Hi all,
This book jumped out at me whilst browsing in a book store today.
The 60 delicious wholefood recipes contain the essential daily nutrients required for maximum brain health. Omega 3, Antioxidents: vitamins B, C & E, folic acid, magnesium.
Soups, salads, snacks, main courses: fish, seafoood, vegetarian and meat. Also breakfasts, bakes and desserts.
It also covers the foods to avoid to encourage brain health. i.e. processed foods.
This book is a reminder that we are, what we eat.
Hi Claire,
I am not a vegan by a long shot but I do eat much more fruit and veg now and not as much meat and little dairy and am feeling a lot better/healthier in myself for it too.
I used to have the opposite to that diet and have lots of sugary processed foods, fizzy drinks and hardly any fruit or veg.
During the 90s was when I had the majority of my brain problems and was in and out of school and hospital.
I used to have frequent headaches during and after all the operations I had but now that I have a much better diet a hardly ever get headaches now :).
And if I ever do get a headache (which can be quite rare) I will get rid of it with something natural like inhaling frankincense essential oil or practising some yoga.
I have learnt more about veganism over time.
The book mentions some of the essential vitamins and minerals such as omega 3 and also lists recipes including fish as fish is said to be one of the sources of omega 3 but vegans will tell you otherwise.
Obviously vegans don’t eat fish, so how do they get omega 3?
Cod liver oil capsules?... no, cos that steal means killing a poor fish.
The thing is, fish do not create omega 3, fish gain omega 3 by eating the algae. It is the algae that supplies omega 3.
So why companies like Holland & Barrett sell cod liver capsules for a good source of omega 3 is beyond me... well actually, no it’s not beyond me, it’s because it is a source of making more money.
Similar with protein. We have grown up to be told that you get protein from animal meat.
Well, yeah you do get it from animal meat but the animal doesn’t produce the protein, the animal gains protein through their diet.
I have many seeds and grains with certain foods and these contain more of the protein I need.
An interesting documentary to watch is What The Health and it will explain it a lot better.
You can watch it online, think you can view it on you tube.
Hi Matt,
You raised some valid points.
Green leafy veggies are a good source of omega 3 and protein. Also nuts, pumpkin seeds and oils are a good source.
Is the ‘What the health’ documentary about wholefoods?
The What The Health documentary shows you what foods are good for you and what foods are bad for you and could potentially cause disease. Then the star of the show, Kip Andersen, has an interview with the CEO of the American Diabetes Association. The CEO talks about their aims in looking for a cure for diabetes. Andersen starts talking about diet and being able to reverse diabetes and the CEO cuts him off and doesn’t want to hear anymore.
But there are a handful of doctors in the documentary. Some who are mainly after the money and will give wrong information and some doctors who are herbalists that will talk about a vegan diet.
One doctor, Dr. Milton Mills will say that an animal does not create protein and that they are the ones who gain the protein.
Very interesting and informative documentary.
And I personally think that we have been mindlessly killing millions of animals for years for no real apparent reason.
I know people eat animal flesh to get protein but I think people eat animal flesh more for the taste now. That is why I eat SOME meat, for the taste.
A person who is anaemic is often low on iron and is told by the doctor to eat red meat to boost iron levels.... you don’t need to do that. Spinach has iron in it, eat that instead.
May be Pop-eye was trying to teach us something.
About two years ago we actually managed to get an allotment after a 6 year wait. Because it was in a state and also our health issues, it took ages to turn it around and become productive.
Last week, week had our first meal where everything on the plate came from the allotment. Then the wife realised that she hadn't eaten meat for 5 days and hadn't really missed it. However, like you we had eat meat for the taste rather than the routine - last night it was steak.
The wife and I are more or less the same age - 57 and were probably the last generation of children before heavily processed convenience food ruined peoples diets and lives. We grew up on mainly fresh fruit and veg as nobody had freezers then and canned food was the only alternative
When you look at the "traditional" diet of roast on a Sunday and make do with other meals during the week and the old staples of cabbages, root vegetables, apples and soft fruit that was eaten fresh or preserved was so right - the old timers seem to know what they were doing either by design or by accident.
There was again another piece of information on a BBC program about WW2 rationing. Apparently, this is the only ever internationally successful diet. After WW2 finished, obesity was virtually unheard of, infant mortality rates had dropped and people were generally much healthier. Staggering that when we have food banks we still through out nearly 2m tons of food a year.
