BRAIN FOOD

Uma Naidoo (2020). This is Your Brain on Food.

Naidoo is a medical doctor and psychiatrist specializing in nutrition and mental health. The book chapters are organized as separate mental health diagnoses and corresponding foods to avoid and foods to consume to support better gut health as the connection between the gut and the brain is foundational to well being. Cheat sheet summaries at the end of each chapter are helpful as well as the appendixes and a thorough bibliography of mostly empirical research on the brain--food connection.

Disappointed in the emphasis on eating meat and consumption of oils...moreover, there is much repetition across chapters, e.g., almost all mental health issues suggest avoiding foods associated with the "western diet" of highly processed foods, white flour and white sugar products, as well as large quantities of meat, especially beef. On the flip side, most of the nutritional advice includes: 

berries and beans of all types, 

tumeric and black pepper (together), 

a rainbow of fruits and veggies, especially microgreens which have up to 30X more nutrition than the full grown plant, and 

fermented foods like keifer, kombuchi, fortified yogurt, miso, tempah, kimchi, sauerkraut,

 and for omega 3, flax and chia seeds, walnuts, and sardines.

 

Practice: eat less of the "western diet" and more of the plant based diet, especially fermented foods...

start by making your own sauerkraut...

cut a head of cabbage into thin slices and place in a glass or wooden bowl,

add salt and squish with hands until the liquid from the cabbage forms and the cabbage becomes softer...

pack contents in a glass jar (e.g. mason jar), push down until liquid covers the top,

cover lightly with a towel to keep out the insects,

let stand on the cupboard in a warm area of the kitchen for several days (check each day and push down the cabbage so that the liquid appears--this prevents molding--should mold form, skim off and toss in the compost, the rest is still edible),

taste after the 3rd day to see if the sourness is to your liking,

let ferment more for sharper flavor,

place in frig to stop fermentation, keeps for a month or more...

eat a tablespoon or more a day...include with any vegetable dish or eat plain for stomach aches, helpful for reflux in the evening.