Handling Clutter: Beginning on the Den



Sewing projects just piled on pub table



Laundry to fold and clutter on pool table

My lifetime of organizational disasters come home to roost. These two photos are not the half of it. I more often than not do not systematically solve paper clutter, sewing, and laundry. Many times hubby picks up on a clue and folds laundry left on the pool table--what I have read is a great task for Alzheimer's loved ones. But this pool table mess is so unsightly and how I would love for us to uncover it and to use that pool table more often.

But I will get there with Clark's two-step sort routine. Mindy Starns Clark points out in The House That Cleans Itself that vertical files do not work. They are not efficient. I even have a set of vertical files set up by the paper shredded.

When I married my current husband in 2000 I had three four drawer files and one two drawer file. He said no to all but one four drawer file coming into our home. I remember sitting in storage in Tampa when I first moved here to marry my husband and getting rid of 3/4 of my papers then, or putting some of the old file contents in boxes instead of files; we donated those empty file cabinets. Hubby was correct and he did a marvelous job of filing papers until the Alzheimer's came and I had to take care of paper clutter of both of us. Still I have always had too much paper clutter and not just from mail. Blame it on broad interests, current counseling degree course work, writing and teaching perhaps. More on that two-step sort with later post after I have applied the system.

Time for Mrs. Clark's wisdom. Mrs. Clark says use temporary horizontal files. You use this for her two-step sort and at the time she wrote this book she had purchased a jelly rack/donut rack from a restaurant supply store. I saw a horizontal sorter in a classroom Monday when I substituted (photo at left below). I should have left a note for the teacher complimenting her on this great cart at the left. I searched my heart about all the "organizing" (really cluttering) I do on the pool table, the dining room table and elsewhere throughout the whole house. A temporary horizontal organizer would work. I found one for about $70 at Office Depot below at the right below.

Hubby was right again. Alzheimer's does not take wisdom and humor away from him!  After he shopped with me Monday after school he quipped, "And where will you put this cart!"

"In the den for sorting papers," was my reply.  Furniture will have to leave the den for me to use this 10-Drawer Mobile Cart Organizer from Office Depot. I have an idea what needs to leave. I also have an idea for rearranging the den so that I have a two-step sorting station.

Organize it for filing

Organizer from Office Depot in Box

Cell phone problems. After finding and buying this organizer in the box before the bookcase above right, we went to dinner. Getting back in the car after a wonderful dinner (not a careful Weight Watcher menu though),  I dropped my five year old cell phone on the concrete. Now Mrs. Clark had advised:

Compile a list of your most frequently called numbers in a Rolodex, address book, or notebook (p. 127).

I had not done that for all my cell numbers yet and this cell phone was broken beyond repair with contact cell numbers all destroyed as well. Too late for me to heed her warning.

Tuesday I got a new phone, well not just any new cell phone--an iPhone 4S since I was due for an upgrade at Sprint. Regularly VERY expensive, my upgrade cost was $106.99 plus I traded in old phones (found after hubby lost his and needed a new one) and got an Otterbox cover for it so IT won't break when dropped as I five-year-old one had.  (Of course the new iPhone 5 would have been much more expensive.) With my carpel tunnel hands I can speak a person's name to call them instead of use my fingers.  Now I am not putting Pinterest App on that phone yet, but I did put a PrayerMate App there, that had been lingering unused on my iPod in iTunes and I put the Facebook App.  Not putting the e-mail there yet. We need SOME discipline and boundaries in my life.

Short-term memory. Short-term memory caused my husband to leave one section of the front yard unmowed last Saturday and I am encouraging him every day to finish it.  When I leave the house, hubby has to know where I am going and when I will be back and I call him while I am gone when I get a chance. Tuesday I borrowed his cell phone. I called him when I got to the school where I was substituting as is the usual practice, and when I was on my way home. I called him saying I was going to Sprint regarding another cell phone. He expected me home at 5:00 PM, not 6:25 PM. But I did call three times to tell him WHY I would be late.

At home at 6:25 PM hubby was livid with me. "You were supposed to be home at 5:00 PM,"  he said showing me on his notes like a lawyer.

"I called you three times to say I was getting another phone at Sprint."

"No you didn't!" Probably he swore in this anger. I just let this outburst roll off my back. Later he forgot that he was angry with me, another evidence of short-term memory of his disease. I have become fairly used to these sundowning episodes and his short-term memory.

