out on my own and trust in my own ideas of what to write, and how best to be of service to others. But the moment had come when I had to either sign away my right to have my own voice in the world of nutrition that I care about so deeply, or walk away and build something of my own. I wish I could say it was easy, but the truth is that I have struggled my whole life with having a voice. It has always been easier to let another person have the final say, or be right, or be an expert. In almost all areas of my life, I had relinquished my own opinions and perspectives again and again for the sake of keeping the peace and not rocking the boat. I had spent my life feeling that playing submissive and small would keep me safe.

I know I am not alone in this pattern, and have met many others who struggle with the same dilemma. How can we be ourselves when that requires not going along with the status quo? Whether its the status quo of an organization we work for, a relationship were in, or even a culture that we call home, the challenge remains the same. But there came a point in my life that highlighted this fear of really being myself and living my full potential, and it centered on my encounter with John, the stepfather who had been the world to me growing up, whose approval and love I had always worked to gain. I wanted him to see me as valuable and good, someone worth getting to know, and of whom he could be proud.

After I made the vulnerable choice to walk away from a writing job that I thought gave me professional security, I found myself in that hospital room with John, looking at the only father I have knownand at a man, beyond that, who was dealing with illness and facing the end of his life. He knew it, and I knew it. And somehow my willingness to be there with him in that way, to not deny the end but to face it, helped us both transcend the fear that could have kept us hiding behind the thin, polite veil of social graces instead of accepting the fullness of the moment and allowing the fullness of our connection to be felt and understood.

In that moment, I knew myself loved and seen in a way I never had felt before in our relationship. The few hours or so we spent together then has permanently changed the way I understand myself and how I live in the world. It completely validated my choice to walk away from a professional situation that was undermining my integrity, and to take the leap into writing this book and pursuing my own passion and enthusiasm for conscious wellness. Johns deep listening, guidance, and suggestion that I write my own cookbook were the seeds for what you now hold in your hands.

As you will see, my focus on health and wellness is broad and widespreadaddressing not only nutrition from a physiological perspective but also the psychological value of mindset as a critical key to how we view and value ourselves. The loving attention John showed me in that small hospital room shifted my own perspective to give my psychological health priority over the old pattern of trying to take care of others. In other words, I understood my value in a solid, foundational way, which led me to take the necessary steps to branch out on my own as a writer and health professional.

As you will see, my focus on health and wellness is broad and widespreadaddressing not only nutrition from a physiological perspective but also the psychological value of mindset as a critical key to how we view and value ourselves.

After the loss of my writing job, and my father, I encountered one more transformative experience that further propelled me into this book. Nearly a year after Johns passing, I fell from the top of a fifteen-foot rock climbing wall in an accident that shattered bones and left me hospitalized. I underwent extensive surgery, had to learn to walk and use my body all over again, and still must live with ongoing pain and need for physical therapy treatments. Similar to how my encounter with John helped me recognize and love myself in a deep way, the accident forced me to stop taking care of others and open up to the help and support of my community.

For the first time in my life, I had to let go and not be the strong one. I had to allow others to cook for me, clean for me, take care of my body for me, take care of my children and my home. I was physically unable to function as I had done and was forced to slow down, rest, recover, and ultimately trust at an even deeper level that I was supported and cared for, and that even in the midst of pain and brokenness, a larger purpose was guiding my life.