This is a common mis-perception. We are often told that foods are low fat, and we have been taught over a period of years that low fat diets are good diets. Unfortunately this is normally both untrue and dangerous for our health.

There are two major reasons for this, there are many other reasons but for now I will stick with the major 2.

Low fat foods usually do not taste as nice on our palate. This means that they are often loaded with sugars, simple carbohydrates or salts, to improve the taste. If you compare labels you will often find that the low fat version has a higher calorie count than the normal food and higher levels of salts and sugars. This means that we have to work harder or exercise for longer to burn of this food. It is more likely to cause us to gain weight and it also overloads our bodies, causing gut/digestive problems, blood sugar and insulin spikes and fatigue as the sugar spike drops and we think that we are hungry again.

The second issue is probably more important of most people who are wanting to live a longer and healthier life. Much of the structure of our cells, including the cell walls, this includes our nerve and brain cells, are made from lipids (fats). Now,because our bodies store energy in the form of fats many people assume that fats are bad for us. Unfortunately this is nowhere near being true. The 2 main issues that we have nutritionally are too much energy in our foods with too few healthy oils/fats and lack of activity (which has little to do with our food).

These lipids have a number of different types, but they all have a number of things in common. They are made up of chains of hydrogen and carbon atoms, they are very energy rich. And having a large variety of forms the are incorporated in the structure of our body as well as being one of our major energy storage units.

• When we are thinking or using our minds we use a great deal of a fat called EcosaPentanoic Acid (Epa).
•  The structure of our brains uses a lot of DocosaHexaenoic Acid (Dha) and if levels of that drop we start to have structural issues in the brain. 
• The walls of our cells include, and are largely made of, a type of fat called a phospholipids.
• Cholicalciferol (Vitamin D) is used in our brain and a lack of it can cause depression as it is used by our brain to send messages.

So you can start to see that fats are an essential part of the makeup of our bodies. As such the need to be an integral part of our diet. So even if you are on a weight loss diet you cannot afford to too little fats in your diet.

Where do we get healthy fats from? That is a really good question. And the answer is never in processed foods. All of these fats are very reactive and if the food is processed, they will oxidise in the presence of air, heat and light. This will turn them in to trans-fats, which are unhealthy. So I recommend that you eat as little processed food as you can. What we need to do is to start looking at unprocessed form food that include these fats.

Now there are some really good sources. The major one is one that most people never think of when it comes to fats. The cell walls of plants!! Plants not only contain starches and fibre but the wall of the cells are made up of lipids in much the same ratio as our cells. So plant material is great especially dark leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables are great too, broccoli, chard, cabbage, spinach. These should make up a large percent of your diet. (An added benefit is that it is almost impossible to eat enough of these to put on weight and the chlorophyll is a great source of Magnesium) Also fruits and tubers, sweet potatoes, carrots. Vine plant like pumpkins and other squash. All of these are in your grocery shops and if unprocessed are a great source of these essential fatty acids.

Next comes nuts and seeds, I do not include peanuts as they are legumes rather than true nuts or seeds. But do include flaxseed, pumpkin as well as nuts such as Almond, Walnut, Brazil and Hazel.

Finally there is meat. Meat can be a great source of essential fatty acids, but beware, many farmed meats are modified by lack of exercise and poor diet so that the meat has little nutritional value for you. The best meat for you is either wild or game meat. If you do not like wild meat then consider range grown animals. The major thing is to avoid meats that have been raised on grain or in pens. These meats have a balance of fats and other nutrients that can vary wildly from what we are evolved to eat. The fat ratio's can make our bodies acidic and unhealthy.

So in summary try to stick to large amounts of unrefined plants, some nuts and seeds and meat. These will give us most of the essential fats that our body needs and avoids most of the toxic fats that go into processed foods.

One more thing. Our bodies can produce vitamin D so get out there in the sun. I do not mean go and sun-bake for several hours at a time but definitely suggest as much healthy exposure to sunlight as you can, even if that means a tanning salon for an hour or two each week.

Bye for now and feel free to keep the questions coming.

Fran.

So with your permission and questions, and please ask questions, lets start.  

Most people who think of a healthy mind think of either motivation or psychiatry, but a healthy mind is far, far more than that. Because a healthy mind is what creates and shapes our world, it is the absolute foundation for health and wellbeing. As such it is worthy of a lot of thought.

There are three general areas to consider when looking at when considering the mind. Firstly, there is the purely physical attributes to consider. Our brain is a major resource user for our body, so we need to consider, nutrition, rest, sleep, leisure and work.

Secondly there is the mental aspect of our minds, so we need to consider things like recreation and education. We also need to consider what goes into our minds, like sports, news, complaints, what we read, ETC and decide whether we need to do cleaning or balancing of our input.

Finally we have the spiritual aspect of our mind. This may be religion or it may mean something else but there is an aspect of every person that is about something outside of us, that is indefinable.
These three areas only define broad boundaries of issues to consider when looking at the concept of a healthy mind.  The reason that I use these three in particular is because they give us tools to measure our success in each area. Because we have emotional feedback mechanisms for each area to tell us that everything is working well.
For the physical plane we experience pleasure if everything is working well. For the mental plane we experience happiness if everything is working well and for the spirit we have the experience of joy.
If there is something happening that thwarts or impeded our forward progress in that area we can know that by the lack of positive emotional feedback in that area. This principle operates across our whole range of experience and is a useful general principle to defining areas of our lives that require attention to be operating at peak efficiency and effectiveness.
Ooh, boy. Just looking at this list and realizing that this could become a rather large blog. There are a lot of issues to cover. So I will not start on details yet.
While we are still looking generally at a healthy mind, I would urge you to consider what a healthy mind looks like to you. We are not talking here about lack of disease or illness, so much as we a re talking about having the resource to creatively manage our worlds. There is a great quote that I read, I will try and locate the source, which says, “pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.”

I believe that what is being spoken about here is our perception or perspective of the world in which we live. There are always going to be challenges and issues to deal with. How and why we deal with them will have a huge impact on our ability to continue into a positive future. So a person may have depression or may be dealing with trauma or bereavement but can still maintain a healthy mind in the face of these issues. So please do not consider that I am not speaking to you. There are a number of outlandishly happy and well adjusted people out there. However this blog is aimed at those of us who have issues that we need help with, me included.
So come on a journey with us exploring interesting, and sometimes strange concepts about our mind and what we can do to positively support it.