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.

Check out my full book review on LinkedIn.

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.

Check out my full book review on LinkedIn.

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. 

Check out my full book review on LinkedIn.

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.

Check out my full book review on LinkedIn.

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

Book Review: The Case for Keto

The author states this book is not for the lean and healthy. Instead, it is written for those who fatten easily and are curious about the low-carb, high fat (LCHF) or ketogenic lifestyle. Eighteen chapters cover the history of the diet, its evolution, scientific research and reasoning, and the basics of the plan. I would recommend it to someone who knows very little about the diet and wants to be convinced to try it. It is not a prescriptive, how-to book, but rather an in-depth explanation.

Check out my full book review on LinkedIn.

Taubes, G. (2020). The Case for Keto: Rethinking weight control and the science and practice of low-carb/high-fat eating. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Book Review: Year of No Sugar

If you are looking for motivation and inspiration to reduce added sugar, this book is for you. You can do it! Schaub is very open about their mess-ups and how they navigated the year. And perhaps most interesting, after the year-long project, the author continues to make most meals from scratch, avoid fructose when possible, and limits the number of desserts the family eats.

Proverbs 27:7, One who is full loathes honey from the comb, but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet.

There were two things I didn't like about this book: its length and the reference of dextrose being OK. It could have been much shorter. I appreciate a succinct description of events. The author is verbose and colloquial. I can't really fault the author for substituting dextrose--this was her journey, her rules, her substitutions. I had to keep reminding myself that she is not a nutritionist and this was not a nutrition book--it is a memoir, as advertised.

Read my full review of the book, including golden nuggets, on LinkedIn.

Schaub, E. (2014). Year of no sugar: A memoir. Naperville: Sourcebooks, Inc.

Book Review: Breath

Journalist James Nestor shares his quest to improve his breathing along with the research, medical history, biochemistry, physiology, and modern practices that implore us to make adjustments in the way we inhale and exhale today. It is an interesting and quick read that could help you to improve your health and well-being.

“No matter what we eat, how much we exercise, how resilient our genes are, how skinny or young or wise we are—none of it will matter unless we’re breathing correctly” (p. xix).

There are three parts to the book. Part One: The Experiment, Part Two: The Lost Art and Science of Breathing, and Part Three: Breathing+.

Check out my book review and golden nuggets on LinkedIn.

Nestor, J. (2020). Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art. New York: Riverhead Books.