This is part 1 in a 4-part series on the 4 Pillars of the Clear Mind Center Alzheimer’s reversal lifestyle

Non-Toxic Products

We also have a hundred percent non-toxic cleaning products. We love

• Branch Basic
• EO
• Bioclean
• Dr. Bronner’s

In the bedroom we’ve curated our mattresses, pillows, linens—everything again is organic and non-toxic. We use Avocado brand green mattresses, pillows, and mattress pads. We have organic cotton sheets and towels—everything including the detergents are fragrance free. There are no artificial smells in the bedrooms or in the communal space.

When a resident arrives, we offer them a welcome basket. It has an organic cotton robe in it. We also have soaps, lotions and toothpaste that is non-toxic. We do all of this because I know how overwhelming it can be to decide what to buy with these different products and labels. We want to relieve all that worry.

Usually again, it’s an adult child, often the daughter, who has the power of attorney, POA and who is doing the decision making. We want to make sure they don’t have to worry about that. We curated the welcome bags as a way to simplify the experience.

Clutter

At Clear Mind Center we are very mindful of the influence of sounds, smells, and visual stimuli on our residents. We can all relate to being a little frazzled by a place that feels very cluttered. We keep the clutter down. We keep the sounds to a minimum, or make sure that we’re using them intentionally as calming music instead of background chatter. The same with smells. Really, I think the only smell that we have at Marama is that amazing aroma coming from the kitchen.

Organic Ketogenic Diet & Safe Water

The ultimate goal of Clear Mind Center is for our residents to move in, and then move back home and return to independent living. The goal is to use what we know to maintain an independent lifestyle for as long as possible. An organic ketogenic diet is critical to brain health. We have an onsite orchard and two large greenhouses with tons of food growing there that is used in our kitchen daily. We offer cooking classes to all of our residents. We seek to engage and to teach residents how to cook in preparation for when they move home.

Unfortunately in San Diego we are at the end of the river that feeds the municipal water supply. Our water sources are not ideal. There are pesticides, herbicides, even pharmaceuticals that are ending up in the water—lots of contaminants. It is quite a chore, however we have staff that go to a local spring and fill up glass jugs every week to make sure that we have plenty of drinking and cooking water for everyone that is non-toxic.

At home, I recommend you can look for spring water that is delivered. Here in San Diego, we use Mountain Valley spring water. You may be able to find another clean water source, but you want to make sure that it’s been third-party tested and that there are no contaminants in it.