Dietary Psychiatry

Live Right Now - Episode 014 - Dietary Psychiatry

Dietary Psychiatry: malnutrition and cognitive function

After locking my keys inside the car while it was still running and Sandra rolling over one morning asking, “Who are you and why are you in my bed”; both in our early 70’s, we acknowledged our mental health is indeed fading. But seriously, there is mounting acceptance on the use of food and supplements to provide essential nutrients as part of a treatment for mental health disorders relating to depression, cognitive function, and dementia. As we age, memory blips will increase, although you needn’t put out the welcome mat.

Widespread senior malnutrition in America is serious biz. According to the National Resource Center on Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Aging, 1 in 4 older Americans has poor nutrition… in America, in the 21st century.

Looking back, I’m certain the quality of Mom’s late life would’ve have been richer if she’d chosen or been encouraged to eat more than a processed deli turkey sandwich on nasty white bread with Miracle Whip and a sweet pickle every day, 365 days a year. A paper napkin has more nutrition for goodness sake. Saturated fat, white flour, chemical preservatives, and sugars fertilize mental decline and starve the cells of much needed vitamin nutrition.

All life’s food choices profoundly affect their mental health. The NIH reports a lack of wholesome vitamin nutrition from fresh, not canned, frozen or processed institutional food, contributes to the onset of poor mental health in people suffering from anxiety and depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

Because we’ve become somewhat disconnected from the garden since the Industrial Revolution and plugged in to “Man’s egoic genetically manipulated version of a garden”, modern seniors are woefully deprived in foods and nutrients considered “brain food”: omega-3 fatty acids from cold water fish, flax and chia seeds, walnuts, cholesterol (yes cholesterol), D-3, B-complex, especially B12.

Regarding cholesterol, aka, brain food, at least a dozen reports show the risk of suicide may be substantially higher in people with low cholesterol. In a French study that tracked 6,393 men, published in the September 1996 issue of the British Medical Journal, those with low cholesterol were three times more likely than the other men to kill themselves. A link between low cholesterol and depression has turned up in other studies. Hmm? cholesterol was never really the health boogeyman the medical community made it out to be. Your brain needs cholesterol to grow new nerve cells and for these nerve cells to work properly. And when your brain is deprived of cholesterol, things don’t go so well up there. In fact, researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center say without enough cholesterol, you may even develop serious brain diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Of course, "Physical exercise has the best evidence for preserving memory and mental function with aging," says R. Scott Turner, MD, PhD, director of the Memory Disorders Program at Georgetown University Medical Center

In a world where we’ve been programmed to let others form our thoughts and opinions, we’ve long forgotten who calls the shots and knows what’s best, and it’s not a food corporation. We’ve departed the road of nutritional righteousness: disconnected earth’s apothecary. It’s happened so slowly we’ve not noticed how far we’ve strayed from the perfect plant-based diet or cells understand. Man cannot outsmart the mechanics of a universe he’s incapable of understanding and will never improve on Mother Earth.

During this magnificent golden period of your life, give extra consideration to what foods you choose to eat.  You were gifted one strong, sacred and beautiful temple by the One Divine Mind. Embrace it with dietary self-love. Choose to focus your thoughts on remaining the clear-headed, beautiful unique being you are for as long as you can and not lock your keys in the idling car or waking up next to a stranger.

https://www.webmd.com/men/features/can-your-cholesterol-be-too-low-feature#1

https://theconversation.com/why-nutritional-psychiatry-is-the-future-of-mental-health-treatment-92545?utm_medium=ampemail&utm_source=email  

https://pilotonline.com/inside-business/news/columns/article_42cec91a-7158-5d52-92b8-97b46bc145ff.html?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar

 

FACTORS LEADING TO NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY AND INSUFFICIENCY

• A divorce from nature-disconnected to source
• Start paying attention to how eating different foods makes you feel — not just in the moment, but the next day. Try eating a “clean” plant food diet for two to three weeks.
• Cut out all processed foods and sugar.
• Add fermented foods like kimchi, miso, sauerkraut, pickles, or kombucha.
• try going dairy-free —
• Some feel better when their diets are grain-free. See how you feel. Then slowly introduce foods back into your diet, one by one, and see how you feel.
• Studies show when people take probiotics (supplements containing the good bacteria), their anxiety levels, perception of stress, and mental outlook improve, compared with people who did not take probiotic (Lancet and Harvard.)

 

Vitamin DEFICIENCY / INSUFFICIENCY.

FOLATE

• Folate is especially promising for depression-Dark leafy greens, asparagus, broccoli and cauliflower, citrus, beans, peas, lentils, avocado, seeds and nuts, beets.

Omega-3

• Fish oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, a major building block in optimal brain chemistry.
• Americans get adequate amounts of omega-6 fatty acids, we often come up short in omega-3s.
• Without enough omega-3s, "you tend to not transmit nerve signals properly, "When your brain isn't running properly, you can feel depressed or anxious.

VITAMIN D

• Vitamin D helps combat anxiety and depression. A 2008 study of 441 overweight and obese men and women in Norway found that those given 20,000 and 40,000 IUs per week of vitamin D supplements had significantly less depression symptoms after one year than those in a placebo group.

B-COMPLEX VITAMINS

• Mild depression is an imbalance of brain neurotransmitters-natural chemicals that can act as mood enhancers by helping transmit signals between brain cells.
• A 2004 Danish study of 140 people found that those who were clinically depressed had low levels of vitamin B6 in their blood.
• If upping serotonin levels through B6 and B3 doesn't help, turning to vitamin B12 plus folic acid,
• A 2002 Dutch study of nearly 4,000 elderly people backs up this suggestion: Researchers found that many of those who had depression symptoms also had vitamin B12 deficiency.
• Richest among all the vitamin B complex foods are milk, yeast, liver, whole-grain cereals, nuts, eggs, yogurt, fruits, meats and leafy vegetables.
• B-Complex sources: Sublingual B-12
• Pork, berries, legumes, lean meats. Nuts, soy milk (Vitamin B1)
• Eggs, dark green vegetables, fish, grains, lean meat, mushrooms (B2)
• Sunflower seeds, tuna, poultry, potato, cottage cheese, liver (B3)
• Organ meats, avocados, broccoli, mushrooms(B5)
• Green beans, whole grains, spinach, fish, bananas(B6)
• Soy products, egg yolks, fish, organ meats, cheese, sweet potatoes(B7)
• Green leafy vegetables, citrus juice, legumes, tofu, tomato juice (B9)
• Milk, fish, fortified breakfast cereal, eggs, shellfish (B12)

 

For more from Chef Wendell including the “Eat Right Now” books and info on how to book Chef Wendell to speak to your group go to http://www.chefwendell.com.

To connect with the Live Right Now Podcast “like” our Facebook page or email us at LiveRightNowRadio@gmail.com.  

The Live Right Now theme music is “future soundtrack II” by Adam Henry Garcia from the Free Music Archive licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0