veggiessima

In 2003 I went to a presentation by Dr Fuhrman for his book **Eat to Live**, which had just been released.

He presented this simple formula which defines how our health is related to the nutrient density of our diet:

H = N/C (Health = Nutrients/Calories)

It made so much sense to me! I was fascinated by how he was treating his patients with a nutrient dense diet and seeing incredible results.

Since that presentation, my interest for **lifestyle medicine** only grew and since then I have learned about many wonderful doctors and their incredible work. This article would be very long if I were to mention all of them, they are all very special and their contributions to healthier lives have been huge.

I'm ending the #coilgratitudechallenge expressing my gratitude for all the plant based doctors that are transforming health care through lifestyle medicine, but I'd like to extend a special mention to two incredible neurologists that I respect immensely for the evidence based work they are doing and for the important message they are spreading:

“Making changes in your lifestyle can have a huge impact on your mental capacity and minimize risk of Alzheimers and dementia.”

Meet *Dr. Dean* and *Dr.* *Ayesha Sherzai*, aka Team Sherzai:

A unique husband and wife team on the cutting edge of brain science, Dr. Dean and Dr. Ayesha Sherzai are dedicated to educating people on the simple steps to long-term health and wellness through their work as Directors of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Medical Center, with patients, as well as through online writing, videos, and books.

I am very grateful for all I have learned through the work done by Team Sherzai. I read their book, The Alzheimer's Solution, which gave me great insight about all the nuances of this sad disease, but also armed me with tools to prevent it.

We all have a family member or know someone struggling with cognitive decline. Unfortunately there is no treatment to cure Alzheimer's disease, but fortunately there is a lot we can do to prevent it.

Cognitive decline does not happen overnight, but rather over many years, way before symptoms start to present. The damage is silent and that's why it is so important to take action early in our lives while our brains are still functioning well.

I personally have a loved one going through cognitive decline and can affirm from first hand experience that once the decline starts, it is so, so much harder to get the person to understand and make the lifestyle changes that can help slow down the progression of the disease.

The time to make changes is when our brains are healthy and we can understand the impact of the changes.

The *NEURO* *plan* by Team Sherzai:

N – Nutrition: Adopting a balanced, plant-based diet leads to maximum mental proficiency.

E – Exercise: Daily exercise, simple movements and stretching increases life expectancy and boosts mood.

U – Unwind: Unwinding and developing ways to alleviate stress optimizes overall health.

R – Restore: Restorative sleep cleanses the brain of unhealthy chemicals and is vital to brain health.

O – Optimize: Optimize cognitive capacity by focusing on activities that are driven by your purpose.

I cannot recommend the Team Sherzai's book enough, it's one of those books that should be a required reading for everyone.

They also have a very informative podcast: Brain Health and Beyond

Thank you Dr. Dean and Dr. Ayesha Sherzai!!

Cintia

Header image is from the Team Sherzai's website: https://teamsherzai.com/

All images on this article are from the Team Sherzai's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teamsherzaimd/