Northstar Unplugged #025: Annie Fenn, MD: food’s role in promoting brain health & prevention of Alzheimer’s
Dr. Annie Fenn is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist specialized in menopausal health. After practicing medicine for 20+ years in Jackson, WY, she began focusing on health care through the lens of diet and lifestyle. She traded her stethoscope for a chef’s coat 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, an 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. 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 and as a frequent Visiting Chef at Rancho La Puerta.
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 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 also serves on the Scientific Advisory Council for the Alzheimer’s Research and Prevention Foundation.
A 25-year resident of Jackson, Wyoming, Dr. Fenn partners with her 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.
Resources:
Website: Brain Health Kitchen
Free monthly Brain Health Kitchen Newsletter
Instagram: @BrainHealthKitchen
Facebook: @Brain Health Kitchen
Annie’s blog
Hara Hachi Bu: Okinawans’ practice of eating until they’re 80% full
Intermittent fasting
paper referenced by Annie about coconut oil raising LDL and cardiovascular risk factors
Annie’s recommended books:
The New Rules of Aging Well (Lipman & Claro)
Hidden Valley Road (Kolker)
The Murmur of Bees (Segovia)