Brain Health for Life: Beyond Pills, Politics & Popular Diets

The trouble with a title like Brain Health for Life is that it could mean many things, even with a descriptive subtitle like Beyond Pills, Politics, and Popular Diets. Fortunately, this is not a collection of crossword puzzles or Sudoku exercises, nor is it a rehashing of either play-it-safe or alarmist claims. Instead, Karen V. Unger has written an engrossing, timely, and well-researched book about the impact of diet and lifestyle on the human brain and overall well-being. Taking a whole-person, nutrition-based approach — with the assistance of nutritional therapy practitioner LuAnne H. Cavender — Unger provides an in-depth overview of how the brain works in tandem with other major body systems to derive and process what it needs for optimal performance. But where this book differs from similar treatments is that Unger quite matter-of-factly points out various economic and political interests that have combined to subvert the common good and public health. Actually, Unger does more than point: she hands over evidence from multiple sources, such as when she topples the food pyramid and takes the FDA and the USDA to task for being overly influenced by those they should be regulating more robustly. This profits-over-people theme is echoed throughout the book. A few especially strong examples stand out, such as the examination of how the once healthy foodstuffs soybeans and canola oil became supposedly toxic ingredients in the American diet. Another example that illust...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Alzheimer's Book Reviews Diet & Nutrition General Healthy Living Self-Help alzheimers books on alzheimers books on brain health books on brain nutrition books on staying sharp brain health for life food as medicine good nutrition Source Type: news