David F Balog

Healing the Brain David F Balog

About This Book Here I share my experience growing up in Yonkers, NY in a big extended family in the 1960s and 70s. I take a look at the lives of my immediate family and the way we lived--particularly our food choices and how those may have affected individual health. I provide some insight from my professional experience about the brain and health. Our family home was, to me an unusual place. Relatives occupied all three of the spacious apartments. I interacted daily with aunts, uncles and my own family. This book takes a personal look at the lives of the immigrant family that lived there from the outbreak of World War I, to the Great Depression and World War II, through the Baby Boom years. Food choices reflect our knowledge, or lack of it, about what we eat and their effects on our physical and emotional health. They also mirror cultural awareness. Modern brain science and food research is revealing the role that diet plays in our lives. There's no one definitive diet, although most healthy diets emphasize fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains, while limiting unhealthy fats. In the book, we cover the new understanding of diet and nutrition that may extend lives previously diminished and shortened by brain diseases and disorders, from Alzheimer's disease to stroke to obesity and diabetes complications.