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Dink en eet jouself slim: 'n Neurowetenskaplike benadering tot 'n skerper verstand en 'n gesonder lewe
Banting, glutenvry, paleo en vegan, is deesdae op almal se lippe. Hoe moet mense kies wat die beste is? Dr. Caroline Leaf het ’n ander boodskap: Elke mens is uniek en het unieke voedingsbehoeftes. Daarom moet elke mens sy eie unieke dieet bepaal. Daar is nie net een perfekte antwoord nie!
In DINK EN EET JOUSELF SLIM staan sy lesers by met al die moeilike kos-besluite. Sy wys hulle hoe om hulle kennis oor kos en kospraktyke te verbeter. En die belangrikste van alles, om hul gesindheid oor kos, gesondheid, genesing en voedingswaarde te verander.
DINK EN EET JOUSELF SLIM gee vir lesers ’n hele nuwe perspektief van gesondheid, hoe jou liggaam funksioneer, die kosbedryf en watter rol jou brein in hierdie hele proses speel. Sy wys byvoorbeeld op die heel nuutste neurowetenskaplike navorsing wat aantoon dat jou gemoedstoestand – of jy ongelukkig is, gestres is of selfs moeg is as gevolg van te min slaap – die werking van jou spysverteringstelsel beïnvloed.
DINK EN EET JOUSELF SLIM is in drie dele verdeel:
• Erken dit! – ondersoek die probleme met ons hedendaagse eetgewoontes.
• Stop dit! – fokus op die krag van ons denke en die impak van toksiese gedagtes en kos op ons liggaam en verstand.
• Oorwin dit! – kyk na leefstyl-veranderinge wat jou sal help om jouself slim te eet en bied 21 wegspring-resepte.
DINK EN EET JOUSELF SLIM bied volhoubare langtermyn-leefstyl-oplossings wat jou sal aanmoedig en in staat stel om die regte besluite te neem wanneer dit by jou eetgewoontes kom. Die omvattende bronnelys is ideaal vir verdere naslaan.
In DINK EN EET JOUSELF SLIM staan sy lesers by met al die moeilike kos-besluite. Sy wys hulle hoe om hulle kennis oor kos en kospraktyke te verbeter. En die belangrikste van alles, om hul gesindheid oor kos, gesondheid, genesing en voedingswaarde te verander.
DINK EN EET JOUSELF SLIM gee vir lesers ’n hele nuwe perspektief van gesondheid, hoe jou liggaam funksioneer, die kosbedryf en watter rol jou brein in hierdie hele proses speel. Sy wys byvoorbeeld op die heel nuutste neurowetenskaplike navorsing wat aantoon dat jou gemoedstoestand – of jy ongelukkig is, gestres is of selfs moeg is as gevolg van te min slaap – die werking van jou spysverteringstelsel beïnvloed.
DINK EN EET JOUSELF SLIM is in drie dele verdeel:
• Erken dit! – ondersoek die probleme met ons hedendaagse eetgewoontes.
• Stop dit! – fokus op die krag van ons denke en die impak van toksiese gedagtes en kos op ons liggaam en verstand.
• Oorwin dit! – kyk na leefstyl-veranderinge wat jou sal help om jouself slim te eet en bied 21 wegspring-resepte.
DINK EN EET JOUSELF SLIM bied volhoubare langtermyn-leefstyl-oplossings wat jou sal aanmoedig en in staat stel om die regte besluite te neem wanneer dit by jou eetgewoontes kom. Die omvattende bronnelys is ideaal vir verdere naslaan.
310 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2016
900 people are currently reading
2481 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Leaf
60 books713 followersDr. Caroline Leaf is a cognitive neuroscientist with a PhD in Communication Pathology specializing in Neuropsychology. Since the early 1980‘s she has studied and researched the Mind-Brain connection. During her years in clinical practice as a Communication Pathologist she developed tools and processes that help people develop and change their thinking and subsequent behavior. Her scientific Science of Thought techniques have transformed the lives of patients with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), learning disabilities, emotional traumas and released the potential of thousands of young students and adults.
She has presented her unique Switch On Your Brain with the 5-Step Learning Process® and the Metacognitive-Map™ learning tool to thousands of students worldwide.
She developed the Geodesic Learning™ theory (how we think and process information) that has been conservatively shown to increase thinking, behavioral and academic performance by 35-75%. This revolutionary theory explains the Science of Thought, stating how thoughts form, how we process information and the power of the non-conscious mind and the relationship between the non-conscious and conscious. It explains that everything you do is first a physical thought in the physical brain. You think, and then you do, which cycles back to the original thought, changing it, and the thoughts connected to it, in a dynamic interrelationship. Therefore if your thinking is toxic, then your communication and behavior are toxic, and vice versa.
She has published numerous articles in academic journals and consumer magazines and has been widely interviewed in newspapers, on radio shows, and on television shows about her research and theories.
She has her own weekly TV show called "Switch On Your Brain" airing on TBN.
She frequently lectures to both Christian and secular audiences worldwide, linking scientific principles of the brain to spiritual, intellectual and emotional issues in simple and practical ways. She speaks on diverse topics relating to optimal thinking, and hence, brain performance, including:
1. Thinking and learning
2. Controlling your thought life
3. Managing stress
4. Eradicating toxic thoughts
5. Overcoming mental, emotional, and spiritual strongholds
6. Understanding male and female brain differences
7. Applying wisdom
8. Identifying your unique gifts
DR. CAROLINE LEAF’S DEGREES
University of Cape Town South Africa Degree of Bachelor of Science (Logopaedics) - December 1985
University of Pretoria South Africa Masters in Communication Pathology with distinction/cum laude - June 1990
University of Pretoria South Africa Doctor Philosophiae with specialization in Communication Pathology With distinction/cum laude and academic honors - May 1997
She has presented her unique Switch On Your Brain with the 5-Step Learning Process® and the Metacognitive-Map™ learning tool to thousands of students worldwide.
She developed the Geodesic Learning™ theory (how we think and process information) that has been conservatively shown to increase thinking, behavioral and academic performance by 35-75%. This revolutionary theory explains the Science of Thought, stating how thoughts form, how we process information and the power of the non-conscious mind and the relationship between the non-conscious and conscious. It explains that everything you do is first a physical thought in the physical brain. You think, and then you do, which cycles back to the original thought, changing it, and the thoughts connected to it, in a dynamic interrelationship. Therefore if your thinking is toxic, then your communication and behavior are toxic, and vice versa.
She has published numerous articles in academic journals and consumer magazines and has been widely interviewed in newspapers, on radio shows, and on television shows about her research and theories.
She has her own weekly TV show called "Switch On Your Brain" airing on TBN.
