Nuts are little superstars when it comes to improving brain function; cashews are phenomenal at promoting good blood circulation so plenty of oxygen gets to the brain. That’s the nutritional reason to eat cashews, but the taste alone should convince you.

When my brother Jeff moved to California, he fell in love with avocados. In fact, he became so enamored with this luscious fruit that he began pestering me to create “avotatoes”—an avocado mashed potato recipe—for this book. I’d do almost anything for him, but there are some places a sister just can’t go. Still, I wanted to feature avocado because I love them too—for their flavor and texture, and for their incredible anti aging properties. While they do contain a fair amount of fat, it’s monounsaturated—the kind the body thrives on (in moderation, of course), and they’re a great source of the antioxidant glutathione.

A guest recipe by Andrew Weil, MD

We usually think of radishes as a minor ingredient in mixed salads that provides a watery crunch and sometimes a spicy snap. Here they take center stage along with arugula, basil, and radish sprouts in a lemon-olive oil vinaigrette with Parmesan cheese. If you can’t find radish sprouts, substitute sprigs of watercress trimmed of any coarse stems.

Another good all-purpose salad dressing that comes together quickly and lasts for a week in the
fridge. I love Meyer lemons because, relative to other lemons, they’re quite sweet. If you don’t have a few Meyers hanging around, use a combination of regular lemon juice and orange juice.

Cherries have a short summer growing season, so you’ll want to make the most of them when they show their cute, plump selves. Here the sweetness of the roasted cherries, the peppery freshness of arugula and the bite of goat cheese with a high note of balsamic vinegar is especially delicious. 

If you’re not familiar with matcha, it’s a finely powdered green tea. And if you’re not familiar with chef Eric Gower, his matcha is to green tea as Dom Perignon is to Champagne. Eric spent sixteen years in Japan learning the customs and history behind one of the healthiest teas on the planet. I took a class with him and he made me a matcha convert; now, every day at 3 p.m. on days when we’re home working, my husband, Gregg, and I stop everything for a few minutes and do a little tea ceremony around this hearty brew. I thank you, Eric, for allowing me to share your matcha method with my readers. We all give you a virtual bow.

This tea is a little like a mother’s gentle belly rub for a sick child, as both peppermint and ginger have qualities that relax the smooth muscles that surround the intestine.

These potato pancakes, unlike the typical holiday fare, are a light delight! Sweet potato, zucchini, onion, egg and spices cooked with just a little olive oil make them especially nourishing, and they reheat beautifully. Shred the basil just before adding it to retain its bright green color. Here’s a convenient way to shred it: Stack the basil leaves, roll them into a cigar shape, and snip it with scissors or cut thin slices with a sharp chef’s knife.

“Tahini” sounds exotic, kind of like Tahiti, but if you can get past the name it’s one of the simplest ingredients in this most basic—but delicious, of course—of dressings.

Beets are the power player here; they contain natural nitrates, which the body turns into nitric oxide, which in turn expands the walls of blood vessels and increases blood and oxygen flow to benefit the brain and other parts of the body.

Sometimes I feel more like a mad scientist than a cook. That’s what soup making and a pantry full of ingredients can do to you. Here I’ve created a hybrid of chicken and miso soups. The miso matches well with the garlic, ginger, and shitake mushrooms, and it goes in at the end, when the soup is already hot, so it’s probiotics are preserved—great news for your digestion!

There’s something about a chicken and broccoli stir-fry that screams “Chinese take-out!” But this is a healthier and tastier recipe than your standard MSG-fest, so let’s call it “Chinese take-in.” The dark meat’s slightly higher fat content makes for a flavorful, moist dish, so people with throat or mouth issues may find it easier to chew and swallow (though if you prefer, you can substitute an equivalent amount of breast meat). The sauce is thickened with kudzu root, a phenomenal anticancer plant, which is a lot more desirable than the cornstarch found in most carry-out fare. Plus, the sauce blend of tamari, lime juice, ginger, and maple syrup is so delicious that you’ll be able to take that Chinese restaurant off speed dial.

One of the great things about traveling is that it gets you out of food ruts. When you’re in a different part of the country, or of the world, it’s hard to ignore local fare. When an eighty-year-old nonna puts a strange salad in front of you, what are you going to say—“No?” I remember the first time I saw this salad in Italy. My initial reaction was, “Oranges with cracked pepper? Really?!”

A little song, a little dance . . . this is sweet-and-sour doing a delightful tango on the taste buds, with the intense tartness of the pomegranate molasses magnificently mollified by the orange’s mellow sweetness. This vinaigrette partners delightfully with just about any salad that happens to sashay its way.

How do I love thee? By keeping thee at all times on my refrigerator shelf. Seriously. My husband, Gregg, lives on iced tea, and he loves this green chai in particular. Green tea is a real brain-boosting food, and here we up the ante by adding ginger, cinnamon, and coriander, all of which have top-notch anti-inflammatory properties. In our house, this is a go-to for staying sharp throughout the day.

A foodie friend of mine was in the hospital for leukemia treatments when his caregiver called me. Our buddy wasn’t having a great day, and it didn’t help that his doctors were saying he couldn’t have his favorite pick-me-up food, fruit. This is a guy who can eat a quart of strawberries at a sitting. In a sense, the docs were right; raw fruit can contain bacteria, a problem for people with low white blood cell counts that can leave them prone to infection. But I had a solution. I told his caregiver, “He can have fruit; you just have to cut it up and heat it thoroughly to kill off the germs.” The docs had no objections, the caregiver came in with a beautiful medley of stewed seasonal fruit, and my friend was thrilled. So if you’re concerned about raw fruits, this is the recipe for you. The heat, along with a little bit of lemon juice and a pinch of sea salt, breaks down the fruit’s fiber, making it soft but not mushy. I used apricots and cherries here, but any fruit in season will do.

Frittatas are like a quiche without a crust. They’re a classic Italian egg combination, amenable to just about any vegetable you can conjure. People sensitive to temperature enjoy frittatas because they can be served lukewarm or at room temperature. Eggs are also a great source of protein. Mix in a little Simon and Garfunkel—parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme—and a filling frittata becomes an anytime classic.

Visual appeal is a vital though often ignored aspect of good digestion, as a mouthwatering response to the food on your plate prompts greater production of saliva, which helps break down food from the moment it hits your tongue. When I’m teaching, I like to use quinoa to underscore the importance of appearances. After an unenthusiastic glance at a bowl of cooked plain quinoa, the response is usually “Doesn’t look like much. Kinda tan.” Then we go to work on it, studding the quinoa with tiny green lentils and a blast of color from cucumbers, tomatoes, parsley, and mint that gets people excited about this dish. It looks like an edible painting by the time we’re done. Now that’s my idea of art.