Devotional area. I would say that my Scripture reading and prayer are huge in my life as a lovegiver/caregiver for my husband. Mrs. Clark writes:

Whatever you choose to include in your devotional area, the goal is to set up a permanent grouping of items that do not get carried anywhere for any other purpose (p. 88). 

This wonderful suggestion hit me hard. I have been using Daily Audio Bible for maybe five years, listening to Brian Hardin read through the whole Bible each year on iTunes usually at my computer in the den and getting distracted by e-mail, Pinterest, or blogs while listening to the Bible and "multi-tasking"!  Mrs. Clark calls such distractions "rabbit trails" and asks you to write down your rabbit trails in your notebook. One year I typed up my Scripture highlights to counteract this tendency. Or, I would listen to the daily Scripture on my iPod in the car with the car's speaker system. If it was Friday, I knew that this was the day I pray for Social Media friends, for example, and often during that day. But my devotional time was not "set apart" time--often multi-tasking time.

App for iPhones

Picking up on Mrs. Clark's suggestion my new devotional area is now in the family room. I have assembled materials there and can listen on the iPhone without that computer. No multi-tasking. The PrayerMate App can also be used in my new devotional area. This station is my new way to start the day before hubby gets up.

Do you have a clutter problem?

Do you have "rabbit trail" distractions?
What are they? 

Do you have a devotional station?

Handling Clutter, Part Three

Now you can get a bunch of stuff for your stuff--buy those baskets, bins, etc.--  organizational ideas do help. Put it some where--a box, a bin, a trunk and then it looks organized. My basket with my hair flowers in the guest bathroom pictured below illustrates the problem that can arise from excess containers. You have to solve the problem of what is in the box, bin and trunk. Now my hair flowers are in a drawer cleaned out in the guest bathroom.

Two years ago, before the crash with a DUI driver and the therapy after that, I was writing about clutter on this blog and even wrote a rap about it here where two lines are:

Get it out and take a peek

We know it will take more than just a week.

At that time I was reading Flylady's Kitchen Sink Reflections and Clutter's Last Stand. So this campaign to get organized has a real history, folks. I was derailed physically and discouraged I would be able tackle our home before my husband's Alzheimer's gets worse. I went back to my chiropractor and am on track for solving carpel tunnel problems. My interview with Dolores on the last post inspired me all week.

My day started at 7 AM today with Weight Watchers where their scale showed I lost 4/10 of a pound last week. I spend the rest of Saturday on the house. As you may recall from last Saturday,  I am going through the process in Mindy Starns Clark's book, The House That Cleans Itself, and she took a year with her house. It will take more than a week. Fortunately DH finally decided to mow the front lawn while I worked. (I had treatened to hire someone to mow it, but he said NO and did come through today.)

At 11:30 AM I put an easy chicken  recipe from Pinterest  for dinner  in the crockpot.  My link for Pinterest is at the bottom right and I put it under Healthy Food.  I used light broth and healthy soup and another brand of stuffing. The smells permeated the house while I worked on areas one and two. HBZ area one is essentially done and here is the report.

After Guest Bathroom

Before Guest Bathroom

Stations in Cupbards in Baskets

 As you see quite an improvement at the right! Mrs. Clark advocates stations and so I used my white wicker baskets for stations stored in the cupboards in the guest bathroom: I have first aid and cleaning under the sink, dental care, hair curlers, cold medine and aspirin, and other medicine all in their own containers/stations ready to be taken out when needed. The cleaning bin is where I need it for the bathrooms. She also tells you to evaluate every possession you have. Stuff eats time. . . Do you really want to keep wasting yours on stuff? (p. 100) A lot of unnecessary items were thrown away. "Hotel like", as she says, and I loved having that counter to fold my towels.

How is this helping my Alzheimer's husband?  In the master bathroom, the products that he uses are under his sink along with a basket of towels--and nothing else. I can easily see what is needed. He couldn't find eye glass lense cleaners, and being so disorganized, I bought more. Now we have four boxes you might be able to see at the left.  I can go into this cupboard and easlily see if he needs more Efferdent or Sea Bond for his false teeth. This bathroom should not confuse him in the future.

The master shower was redone several years ago and it is large and easy to get into. Hubby can use a shower chair and a hand held  Price Pfister Multi-Function Shower System with Adjustable Slide Bar when needed in the future by himself or with someone helping him.  I washed the cowboy design curtains I had made (can't remember when I had done that before in the eleven years we have lived here). I stopped at not cleaning the tile in the shower because of my carpel tunnel hands and wrists. I will have someone else clean it. Maybe hubby will--which product below should he use for our hard water?



