Because you’re the main reason I’m writing this blog, I hope you will think of it as our blog.  My intent is to inspire, inform, help, and motivate.

Every post may not be of interest to you now; however, it could be helpful if an unexpected turn in the road puts you in the same situation one day.  It may also be beneficial for a member of your family or a friend.  To someone, it could be information to make their day, or their future.

I’m not trying to sell anything. The contents of my medicine cabinet will not be mentioned.  And no, I’m not writing my autobiography, and I don’t claim to be an authority on any topic. I’ll be sharing past experiences and what I’m learning about life now, always keeping in mind that someone out there may be going through the same thing.

Trying to find the Fountain of Youth with nips and tucks, pills, powders and potions would be a lost cause.  I’m focusing on all the things we’re supposed to do to help us live long, healthy, happy lives. If we eat right, adopt a healthy lifestyle, exercise regularly, or at least keep moving, we may be able to avoid devastating physical, mental, and emotional illnesses. For instance, research claims that challenging new activities, done on a regular basis, stimulate our brain and keeps it sharp: learning to play a musical instrument, taking dance lessons, tai chi, learning a foreign language, enrolling in an arts class.  Trying to see how much of your credit card number you can memorize, or while shopping, adding up the total of your groceries in your head, also count as mental gymnastics.  Even the process of setting up this blog, which called for researching, writing, editing, editing, editing, was exercise for the brain.

These are just a few of the many things we can do to increase our chances of retaining our mental capacities as we age.   It may even ward off, or at least slow the progression of, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.  As the sixth-leading cause of death in this country, Alzheimer’s disease kills more Americans than diabetes alone and more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined, as reported by the Alzheimer’s Association.  Gary Small, MD, director of UCLA’s Longevity Center states, “According to our data, if everyone in the United States adopted one additional healthy lifestyle habit, the number of expected Alzheimer’s cases would be reduced by a million in the next five years.”  Now that sounds good to me. How about you? Are you going to make an effort to be included in that reduced million?

Be sure to also click on “Fannie’s Kitchen”  where I will have recipes relevant to a particular post.  I was surprised to learn that carefully following the instructions of an unfamiliar recipe is also considered a brain-boosting exercise.  So, if you decide to give your brain a workout by cooking one of my recipes,  please let us know how it turns out.  Now I’m not crazy about cooking, but since I have to, I’m hoping that you will submit ideas for quick, economical, free meals–gluten-free, soy-free,  nut/seed-free meals that are delicious and nutritious, too.  But please, I lack the patience and fortitude to tackle day-long, foot-long, destined-to-go-wrong recipes, my brain can only handle so much.  What a challenge! But I have faith in your culinary knowledge.

Believe me when I say that I’m really looking forward to your comments on each post because what you say may even make a big difference in someone’s life.  Think of all the people who will be reading our blog–thousands all over the world!  Well, maybe thousands is a slight exaggeration, but that’s OK, because optimism adds years to our lives. (Read the “Home” page.)

Who knows?  Together, maybe we will find the answers to why so many of us have high blood pressure, insomnia, acid reflux, elevated cholesterol, aches, pains, etc.  Perhaps we will find our Fountain of Health.  Forget the Fountain of Youth, after all, youth get sick, too.  At least we can keep each other encouraged, enlightened, and headed in the right direction.

Images from:

• Bigstock.com
• 123RF.com