Turning 50 rocked my world. I was diagnosed with a thyroid disease, had gained weight, felt fatigued, foggy and was in a general state of malaise. At the same time my children were growing up and leaving home my mother was showing significant signs of cognitive decline. Most everything I thought was stable was going sideways, including my marriage.

As we moved my mother into memory care I wondered why this happened to her. I was scared and wondered if it would happen to me too. My curiosity led me to DNA testing that revealed my APOE:4:4 allele status. That puts me in the highest risk category for Alzheimer’s Disease, genetically speaking. My deepest fear was sitting right in front of me.

The more I thought about it the less sense it made. My mother was one of five daughters. No one else in the family had dementia. Sisters, aunts and even my grandmother lived healthy lives well into old age. What was unique about my mother? This was a puzzle I desperately wanted to solve.

I enrolled in the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy, then The Institute of Integrative Nutrition followed by The Primal Health Coaching Institute and more. I was hungry for knowledge and accumulated information but still had no answer. It wasn’t until I came across Dr. Dale Bredesen’s research that I understood the magnitude of lifestyle on chronic disease. He describes 36 holes in the roof, each one a contributor to chronic disease. This was the key that opened the door to my prevention plan. My mother didn’t just have genetics working against her, she had the proverbial 36 holes in the roof!

There is so much agency knowing that I can support my brain and body with the lifestyle choices.. I’m not a victim of my genetics and although I’m far from perfect everyday, I try to stay on the path while enjoying life to its fullest. There are some things we can’t control but metabolism, as an imperative body system, is ultimately in our control!

The benefits of metabolic flexibility affect all areas of physical and mental wellbeing. Surprisingly, there are very simple ways to achieve it without calorie restriction, counting macros, weighing food or excessive exercising. What you thought were normal middle age symptoms resolve without medication or micromanagement. If it sound too good to be true, I encourage you to see for yourself!

I miss my mom terribly and wish she had this knowledge twenty years ago. While I can’t guarantee my fate, I can try to live close to this way of fueling my body, prioritizing sleep and getting plenty of exercise and sunshine. I want that for you and for anyone struggling at midlife.

There’s lots of life to be lived and perhaps the best is yet to come. Do you believe it!