She frequently lectures to both Christian and secular audiences worldwide, linking scientific principles of the brain to spiritual, intellectual and emotional issues in simple and practical ways. She speaks on diverse topics relating to optimal thinking, and hence, brain performance, including:
1. Thinking and learning
2. Controlling your thought life
3. Managing stress
4. Eradicating toxic thoughts
5. Overcoming mental, emotional, and spiritual strongholds
6. Understanding male and female brain differences
7. Applying wisdom
8. Identifying your unique gifts
DR. CAROLINE LEAF’S DEGREES
University of Cape Town South Africa Degree of Bachelor of Science (Logopaedics) - December 1985
University of Pretoria South Africa Masters in Communication Pathology with distinction/cum laude - June 1990
University of Pretoria South Africa Doctor Philosophiae with specialization in Communication Pathology With distinction/cum laude and academic honors - May 1997
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
December 24, 2024
i read this book because i have a massive sweet tooth. 🥲🍭🦷 and i wanted to learn the neuroscience behind sugar cravings and sugar addiction. this book gave me so much insight and inspiration. learning about all the ways sugar can affect the brain was enough for me to want to be properly diligent and make a lasting change!
update: i am officially two weeks no sugar!
update: i am officially two weeks no sugar!
October 24, 2016
This book made me feel bad. I liked the parts about thinking right and how the brain connects to the body and the stomach. That was all interesting. But overall, I still feel like a failure because I don't buy 100%, free-range, grass fed meats and my produce isn't locally sourced and I don't grind my own wheat to make flour. I try to do what I can - at least 1/3 of my weekly grocery budget is spent on fresh produce (but at the grocery store, not the farmer's market -sigh) and I do spend a lot of time cooking what I feel is real food. We don't eat out hardly at all, but I feel like the only way to be successful in this eyes of this book is to have my own self-sustaining farm. That way I can control exactly how things are grown or produced.
I was really excited about this book - having read and enjoyed others by Dr. Leaf. But instead, I feel like this one just added to the "Things I'm supposed to be Doing to be a Good Person" list that is never-ending.
Sigh.
PS I'm also not independently wealthy, so affording all that fancy local, farm-to-table food is not always an option, no matter how much of a priority I want to make it.
I was really excited about this book - having read and enjoyed others by Dr. Leaf. But instead, I feel like this one just added to the "Things I'm supposed to be Doing to be a Good Person" list that is never-ending.
Sigh.
PS I'm also not independently wealthy, so affording all that fancy local, farm-to-table food is not always an option, no matter how much of a priority I want to make it.
April 26, 2016
“Think and Eat Yourself Smart”, published earlier in April by Baker Books, is Dr Leaf's attempt to cash in on the current wave of cultural orthorexia.
Dr Leaf describes the book as “an attempt to reintroduce a culture of thinking and effort back into eating, one based on diligently stewarding the body and world God entrusted to us. In the spirit of renewing the mind, it is a lifestyle book that seeks to reimagine what we eat within an integrated spirit, mind and body framework.”
And that would be fine in theory, though in practice, Dr Leaf uses the book more as a vehicle for divulging her personal food preferences and her socio-political ideology while recycling most of her dubious brain science.
“Think and Eat Yourself Smart” is certainly not all bad. Dr Leaf raises some legitimate issues. For example, she’s critical of the vitamin and supplement industry and the staggering cost of supplements compared to their very limited benefits. She discusses the previous dietary advice regarding low-fat foods, and how the misguided attempt to reduce our dietary fat intake lead to a compensatory increase in starch and sugars. She also discussed the current concerns about too much sugar and refined carbohydrates, and raises the very real problem of food waste and food security. The recipes at the back of the book contain the usual over-rated hipster foodie ingredients like dandelion, kale, quinoa and chia seeds to maintain Dr Leaf’s foodie creds, although some of the recipes themselves sound alright.
Unfortunately, every truth is outweighed by a multiplex of factoids and misrepresentations. Dr Leaf clearly favours organic food, which despite her claims, have not been shown to be better tasting, more nutritious, less toxic, and better for the environment. She’s clearly against genetically modified organisms (or GMO’s), which is more populist than scientific.
Dr Leaf’s underlying premises are also deeply flawed. It’s clear that she’s been heavily influenced by the work of Michael Pollan and other post-modern food gurus of the same ilk. She’s critical of modern food systems including all food processing, food transportation, and supermarkets, claiming that modern agriculture and food processing destroys all nutrients and taste. Dr Leaf claims that “Real food is food grown the way God intended: fresh and nutritious, predominantly local, seasonal, grass-fed, as wild as possible, free of synthetic chemicals, whole or minimally processed, and ecologically diverse.” (p29)
Dr Leaf’s definition of real food is nothing more than a romanticised post-modern social construct, and claiming it’s God’s idea doesn’t make it any less misleading. Of course we want our food to be fresh, and we also want it to be nutritious. But fresh and nutritious are not dependent on being local, seasonal, ecologically diverse (whatever that means), grass-fed and wild. In fact, how something can be grass-fed and wild seems contradictory. Also, processing food makes it safer, and in most cases, more nutritious that the unprocessed farm gate versions. There’s virtually no pesticide residues left on conventional produce either, so that’s a moot point.
In fact, modern food is actually easier to eat and digest, more nutritious, tastier, safer, and longer lasting than ever before in human history. Today’s canned and frozen foods are infinitely healthier than in the past (for example, canned tomatoes are more nutritious as nutrients are more easily absorbed from cooked tomatoes). Her idealised view of our agrarian past is false, and the notion that we should return to it is inane.
Dr Leaf also spends a great deal of time trying relate our nutritional health to our thinking. She claims that “Research shows that 75 to 98% of current mental, physical, emotional and behavioural illnesses and issues come from our thought life; only 2 to 25% come from a combination of genetics and what enters our bodies through food, Medication, pollution, chemicals, and so on. These statistics show that the mindset behind the meal – the thinking behind the meal – plays a dominant role in the process of human food related health issues, approximately 80 percent.” (p84)
Again, this is a false premise based on bogus science. 75 to 98% of current mental, physical, emotional and behavioural illnesses and issues do not come from our thought life. What you think and how you feel makes no difference to how your body processes the nutrients you put into it.
This excessive focus on the power of thought is a segue back to her previous teaching, a justification as to why she as a self-titled cognitive neuroscientist should be writing about food. Unfortunately, the information contained in the second part of the book makes it obvious that she’s not an expert on either.
Sure, Dr Leaf discusses responsibility and choices which are important to what we put in our mouths, but there are so many other variables that are more intrinsic to our individual diets than just personal responsibility. Like, poverty, income, education, cooking skills or geographic location for example.
Dr Leaf claims that how you think changes how you eat, and how you eat changes how you think. Except the last part of that statement is mutually exclusive to her premise that the mind is separate to the brain and controls the brain. What you put in your mouth might change the function of your brain, but how can that change the way you think if the mind is separate to the brain?
This paradox is the death-knell to her books credibility and usefulness. Not that it makes any difference to Dr Leaf, who conveniently forgets this central tenet of her teaching whenever it suits her.
The advice she provides is also off-track. The answer to processed food isn’t to plant your own garden, or raise your own chickens, or join a local agro-economic food co-op. That sort of advice is impractical for the vast majority of her audience, and in practice, if most people tried to grow their own food, it would undoubtedly be of worse quality and nutritional value than the professionally grown stuff. It's a bit like telling people to avoid the dangers of hospitals by joining a local medical co-op and doing your own surgery.