I am very fond of my neighbours who use their two allotments to feed a family of 3, two of them in their 80's and their son for the majority of the year. Their garage is their storage and drying area with shelves from floor to ceiling! Fresh organically grown vegetables have given them a sense of freedom from supermarkets and allowed them to spend their pension on real investments. Inspirational to me. I'm having a year off but have grown tomatoes and chillies in abundance in the past.
I take my hat off to you. Everything on the plate was grown from your own hand. How utterly satisfying and rewarding.
Keep up the good work Sospan!
Best wishes.
At 57 I am the youngest on the allotment. There is a boyfriend / girlfriend pair at 93 & 80 still going strong !
iYes, I have signed a few petitions to get the big supermarkets to stop throwing food away and give most of it to food banks.Also, all those spoiled fruits and veg should not be thrown into a plastic bag and sent to landfill, that is a complete waste.
All that spoiled fruit can provide food for the earth.
Dig a hole and bury all the spoiled fruit and veg.
We take and take and take from the planet but don’t give enough back.
If you were to grow a tomato plant and the plant bears tomatoes. That is the planet being nice to you. So you eat the tomato but as for the green bit, people normally throw that away. That’s being nasty to the planet. Take that green bit and compost it. That way you are feeding the planet :).
“An eye for an eye” so to speak :).
When I was a kid, all the people used to garden and every September they used to dig a trench in the garden. They all the household waste peelings anything that had spoiled, paper and cardboard that hadn't been used for the fire, ashes from the fire etc. was put in the end of the trench.
As it filled up, it was covered over with soil and then the next bit filled up and so on. When the trench was filled another was dug. These were then used for growing beans over the summer.
What went out if the refuse bins was minimal - mainly tins and glass which at the time was never recycled 
And strangely, there was never a problem with rats or fly infestations.
We must be the only species on earth that actively destroys our own environment
What you were saying about when you were putting all biodegradable matter in a trench was a very similar story to what my mum was telling me about what native Americans used to do. Put any biod’ in a trench/hole, including human and animal waste, bury it and grow flowers/vegetation on it.
We should go back to doing that really.
And any veg we grew we could trade with our neighbours.
There is a video of an interview with Jeremy Irons explaining how the Irish used to live in the 1920s by growing potatoes, sitting around, laughing, playing music, just being merry while watching their potatoes grow. What is so wrong with that kind of life? A life where you live. Sounds like a wonderful life to me.
And then money was invented....
As part of my attempts to understand how to heal my injury we discovered a few "fringe benefits" for my wife.
One was when watching a programme about Indian street food, the presenter was discussing the benefits and made a passing remark about the lack of diabetes in India. My wife has self inflicted Type 2. When I did some simple googling, I found it was down to the frequent use of Fenugreek . She tried taking some Fenugreek capsules and her blood sugar count dropped by 75%. within a few weeks.
Same thing happened with Colagen. We were watching a program and they just happened to mention that women reach 25, they start to lose 1% of their Collagen year! We went through the same route as your Omega 3 search, collagen can be produced from animals or fish or simply from the plankton - so plankton it was. Three months later, skin is tighter, nails and hair stronger. Remarkable difference.
She also takes organic Omega 3 as well
However, when she mentions these to health professionals, lets says its easier to get my dog to agree to having a bath than them to agree any benefits 
Thanks for your comment, you have helped me out there and may have helped out someone I know who has diabetes.
I may mention fenugreek to her but she does have a rare case of diabetes though. Think she is type 1 and she had to lose most of her pancreas when she was an infant :(.
But also thank you for talking about the collagen. I have heard of this stuff and when ever collagen powder is mentioned in emails and so on it is always bovine-based collagen which is obviously cows/animals which I don’t exactly want.
I have had plant-based collagen before but I don’t think it explained where it actually came from.
Plankton, I shall have to remember that one and try them out.
Oh yes, another thing in the emails I get that was mentioning collagen was that Jennifer Aniston swears by it :).
Now she is in her 50s now, I think, and she looks great. She looks more like she is in her 30s-40s.
Glad to hear these have helped out your wife.
And it just goes to show that when these vitamins, minerals and so on is mentioned to a doctor and they shake their head as if to say it is preposterous, it just shows how corrupt they can be just to make a bit of bread.
