The Brain in Your Kitchen : A Collection of Essays on How What We Buy, Eat, and Experience Affects Our Brains

Introduction; Does Gluten Deserve to be on the Public Health Enemies List?; The Fish Oil Debate: Great Brain Medicine, or Just an Expensive Placebo?; What Caffeine Really Does to Your Brain; What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Brain; How to Chew Yourself a Better Brain; Daily Aspirin Good for the Heart, and Cuts Hereditary Cancer Risk in Half; Trick Your Brain at Lunch and Lose Weight; Why Eating Fake Fat Can Make You Real Fat; How Your Brain Could Be Keeping You Overweight; Why Your Brain Isn't a Diet Soda Fan; Go Ahead and Eat Meat, Your Brain Will be Fine.;Every day, we're faced with choices about what to eat, wear, and purchase. Blinded by a tsunami of information-some good, some bad, some intentionally misleading-often our brains are too overwhelmed to examine all the details. So how do we know we're making the best decisions for us' Author and science journalist David DiSalvo asks what's best for our brains instead. The Brain in Your Kitchen sifts through the good and bad information on the things we buy, the foods we eat, and the medicines we take. Using findings from cutting-edge science, DiSalvo divulges terrifically useful and little-known facts-each grounded in credible research-about everything from how gluten to cats affect your brain. Learn how we can trick our minds into helping us lose weight, what placebos are costing us big bucks with no results, and what caffeine is actually doing inside your head to give you that extra pep. Disalvo cuts through frantic media sensation and consumer marketplace babble and gives you the knowledge to distinguish hyperbole from truth so you're ready next time you sit down for dinner. Introduction Does Gluten Deserve to be on the Public Health Enemies List? The Fish Oil Debate: Great Brain Medicine, or Just an Expensive Placebo? What Caffeine Really Does to Your Brain What Eating Too Much Sugar Does to Your Brain How to Chew Yourself a Better Brain Daily Aspirin Good for the Heart, and Cuts Hereditary Cancer Risk in Half Trick Your Brain at Lunch and Lose Weight Why Eating Fake Fat Can Make You Real Fat How Your Brain Could Be Keeping You Overweight Why Your Brain Isn't a Diet Soda Fan Go Ahead and Eat Meat, Your Brain Will be Fine. Alcohol Makes Your Mind Wander, But You Won't NoticeWhat's in an Egg? (the Fast Food Version) Rx for Sisyphus: Take Two Tylenol Is Your Cat Hosting a Human Suicide Parasite? A House Party with You and 37 Million of Your Closest Friends Are Heart Meds Giving Our Brains a Pass on Dietary Self Control? A Few of the Biggest Placebo Scams at your Drugstore How Smart was Your Dinner Before it Became Dinner? How Your Sense of Equality Makes You Buy More Chocolate Why You're Better Off Not Buying Those Magazines at the Grocery Check-out Counter. Why Feeling Relaxed Influences You to Spend More MoneyTo Avoid Diabetes, Think Like a Diabetic About the Author Recommended Resources. The life and athletic career of Steven Holcomb, an Olympic bobsledder who hid his encroaching blindness from his coach, sled mates, and the public until he finally told his coach, who led him to a revolutionary treatment that restored his eyesight to 20/20