Ultimately, Dr Leaf’s advice isn’t dangerous, but just old and confusing. Most of the useful information she gives is obscured by the plethora of unnecessary and irrelevant opinions and factoids. It’s also nothing new. There have been countless books and blogs written by real nutritionists and dieticians that say the same things in much simpler ways. Even John Oliver did a better job of explaining problems associated with sugar and our modern food systems. He’s an agnostic satirical comedian who doesn’t pretend to be a scientific expert, and he still get’s the message across more effectively than Dr Leaf.
To conclude: If you want sound nutritional advice, I'd suggest you head for books by actual dieticians. Professor Rosemary Stanton is one author I would recommend. She’s a Professor of Nutritional Science and Visiting Fellow of the School of Medicinal Sciences at the University of New South Wales. She’s published hundreds of academic and consumer articles including 33 books on good nutrition. She’s been lecturing and writing about good food for longer than I've been alive.
In contrast, Dr Leaf’s book “Think and Eat Yourself Smart” is a repackaging of stale opinion and dubious science by an author who isn’t a nutritionist, or even a cognitive neuroscientist for that matter. There might be some helpful advice in there, but it would be difficult for an average reader to pick out what’s beneficial and what’s bogus.
To that end, “Think and Eat Yourself Smart” is a lot like a frozen microwave dinner. It looks good on the packaging, but what you get on the inside isn’t the same. There’s a few nutritional morsels, to be sure, but most of it is just offal and gristle that’s been homogenised to an unrecognisable mush and then reassembled.
If you’re a Dr Leaf devotee, or you’re interested in her socio-political views, then by all means, buy this book. If you want sound nutritional advice, look elsewhere.
Dr Leaf describes the book as “an attempt to reintroduce a culture of thinking and effort back into eating, one based on diligently stewarding the body and world God entrusted to us. In the spirit of renewing the mind, it is a lifestyle book that seeks to reimagine what we eat within an integrated spirit, mind and body framework.”
And that would be fine in theory, though in practice, Dr Leaf uses the book more as a vehicle for divulging her personal food preferences and her socio-political ideology while recycling most of her dubious brain science.
“Think and Eat Yourself Smart” is certainly not all bad. Dr Leaf raises some legitimate issues. For example, she’s critical of the vitamin and supplement industry and the staggering cost of supplements compared to their very limited benefits. She discusses the previous dietary advice regarding low-fat foods, and how the misguided attempt to reduce our dietary fat intake lead to a compensatory increase in starch and sugars. She also discussed the current concerns about too much sugar and refined carbohydrates, and raises the very real problem of food waste and food security. The recipes at the back of the book contain the usual over-rated hipster foodie ingredients like dandelion, kale, quinoa and chia seeds to maintain Dr Leaf’s foodie creds, although some of the recipes themselves sound alright.
Unfortunately, every truth is outweighed by a multiplex of factoids and misrepresentations. Dr Leaf clearly favours organic food, which despite her claims, have not been shown to be better tasting, more nutritious, less toxic, and better for the environment. She’s clearly against genetically modified organisms (or GMO’s), which is more populist than scientific.
Dr Leaf’s underlying premises are also deeply flawed. It’s clear that she’s been heavily influenced by the work of Michael Pollan and other post-modern food gurus of the same ilk. She’s critical of modern food systems including all food processing, food transportation, and supermarkets, claiming that modern agriculture and food processing destroys all nutrients and taste. Dr Leaf claims that “Real food is food grown the way God intended: fresh and nutritious, predominantly local, seasonal, grass-fed, as wild as possible, free of synthetic chemicals, whole or minimally processed, and ecologically diverse.” (p29)
Dr Leaf’s definition of real food is nothing more than a romanticised post-modern social construct, and claiming it’s God’s idea doesn’t make it any less misleading. Of course we want our food to be fresh, and we also want it to be nutritious. But fresh and nutritious are not dependent on being local, seasonal, ecologically diverse (whatever that means), grass-fed and wild. In fact, how something can be grass-fed and wild seems contradictory. Also, processing food makes it safer, and in most cases, more nutritious that the unprocessed farm gate versions. There’s virtually no pesticide residues left on conventional produce either, so that’s a moot point.
In fact, modern food is actually easier to eat and digest, more nutritious, tastier, safer, and longer lasting than ever before in human history. Today’s canned and frozen foods are infinitely healthier than in the past (for example, canned tomatoes are more nutritious as nutrients are more easily absorbed from cooked tomatoes). Her idealised view of our agrarian past is false, and the notion that we should return to it is inane.
Dr Leaf also spends a great deal of time trying relate our nutritional health to our thinking. She claims that “Research shows that 75 to 98% of current mental, physical, emotional and behavioural illnesses and issues come from our thought life; only 2 to 25% come from a combination of genetics and what enters our bodies through food, Medication, pollution, chemicals, and so on. These statistics show that the mindset behind the meal – the thinking behind the meal – plays a dominant role in the process of human food related health issues, approximately 80 percent.” (p84)
Again, this is a false premise based on bogus science. 75 to 98% of current mental, physical, emotional and behavioural illnesses and issues do not come from our thought life. What you think and how you feel makes no difference to how your body processes the nutrients you put into it.
This excessive focus on the power of thought is a segue back to her previous teaching, a justification as to why she as a self-titled cognitive neuroscientist should be writing about food. Unfortunately, the information contained in the second part of the book makes it obvious that she’s not an expert on either.
Sure, Dr Leaf discusses responsibility and choices which are important to what we put in our mouths, but there are so many other variables that are more intrinsic to our individual diets than just personal responsibility. Like, poverty, income, education, cooking skills or geographic location for example.
Dr Leaf claims that how you think changes how you eat, and how you eat changes how you think. Except the last part of that statement is mutually exclusive to her premise that the mind is separate to the brain and controls the brain. What you put in your mouth might change the function of your brain, but how can that change the way you think if the mind is separate to the brain?
This paradox is the death-knell to her books credibility and usefulness. Not that it makes any difference to Dr Leaf, who conveniently forgets this central tenet of her teaching whenever it suits her.
The advice she provides is also off-track. The answer to processed food isn’t to plant your own garden, or raise your own chickens, or join a local agro-economic food co-op. That sort of advice is impractical for the vast majority of her audience, and in practice, if most people tried to grow their own food, it would undoubtedly be of worse quality and nutritional value than the professionally grown stuff. It's a bit like telling people to avoid the dangers of hospitals by joining a local medical co-op and doing your own surgery.
Ultimately, Dr Leaf’s advice isn’t dangerous, but just old and confusing. Most of the useful information she gives is obscured by the plethora of unnecessary and irrelevant opinions and factoids. It’s also nothing new. There have been countless books and blogs written by real nutritionists and dieticians that say the same things in much simpler ways. Even John Oliver did a better job of explaining problems associated with sugar and our modern food systems. He’s an agnostic satirical comedian who doesn’t pretend to be a scientific expert, and he still get’s the message across more effectively than Dr Leaf.
To conclude: If you want sound nutritional advice, I'd suggest you head for books by actual dieticians. Professor Rosemary Stanton is one author I would recommend. She’s a Professor of Nutritional Science and Visiting Fellow of the School of Medicinal Sciences at the University of New South Wales. She’s published hundreds of academic and consumer articles including 33 books on good nutrition. She’s been lecturing and writing about good food for longer than I've been alive.
