The Brain Health Kitchen Book Launches Today!

Plus, my recipe for the Better-For-You Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Jan 03, 2023

Today is a special day! My new book, The Brain Health Kitchen: Preventing Alzheimer’s Through Food, is officially out in the world!

As I write this, I feel like the butterflies in my stomach are taking flight. If you pre-ordered the book, I can’t wait to hear that it arrived today with a satisfying thump on your front porch or stuffed into your post office box. If you haven’t ordered yet, you can get your copy HERE or at your favorite local bookstore. Here’s how you can help spread the word about the book: write a review on Amazon, forward this newsletter with a personal recommendation, or share on social media. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Share Brain Health Kitchen

To celebrate, I am excited to share one of my favorite recipes from the Vegetables chapter of the book: this Better-For-You Grilled Cheese Sandwich. It pairs well with the Creamy Tomato Soup on page 120. (I am sharing that recipe today on Instagram. Find it HERE.)

More than a grilled cheese sandwich

This veggie-packed, whole grain, nutty and lemony sandwich has just enough melted Gruyère to bind the vegetables to the bread for a satisfying grilled cheese experience. It’s a nostalgic nod to the comfort food many of us grew up with, yet firmly rooted in a brain-healthy present and future. (Find the recipe + a downloadable pdf below.)

This may be just a grilled cheese sandwich—albeit a very good one—but to me it represents a balanced and flexible approach to eating for brain health.

It includes many neuroprotective food groups proven to protect the brain, such as whole grains, nuts, and a good dose of vegetables. While the recipe calls for roasted squash and red onion, you could use other roasted vegetables you have on hand.
There’s plenty of fiber in each sandwich, with 7 grams just from the canned artichoke hearts, one of my favorite convenience foods.
It lets you be flexible. Use plant-based or dairy ricotta from the grocery store, if that’s what you have. Or, with a small amount of effort, make a batch of Lemony Cashew Ricotta, a versatile ingredient to schmear on toast, add mix-ins for a dip, or use as a stand-in for cow’s milk ricotta in recipes. (I give you 4 dip variations in the Recipe Notes.)
Gruyère adds a small touch of decadence while keeping the fat profile mostly brain-friendly. Leave it out and you have a sandwich that is entirely plant-based.

I can’t wait to see what else you make once your copy of the book arrives. Thank you to all who pre-ordered and are just as excited about the book as I am!

MIND Diet Score Cheat Sheet

Last month I wrote to you several times about the MIND diet. We went over the brain-healthy guidelines for eating leafy greens, chicken, and some new data about how the MIND diet prevents more than cognitive decline. As promised, I put together a handy list of the brain-healthy food groups, with serving sizes, according to the MIND diet study. (Download the pdf at the end of this letter.)

When I started writing my book (back in 2017!), my intent was to give you a cookbook based on the MIND diet guidelines. That’s one reason each chapter is devoted to each of the brain-healthy food groups. (The other reason: to help you fill in the gaps of your diet by enticing you with recipes from a food group you may be ignoring.) Over time, I created my own guidelines: the Brain Health Kitchen Food Guidelines. Why? Because more and more studies were pointing to the brain health benefits of eating more plants and less animal products, along with cutting back on alcohol (which I wrote to you about HERE).

How to Use the Guidelines

The MIND diet guidelines stand as the most successful template for eating to fend off cognitive decline, reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s by as much as 53%. The BHK Guidelines take your brain-healthy diet a step further, based on all the data that’s emerged since before 2015. Use the MIND diet cheat sheet to assess how your diet stands over the course of a few weeks. Then, I hope you’ll take it to the next level using the guidelines in the book.

Some Housekeeping

Thank you for making this newsletter a Substack Bestseller within 2 weeks of its debut. I have been enjoying hearing from you all, both via email and in the comments. Feel free to reach out to me to let me know what you’d like to read about here. I am open to your suggestions! Please use the comment section rather than email. My inbox is overflowing and it’s becoming tough to keep up.

Everyone is welcome here, both free and paid subscribers. While I offered all posts for free during launch month, from now on free subscribers will receive just the first post of the month along with previews of other articles. Paid subscribers will get twice weekly posts, more recipes, and lots of other perks you can read about HERE. Founding members: I am honored and humbled by your support. I look forward to our quarterly kitchen chats.

Mindset Over Resolutions

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. While I enjoy the fresh start that a new year brings, it’s demoralizing to know that only 9% of resolutions actually stick. A brain-healthy diet is not something you go on in January, only to abandon it in February. What I do believe in is this: taking small steps and making steady progress towards a brain healthier you. In the front matter of my book, I write about eating with a brain health mindset. Here’s an excerpt from The Brain Health Kitchen, page 43:

Embrace A Clean Slate. There are stages in life that are ripe for a fresh start. Perhaps it’s a milestone birthday, or a brush with serious illness. It could be the start of a new year or finding yourself with an empty nest. Maybe it began when you picked up this book. Find your clean slate and use it to move forward as the brain-healthy person you want to be.

Think of this newsletter as a gentle nudge to keep taking good care of your brain. I’ll be back on Friday with a primer on cooking oils: what to cook with, what to avoid, and which oil to use when. Until then, enjoy this fresh start to the year.

Love,
Annie

PS: Just for fun, check out this 90-second reel I made in gratitude for all the brain health enthusiasts I met in 2022.

RECIPE: Better-For-You Grilled Cheese Sandwich