On this episode, we talk about brain health, and how to preserve yours. Our guest today is the amazing Dr. Annie Fenn, OB/GYN turned chef and brain health specialist. Annie explains how what we eat drastically affects the health of our brain as we age, and how good food choices can minimize our risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Listen to hear what is good for your brain health and what you might want to avoid.
Dr. Annie Fenn is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist specialized in menopausal health. After practicing medicine for more than 20 years in Jackson, WY, she realized that helping people change what they eat was just as effective a health-giving intervention as prescribing pills or procedures. She traded her stethoscope for an apron and went back to school to study culinary arts in Mexico, Italy, and at the Culinary Institute of America.
In 2015, Dr. Fenn founded the Brain Health Kitchen, and evidence-based online resource about how and what to eat to resist cognitive decline. The Brain Health Kitchen Cooking School, founded in 2017, is the only school of its kind focused specifically on fending off Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Students learn which foods are most neuroprotective, which ones accelerate cognitive decline, and how to prepare foods using brain-friendly cooking techniques. Dr. Fenn partners with the Aspen Brain Institute as the host and moderator of a Brain-Healthy Cooking series with leading neuroscientists and physicians in the brain health world. Dr. Fenn takes her cooking school on the road to provide classes throughout the country and abroad. Dr. Fenn lectures frequently about the impact of lifestyle and diet on Alzheimer’s risk as part of the Sempre Sano Wellness Retreat in Tuscany, Italy, as a frequent Visiting Chef at Rancho La Puerta, and at diverse venues throughout the country—women’s and men’s groups, churches, schools, and wellness retreats. To date, more than one thousand participants have enrolled in the hands-on cooking school.
Dr. Fenn serves on the Science Advisory Board for actor Seth Rogen and his wife Lauren’s HFC (Hilarity For Charity) where she also creates content geared towards helping caregivers eat for brain health. She partners with Maria Shriver and the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement to host events to fund grants for female-specific dementia research. She serves on the Scientific Advisory Council for the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation and is a Scientific Advisor for NeuroReserve. Dr. Fenn is currently under contract with Artisan Books for a science-based brain-healthy cookbook due out in 2022.
A 25-year resident of Jackson, Wyoming, Dr. Fenn has served on the boards of Community Safety Network, Teton County Public Health Department, Teton Science Schools, and Hole Food Rescue. She partners with the local hospital to provide the Brain Works 7-day Boot Camp, a novel community-based dementia prevention program. When not developing recipes, writing, or teaching the Brain Health Kitchen method of cooking, Dr. Fenn enjoys hiking, cycling, skiing, fly-fishing, and foraging for mushrooms and huckleberries with her husband, sons, and dogs Orzo and Olive Oyl.
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