Calm Your Mind with Food: A Revolutionary Guide to Controlling Your Anxiety Hardcover – December 26, 2023

This book explains in detail how to choose foods that will improve your gut health and by extension your mental health and the bodily processes that make that happen. Not overly technical but thorough. Anecdotally, I followed the recommendations precisely for four months and did indeed experience a significant reduction in anxiety and lethargy and improved mood and sleep quality. That being said, it was pretty difficult to do (and a bit expensive) and I couldn’t sustain it perfectly long term. I’ve had to pick and choose what I’m able/willing to sustain but still have been able to develop healthier habits as well as reduce my anxiety medication from 225 mg to 37.5 mg per day and plan to taper off completely within a year. (Personally, I did not care for the included recipes but it’s not supposed to be a cook book.)

I purchased the audio version (excellent narration) & enjoyed it enough to want the kindle version for easier reference on my phone.The information about good/bad eating choices isn’t necessarily new to anyone. However, I found the information about the mechanics of WHY particular foods are beneficial or detrimental interesting and very helpful. It gives me ammunition to follow through on what I already know and some additional tools to use re my eating habits under stress.The kindle version would greatly benefit from two formatting improvements. The simplest being adding individual recipe titles with links to the table of contents or in an index. (You can sort of make your own by adding bookmarks to each recipe) Ideally each recipe could have a print link like online recipes do, that would put everything relevant into a concise easy to view format.Also, it would be extremely helpful in all versions of the book to have a shopping list for the included recipes. The chapter on shopping doesn’t list the less common ingredients and spices necessary for trying the recipes.

I read the kindle version in less than one day and felt it was an easy read. I also appreciate the author’s thoroughness, the stories, the pillars she laid out, and the recipe suggestions. I learned a few things I was not aware of pertaining to the gut, too. However, like many things in life, I feel eating to calm anxiety will take commitment, consistency, and one needs to feel 100% ready and have the support of his or her family.Unfortunately, as an American who is used to eating the “typical” standard American diet, I find the author’s eating plan overwhelming and difficult to sustain long-term in the hustle and bustle of everyday life that is common for many of us who work full-time and have other daily competing priorities like raising children, being a caregiver to an adult family member, engaging in extracurricular activities, or working during the day and going to school at night, among other things. I tend to feel that is why there is an abundance of pharmaceutical prescription drugs prescribed for anxiety because it is difficult for many of us to sustain a consistent healthy lifestyle while carrying out our hectic day-to-day lives.I also want to point out that I liked how the author brought up the concept of intuitive eating when discussing one of her patients. In summary, this method suggests eating mindfully and that no foods are off limits (I read that book also); however that goes against Pillar #5, to “always avoid” anxiety triggering foods including processed and refined carbohydrates. I am under the impression that if one is not 100% perfect at executing the author’s six pillars and adopts an 80/20 approach so that it is more sustainable, than it will be more difficult to feel consistent relief. Overall, I tend to feel it will take a combination of individualized treatment approaches, and that is ok. I feel grateful there are various approaches so people can decide what works best for them..If you are 100% ready to put in work to commit to a healthier way of eating that will take consistent work, and your family is supportive, then I recommend this book. Otherwise, if you are not fully ready, have a hectic lifestyle, or tend to start eating plans and then quit, I recommend to wait until you have the time and feel 100% ready.

I really enjoyed this book. Definitely worth the read. Enjoying the recipes in the back of the book. I have already tried several. This book is also good information to reduce inflammation.

I wanted to love this but it didn’t feel like it added much from the last book. Interesting research based info but the action steps felt a lot like traditional weight loss rhetoric and were pretty vague. I loved “your brain on food” and could have stopped there.

Well written

This book is truly an extraordinary example of the concept of food as medicine. It touches on so many important things, including the gut brain axis, inflammation, and metabolic disruption that can all lead to anxiety and poor health in general. The educational aspect of how food can help combat. All of these issues is done scientifically but in a very approachable way as a medical doctor specializing in nutrition for the past two decades, I will be encouraging all my patients, struggling with anxiety to purchase this book.

Great information! A little bit wordy.