Interesting and informative. I read a lot on the topic and knew a lot of this but I learned some new things. I appreciate that she is a medical doctor, a psychiatrist and a nutritionist. I also really liked reading all her case studies that demonstrated the difference dietary changes made even in patients with conditions like schizophrenia (being managed with medication and then it not working as well when her patient had a new boyfriend and had changed her eating and drinking patterns). Each chapter has a cheat sheet at the end so you can flip to a certain condition and see the cliff notes version. I was not a fan of the recipes at the end but I will still be working to adopt a lot of these foods more than ever.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

Very informative. I thoroughly appreciated all the time and research that went into this title. Will recommend.

In This Is Your Brain on Food, Dr. Uma Naidoo presents a compelling exploration of the fascinating connection between food and mental health. Going beyond the typical diet concerns, the book illuminates how our food choices impact our brains, affecting conditions ranging from anxiety and depression to ADHD and dementia. With a solid foundation of cutting-edge research and actionable nutritional advice, complemented by 40 brain-boosting recipes, this comprehensive guide becomes an essential resource for those seeking to optimize their mental well-being through their diet.

This book made me respect my vagus nerve, something I'd rarely thought about before. There is a lot of interesting discussion of the connection between nutrition and mental health--the stories of Dr. Naidoo's patients were interesting and compelling. However, the academic rigor left something to be desired--in looking through the cited sources, it appears she has a tendency to both ignore some of the small sample sizes and questionable study designs as well as overgeneralize study results. And some concepts could have been expressed more concisely; in trying to put things in layman's terms, the idea becomes so wordy the point can get a little lost. The ARC I read had quite a few typos, so I hope those have been fixed in the final edition for sale. Still, this book shines light on an important aspect of health and wellness, so I'm settling on 3/5 stars.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

Excellent book filled with good information about how the food affects your mental wellbeing. If you are a person who suffers depression and anxiety this book will point you in the right direction diet-wise. Well-written and very understandable for the layman reading the book. I highly recommend it.

GreaT resource for fueling your brain with food! It’s amazing how the gut really has an impact on the entire body and this book is a great resource to remind you of that! Food heals!

This is an interesting book that explains how to eat in order to affect your mood.

After all, what we eat definitely affects what we think and how we feel.

Dr. Uma Naidoo is a nutritional psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and explains what foods to embrace and avoid. In fact, each chapter discusses specific recommendations for a brain-related issues. She covers anxiety, insomnia/fatigue, depression, PTSD, ADHD, dementia, OCD, bipolar and libido. (Yes, eating the right foods can even affect your sex life)!

If you have one of these issues (and quite frankly, who doesn't!?), you can go right to that section to learn what to do and not do. Each section follows a template so you can read a short client case study, some stats, and the science behind her nutritional recommendations.

As a layperson, I found the science a bit boring, but know others will appreciate it much more. I was able to skip right to a cheat sheet of foods that are good for my gut and brain health, which are inextricably linked.

Toward the end, she offers several recipes and meal plans to inspire your healthy lifestyle.

I'd definitely recommend this book to medical professionals and anyone who wishes to take back control of their health and mindset.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Spark for the electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I love nutrition and neuropsychology, so this was a perfect read for me! Uma did a great job of suggesting foods that can help to improve mental and physical issues that many people experience as well as providing recipes that utilizes these foods. I am always baffled at how most doctors don't use diet to help treat conditions, rather medicine is often used to treat symptoms than to get to the underlying causes, which could be inflammation, deficiencies, etc. I commonly use gentler methods of treating various issues in our home so am aware of many of the ones outlined in this book, yet I still learned some new ones! This is an awesome resource if you really want to take charge of your health naturally and not be 100% reliant on medications. I have been successful in naturally treating my severe anxiety, depression and panic disorders for many years with lifestyle habits like diet, supplements and exercise. This book can help you have the tools to do so too!

I learned so much from this book written by a really knowledgeable authors therapist& a nutritionist.There is so much good advice connections between what we eat and what food can do for us for our mental stability and health.There are work sheets advice a book to dip into when you have questions about the effects food has on you ,your moods your day to day well being?#netgalley#littlebrown

I really enjoyed reading "This is Your Brain on Food" by Uma Naidoo. Naidoo has accomplished a lot in her life-- she is a psychologist, a nutritionist, and she has graduated from culinary school. She uses her expertise from these fields to talk about the foods that people should avoid or try for better living.

This book is not meant to be read from cover to cover, although I found it so interesting that I found myself reading it from cover to cover anyway. It's not surprising to note that most healthy diets follow the same structure: avoiding processed foods and sugar while focusing on vegetables, fish, and whole-grains.

Naidoo uses stories of patients to talk about how a change in diets can help with problems associated with OCD, depression, dementia, and so on. Often, each chapter has two or three patients that she discusses. Maybe I need more brain food to help, but I started losing track of some of the patients and would flip back to see what their ailments/life story was at the beginning of the chapter. I can see that she was trying to make the information relatable, but I preferred the scientific information that showed why certain foods were better/worse rather than the one-shot stories of people that it worked for.