Tilex, Clean Shower, Lysol Tub and Tile



Night Time When I Finished Last Saturday



When I started on the bathrooms a week ago,  I had a digression--it just seemed right that I organize the medicine. I found all the medicine in four places in the house and put it on the dining room table where it sat most of the week while I worked ourside the house five days. Here is a picture where I finally cleared the dining room table today. Beyond you see area 2, the den, which will take a lot of time--trust me. It illustrates a principle for Mrs. Clark's book.

Anthing in your home that's likely to get messy looking over time should be placed outside the Sight Zone (p. 143).  

You see right into the messy den, so that's why is is the second priority for the house --  the needy Sight Zone where you would notice clutter. It may take a while for me to accomplish this den reorganization, but having our bathrooms organized, I am able to keep it clean.  I feel so good about this accomplishment using Mrs. Clark's pointers.



The crockpot chicken dinner will be ready in a half hour and it is time for me to make our salad. 

Last Stage Caregiver Dolores' Candid Interview

Front porch chats are preferred, but when blogging friends are separated by miles, chatting and typing the interview on Facebook also works. My husband is in stage one of Alzheimer's and I wanted to know more about the journey. Dolores lives in Texas and I live in Florida, but we have become blogging friends. Here is the interview which took place recently.  

Carol: Can you chat now? I have one other message to do. Hold on. . . . I am back now.

Dolores: Been walking the dog, I'm back

Carol: Great! How was your day, first off?

Dolores: Very good, church circle ladies meeting and weather is wonderful...how about u?

Carol: I substituted. Easy day.

Dolores: Great...

Carol: You have always been neat, but how did this help you going into Alzheimer's?

Dolores: Just less mess and confusion for me and David. When my house is messy or cluttered, my brain feels confused. That probably sounds weird, but true for me.

Carol: A place for everything and everything in its place for David and you. Like you I want less and I want neatness and this will serve us well then.

Dolores: Yes, I started getting rid of what we didn't need right of way, sold our house, gave David's car to sister in law. My motto was less is better. All the things I gave away, I haven't missed them at all.

Carol: I both try to enjoy every day and plan ahead. However, it might be easier to ignore the disease. But that wouldn't be responsible. It has been hard for me to assume decision making when Herb had been the leader.

Dolores: Plan ahead and then enjoy every day.....you can't plan everything though; each person and circumstance is so different. One day at a time.

Carol: Was it hard for your husband when you downsized from a bigger home to a smaller home. Did David miss his old home?

Dolores: No, he didn't mind moving, didn't mind not driving. He’s always been very easy going which made it easier for me.

Carol: How did you deal with worries about David when your dear husband used to be your confidant

Dolores: I have a very best friend, she's the same age as my son...she's been my rock. We cry and laugh and discuss all the “what ifs”.

Carol: You often blog about her. How has blogging helped you during this time?

Dolores: Blogging has been so wonderful! I try my best to be real and honest with my feelings, and I feel like people really know me.. The blog has been good for me to unload my feelings, receive the wonderful comments, and keep a record of a timeline of the disease

Carol: Did David accept that he had Alzheimer’s?

Dolores: David accepted it from the very beginning; I know he suspected it....David's Alzheimer's went very slow and then started going down a couple of years ago.

Carol: Yesterday I asked my husband about how he feels about his short-term memory and he said he isn't bothered or doesn't notice it! How can that be! He forgets he forgets! Did David start to notice when it got worse for him--when he couldn’t do things?

Dolores: See, I would never question David about his memory ....I figured he knew it, and we didn't need to talk about it.....No, I don't think he was aware as he got worse, but maybe he did and we didn't talk about it. We didn't talk about Alzheimer’s, other than maybe joke when something silly happened, that it was Alzheimer’s doing it, and we'd laugh.

Carol: Did you have to deal with anger in David? I have had to with my husband several times. Then he forgot he swore or was angry.

Dolores: David would get a little upset when he'd see something that I didn't see, so I got where I'd go along with whatever to keep peace. The mood swings are just part of the disease I think.

Carol: As Bob DeMarco writes often on The Alzheimer’s Reading Room, you have to enter into their reality.

Dolores: That's right, and disagreeing or arguing only makes things worse. It's so hard not to disagree, but it gets you no where.

Carol: You would give him some melatonin so he would sleep well. Did you ever have problems with his getting up at night?