In contrast, Dr Leaf’s book “Think and Eat Yourself Smart” is a repackaging of stale opinion and dubious science by an author who isn’t a nutritionist, or even a cognitive neuroscientist for that matter. There might be some helpful advice in there, but it would be difficult for an average reader to pick out what’s beneficial and what’s bogus.
To that end, “Think and Eat Yourself Smart” is a lot like a frozen microwave dinner. It looks good on the packaging, but what you get on the inside isn’t the same. There’s a few nutritional morsels, to be sure, but most of it is just offal and gristle that’s been homogenised to an unrecognisable mush and then reassembled.
If you’re a Dr Leaf devotee, or you’re interested in her socio-political views, then by all means, buy this book. If you want sound nutritional advice, look elsewhere.
June 23, 2016
Since this book was written by Dr Caroline Leaf, I was expecting the main thrust to be practical thinking tips which help us adjust our diet and lifestyle for the better. She does provide some, but honestly not as much as I expected. In the bulk of the book, she describes with plenty of doom and gloom why we should want to avoid the MAD diet (an acronym for Modern American Diet) in the first place. Those of us who'd pick up a book with this title surely already know western diets leave a lot to be desired, so after a while it came across a bit too much like preaching to the converted.
In Part One, Admit It, Dr Leaf outlines the deplorable state of the food industry and reveals the dominance of several synthetic 'look alike' foods. She explains some secret prolonging tactics which extend the shelf life of foods while destroying their nutritional value. She also delves into why modern farming practices aren't the way nature intended. They include farming only one single commodity, which plays havoc with the world's ecological balance. To wrap up this section's message, the western world's food system is devastatingly dodgy, and humans have been bad stewards who will surely be called to account on the day of reckoning. It's very convicting, and suggested to me that the global food industry is run by people who care more about dollars than health.
Next, Dr Leaf examines specific food types, such as wheat, proteins, sugar and cholesterol. Scientifically minded people who like to know all the ins and outs about what they put into their mouths might appreciate the amount of detail she goes into, but I found myself wanting to skip to the practical tips even more.
That section was short when it came. Being the brain scientist that she is, Dr Leaf encourages us to change our mindsets where food is concerned. Instead of believing it should be cheap, fast and quickly prepared, we can train ourselves to enjoy the more leisurely process of preparing real food from scratch. That's probably the crux of her message, and there you have it.
I found parts of the book a bit overwhelming, although it's clear that she tries hard not to be. Dr Leaf seems firmly in the 'Avoid MAD food like the plague' camp. She comes on a bit strong at times. For example, she gets gobsmacked when people head for the vending machines straight after listening to her lecture about the terrible products which come out of them. 'Processed' is a dirty word in her books. And she strongly advocates backyard vegetables patches, sticking to purely organic foods, avoiding supermarket fresh food sections, which are supplied from chill rooms, figuring out how your cows were treated before they became beef, and other 'guilt-trippy' sorts of things that have the potential to fill our days 24/7.
I'm uneasy with all this advice because it stirs up memories of fanaticism from my past. Trying so hard to follow such a rigid protocol can take over your whole life. In my case, I ended up burnt-out with anorexia and nutrient deficiencies at different times, all in the name of trying to stay healthy. When I stopped treating chocolate bars and potato chips as the enemy and remembered that statistically, our modern life expectancy has risen in recent decades despite the MAD diet, I could feel it do me good. Dr Leaf's advice about 'real' food is definitely a sound gauge, but I think a more relaxed 80/20 sort of approach instead of going the whole hog sits better with me these days.
Thanks to Net Galley and Baker Books for my review copy.
In Part One, Admit It, Dr Leaf outlines the deplorable state of the food industry and reveals the dominance of several synthetic 'look alike' foods. She explains some secret prolonging tactics which extend the shelf life of foods while destroying their nutritional value. She also delves into why modern farming practices aren't the way nature intended. They include farming only one single commodity, which plays havoc with the world's ecological balance. To wrap up this section's message, the western world's food system is devastatingly dodgy, and humans have been bad stewards who will surely be called to account on the day of reckoning. It's very convicting, and suggested to me that the global food industry is run by people who care more about dollars than health.
Next, Dr Leaf examines specific food types, such as wheat, proteins, sugar and cholesterol. Scientifically minded people who like to know all the ins and outs about what they put into their mouths might appreciate the amount of detail she goes into, but I found myself wanting to skip to the practical tips even more.
That section was short when it came. Being the brain scientist that she is, Dr Leaf encourages us to change our mindsets where food is concerned. Instead of believing it should be cheap, fast and quickly prepared, we can train ourselves to enjoy the more leisurely process of preparing real food from scratch. That's probably the crux of her message, and there you have it.
I found parts of the book a bit overwhelming, although it's clear that she tries hard not to be. Dr Leaf seems firmly in the 'Avoid MAD food like the plague' camp. She comes on a bit strong at times. For example, she gets gobsmacked when people head for the vending machines straight after listening to her lecture about the terrible products which come out of them. 'Processed' is a dirty word in her books. And she strongly advocates backyard vegetables patches, sticking to purely organic foods, avoiding supermarket fresh food sections, which are supplied from chill rooms, figuring out how your cows were treated before they became beef, and other 'guilt-trippy' sorts of things that have the potential to fill our days 24/7.
I'm uneasy with all this advice because it stirs up memories of fanaticism from my past. Trying so hard to follow such a rigid protocol can take over your whole life. In my case, I ended up burnt-out with anorexia and nutrient deficiencies at different times, all in the name of trying to stay healthy. When I stopped treating chocolate bars and potato chips as the enemy and remembered that statistically, our modern life expectancy has risen in recent decades despite the MAD diet, I could feel it do me good. Dr Leaf's advice about 'real' food is definitely a sound gauge, but I think a more relaxed 80/20 sort of approach instead of going the whole hog sits better with me these days.
Thanks to Net Galley and Baker Books for my review copy.
May 29, 2021
This is book is attempt on fear mongering. Many alternative facts were stated with no scientific evidence.
April 13, 2025
I really appreciated the book! I think her ideal is hard to achieve for people who have always eaten a traditional American diet or are limited by finances. But she has so much truth in how she says food and the quality of it affects us; how we are saving ourselves from future health problems; how food affects our current quality of life; and how our poor food choices affect other areas of life. I think she also accurately sees that our food choices are often linked to our subconscious thinking and emotions
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2021
I was looking forward to reading this book. I was so curious how the brain is affected by the foods we eat. In a proportion of 70% my curiosity was satisfied. Personally I woul have prefered more scientific information on the food brain issue. Dr Leaf paints a whole picture. Makes you understand the MAD food culture we live in. The corruption , the political side. Overall I’m glad I’ve read this book, because I’ve learned a lot about the way the food sistem works. I’ve also learned what and how I sould eat. She has whole chapters on sugar, gluten, meat. I think this is a book any person should read once in his life. Get informed and take action! You shoul take care of your body and health. This is a great starter.
October 31, 2017
Dr. Leaf does a great job of laying out how our thoughts, brain and digestive system are all linked. Also, how our current food system has devolved into an unhealthy, lacking in nutritional value, and focused on profit. She challenges us to be more intentional with our food choices and gives the reasons by explaining how what we eat effects our brain and vise versa. Since reading this book, I've lost 55 lbs, through diet and changing my thinking. I followed a ketogenic diet (not in this book) and worked on my mindset about food. It's all connected.
