Review by Booklist Review
Doctors Dean and Ayesha Sherzai (The Alzheimer's Solution, 2017), who codirect Loma Linda University's Alzheimer's prevention program, have conducted significant research on the connection between gut and brain. Their NEURO plan (nutrition, exercise, unwind, restore, and optimize) balances concepts beyond diet that help contribute to human longevity. Long introductory chapters gently set the stage for a radical redo of eating for brain boosting, with extensive explanations that address readers' questions--why no cheese or meat, for instance--and help them prepare for the change, in the kitchen and beyond. The Sherzais' 30-day plan provides a week's worth of menus as well as tips for exercise, sleep, and coping with stress, followed by 80 or so recipes. Categorized primarily by type of food rather than meal, each dish lists the items included from the Sherzais' nine groups of NEURO foods, prep and cook time, and yield, as well as a short blurb, without nutritional analysis. Among the choices: golden waffles with strawberry sauce, a greens-and-grains power bowl, roasted root vegetables, and "berry nice cream cake." Benefits worth considering.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Dean and Ayesha Sherzai, the married codirectors of the Alzheimer's Prevention Program at Loma Linda University Health, advise that good nutrition is crucial for a healthy brain in this informative and sobering debut. The authors note that almost six million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer's, and make the case that readers can improve and protect their brain function with the NEURO (nutrition, exercise, unwind, restore, and optimize) plan. It features a diet free of animal products and refined carbs, and while the authors touch on NEURO's other four components ("unwind," for example, sheds light on the cognitive effects of stress), their focus remains on nutrition. They outline foods that readers should eat regularly--leafy green vegetables, whole grains, berries--and lay out which foods to avoid, such as cheese and sugary drinks. A sample "30 days of brain boosting" guide offers a meal and exercise plan, and beautiful photography accompanies the more than 75 recipes, such as "Memory Boosting Granola" and "Brainy Tabouleh." Well-written and easy to follow, this program will be a boon to health-conscious readers. Agent: Doug Abrams, Idea Architects. (Mar.)
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