The Brain Power Cookbook: More Than 200 Recipes to Energize Your Thinking, Boost Your Mood, and Sharpen Your Memory

By Frank Lawlis

Book Overview

Brain-boosting recipes from the New York Times bestselling author and chief content adviser for the Dr. Phil show Food has the power to heal the brain. Now more than ever, we know that the chemical components in what we eat have powerful effects on the way our minds work, and that good nutrition is valuable for treating problems from cancer to depression. But how can we use this information to help us prepare actual meals? The Brain Power Cookbook has the answers. In this essential guide, Dr. Frank Lawlis and nutritionist Dr. Maggie Greenwood-Robinson have compiled over two hundred delicious recipes that can help your brain respond positively to all sorts of psychological challenges. Whether you want to build brain power, put an end to stress, expand your memory and concentration, or even boost intelligence, this book will show you how, featuring a hearty helping of great meal ideas designed to help you reach your goal. Each chapter tackles a different mental challenge, discusses which types of food have the most benefits, and then offers a full complement of recipes'from main courses to side dishes, snacks to beverages, and even desserts? that incorporate these foods in mouth-watering and brain-boosting ways. Drawing on tastes and styles from around the world, The Brain Power Cookbook offers spice and variety as it shows you how to enhance your mental fitness. With these recipes in hand, you'll have all the ingredients you need to make your brain more efficient and maximize your success in work and life.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452290139
• ISBN13: 9780452290136
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Penguin Adult Hc/Tr
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Nice cookbook--but a bit over the top

This is a useful little cookbook, featuring about 200 recipes. I wish it had pictures of the meals as they look after preparation, but that is not a major issue. The authors advance the case that proper recipes can "energize your thinking, boost your mood, and sharpen your memory." While I can accept some of that, I fear that they go a bit over the top with sections on food as aphrodisiac, and so on. In short, I am fairly confident that some of their points about the link between diet and brain functioning is somewhat overstated. That said, though, this book features some useful advice and some nice, doable recipes. The first section is called "Brain-energizing foods." And there are some nice recipes here. There are also useful suggestions (as with each section), such as eat breakfast, enjoy protein, load up on fruits and vegetables, etc. Exemplar recipes? Yogurt deviled eggs, Waldorf salad, sunshine salad (featuring spinach, oranges, red onion, cucumber, red bell pepper), and lemon chicken. The second section is termed "Foods that soothe stress and anxiety." Some recipes that they claim would sooth one's tattered nerves: Italian basil tomato salad (and this sounds easy to make and delicious at the same time), and apricot glazed pork kabobs. Want to cure an addiction? The authors claim (and I'm surely not convinced) that dishes such as the following can help deal with drug and alcohol abuse): Sweet and sour cabbage and grilled halibut. What about the aforementioned aphrodisiac dishes? Scalloped oysters and fennel, meatloaf, and banana and yogurt crepes. There are a lot of nice recipes here; many of these clearly appear to be healthy for one. Still, the somewhat oversold claims are a bit much from my view. Nonetheless, the healthy recipes make this a useful cookbook.

A psychologist and a nutritionist team up to offer brain-boosting recipes that heal the mind

THE BRAIN POWER COOKBOOK could have been featured in our 'cookbook' section but is reviewed here because it's much more important to libraries with strong health and self-help sections. A psychologist and a nutritionist team up to offer brain-boosting recipes that heal the mind in a guide to building brain power and expanding memory through improving one's diet. Each chapter pairs a mental challenge with types of food and adds recipes that blend these foods. Health libraries will find it an easy read.

More than a Cookbook

This is a great book with lots of easy recipes. So far I've made about 10 things and they've all been very good. While it is a great cookbook, it is much more. The Brain Power Cookbook explains the "whys" behind eating certain foods and when it is best to eat them to energize and sharpen your thinking. This is a resource I plan to keep and keep implementing the authors' suggestions.