March 5, 2018
Took me long enough!! I listened to this in the car, and it was wonderful. So good in fact that I’m going to buy myself a copy.
September 19, 2018
If you eat, you should read this book. SERIOUSLY though, this book was very informative and easy to understand. Definitely recommend for everyone!
August 1, 2020
Good Christian Slant
I thought at first there wasn’t anything really new here to learn about eating right. I was proven wrong. There were many things she wrote about that I had not heard about so I researched them to see if valid. I was especially struck by claim that a person’s DNA can change by food he/she eats. Liked the Christian slant also.
I thought at first there wasn’t anything really new here to learn about eating right. I was proven wrong. There were many things she wrote about that I had not heard about so I researched them to see if valid. I was especially struck by claim that a person’s DNA can change by food he/she eats. Liked the Christian slant also.
Read
October 20, 2019"I think the fact that we feel we cannot even make our own food choices anymore without the help of an 'expert' is a sign of just how broken our food system has become." (15) // just like with education and most other areas of our lives. we're relying on other people to do all our thinking/choosing for us.
"Today, nearly a billion people are hungry and almost two billion people are overweight or obese. {1} Indeed, for the first time in our recorded history, millions of people across the world are both overweight and starving: dying of lifestyle diseases that are preventable. {2}" (16) //
{1} WHO. "Obesity and Overweight: Fact Sheet" Jan 2015
{2} Dolnick, Sam. "The Obesity-Hunger Paradox" New York Times March 14, 2010
"As the stewards of God's creation (Gen. 1-2), we are not only responsible for our own wellbeing - spirit, soul, and body - but that of the entire world: a world that God so loved that he was willing to send his one and only Son to save it (John 3:16). {3} // (16)
{3} Wright, N.T. Surprised by Scripture: Engaging in Contemporary Issues
"Yet there is one thing the cultures discussed above [Hawaiian peoples "high carb" nutrition, African Maasai tribe "grass-fed beef and dairy including blood" nutrition, people of Okinawa "largely vegetarian" nutrition] have in common, they eat real food. {8}" (23) // [brackets added]
{8} Pollan, Michael The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
"Indeed, many of the best chefs source local, organically grown foods not necessarily for their nutritional benefit but for their wholesome and rich flavor - good nutrition and good flavor are inseparable. {14}" (24) //
{14} Barber The Third Plate AND Waters, Alice, et al The Art of Simple Food
"Organic farms are therefore generally considered more ecologically sustainable; they use roughly 30 percent less energy than conventional agriculture and are less toxic to living organisms. {18}" (24) //
{18} Ronald and Adamchak Tomorrow's Table
"For instance, one pesticide in residual amounts may be certified as safe for human consumption, but what of the combination of all the chemicals used? {19} . . . it is akin to your doctor giving you potentially harmful pills without asking you what other medication you are taking. {23}" (25) //
{19} Brown, Ed Unacceptable Levels-DVD
{23} see above
"Indeed, in science the absence of harm [in clinical testing/trials/experiments] does not necessarily equal the presence of safety, since it is not a system of absolute certainty. {26}" (25) // [brackets added]
{26} Karl Popper The Logic of Scientific Discovery
"Real food, again, is fresh and nutritious, predominantly local, seasonal, grass fed, as wild as possible, free of synthetic chemicals, whole or minimally processed, and ecologically diverse." (29)
"In the feces-covered facilities of many industrial operations, these grain-based diets necessitate the large-scale use of antibiotics (80 percent of all antibiotics in the United States alone) to simply prevent the animals from dying. This has significantly contributed to the global antibiotic-resistance crisis." (37)
"With one-third of American vegetable consumption consisting of French fries, iceberg lettuce, and potato chips, and the US Congress having classified pizza as a vegetable, these diet-related diseases are a daily reality for millions of people {4}" (42) // pizza a vegetable? is this for real?
{4} Moss Salt, Sugar, Fat
Faillace Farmageddon
Nestle and Peters Eat Drink Vote
"To use Pollan's popular saying, you should 'eat food, not too much, mostly plants' - just as your mother and grandmother would have told you in the past." (56)
"A growing body of research continues to show how even 'safe' vitamins can cause damage in excess or out of the context of the foods that naturally contain them. {24} Vitamin C, for example, is an essential cancer-fighting nutrient found in many fresh fruits and vegetables. Studies have shown, however, that vitamin C in its supplement form does not reduce the risk of developing cancer, while recent research has indicated that it can in fact increase the risk of developing cancer. {25}" (57) //
{24} Goldacre Bad Science
{25} Offit Do you Believe in Magic?
{25} Sonja Dawsey "A Prospective Study of Vitamin and Mineral Supplement Use and the Risk of Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers"
"Yet as we become saturated in a high-paced media culture, we tend to develop an increased desire for these whirlwind transitions because thy satisfy the processing speeds of the brain (1027 bits per second). {35} We are essentially designed to do busy well. {36}" (110) //
{35} Craddock and Tuszynski "A Critical Assessment"
{36} Leaf Switch On Your Brain
"The digestive system itself is a rich source of neurotransmitters, which carry signals inside the brain and body. {9} In fact, 95 percent of the serotonin and half the dopamine in the body are produced in the gut. {10}" (118) //
{9} K. McConalogue and J.B. Furness "Gastrointestinal Neurotransmitters" Baillieres Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
{10} Michael Gershon The Second Brain: The Scientific Basis of Gut Instinct and Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine
"Scans alone cannot tell us whether a person is a shameless liar, loyal to a product brand, compelled to use cocaine, or incapable of resisting an urge to kill. In fact, brain-derived data currently add little or nothing to the more ordinary sources of information we rely on to make those determinations; mostly they are neuroredundant." (132) // from Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld's Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience
"A deficiency in amino acids affects your neurotransmitters' ability to have these meaningful conversations. It can make you feel flat, apathetic, and unable to relax; lacking in motivation, focus, and concentration; and unable to build solid memory. {21} Clearly that is not a desirable situation for your brain! On the other hand, sufficient amounts of good-quality proteins in your diet, and thus amino acids, help with mental health issues. {22} These amino acids are more effective than prescription drugs - most of the latter have awful side effects. {23}" (155) //
{21, 22, 23} T.S. Sathyanarayana Rao "Understanding Nutrition, Depression and Mental Illnesses" Indian Journal of Psychiatry
"Your body needs fat for all its processes, as does your brain. {68} Fats protect you from disease; aid the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamins A, D, E, and K; control inflammation; help with blood clotting; balance your mood; make you more focused; and can maximize your intelligence through improving cognitive function, to give just a few examples. {69} In fact, your brain is around 60 percent fat - without fat in your diet you cannot think or build memory correctly. {70}" (162) //
{68} G.M. Cooper "Cell Membranes" The Cell: A Molecular Approach
Agranoff, Benjamins, and Hajra"Analysis of Brain Lipids" Basic Neurochemistry
