In our Homeschool Home Economics Class in our Cooking studies Charlie and I will be reading The Brain Healt: Kitchen Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food by Annie Fenn, MD I received a copy of in exchange for this rereview.
I remember as a child going to the nursing home to see my dad’s dad and he didn’t remember who anyone was. Then one day my grandmother asked him if he knew who my brother was and he did. That was the last time he spoke or even knew anyone. I am sure it was Alzheimer’s but back then it wasn’t talked about.
At times I believe I see it in David’s mom and dad who are nearing 90. I would like for Charlie to use this cookbook to help them out and to give his grandmother a break from cooking. Not, only that I will be 60 soon and would like to live as long as my mother in law and father in law but I don’t think I will if I don’t make changes in my health.
Which is why you will find The Brain Healt: Kitchen Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food sitting on my dinning room table and Charlie and I picking out recipes to make a couple times a week. As we browsed the recipes Charlie let me know he liked how the author used research and scientific studies listed at the back of the book.
I hadn’t heard of the MIND diet before my copy of The Brain Healt: Kitchen Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food arrived. I would like to let you know the mind diet is not really a diet; but a lifestyle change. The Brain Healt: Kitchen Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food is a cookbook with easy-to-follow recipes, and beautiful pictures
The photographs are amazing and will have you hungry even if you just finished eating. The recipes are easy-to-follow and they’ve inspired my family to cook in a brain healthy way because the cookbook uses brain-healthy ingredients including Nuts which is my go to snack. Spices, alternative Baking Flours, fermented vegetables and fatty Fish. I love how all the ingredients are available at most grocery stores.
About:
“Though packed with solid science, the book isn’t dense reading; [Fenn] dishes up the data and information in easily digestible bites.” —Seattle Times
A physician and chef identifies the top ten brain-smart ingredients and shows that eating to maintain brain health is easy, accessible, delicious, and necessary for everyone.
The foods we choose to eat (or not) sit at the core of the Alzheimer’s epidemic. In The Brain Health Kitchen, readers will learn exactly how making the right choices about the foods we select and cook, and how we eat them, can keep our brains younger, sharper, more vibrant, and much less prone to dementia.
Scientific studies show that there are ten foods with powerful neuroprotective properties. None should come as a surprise—leafy greens, whole grains, berries, fatty fish, beans and lentils, olive oil, and more have been touted for their health-giving benefits since researchers put a name to the Mediterranean diet. But Dr. Annie Fenn takes a much more targeted approach, beginning with 100 recipes that incorporate brain-healthy foods into every meal of the day.
From Caramelized Apple and Quinoa Pancakes for breakfast to Mushroom and White Bean Socca for lunch to dinners like Miso-Glazed Cod with Rice and Gingery Green Beans and Marinated Steak with Warm Kale Salad and Sweet Potatoes, here are dishes that are simply delicious, regardless of their health-boosting effects. Same with the desserts, like Coffee, Date, and Oat Bars.
Readers will also learn other strategies for creating a brain-friendly dietary pattern, including choosing meats that fuel instead of harm; understanding the nuances between “good” and “bad” fats; embracing methods that preserve nutrients, such as braising and steaming; making sure to drink the right beverages; and addressing holistic issues like how diverse your food choices are and how beneficial it is to share meals with family and friends.
Shifting to and sticking with a brain healthy diet is your first and best line of defense against the heartbreaking diseases of Alzheimer’s and dementia. And it works for everyone—omnivores, pescatarians, vegetarians and vegans, and the gluten-intolerant.
About: Annie Fenn, MD
DR. ANNIE FENN is the founder of the Brain Health Kitchen, the only cooking school of its kind focused exclusively on brain health and helping people prevent cognitive decline through food and lifestyle. After twenty years as a board-certified ob-gyn, she traded in her stethoscope for an apron to pursue her passion for the culinary arts.
But it was her mother’s diagnosis with dementia that helped Fenn find her path and her new calling, one that enabled her to not only help her mother but also create significant and meaningful impact for others. Fenn lives in Jackson, Wyoming. She shares recipes and brain health content twice-weekly on the popular newsletter BrainHealthKitchen.substack.com and on Instagram at @brainhealthkitchen.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
