The Healthy Mind Cookbook, a review

I was very interested in this cookbook.  My husband, whom long time readers will know went on Disability ten years ago due to Bipolar Disorder, has been researching the relationship between the brain and the "gut".  The changes he made in his diet have proven very affective.

So when I saw there was a cookbook coming up for review that is about this very subject.  I jumped at the change to peruse it.  It is exactly the kind of book anyone who is using food to help heal (or at least alleviate symptoms in my husband's case) brain chemistry needs.

Having both a bipolar husband and an extremely ADHD son, I have known about the affect between the brain and what we eat for sometime.  But the advances within the past five years or so in research have been remarkable.

In The Healthy Mind Cookbook (subtitled Big-Flavor Recipes to Enhance Brain Function, Mood Memory, and Mental Clarity), Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson provide the latest information on the relationship between "the gut" and brain chemistry.  Just in case your doctor is skeptical the way some of our doctors have been in the past.

There is a great deal of easy to read and understand material in the beginning of the book.  I plan to go back and reread certain sections until I am very familiar with them.  Yes, I can see this cookbook becoming very well used and stained with the preparation of recipes.  

The chapter titled The Culinary Pharmacy is worth the price of the book alone as we are given a long list of foods (including herbs and spices) that are good for the brain and information about each food. I have already written down a few herbs I plan to add to my herb garden this Spring.

What makes this book truly functional are the recipes which incorporate all of these foods into our daily diet.  Unlike a scientific journal or a "book about the brain", this book is from a culinary perspective.  One can find familiar foods in recipes and more ethnic types of foods we learn about in The Culinary Pharmacy chapter.

Some recipes I plan to try are:

• Southwestern Sweet Potato Soup
• Avocado Citrus Salad
• Kale With Dates and Caramelized Onions
• Simple Shrimp Scampi and
• Triple Greens Frittata

Another nice thing about most of these recipes, with most recipes it would not be difficult to leave out a food you know the family would not eat or that would be difficult to obtain.  Also, I cannot afford organic everything so I would have to use a non-organic option when necessary.

I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone who is dealing with a brain chemistry issue (like bipolar disorder, ADHD, Dementia, etc.) but really it would be good for anyone wanting to protect themselves and their family from these issues in the future.

This book was provided for review by Blogging For Books but the opinion is my own.

Information can be found at Amazon.com... here.*

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