Brain Fuel

I am a 46 year old wife and mother of 3 with 10 year old taste buds. I would eat chicken nuggets, hamburgers and French fries everyday and be happy. Unfortunately living that way catches up to you. I lived a brain fog life. Needing naps everyday and gaining more weight every year. I tried a couple of recipes from Brain Fuel and started to notice a difference. I didn't need that 4:00 nap. My husband didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to take antacid. We started to feel better. I felt like my brain was coming out of hibernation. I started to make more recipes and am even seeing the weight come off without feeling like I am dieting. The Brain Fuel meatloaf, curried quinoa & chicken and pumpkin squares are now part of our meal rotation. This book has been the kickstart my family needed to a healthier life!

Sometimes you ask yourself “What is the reason I buy a book and what am I looking to get from the book?” For some folks, it’s pure entertainment, for others it is education. It depends on the type of book you’re looking for. The Brain Fuel Cookbook definitely falls into the education category. In this book, I was looking for something other than just a recipe book. The title grabbed my attention, first because I had never associated food with brain functions and now I do. Lord knows we have all bought many recipe books on lowering our weight but I have never even given a thought as to how eating is affecting my brain. The two videos are icing on the cake. Who would have thought how music affects the mind or how getting enough sleep is important? We have all been told to get eight hours of sleep but I always thought that was for rest only and I suppose most people do as well. The explanation of how the mind works to remove its impurities only while you sleep gives reason to focus on how much sleep you really need. I have tried many of the recipes and they are on my “must- eat" list. Maybe it’s just me but I seem to be a repeat eater, meaning it’s a rotation of the same foods over and over. I guess that’s why we buy cookbooks. These recipes will be on my repeat list and other, less brain fuel based, will be taken off. More and more, almost everyone you talk to knows someone with Alzheimer’s and my guess is the older we get the more people we will know with this horrible disease. Being a diabetic, I appreciate the information on blood sugars as well. If you are looking for a cookbook with sound nutrition with a focus on your brain, this will exceed your expectations.

No matter what a person’s health situation is, they will find the information in this book valuable. Learning how important food is to brain health caused me to rethink my diet considerably. I’m not much of a recipe person, I like to blend my own flavors. However I have made it a point to include the foods Sam Anderson recommends into my daily meals. It’s been easy to do and I haven’t had to adjust my diet too drastically.

Finally, a cookbook that not only offers sound nutrition but is actually designed with our most important organ in mind....our brains! This is like a wake-up call to take better care of this primary center that is responsible for regulating and coordinating our bodies activities. Having always been a lover of cookbooks I can honestly say this is my first interactive one! I love the pop-up tips and great comparison graphics that are shown side-by-side to help you understand what a difference ingredients can make. I am currently following Weight Watchers plan for weight loss and find these Brain Fuel recipes keep me feeling satisfied for longer periods of time due to the balanced nutrition. They are delicious and also easy to prepare. Here are Point Values (per serving)for just a few of my favorites: Curried Quinoa Chicken 5 Black Bean Salad 3 B.Y.O.B. 5 Crockpot Oatmeal 4 Hats off to Sam Anderson for her dedication to developing these wonderful, healthy recipes that nourish our bodies as well as our brains.

I loved this book for many reasons. The great recipes, the detailed nutrition information, interactive, etc. Sam did a wonderful job!! I am busy trying out as many of the recipes as I can!!

I absolutely love this book. It is such a cut above most of what’s on the market. Sam Anderson has been studying nutrition and brain health for years, and it shows. She’s knowledgeable and her conversational writing style makes the information inviting and easy to understand. This book is extremely professional in presentation as well. But really, it gets down to the recipes. This is a cookbook, after all. And her recipes are as yummy as they are healthy. And she walks you through every step, from buying the right ingredients to nutritional info to preparation to putting that tasty dish on the table. As I approach my 60th birthday, I’ve gotten intensely interested in brain health, and I’m reading everything I can get my hands on. This book has been a great addition to my library — and my kitchen. It’s shown me that eating smart and eating well are one in the same.

Passionately researched and written, "Brain Fuel" is a cancer survivor's recognition and contribution that food affects not just our overall health, but our cognition in everyday life and in times of challenge. This book is more than just a book. It is an elegant multimedia presentation on food and nutrition and it is a great example of what can be done when harnessing the capabilities of the new app based book medium on the IOS platform.

I am a foodie. I take food seriously whether I am preparing it or simply enjoying it. Perhaps I am a bit bias since I have known Sam Anderson for a number of years, however I feel confident in saying if you are a foodie, like me, and desire to fuel your body and BRAIN with healthy options this book is for you. There are a number of recipes in the book I really like. I must say Sam's Turkey Chili is my favorite (and easy to make). The Lasagna is really good too. I have sampled almost everything in the book and assure you there is something for everyone. One thing those who have not read the Brain Fuel Cookbook need to understand is it not just a recipe book. It is also an educational book that looks at foods that nourish the brain. Sam has spent a number of years perfecting recipes and researching brain function as it relates to nutrition. She has done the hard part to make it easy for us - get your copy and enjoy eating your way to good brain health!

I have tried to eat healthier for years, but as it turns out I just don’t like being hungry! I go through cycles of eating really “healthy” for a few months, but then I can’t handle being so hungry and unsatisfied all the time, so I go back to eating whatever sounds good. This book showed me why those “healthy” recipes were leaving me hungry and unsatisfied. It explained in simple terms how to cook foods that fuel me in a steady way (rather than just a short term boost that fizzles out quickly). A lot of the healthy cookbooks I have downloaded in the past seemed unrealistic — in other words, I couldn’t imagine making the recipes more than once. These recipes are laid out in a smart way and are easy to cook from right off your iPad in the kitchen. I have cooked almost all the recipes in this book and haven’t found any I didn’t enjoy. The amount of food you get to eat for the calories is fantastic. NOTE: I did find that it was helpful to set your iPad not to auto lock (in the general settings app - so the screen stays on while you cook). I decided to do a week long test of eating mostly the food from this book and truly noticed a big change in my attitude, overall energy throughout the day, and–most shocking to me–a true lack of hunger. I finally feel like I know how to eat! I can’t go on enough about how much this has changed my life. I am recommending it to everyone I know!

This book is really fascinating, love the graphics and additional explanation she offers, which is helpful to someone like me. I read the entire book in one night. Some of the ingredients are new to me, but she recognizes that and offers interesting tid bits. So much more enjoyable than the traditional cookbook format we are use to. I know families that have lived the heartache of Alzheimer’s disease and many babyboomers can relate and are seeking answers to slow the progress of this horrible disease. Her book is spot on. Many of us seek these types of solutions that easily fit into our lives by eating smart. Patricia Graham, Ed.D, APRN-BC (Hospice Nurse Practitioner)