Wednesday, May 26, 2021

New York Times article - Brain Health

Interesting stuff and useful stuff. That's what I call this article here.

Some of it is just for curiosity; reading it for the knowledge and the joy of learning new things about the brain. The brain organoids are interesting but not terribly relevant to a typical reader's life, and I definitely wasn't expecting to read about a researcher who purred brains in order to get a more accurate count of its contents. It was also fun to read about the memory tricks. 

Then there is the more useful stuff. This is the stuff about the "lifestyle changes that matter", which the cover speaks of. Most of it is about sugar. Yes, we all know that too much sugar is bad for one's health, roots teeth etc. but do you know how much sugar is in the food you eat? I thought I was doing well by staying away from candy bars and soda. Actually, I was getting loads of sugar. 

A rough estimate is upwards of 40 grams a day. It was in the trail mix, the milk, the cereal, (and, just for the record, I didn't eat anything obvious, like Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes) and of course, the fruits. One serving of raisins, about 1/4 of a cup or so, had sugar comparable to a candy bar, and very little fiber to slow it down, or nutritional benefit. The article here mentions raisins ( and bananas) in its section of foods to avoid during its Sugar Challenge. So I made a few changes (like unsweetened vanilla milk instead of the sweetened kind and cereal that could be tasty with less sugar). I definitely feel better after doing that. It's not an immediate thing. It's like a two-week thing.

Click here for my next book review So I'm a Spider So What - light novel 1

Click here for my previous book review:  Sleepy Princess in Demon Castle volume 3

Brian Wilkerson is a independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.

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