Dolores: I only gave him the melatonin for a short time. The only problem I had at night was for me to wake up when he needed to go to the bathroom....or might not find it. I didn't sleep well at all. Always trying to make sure he could find the bathroom or he’d go on the floor (many times).

Carol: Did you have problems with mirrors as some have--seeing some other man in the mirror?

Dolores: Never....in fact I have lots of mirrors. Also he didn't repeat questions or answers like we often hear, each person is so different when he would see things (hallucinations) it would be hard for me to keep my mouth shut and not disagree, but I got better with time.

Carol: Was Aricept 23 what made the hallucinations lesson you think?

Dolores: No...... As the disease progressed his hallucinations began... Aricept stops working after a while.

Carol: Did David ever wander?

Dolores: No he didn't wander, but I watched him closely.

Carol: Because of your blog I use music. I have playlists on my iPod that I often play for my husband in the car and will in the house at some point. This may work when DH no longer cares to watch TV.

Dolores: Yes, the music was so wonderful, because he suddenly stopped watching TV and reading....so listening to music and sweeping our patio were God sends—something he could do.

Carol: David would read, but my husband doesn't wish to read now. Did you need to find ways to entertain David?

Dolores: We'd walk the dog around the block in the morning and evening. I'd take him for a ride in the car....he'd sweep off and on during the day on our patio and the rest of the time he would look at the TV, or play his country music and clap his hands. That's really all he could do.

Carol: How did you occupy yourself with something when it got to that point?

Dolores: I love to work with my plants on the patio, organize and clean house, visit with friends and spent time on the computer. I started hiring someone to stay with him for a couple of hours so I could go shopping.
Carol: Was he talking fluently at the time you decided to put him in the nursing or Alzheimer's facility?

Dolores: No. He would say a few sentences that made sense and many that didn't.

Carol: I remember you sort of tricked him into going there.

Dolores: I started taking him there for respite care once in awhile. I'd tell him I needed to shop and couldn't leave him alone, he was ok with that.

Carol: My husband is having trouble being motivated to mow the yard. Maybe he'd like having someone else do it? What do you think? They say keep your loved one as busy as long as possible. I think we need to hire someone, but then he might take offense.
Dolores: Maybe if you tell him how much it will be helping someone else by them doing the yard. He might end up liking not doing the yard.
Carol: Yes. That might work. You have achieved for better for worse, in sickness and health and almost till death us do part. Will you be both relieved and sad when he dies? You have to be living in grief now when he doesn't know you when you visit him.

Dolores: I'm sure both feelings, but it's so sad to see him in bed, drinking his meal through a straw, blank look on his face....the David I knew is so different....mostly I will be relieved that he will be whole again when he dies, but I will miss going to see him...a mix of emotions.

Handling Clutter, Part Two

The wise woman builds her house,

But the foolish pulls it down with her hands. Proverbs 14:1

Several weeks ago Jake spent the day at our home while Sally substituted. Now, unlike hubby, Jake is a bundle of energy. He worked in our front yard in the morning and then came in and enjoyed the same lunch I made hubby--the coconut oil and tumeric toasted cheese sandwich, yogurt with extra blueberries, and coconut oil fudge--all good nutrition for the Alzheimer's husbands.  Then Jake and hubby got a second wind and finished off the back yard. How grateful I am for Jake and his energy. What did I do that day? De-clutter? No. I prepared food for a wedding and observed the husbands. One day this may be "babysitting" the husbands while either Sally or I substitute teach.

Friday morning. So much is great right now. I am slowing losing weight and hubby is still in stage one of Alzheimer's, but the house is a mess. I have an excuse--my carpal tunnel on my wrists, but it is slowly getting better. Time to own up to a problem and write part two and expect part three, etc., of reporting to you, gentle blog reader.

Simplicy 101 September Check List gave me ideas for our  home, but too overwhelming.

Flylady's daily e-mail:

You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.? Perfectionism is Shelved in 2012!

I am behind, though, FlyLady. I can shelve perfectionism. I have been shelving perfection like the encyclopedia that no one reads anymore. Don't worry. I don't have The Worldbook  like my parents did. I took this picture in the library where our Alzheimer's Association support group meets.

 

Speaking of that support group, as is our monthly habit on the second Tuesday, hubby and Jake hung out at our cluttered home while Sally and I went to the support group . Two persons whose spouses have died from Alzheimer's even come to offer their wisdom for our journey in this support group. After this support group we went with our husbands to a bookstore and to dinner.

