Eating for Mental Health!
On the weekend someone asked me to clarify what I was talking about in my last post. Said I was not that clear. So here is some more detailed information.
All food has physical implications on our sense of health and well-being. Some foods support that sense of well-being and some foods detract from it. We are all aware of foods that promote being overweight, or the development of acne, heart disease, or any of a number of other conditions.
What many of us fail to think about is that there are a large number of foods that have a distinctly negative affect on the brain and how well it is working. Indeed many mood swings and emotional issues can be traced directly to the foods we eat. For example DHA or (docosahexaenoic acid) is the primarily used in our bodies to build brain and nerve structure. EPA or (Eicosapentaenoic acid) is used for neural function. Now this acid is what is called an essential fatty acid and is contained in Omega 3 Fatty acids. But, they also work best if their intake is around 4:1. That is 4 parts of EPA to 1 part of DHA. In England, research is being done on school children who are suffering from Dyslexia and ADHD using these essential fatty acids. One of the outcomes has been that a number of children have remarkable improvements. Most of this improvement appears to be from the trials giving them a daily dose of EPA.
Now if you are on or try a low fat diet you may have or get very little of either EPA or DHA in your diet. Conversely you may eat a high fat diet or even what you think is a healthy diet and have the wrong ratio. This is not to be confused with the ratio of Omega 3 fatty acids to Omega 6 Fatty acids. That ratio should be around 1:4. However some diets the ratio can get as out of balance as 1:25 or even higher. How does this happen? Well most peoples Omega 6 comes from plant oils. Most Omega 3 comes from free range animal meats or nuts such as walnut. In fact free range in almost any meat is healthier for us than farmed. В But remember, this is only one instance and it happens to most of us, so speak to a nutritionist or dietitian about your individual needs.
There are many other foods and nutrients that have an effect on our mental heath. Refined sugars have a detrimental affect on our thinking, so do refined fats and a number of other food ingredients.
However there are also a number of foods and eating patterns that can help us to feel vibrantly alive and aware. To feel and think positively and which help us to avoid depression and other mental health issues.
These foods are often brightly coloured fruits and vegetables. They include Cherries and Blueberries, Carrots and Mandarins, Broccoli and Spinach. Now one of the easiest ways to think about these foods and the affects that they have are that in their unprocessed or raw state they have a strong and vibrant colour. People who eat a broad range of these plants on a daily basis and who eat them with a minimum of preparation tend to have the clearest and healthiest mental states. They also tend to have less depression or other emotional issues.
Please note that I do not include prepared juices in this, I do not support using juices. Juices concentrate energy too well, which is one of our major health issues.
And the cause is that we tend to think of foods in terms of nutrients and energy. We try to avoid foods that have certain meanings for us so some of us avoid seafood, some avoid nuts and seeds. The most common outcome of this tendency is that we overdose on energy and underdose on nutrients.
Many of us eat far too much refined food and not enough unprocessed plant food and free range meat.
Scientific and nutritional research has barely touched on the number of nutrients and nutrient interactions that there are in food. We can say with a great deal of certainty that a deficiency in certain nutrients over a short period of time will cause harm or even death but the total number of nutrients in even a cherry number into the thousands and we only know a few hundred and the interaction of a couple of dozen.
So my best advice is to eat mainly unprocessed plants, and not too much.
Do your self a favour and swap your morning croissant for a handful of blueberries or cherries. Eat a rainbow of colours everyday and refrain from as much processed foods and sugars as you can.
Fran
November 29, 2008
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Tags: clarity, diet, food, Health, mind, Nutrition В· Posted in: Nutrition
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