Book Review: Your Brain on Food

Diet can have a significant impact on our mental health. Author Uma Naidoo, MD, describes how the gut and brain are connected and addresses this relationship in conditions such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dementia, brain fog, obsessive-compulsive disorder, insomnia and fatigue, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and libido issues. Each chapter covering a condition is self-contained with patient stories, how various foods and eating patterns affect the condition, and what foods worsen and improve the ailment. Studies are shared that support eating or avoiding foods for the given condition. The chapter concludes with a “cheat sheet” that summarizes what to embrace and what to avoid. At the end of the book there is a chapter, Cooking and Eating for Your Brain, with menus and recipes targeted to each condition. This book is highly recommended to those diagnosed with one of these conditions.

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Naidoo, Uma. (2020). This is Your Brain on Food: An indispensable guide to the surprising foods that fight depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, and More. New York: Little, Brown Spark.

Book Review: The Circadian Code

The circadian lifestyle includes getting the best night’s sleep, time-restricted eating, optimizing learning and working environment, syncing exercise, and adapting to light and screen disrupters. This book will help you recognize your circadian rhythms and how to follow them. In addition, it provides research on how optimizing your schedule can improve your health and even prevent or delay disease. The book provides many practical suggestions to implement; recommended reading for all.

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Panda, S. (2018). The circadian code:Lose weight, supercharge your energy, and transform your health from morning tomidnight. New York: Rodale Books.

Book Review: Ravenous

Must love history if you are diving into this book. Sam Apple presents the story of Nobel Prize winner and biochemist Otto Warburg, the history of cancer research, and how the rise of cancer influenced Adolf Hitler’s own life and thoughts. The last few chapters of the book are dedicated to how diet and cancer may be connected. If you enjoy reading about history and science, this book is for you. 

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Apple, S. (2021). Ravenous: Otto Warburg, the Nazis, and the search for the cancer-diet connection. New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.

Book Review: Keep Sharp

The author starts with the basic facts about the brain: how it works, how it ages, signs of serious decline, and debunking known myths. Then Dr. Gupta shares five strategies to protect your brain function: move, discover, relax, nourish, connect. There is a 12-week program to carry out the recommended steps and strategies. The last section of the book examines the challenges of diagnosing and treating brain diseases, including insights on navigating finances and emotions.

I would recommend this book if you are looking to learn more about the brain, dementia, and prevention. It is not a scientific, deep dive into Alzheimer's disease.

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Gupta, S. (2021). Keep sharp: Build a better brain at any age. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Book Review: Nudge

 

Nudges are everywhere. The authors present how we make choices and can be led to make better ones without sacrificing our freedom of choice. Topics include savings, Social Security, credit markets, environmental policy, health care, marriage, and more. The reader is encouraged to think of how nudges can apply to other domains such as your workplace, social clubs, families, universities, religious institutions. I found the book fascinating and would recommend it to those interested in how our surroundings influence our choices.

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Thaler, R. and Sunstein, C. (2009). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. New York: Penguin Books.

Book Review: How to be an Introvert in an Extrovert World

Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum of an introvert to extrovert, you will be enlightened about yourself and those around you. Connolly recommends the reader think of this book as an “introvert resource kit.” She delivers just that—insights, strategies, and inspiration for the introvert life. I recommend this book for all humans. 

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Connolly, M. (2018). How to be an introvert in an extrovert world. Louder Minds.

Book Review: Why We Get Fat

 

The author presents a compelling case that obesity results from a hormonal imbalance, not a caloric one. If you are a fan of Gary Taubes, then you will enjoy reading this book (published in 2011). If you are looking for similar information but more recent and ketogenic-focused, then read his book, The Case for Keto (published in 2020). 

The hormones, enzymes, and growth factors regulate our fat tissue. The stimulation of insulin secretion caused by eating easily digestible carbohydrate-rich foods (refined carbohydrates, starchy vegetables, and sugars) drives us to accumulate fat, makes us hungrier, and makes us sedentary. It also causes obesity, cancer, heart disease, hypertension, and Alzheimer’s. If you want to lose excess fat, then stay away from these carbohydrate-rich foods. Taubes provides the science, historical context, and research against conventional wisdom that it is only about calories in versus calories out.

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Taubes, G. (2011). Why We Get Fat and what to do about it. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.