Home On The Grange...My Day At The Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm. - Drew Ramsey MD

About 30 of us stood on a rooftop in Brooklyn among rows of kale as the sun set over the Manhattan skyline. Of those 30, only three had ever picked kale. However, that was about to change…. We all stared mesmerized as the sky changed in hues of baby blues and yellows, framed by the twinkling lights of the rushing city. BG Picking Kale 2

We were on the rooftop farm for my annual Food and Happiness Workshop. I had asked everyone to pick three leaves of kale each.  Once they did, our guests then went to the other side of the farm to see the chickens and collect some fresh herbs, and I started seasoning the collected kale with orange zest in preparation for a light salad I was going to share with the group. The salad would be a medley of fresh ingredients that would encompass the philosophy of Eat Complete. When I looked over at the mound of kale lying next to the mixing bowl, I realized just how much kale we had. By asking a group of 30 people to pull just 3 leaves each, we had enough kale to feed more than double the group size! What a wonderful realization to come to, just how much a small amount of kale could feed and nourish a large group of people. There’s true power in that knowledge.

BG Salad Close UpThis became even clearer to me as the group returned from their tour of the splendid Brooklyn Grange rooftop garden. I spotted a small group of expecting mothers. The challenge of nourishing two brains with one food source is as good as it gets for a food doctor! Feeding anchovies, one of the ingredients I brought to garnish the salad, to those women on a rooftop farm, now that’s nutritional psychiatry! Good nutrition is vital to healthy pregnancy. I want those moms eating the long-chained omega-3s found in anchovies, and other fatty fish. They decrease the risk of postpartum depression by six times, and boost baby’s verbal IQ.

BG Kale Belly Pic

At the end of the day what I enjoy most about the Brooklyn Grange is the reminder that just being on a farm makes people smile, and it was all smiles that enchanted evening. As much as I’d like to think that was my doing, the truth is that being amongst fields of nourishing vegetation is just magical.

If you’re visiting New York, or reside in this fair city, do yourself a favor and go see this spectacular rooftop farm for yourself. The Brooklyn Grange sits nestled among industrial buildings, a flower growing out of concrete, determined to remind us all how integral and necessary it is for us to be in and experience nature. The workshops, dinners, and events they host are a true gift, providing truly entertaining and informative experiences for its participants. I want to give my most sincere thanks to the Brooklyn Grange Team for allowing me be part of that magic.

More farm magic coming your way this summer. We are headed back to our family farm in Indiana, where I will be harvesting something buzz-worthy to share with you all very soon. Also check out the stellar Food Freedom Fundraiser event I’ll be participating in at the Polyface Inc Farm, featured in The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Click the link for your discount code.

Cheers to food and your happiness,

Drew

Eat Complete

Winner of a 2017 IACP Cookbook Award  •  Finalist for a Books for a Better Life Award

Named one of the top health and wellness books for 2016 by Well + Good and MindBodyGreen

 

From leading psychiatrist and author of Fifty Shades of Kale comes a collection of 100 simple, delicious, and affordable recipes to help you get the core nutrients your brain and body need to stay happy and healthy.

What does food have to do with brain health? Everything.

Your brain burns more of the food you eat than any other organ. It determines if you gain or lose weight, if you’re feeling energetic or fatigued, if you’re upbeat or depressed. In this essential guide and cookbook, Drew Ramsey, MD, explores the role the human brain plays in every part of your life, including mood, health, focus, memory, and appetite, and reveals what foods you need to eat to keep your brain—and by extension your body—properly fueled.

Drawing upon cutting-edge scientific research, Dr. Ramsey identifies the twenty-one nutrients most important to brain health and overall well-being—the very nutrients that are often lacking in most people’s diets. Without these nutrients, he emphasizes, our brains and bodies don’t run the way they should.

Eat Complete includes 100 appetizing, easy, gluten-free recipes engineered for optimal nourishment. It also teaches readers how to use food to correct the nutrient deficiencies causing brain drain and poor health for millions. For example:

• Start the day with an Orange Pecan Waffle or a Turmeric Raspberry Almond Smoothie, and the Vitamin E found in the nuts will work to protect vulnerable brain fat (plus the fiber keeps you satisfied until lunch).

• Enjoy Garlic Butter Shrimp over Zucchini Noodles and Mussels with Garlicky Kale Ribbons and Artichokes, and the zinc and magnesium from the seafood will help stimulate the growth of new brain cells.

• Want to slow down your brain’s aging process? Indulge with a cup of Turmeric Cinnamon Hot Chocolate, and the flavanols found in chocolate both increase blood flow to the brain and help fight age-related memory decline.

Featuring fifty stunning, full-color photographs, Eat Complete helps you pinpoint the nutrients missing from your diet and gives you tasty recipes to transform your health—and ultimately your life.

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The Happiness Diet

For the first time in history, too much food is making us sick. It's all too apparent that the Modern American Diet (MAD) is expanding our waistlines; what's less obvious is that it's starving and shrinking our brains. Rates of obesity and depression have recently doubled, and while these epidemics are closely linked, few experts are connecting the dots for the average American.

Using the latest data from the rapidly changing fields of neuroscience and nutrition, The Happiness Dietshows that over the past several generations small, seemingly insignificant changes to our diet have stripped it of nutrients--like magnesium, vitamin B12, iron, and vitamin D, as well as some very special fats--that are essential for happy, well-balanced brains. These shifts also explain the overabundance of mood-destroying foods in the average American's diet and why they predispose most of us to excessive weight gain.

After a clear explanation of how we've all been led so far astray, The Happiness Diet empowers the reader with simple, straightforward solutions. Graham and Ramsey show you how to steer clear of this MAD way of life with foods to swear off, shopping tips, brain-building recipes, and other practical advice, and then remake your diet by doubling down on feel-good foods--even the all-American burger.

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Fifty Shades of Kale

Kale gets sexy in Fifty Shades of Kale by Drew Ramsey, M.D., and Jennifer Iserloh, with 50 recipes that are mouth-wateringly delicious and do a body good.
 
Release yourself from the bondage of guilt and start cooking meals with the ingredients you love: meat, cheese, and yes—even butter. Nutrient-rich kale provides essential vitamins and minerals to keep you healthy, happy, and lean—so you can indulge in your most delicious desires. Whether you’re a cooking novice or a real kale submissive, you will undoubtedly succumb to Kale’s charms.

From Mushroom and Kale Risotto to Kale Kiwi Gazpacho, Fifty Shade of Kale offers simple ways to have your kale and eat it, too, as well as nutritional information, cooking tips, and a tutorial on kale in all her glorious shades.
 
Indulge your culinary passions with Fifty Shades of Kale: 50 Fresh and Satisfying Recipes That Are Bound to Please.

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