At that bookstore, I found THE book that I will be blogging about--The House That Cleans Itself by Mindy Stark Clark. This post (but not this new book) has been planned since Part One. (When you call it Part One, you have to have a Part Two.) I began reading it while substituting yesterday, Thursday. Don't we all want a house that cleans itself! Here it is called the HTCI system and I now have my spiral HTCI notebook. Mindy (not my blogging friend) writes:

The first step in your home's transformation is to get a fresh, clean spiral notebook. You'll be using this notebook throughout your house transformation, so choose one with a brightly colored cover so it won't get lost in the mess.(p. 21)

My spiral notebook I bought last night has HO-PE in two lines on the cover and I put a sticker in the middle of it that says "HELLO I'M HTCI". I can't control my husband's disease, but I am controlling my eating and I can control my home.

Step One. You make a floor plan.

Step Two. Decide your "home base zone". Mine is our master bath and the guest bathroom. If those areas (HBZ) are always kept clean, I will be happy. Flylady's is her kitchen sink. What is yours?

Step Three I will do Saturday when all I have to do is Weight Watchers at 7 am in the morning. I will report back to you all here on this step three.

Step Four says the book is to put God at the center. "Prayer walk your home." It is not just that the house needs order so it can be cleaned, my spirit needs order. I need to thank God for my blessings and confess my mess to Him. Mindy writes on her own journey, "I needed to prayer walk my house to put God at the center of my housecleaning mission" (p. 42).

Step Five is gathering tools and documenting the evidence. This is what you need the spiral notebook for. You also take pictures of everything.

Step Six is evaluate the evidence; step six and the rest of the book will be lived out in later posts here.

HBZ report added Saturday, Sept. 15.  While I substitute taught on Friday I made the floor plan above. You will see that I have decided my priorities. I did the prayer walk and am so glad I did. Instead of looking at all the mess and excess in the house, I thanked God for so many things and also confessed my shortcomings and asked for His help. I feel cleansed myself. Thank you, Lord.

In the purging of the bathroom, I discovered humor in the picture. Why does a husband going bald need hair thickening? Why do we have his prescription from 2003 from a pharmacy that no longer exists and a doctor he no longer goes to?  There's the Dulcolax that is needed every three to five years for our horrible colon cancer exam! At least I won't buy another one and now will know where it is. Who needs maxipads in the house?



(By the way I will turn in this prescription for an oxy derivitive to a drug store so it gets disposed of properly and doesn't get into the water supply. You know I could sell it illegally and make money, but I WILL NOT.)

Music Therapy

Here is a helpful link: Music Therapy for Individuals With Alzheimer's and Other Dementias

From Pinterest

Music is the universal language. I am intentionally playing such music for my husband because I understand music is the universal language for our loved ones who happen to have dementia.When we travel in our old gas guzzler car, usually I put music on in the car through the speaker from my five year old iPod. An adapter plugs right into the old cassette slot and connects to that iPod. My husband and I listen to a worship playlist on Sundays on the way to church. The Sunday that I forgot my iPod, we sang hymns all the way to church.

Like Dolores' sweet husband David, DH loves country music. Our friends Sally and Jake have also introduced us to Blue Grass music.  I love playing our piano and need to do that sometimes also so I introduce this into our routine. That is, when my carpel tunnel wrists are better. Too much computer, folks, but I am using MSM from the health food store and wearing braces on my wrists at night.

There is actually an iPod drive for old iPods to benefit Alzheimer's patients. See here. Many people have those lying around because they have smart phones now. I have resisted getting an iPhone and even stopped texting to save expenses and to save my carpel tunnel wrists.

Even though my wrists are hurting these days, my legs are not. This will be the third fall that I am walking in the Alzheimer's Association event. So is Sally and I need to start raising money. Our husbands will hang out while we walk.

Coconut Oil Recipes

"Preventing Alzheimer's: Coconut Oil Recipes"  by Lorie Johnson you can see here. The CBN news medical reporter writes:

Thanks to the spectacular work of Dr. Mary Newport, many people with Alzheimer's disease as well as other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and ALS, have enjoyed improvement by adding coconut oil to their diet.

The coconut granola recipe looks soooo good. She also has that Coconut Fudge recipe from Dr. Newport that we use.

Preventing Alzheimer's may not be as simple as using coconut oil, but it sure does help my husband and other ailments. Oops. My husband is not an ailment! He is wonderful--not a diagnosis.