{69} Agranoff, Benjamins, and Hajra"Analysis of Brain Lipids" Basic Neurochemistry
Yehuda, Rabinovitz, and Mostofsky "Essential Fatty Acids Are Mediators of Brain Biochemistry and Cognitive Functions" J Neurosci Res
{70} Chang, Ke, and Chen "Essential Fatty Acids and the Human Brain" Acta Neurol Taiwan
"Coffee can change your genetic expression in the same way exercise does - but obviously does not replace exercise. {27}" (233) //
{27} Romain Barrès "Acute Exercise Remodels Promoter Methylation in Human Skeletal Muscle" Cell Metabolism
"Today, nearly a billion people are hungry and almost two billion people are overweight or obese. {1} Indeed, for the first time in our recorded history, millions of people across the world are both overweight and starving: dying of lifestyle diseases that are preventable. {2}" (16) //
{1} WHO. "Obesity and Overweight: Fact Sheet" Jan 2015
{2} Dolnick, Sam. "The Obesity-Hunger Paradox" New York Times March 14, 2010
"As the stewards of God's creation (Gen. 1-2), we are not only responsible for our own wellbeing - spirit, soul, and body - but that of the entire world: a world that God so loved that he was willing to send his one and only Son to save it (John 3:16). {3} // (16)
{3} Wright, N.T. Surprised by Scripture: Engaging in Contemporary Issues
"Yet there is one thing the cultures discussed above [Hawaiian peoples "high carb" nutrition, African Maasai tribe "grass-fed beef and dairy including blood" nutrition, people of Okinawa "largely vegetarian" nutrition] have in common, they eat real food. {8}" (23) // [brackets added]
{8} Pollan, Michael The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
"Indeed, many of the best chefs source local, organically grown foods not necessarily for their nutritional benefit but for their wholesome and rich flavor - good nutrition and good flavor are inseparable. {14}" (24) //
{14} Barber The Third Plate AND Waters, Alice, et al The Art of Simple Food
"Organic farms are therefore generally considered more ecologically sustainable; they use roughly 30 percent less energy than conventional agriculture and are less toxic to living organisms. {18}" (24) //
{18} Ronald and Adamchak Tomorrow's Table
"For instance, one pesticide in residual amounts may be certified as safe for human consumption, but what of the combination of all the chemicals used? {19} . . . it is akin to your doctor giving you potentially harmful pills without asking you what other medication you are taking. {23}" (25) //
{19} Brown, Ed Unacceptable Levels-DVD
{23} see above
"Indeed, in science the absence of harm [in clinical testing/trials/experiments] does not necessarily equal the presence of safety, since it is not a system of absolute certainty. {26}" (25) // [brackets added]
{26} Karl Popper The Logic of Scientific Discovery
"Real food, again, is fresh and nutritious, predominantly local, seasonal, grass fed, as wild as possible, free of synthetic chemicals, whole or minimally processed, and ecologically diverse." (29)
"In the feces-covered facilities of many industrial operations, these grain-based diets necessitate the large-scale use of antibiotics (80 percent of all antibiotics in the United States alone) to simply prevent the animals from dying. This has significantly contributed to the global antibiotic-resistance crisis." (37)
"With one-third of American vegetable consumption consisting of French fries, iceberg lettuce, and potato chips, and the US Congress having classified pizza as a vegetable, these diet-related diseases are a daily reality for millions of people {4}" (42) // pizza a vegetable? is this for real?
{4} Moss Salt, Sugar, Fat
Faillace Farmageddon
Nestle and Peters Eat Drink Vote
"To use Pollan's popular saying, you should 'eat food, not too much, mostly plants' - just as your mother and grandmother would have told you in the past." (56)
"A growing body of research continues to show how even 'safe' vitamins can cause damage in excess or out of the context of the foods that naturally contain them. {24} Vitamin C, for example, is an essential cancer-fighting nutrient found in many fresh fruits and vegetables. Studies have shown, however, that vitamin C in its supplement form does not reduce the risk of developing cancer, while recent research has indicated that it can in fact increase the risk of developing cancer. {25}" (57) //
{24} Goldacre Bad Science
{25} Offit Do you Believe in Magic?
{25} Sonja Dawsey "A Prospective Study of Vitamin and Mineral Supplement Use and the Risk of Upper Gastrointestinal Cancers"
"Yet as we become saturated in a high-paced media culture, we tend to develop an increased desire for these whirlwind transitions because thy satisfy the processing speeds of the brain (1027 bits per second). {35} We are essentially designed to do busy well. {36}" (110) //
{35} Craddock and Tuszynski "A Critical Assessment"
{36} Leaf Switch On Your Brain
"The digestive system itself is a rich source of neurotransmitters, which carry signals inside the brain and body. {9} In fact, 95 percent of the serotonin and half the dopamine in the body are produced in the gut. {10}" (118) //
{9} K. McConalogue and J.B. Furness "Gastrointestinal Neurotransmitters" Baillieres Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism
{10} Michael Gershon The Second Brain: The Scientific Basis of Gut Instinct and Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine
"Scans alone cannot tell us whether a person is a shameless liar, loyal to a product brand, compelled to use cocaine, or incapable of resisting an urge to kill. In fact, brain-derived data currently add little or nothing to the more ordinary sources of information we rely on to make those determinations; mostly they are neuroredundant." (132) // from Sally Satel and Scott O. Lilienfeld's Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience
"A deficiency in amino acids affects your neurotransmitters' ability to have these meaningful conversations. It can make you feel flat, apathetic, and unable to relax; lacking in motivation, focus, and concentration; and unable to build solid memory. {21} Clearly that is not a desirable situation for your brain! On the other hand, sufficient amounts of good-quality proteins in your diet, and thus amino acids, help with mental health issues. {22} These amino acids are more effective than prescription drugs - most of the latter have awful side effects. {23}" (155) //
{21, 22, 23} T.S. Sathyanarayana Rao "Understanding Nutrition, Depression and Mental Illnesses" Indian Journal of Psychiatry
"Your body needs fat for all its processes, as does your brain. {68} Fats protect you from disease; aid the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients such as vitamins A, D, E, and K; control inflammation; help with blood clotting; balance your mood; make you more focused; and can maximize your intelligence through improving cognitive function, to give just a few examples. {69} In fact, your brain is around 60 percent fat - without fat in your diet you cannot think or build memory correctly. {70}" (162) //
{68} G.M. Cooper "Cell Membranes" The Cell: A Molecular Approach
Agranoff, Benjamins, and Hajra"Analysis of Brain Lipids" Basic Neurochemistry
{69} Agranoff, Benjamins, and Hajra"Analysis of Brain Lipids" Basic Neurochemistry
Yehuda, Rabinovitz, and Mostofsky "Essential Fatty Acids Are Mediators of Brain Biochemistry and Cognitive Functions" J Neurosci Res
{70} Chang, Ke, and Chen "Essential Fatty Acids and the Human Brain" Acta Neurol Taiwan
"Coffee can change your genetic expression in the same way exercise does - but obviously does not replace exercise. {27}" (233) //
{27} Romain Barrès "Acute Exercise Remodels Promoter Methylation in Human Skeletal Muscle" Cell Metabolism
February 13, 2018
Ah, I’m LIKING Dr. Caroline Leaf right now!!
It’s absolutely incredible to read science through a Christian perspective and have the scriptures to back it up. What an incredible book and author!
