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

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.

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.

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.