What I'm Learning About Senior Health, Part Three

Workshop. Sally and I went to workshop at the USF Johnny Byrd Alzheimer's Institute on August 30th. DH and Jake spend the day at our home. Dr. Kristin Fargher, Assistant Medical Director at the Institute, gave an excellent overview called "Understanding Alzheimer's Disease and Progress in Treatment". 

This session was followed by Jill Ardila's presentation on "Clinical Trials: One Step Closer to a Cure." Sally has been having trouble sleeping lately and she has just joined a caregiver study now on the sleep of a caregiver that Jill Ardila mentioned. Jill also mentioned that current research for AD patients includes Resveratrol and coconut oil! When hubby was officially diagnosed with Mixed Dementia at Byrd Alzheimer's Institute two years ago see here, they were not impressed with the coconut oil I had been giving him. I just read that post again and realize that hubby really is doing so well in the past two years and so am I with the LORD's help. Now the Institute researchers have met Dr. Newport (whose interview video is one od the most viewed post on this blog) and are actually conducting research on it!  So glad DH has been on coconut oil for three years. He does get it with his coconut oil fudge for two meals. Perhaps he doesn't have enough every day, and maybe I can give him more by cooking with it most days. 

After a wonderful lunch, Eileen Poiley the Institute's Director of Education talked on "Strategies for Managing Behaviors and Communicating with a person with Alzheimer's". Her tips deserve a whole new post which will follow at some point. 

Off-hand Comments at the Workshop. I heard that Resvereatrol (has ingredient in dark chocolate) is at Sams Club and will look into that. One of the participants informally during a break talked about people in India cooking with turmeric and curumin and not having as much dementia. Hubby does get this every day with a Vitacost pill and whenever I can cook with it.

Scam? A series of studies have come out that says that aging is a result of oxidated stress where free radicals destroy some of the cells. Joe McCord and others have "discovered" that the taking of one pill of Protandim can help us not age, or return our T bars to a lower level. That video is here. Two of the ingredients in this pill my husband already takes--green tea and tumeric. He also has cinnamon on his applesauce he gets in the morning and often on a sweet potato. However the case is out on Protandim and if you Google it you see what ingredients are in it and that it might be a scam, or at least a scam in its marketing. I wonder if it was "the one thing" that was in the post here--a most popular post to date on this blog--the one thing that I never listened to because of the marketing approach.

Teeth. Got to floss, folks. Plaque can get into the blood stream through the teeth.  Never connected heart health and teeth before. Actually have been going to a really good dentist for almost two years now when we got on Preferred Care. Flossing is hard for my wrists since I have carpal tunnel symptoms again, but got to do it.

Shingles. You can get a shingles shot at Walmart in our area this week. Hubby got shingles after he was first diagnosed with dementia soon after I started this blog almost four years ago. Preferred Care will not cover this shot for me, but I am considering paying for it because of the stress of caregiving and over a year ago my doctor said seniors should get this shot.

MSM. I am taking MSM for my carpal tunnel as I did years ago. My doctor approved. Also I am wearing my braces at night and during the day some.  I also need a hearing test.

Aluminium Deodorants. Can people avoid Alzheimer's by avoiding certain deodorants? See here. While it may be a good idea to not use aluminum in cooking, we do not know that we have to avoid it in deodorants unlike that site implies. Nobody else on Google is saying that aluminum in deodorants causes Alzheimer's, in fact it is called a myth if you google it. This site sums it up:

It is interesting that the Aluminum/Alzheimer's connection continues to persist for many people, even though in the 1960's and 1970's after it was first suspected and researched extensively, no connection has ever been found. There is still no known cause of Alzheimer's, but a few things that are believed to help prevent it are: eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in fat and cholesterol, staying mentally active and learning new things, and exercising regularly.

I have been thinking about neurotransmitters recently, you know, Seretonon, GABA, Dopamine and Acetycholine and how we get them from healthy eating--those superfoods. Those neurotransmitters connect the neurons that my husband is losing slowly I guess. If we are deficient in neurotransmitters certain conditions can happen--low energy, brain fog, anxiety. Also, friends are on the GAPS, Paleo and/or no gluten diets and seeing significant benefits for their families.

I am dieting with Weight Watchers which also emphasizes healthy eating, not just weight loss. My weight loss is slow, but, I feel great and am fitting into clothes I used to wear.

Diet, what we eat, is not just losing weight. Good eating habits are important for us seniors and our Alzheimer's loved ones, who sometimes think they can live on ice cream!