Audio: Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, MD @DavidPerlmutter ‏@ganimaniac ‏@HachetteAudio #LoveAudiobooks #BeatTheBacklist2019

Posted March 3, 2019 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review / 11 Comments

Audio: Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, MD @DavidPerlmutter ‏@ganimaniac ‏@HachetteAudio #LoveAudiobooks #BeatTheBacklist2019Grain Brain by David Perlmutter
Narrator: Peter Ganim
Published by Hachette Audio on September 9, 2013
Genres: Non Fiction
Length: 9 hours, 18 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Library
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The devastating truth about the effects of wheat, sugar, and carbs on the brain, with a 30-day plan to achieve optimum health.Renowned neurologist David Perlmutter, MD, blows the lid off a topic that's been buried in medical literature for far too long: carbs are destroying your brain. And not just unhealthy carbs, but even healthy ones like whole grains can cause dementia, ADHD, anxiety, chronic headaches, depression, and much more. Dr. Perlmutter explains what happens when the brain encounters common ingredients in your daily bread and fruit bowls, why your brain thrives on fat and cholesterol, and how you can spur the growth of new brain cells at any age. He offers an in-depth look at how we can take control of our "smart genes" through specific dietary choices and lifestyle habits, demonstrating how to remedy our most feared maladies without drugs. With a revolutionary 30-day plan, GRAIN BRAIN teaches us how we can reprogram our genetic destiny for the better.

Grain Brain is another one of those Audible Daily Deal book which I got from the library.  I got it because we are still in our first year of gluten-free and it is a doctor’s research, cases and opinions – I thought.  It is but this book is much more than just about gluten-free.

I am going to spoil the basic results now, so stop if you don’t want to know, but this is facts, not fiction.  Perlmutter is a neurologist with a degree in nutrition also.  His father was a physician who now has Alzheimer’s.  There is popular criticism for the book, of course, but I think it has some interesting conclusions with research studies to back them.

The primary concept is that gluten is connected to many more diseases than just celiacs.  The studies over many years he cites show those with a gluten-free diet not as likely to get diabetes, Alzheimers. There are children and adults who were diagnosed with ADHD, Autism, Tourettes, learning disabilities, migraines and muscle/joint pains who also were normal after 1-3 months of gluten-free diets in his practice. He points out blood tests and results that would indicate the sensitivities.

Another key concept is that the brain and other parts of the body are inflamed by gluten (and other processed foods).  Brains require fat to grow new cells and to function in a healthy matter.  So the diet restrictions beyond gluten-free are to reduce carbs and sugar, more than fat.  This is more traditional to historical diets .

Fruits or sweets were very rare, only maybe at Christmas or a special party like a birthday or wedding.  Now we can get fruit from everywhere all the time, but most is very high in carbohydrates. The carbs only leave us hungry and craving more carbs and sugar. The fat is actually satisfying and curbs hunger.

He concludes  (based on the studies of those eating them as opposed to those who don’t over decades) that gluten and processed foods, sugar, are all more linked to these diseases than people think.  Many of us and certainly big pharma, just want to take a pill and not go through any effort of a reasonable diet. We are already gluten-free but I can see the benefit of reducing sugar, regardless of whether I believe everything in the book. My daughter has many of the symptoms and has been helped by gluten-free so we will also do more now to reduce sugar and other carbohydrates.

Narration:

This was straightforward without accents or dialogue as it is a non-fiction book, more of a reference. I liked the clear vocal and found it pleasant and easy listening.

Listen to a clip:

@DavidPerlmutter 

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • 2019 Audiobooks
  • 2019 Library-Love
  • BTB 2019
  • COYER WINTER

Posted March 3, 2019 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review / 11 Comments


11 responses to “Audio: Grain Brain by David Perlmutter, MD

  1. I hadn’t heard of these findings before so it’s interesting to read your resume of the main conclusions. At the moment I’m very conscious of my diet for various reasons and am trying to reduce my sugar intake as well as cutting out as much processed food as possible. I think Grain Brain would be a good addition to my scientific reading 🙂

    Stephanie Jane (Literary Flits) recently posted: Book Blogger Hop - do you read print books or ebooks?
    • It’s worth a read or listen. It goes into much more detail about specific studies which made me feel it’s more important to reduce carbs than fat. They had it at my library. But definitely sugar and processed foods aren’t our friends. Small quantities aren’t bad but we eat too many of them and not enough real food, basically. By we I mean me.

  2. Jen

    You mentioned this book to me in a comment on my site and it’s got me thinking about the amount of sugar/carbs I eat. I know it’s too much, but since I’ve always been fairly “healthy” I haven’t worried about it. I’m going to try to cut out some little things each day.

    • You may not have some of the bad habits others have. I’m trying to get to just tea and water, cutting out diet soda, juices or sweetened teas. I never drank sweetened tea until I moved to NC. I only like the Pure Leaf ones in 2 flavors. Anyway, we won’t be able to cut out everything but we will be reducing. Also processed food and sugars, we just need to eat less of them. Tonight for example, it’s grilled chicken and steamed spinach.

      Small changes can have a big impact once you adjust to them. Good Luck!

      Anne recently posted: Mahimata by Rati Mehrotra
    • I forgot to say I see people like Luke Perry at 52 having strokes and it makes it clear I need to think about what I am eating. I have classmates and friends who have gone too soon as well.

      I think movement is also important and you are doing great with it.

    • Thank you. I think while the gluten is a never for us, the rest of it is just reducing quantities. It is easier for me. I grew up in a household where we had meat every night with me eating either green beans or spinach (canned in those days). Those were my veggies other than corn on the cob in the summer. We ate all kinds of fruit. We didn’t have casseroles or soups. Once in a blue moon, we had pop, frozen dinner or frozen pizza. I’d never had spaghetti until I went to a neighboring town and had it at Pizza Hut when I was in high school. Now of course, I eat more of all kinds of veggies and stuff but that was how we ate at home as children. My brother’s veggies were peas and potatoes, which I didn’t eat.