The book contains quite a few recipes for each ailment, a sample menu that includes three meals and snacks, as well as a reference guide to foods that are recommended for each disorder.
There is a lot of great information in this book and I highly recommend it to people who want to learn more about how good nutrition/gut health/ and brain health are all related.

Thank you Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

People always say to eat well for your physical health, but little information is given about how food can impact your mental health. This is a very informative book that provides the reader with different foods to assist with anxiety, depression and even trauma, along with other mental health issues. I am definitely eating more blueberries after reading this and learning that they can help with my anxiety.

THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON FOOD is a fascinating look at how what we eat impacts our brain and our emotional and mental well being. This isn't a topic I know much about and I found the material to be engaging even for a layperson. The book is full of well-reasoned explanations and easy to digest takeaway pointers. I enjoyed how the author is both a psychiatrist and nutritionist and her educational approach is multi-faceted. She also shares some of her personal struggles, including a cancer battle, which adds to the narrative. Her warm personality shines through. Especially for a non-fiction book this is highly engaging!

"This Is Your Brain on Food" explains what foods can positively or negatively affect your brain health. The author covered depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, dementia, brain fog, insomnia, fatigue, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, and libido. For each problem, she talked about scientific studies using nutrition to treat the issue, cases that she's treated successfully, and advice about what foods should be avoided and what foods help heal the problem. The last third of the book contained some recipes along with cooking advice for people that are beginners at cooking. Since I'm interested in food as medicine, I've heard some of this advice before. She generally recommended whole food over refined foods and getting your nutrition from food rather than supplements. Overall, I'd recommend this book to those who want to try changing their diet to heal. However, she doesn't mention avoiding GMO's even though she does recommend canola oil and soy foods. I strongly suggest anyone eating those foods buy organic or become informed about genetically modified foods.

A groundbreaking guide for eating well for mental health from just the right writer. Uma Naidoo, nutritional psychiatrist and professionally trained chef, shows how food is medicine for a range of brain disorders from depression to dementia, OCD to anxiety.

Explains nutrition science and the ability to both prevent and treat brain illness with food. Examples: For PTSD, eat blueberries. For anxiety, up your Vitamin D. Skip salami to avoid depression and caffeine to lessen dread.

I especially loved the author’s personal story about boosting treatment for her cancer and anxiety with a healthful diet. She has such a warm conversational style that I found myself trusting her completely, which enhanced my reading.

While COVID deaths are rising again, we can treat our angst with the meals we eat, using this easy-to-read text as guide. Includes case studies, cheat sheets on what to eat or avoid, plus delicious nutritious recipes. Highly highly recommended!

5 of 5 Stars

Pub Date 04 Aug 2020

Big hugs to the author, Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the review copy. Opinions are mine.

#ThisIsYourBrainOnFood #NetGalley

A really good book by a nutritionist/psychiatrist on how diet can improve various mental health conditions. This book is very science-based and contains great detail on how a variety of foods affect the brain, neurotransmitters and more. Though it’s packed with scientific content, it’s written very accessibly for those who don’t have an extensive science background. The book has full chapters explaining the science, followed by “cheat sheet” lists of foods to add and avoid for a variety of conditions including depression, anxiety, PTSD, fatigue, ADD, Parkinson’s, and more. The book is also full of a lot of delicious-sounding recipes which I will definitely try.

If you have any brain health issues, this is an extremely valuable resource. Even if you are just trying to hack your health to make your brain as strong and capable as possible - this book has tons of awesome science-based ideas. Like chickpeas. Who knew about chickpeas? Highly recommended!

Thanks to Uma Naidoo, NetGalley and Little, Brown & Co. for the ARC of this awesome resource!

This book is awesome. There are lots of research and informations that teaches you how food and a good diet can help you fight depression, OCD, anxiety, ADHD, trauma and more. It's very interesting because for each one of them the book explains how can food help, what kind of food you should eat and what kind of food you should avoid. There's also a cheat sheet to help you remember what to eat and what to not eat in case you didn't read the whole information. At the end of the book, there are some recipes and they look pretty good. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

The author of this is a psychiatrist AND a nutritionist, so I felt like she was an appropriately trained authority on this topic. She had a lot of interesting points that I'm looking forward to trying out. The book is well researched and the information is scientifically proven. It's not dull - it's meant for a layperson. I found it to be very helpful.

In a time when we are learning what our body can and can’t withstand in our new normal. Thank you for well researched resources and so much food knowledge in one book.

This was a phenomenal resource! I am so glad I was able to get my hands on this. Uma Naidoo is an incredible author who is a psychiatrist, professional chef, and nutrition specialist ~ and is the perfect person to teach us about the connection between food and the brain. The research involved, the experience and the ease of sharing all the information into one resource, is pretty remarkable. I will be re-reading this one and recommending it to many people!

Thank you Uma Naidoo, Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review. Always so grateful for the opportunity to read complimentary books!

Suffering from anxiety especially in the new Covid world.....I was very interested in finding out what foods I should eat and which foods I should avoid. This book was very informative.