Just wanted to add that vegetarians don't eat fish either
I'll have a look at the documentary sometime - thank for the info
Great post Claire ………..it's time we had a recipe book catering for all tastes in healthy brain food. I've just ordered a copy from Ebay !
Hope you and yours (and Artie) are well. Love Eileen x
Thanks Eileen. You’re so right. The last time I bought a recipe book was about ten years ago. This is a special recipe book! Like you, much prefer to be gardening or pottering outdoors fixing things! You will not be disappointed with this book once you receive it.
Hope you are keeping well too.
Artie and I are both good. Artie sends a tail wag! xx
Give him a cuddle from me ! x
Hi Claire I heard that berries were good for brain so I often get blueberries and others, I eat more fruit than before and now my hubs moans (He often moans) I was thinking of giving him some. I really like when feeling peckish a bowl of fruit xxx plus it helps after all the chocs that made me feel happy when I first woke up from SAH xxxxx
Hi Win, Yes. Berries are a good source of antioxidants which is needed daily, as these nutrients are not retained in your body. Fruits are a healthy snack. I always have an apple and a banana daily. Since my brain haemorrhage, having regular chocolate has kept me sane. I keep active so weight is not an issue.
I'm definitely better if I eat well.
After my cvst in 2014 one of the first things I was able to do (
After a few weeks) was to follow a recipe to cook something good for myself.
Good mention of the book, though I'm vegetarian myself.
It seems so simple to someone unfamiliar with a BI. Eating well. There is so much in that. Planning, storing, buying, preparing, blending, portion size, measuring, timing. It seems like a monster hill to climb for someone living on their own and recovering from a BI. On bad days, things slip and 'eating well' goes with it. It is why I describe BI recovery as a full time job.
Best wishes Moo.
True . I don't disagree with you - certainly for me it was not possible in the first few weeks. ( and appreciate for others it may be very different) . But the thought of have instructions made sense to me .
I also live alone - and the recipe of the day would pretty much take the whole day. Shop - rest- prepare - rest - eat - rest ..... ( with maybe a teeny bit of yoga balances or listening to stories on cd in between).
Setting alarms for the cooking/freezing times was also useful
Go to Sainsbury's or supermarket of choice and Baxters do a thick soup with lots of veg in it and I've tried to make it but it isn't the same so pull ring and I have a meal lol I know I cheat but in a hurry it is always handy xxxx Love to all the cheat. !
Hi moo,
Same. I do feel not quite right when have not had my daily quota of fruit and veggies.
I don’t consume meat. The book has excellent no fuss vegetarian recipes. Here is a taster...
Tomato, lentil and red pepper soup.
Warmly spiced vegetable casserole.
Walnut and banana cake.
Plenty more delicious recipes in the book!
Starving now lol like the thick soups also xxxx
Ha ha ha! Soups are a meal in themselves.
I do enjoy making a batch of pumpkin soup topped with coriander and parsley. Easy to freeze and saves preparing a meal when cognitive fatigue has set in.
Enjoy your soup WinB!
My sister makes a mean soup. I have decided to give it another go just all veg and pulses and pots to thicken it ...when/if I do it I'll let you know how it turns out ha ha water and veg last attempt xxxxx If you don't here from me, something I ate maybe.
Thanks Claire for sharing. I hope your health and recovery continue in bounds as you apply this cookbook method in your daily life. I agree with your last statement wholeheartedly.
Best wishes.
You're welcome Recovering H. I hope you are going well too. I know that your health has improved in leaps and bounds. Surviving a major illness is the start of recovery. Of course, you know that. Then it is up to us, to give ourselves every chance to become the person we would like to be. Physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. All the best to you.
Dear Claire, hope you're well, thank you very much for shared this valuable+constructively!+very necessarily knowledge! really loves our community senses of sharing +supports each other! How Blessefuly I'm to founds; "Headway +this community!
Makes our struggling,much more bareble.
Gratefully
Thank you Joey. Yes, living with an acquired can be a lonely road to travel at times.
I was relieved to discover 'Headway' a few years ago. It is reassuring to know that we are not alone. And yes, our unique daily journeys are made easier, when shared with others that really do understand how challenging it is to live as well as can be, with an acquired brain injury.
All the best.
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