Tag Archives: Attitude adjustment

Parkinson's, Slices of Life , , , Leave a comment

This is photography on Parkinson’s

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This is photography on Parkinson’s… sometimes. Sometimes you accidentally hit the button due to herky-jerky movements, sometimes you manage to get the shot you envisioned in the viewfinder. Some days your vision is blurred and it’s hard to say whether or not you have the item you want in focus, in focus. More often than not, it’s blurred, and the background or foreground isn’t focused instead. Of course, one can always use autofocus, but that has the same issues as manual focus with blurry vision. The best one can do in that situation is to click the shutter as soon as the screen blinks red, indicating that everything’s in focus. And then, of course, somedays you get the focus right and the shutter speed and it all works. Then again, when life hands you bitter citrus, sometimes you can make a Margarita. Or better yet, KeyLime Pie.

Slices of Life Leave a comment

From: Whatever… to: Whatever It Takes

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An old tee shirt of mine shows a cartoon face with shrugging shoulders and a Key West, FL logo with the word “Whatever …” as the main message.

I now have a wristband from the Parkinson’s Foundation that says “Whatever It Takes – To Beat Parkinon’s”

So that is how my attitude has changed following my PD diagnosis.

My Dad used to say that his philosophy of life was “Que sera, sera – whatever will be, will be”. Later on, he covered up his loss of hearing by saying “Whatever…”

depression, diet, Research Leave a comment

Diet as medicine for depression

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Medscape reports on a new study from Australia which apparently shows that eating healthy can be good for the mood as well as the pocketbook.

Two researchers, Felice Jacka and Michael Berk, led a consortium of Australian Institutions based at the Food & Mood Centre at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia. Over 3 years, they recruited several hundred patients with moderate to severe depression and entered 67 into a 12-week parallel group trial. The treatment group received seven 60-minute sessions of dietary counselling. The parallel control group received a matching social support protocol. All but nine of the 67 participants were receiving another active treatment—either psychotherapy, medications, or both. . . .

… participants were implored to increase consumption of foods in 12 food categories. The food categories, as you may guess, included whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes, and lean meats, chicken, and seafood, and to decrease consumption of foods that are correlated with a higher risk for depression: empty carbohydrates, refined starches, and highly processed foods. . . .

. . . The outcome was quite robust. The researchers found a statistically significant 7.1-point difference on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) in favor of the treatment group, which was their primary outcome. The researchers extrapolated that there was a 2.2-point reduction in the MADRS for every 10% adherence to the healthier dietary pattern.. . .

. . . They developed that pattern, which they called the Modified Mediterranean Diet, or the Modi-Medi Diet, by combining recommendations from the Australian government and the Greek government, and data from an earlier analysis by Felice Jacka and her colleagues[2] that determined which dietary factors played the largest role in fighting depression with diet. . . .

source of quoted excerpts:  http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/875236