It’s absolutely incredible to read science through a Christian perspective and have the scriptures to back it up. What an incredible book and author!
March 17, 2022
This is more of a 2.5
I wanted this book to be so much more than it was. I absolutely love Dr. Caroline Leaf and I fully believe in the principals about how much impact our mind has but this book wasn’t great for me. I will add some disclaimers since I think it could be better for some but also worse for some.
For the book to be titled think & eat yourself smart you would think there would be a lot about the thinking and the impact it has on our digestion, our food choices, etc BUT the bulk of the book was really just about how crappy our food system is. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely agree with it but for me it was all info I knew already and was very redundant. Maybe if you knew nothing about our food system and the negative effects of the MAD (modern American diet) lifestyle than this portion might be super beneficial. But even if it was beneficial you’d likely feel hopeless in some ways as it’s not feasible for many of us to live up to her standards.
In a perfect world where money was no object I’d gladly walk away with all of her advice to support local farmers and only eat farm to table when dining. But that isn’t fully possible for most people so let’s make the best choices with what we do have available to us and couple that with the beautiful gift God has given us through our minds.
There was a lot of great nuggets in this book but I also skimmed through a few chapters as she just kept saying the same things about our crappy food systems. I learned some interesting facts about how we got here. And then she finally got to the meaty stuff - the part I came for. It was good but also not what I expected based on her previous book.
Please don’t take this review as me saying don’t consume the info because it was good and there are great nuggets but take some of what she said with a grain of salt. Prepare to skim a bit if you are familiar with the info.
I wanted this book to be so much more than it was. I absolutely love Dr. Caroline Leaf and I fully believe in the principals about how much impact our mind has but this book wasn’t great for me. I will add some disclaimers since I think it could be better for some but also worse for some.
For the book to be titled think & eat yourself smart you would think there would be a lot about the thinking and the impact it has on our digestion, our food choices, etc BUT the bulk of the book was really just about how crappy our food system is. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely agree with it but for me it was all info I knew already and was very redundant. Maybe if you knew nothing about our food system and the negative effects of the MAD (modern American diet) lifestyle than this portion might be super beneficial. But even if it was beneficial you’d likely feel hopeless in some ways as it’s not feasible for many of us to live up to her standards.
In a perfect world where money was no object I’d gladly walk away with all of her advice to support local farmers and only eat farm to table when dining. But that isn’t fully possible for most people so let’s make the best choices with what we do have available to us and couple that with the beautiful gift God has given us through our minds.
There was a lot of great nuggets in this book but I also skimmed through a few chapters as she just kept saying the same things about our crappy food systems. I learned some interesting facts about how we got here. And then she finally got to the meaty stuff - the part I came for. It was good but also not what I expected based on her previous book.
Please don’t take this review as me saying don’t consume the info because it was good and there are great nuggets but take some of what she said with a grain of salt. Prepare to skim a bit if you are familiar with the info.
August 30, 2019
I love to read any health-related book that is written by a committed Christian. The market for health and wellness is saturated at the moment, and it can be very confusing to know who to trust. Because of her solid faith and her academic expertise, I know that Caroline Leaf can be trusted. This book was quite deep in the way it dealt with many of the foods that make up the MAD (Modern American (or could also be Australian!) Diet). I agree with most of what she said. I understand the importance of aiming for organic foods wherever possible, which is what this book strongly advocates; however, I don't feel that this is a goal I can pursue while on a tight budget and raising a large family. I picked up many gems from this book, though, that I will be putting into practice in my life. I feel that it is the type of book that needs to be read regularly. Healthy habits can be very hard to maintain; so I would love to be able to pick up a new habit or two every time I read this book. I love how Caroline reminds us that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit, but a further 42 days for it to actually become part of our lives. Due to her medical and scientific background, this book is complicated to understand at times. That is why it would be great to continue reading this book at regular intervals. I certainly recommend this book to someone who is serious about developing healthy habits that are backed by science and that will last.
May 27, 2019
GENRE:
Non-fiction psychology + religious + health
BASIC SYNOPSIS
The first part of the book talks about GMOs, the factory farming model, and industrial processing of food. She then goes on to talk about health and psychology in terms of food. Lastly, she includes recipes for meals that bring health. As with her other books, it is well researched, and augmented with Bible verses.
MY THOUGHTS
If I had picked this book up for it's title, I would have been annoyed. The title leads one to believe the book is going to talk about brain foods, and how to increase your intelligence through eating, but that's not what it's about at all. If I had to title it myself, I would have just call it "Thinking and Eating".
As a fan of Dr Leaf's research, I read the book purely for interests sake and I wasn't disappointed. There's a ton of really good (life-changing, even) advice in this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who cares about the environment, the economy, or their own health.
Non-fiction psychology + religious + health
BASIC SYNOPSIS
The first part of the book talks about GMOs, the factory farming model, and industrial processing of food. She then goes on to talk about health and psychology in terms of food. Lastly, she includes recipes for meals that bring health. As with her other books, it is well researched, and augmented with Bible verses.
MY THOUGHTS
If I had picked this book up for it's title, I would have been annoyed. The title leads one to believe the book is going to talk about brain foods, and how to increase your intelligence through eating, but that's not what it's about at all. If I had to title it myself, I would have just call it "Thinking and Eating".
As a fan of Dr Leaf's research, I read the book purely for interests sake and I wasn't disappointed. There's a ton of really good (life-changing, even) advice in this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who cares about the environment, the economy, or their own health.
August 24, 2019
While the author does point out the corrupted food industry and all its evil profitdriven actions, she also makes this book into a book about how religion. There are countless bible verses in this book. If the author is so concerned about honoring Jesus and God then why does she constantly refer to as grassfed beef and other meat as a good choice of food. She even discusses at one point that mistreating animals in not right. Yet, she doesn't point out that almost any animal product you will ever buy in a grocery story comes from factory farmed animals who had absolutely torterous lives and deaths. Certainly not something Jesus would eat if he were alive and among us today. She claims this book is scientific. Well, if it were it would point out the incredible health promoting findings of plant-based nutrition which would also be a lot more aligned with what a compassionate person would choose to eat.
July 12, 2019
Creepy Christian propaganda for no discernible reason.
I was expecting to read a book about mindset and nutrition, and instead I found myself reading a treatise on how our bodies are temples of God, and it is our Christian duty to honor them. Um, excuse me? All of her arguments were backed up with bible verses - as if bible verses are EVIDENCE of something. This presumes we all share her particular religion, which is incredibly egocentric, not to mention alienating and disrespectful to those who don't share those beliefs. Granted, I should have looked at the back because I would have seen the praise from Joyce Meyer, but there was no indication otherwise that there was going to be a sleazy religious sales pitch. Read instead: The Yoga of Eating.
I was expecting to read a book about mindset and nutrition, and instead I found myself reading a treatise on how our bodies are temples of God, and it is our Christian duty to honor them. Um, excuse me? All of her arguments were backed up with bible verses - as if bible verses are EVIDENCE of something. This presumes we all share her particular religion, which is incredibly egocentric, not to mention alienating and disrespectful to those who don't share those beliefs. Granted, I should have looked at the back because I would have seen the praise from Joyce Meyer, but there was no indication otherwise that there was going to be a sleazy religious sales pitch. Read instead: The Yoga of Eating.
June 15, 2024
Considering this took me almost a year to get through I feel like I should write honestly.
Read the book. Truly - it’s interesting. Its educational. It makes you think.
However.
One of my biggest issues with this book is the lack of addressing the fact that eating the way Dr. Leaf describes is financially impossible for the vast majority of people myself included. I dream of organic produce and grass fed meats. Not to mention - how can I go to the farmers market or prepare ALL the food when my husband and I are both working full time jobs?
There is such good information in this read and the call to action is clear - eat real food. I couldn’t agree more I just wish I could do more than just dream about it.
Read the book. Truly - it’s interesting. Its educational. It makes you think.
However.
One of my biggest issues with this book is the lack of addressing the fact that eating the way Dr. Leaf describes is financially impossible for the vast majority of people myself included. I dream of organic produce and grass fed meats. Not to mention - how can I go to the farmers market or prepare ALL the food when my husband and I are both working full time jobs?
There is such good information in this read and the call to action is clear - eat real food. I couldn’t agree more I just wish I could do more than just dream about it.
August 3, 2017
I didn't like how the author made me feel terrible for not eating the way she does. But, I will say after I read the first few chapters, I did realize that maybe I should be more aware of the food i'm eating and where it came from and how it was treated. But, I doubt I'll make major changes. Maybe I'll buy some more organic fruits and veggies and possibly grass fed stuff when it's on sale. But, I won't go out of my way to eat that way either.
I was expecting a book to tell me how to change my way of thinking on eating via emotion or physical but instead it was mostly about how to change your way of eating by eating organic, grass fed beef, etc. It was not my cup of tea that's for sure.
I was expecting a book to tell me how to change my way of thinking on eating via emotion or physical but instead it was mostly about how to change your way of eating by eating organic, grass fed beef, etc. It was not my cup of tea that's for sure.
January 25, 2020
There are some great nuggets in the book but it could have been MUCH shorter. She also writes “over my head” in terms of professional jargon which makes it hard to follow. For the audience which I believe she is trying to appeal to, I don’t think it’s necessary. It could have been placed In appendices. She also takes a few liberties paraphrasing the Bible which I’m not a fan of so please read the versus yourself as you read the book. Most of what she is communicating to her audience is found in the 12 tips at the end, so jump to there is you want a quicker read. There are recipes in the back which is a nice touch. Overall, I think her message is a really good one, it real foods.
February 27, 2022
An absolutely fascinating and eye-opening book that centers on how the food that we eat effects our overall health and specifically our minds. Dr. Caroline Leaf does a splendid job of pairing real world advice when it comes to food choices, with specific scientific terms and explanations, while maintaining a balance of the two.
There’s plenty of takeaways from this book that will help inform food selection, grocery shopping, mind-body health, & the way we consume advertising materials.
This is the second book I’ve read from Dr. Caroline Leaf & I’m just as impressed with her level of knowledge and expertise in the field of neuroscience & neurobiology. Fascinating material.
There’s plenty of takeaways from this book that will help inform food selection, grocery shopping, mind-body health, & the way we consume advertising materials.
This is the second book I’ve read from Dr. Caroline Leaf & I’m just as impressed with her level of knowledge and expertise in the field of neuroscience & neurobiology. Fascinating material.
Currently reading
April 15, 2024I'm going to write this review as I read the book, rather than waiting until the end.
I'm currently three chapters in, and all I want to do is sell my city home, find a nice little chunk of land, build a tiny home, and start a homestead so I never, ever, ever have to shop for food in a grocery store again. (Insert a puke emoji here.) Especially with the recent knowledge that there are several people out there who want to feed us test-tube rapid-made foods. Blech!
Because of the nature of the content, I find I can only read in bits and pieces. I have to give my mind and stomach a break.
More to come...
I'm currently three chapters in, and all I want to do is sell my city home, find a nice little chunk of land, build a tiny home, and start a homestead so I never, ever, ever have to shop for food in a grocery store again. (Insert a puke emoji here.) Especially with the recent knowledge that there are several people out there who want to feed us test-tube rapid-made foods. Blech!
Because of the nature of the content, I find I can only read in bits and pieces. I have to give my mind and stomach a break.
More to come...
January 31, 2019
This book is not a light read, so if you’ve picked it up because you’re looking for some healthy diet advice in the form of tiny morsels, brace yourself for eating an elephant. If you enjoy learning about the mind-body connection through a Christian worldview, then this book is a must read.
Dr. Caroline Leaf does a fantastic job integrating Scripture and applying it to how our current culture views a ‘healthy’ diet and how to change any wrong beliefs we may hold by revealing truth (both scientific and biblical) and how to apply that change through intentional mental thought. Great read!
Dr. Caroline Leaf does a fantastic job integrating Scripture and applying it to how our current culture views a ‘healthy’ diet and how to change any wrong beliefs we may hold by revealing truth (both scientific and biblical) and how to apply that change through intentional mental thought. Great read!
January 30, 2020
Think and eat yourself smart
I have read multiple good books on how diet affects the brain, this book is full of scientific evidence on how our western diet adversely affects our brain. It is unique from the other books in that it incorporates God’s word and perspective. Science and God’s creation are not mutually exclusive. Science allows us to understand and better take care of God’s creation.
I have read multiple good books on how diet affects the brain, this book is full of scientific evidence on how our western diet adversely affects our brain. It is unique from the other books in that it incorporates God’s word and perspective. Science and God’s creation are not mutually exclusive. Science allows us to understand and better take care of God’s creation.
March 18, 2018
It was sometimes hard to read the first two sections. It required concentration and thinking...obviously. The last section was more practical and therefore more enjoyable to read as well as being very encouraging! It definitely helped to give me a kick start back into healthier thinking and healthier eating.
July 20, 2019
Good start
Understand the need to expose the reality of what is bad about the food available etc. Prefer the constructive points on how to do it better. Useful information on how to change and how long it takes. As with anything, need to be discerning about what works best for you. A good start to a constructive lifestyle.
Understand the need to expose the reality of what is bad about the food available etc. Prefer the constructive points on how to do it better. Useful information on how to change and how long it takes. As with anything, need to be discerning about what works best for you. A good start to a constructive lifestyle.
July 24, 2019
Detailed, honest book about choices we need to make for our future and the future of our children's health.. Loved that she gives credit to God throughout book.
Good resource to go back to for info. Take some time to implement. Emphasis on organic and grass-fed meet might put some people off, due to costs.
Good resource to go back to for info. Take some time to implement. Emphasis on organic and grass-fed meet might put some people off, due to costs.
December 22, 2019
This book does not sponsor one type of eating over another but focuses on the importance of eating local organic. Dr Leaf explains the psychology behind food, how where we eat and who wit is important. Overall, they type of diet will vary from person to person.
I enjoyed this different approach and highly recommend this to anyone that wants to be healthier.
I enjoyed this different approach and highly recommend this to anyone that wants to be healthier.
June 14, 2020
Very little new here. For anyone not educated on current food system, this would be a good read. There was good information that confirmed some stuff for me in regards to the mind and stomach. Yet if you are looking for a "wow" read, this isn't it. I am still a fan of Dr. Leaf and her work on connecting the spiritual with the soul.
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