http://www.care2.com/greenliving/comfort-food-for-your-brain.html
Comfort Food for Your Brain
By Mark Hyman, MD. Experience Life
Silent Suffering
Our society is experiencing an epidemic of brain problems depression, anxiety, memory loss, brain fog, attention-deficit disorder (or ADD), autism, and dementia, to name a few and yet almost no one is talking about it. Unlike obesity, which you can’t hide, psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety (as well as brain dysfunctions that fall on the lighter side of the broken-brain continuum, such as mood swings, anger or just feeling a bit anxious or depressed most of the time) are often suffered silently, hidden from view. Yet such problems touch nearly everyone, either personally or through family members and friends.
The numbers tell the story: An estimated 40 million people in the United States experience some sort of anxiety-related disorder. As many as 20 million suffer from depression. The use of antidepressants has tripled in the last decade.
Most psychiatrists and neurologists focus solely on their favorite organ, the brain, using medications and psychotherapy, and ignore the rest of the body. But what if the cure for many brain disorders lies outside the brain? What if mood, memory, attention and behavior problems, and most other brain diseases have their root cause in the rest of the body in treatable imbalances in the body’s key systems?
I’m not suggesting that nutrition is the only effective approach in treating mood and mental-health disorders. If the body is in balance and brain or mood problems still persist, then working with the psycho-emotional and spiritual dimensions of these problems through therapy, for example- is critical. And yet only about 10 percent of us are nutritionally, metabolically and biochemically balanced enough to fully benefit from psychotherapy. What’s more, years of psychoanalysis or therapy will not reverse the depression that comes from profound omega-3-fatty-acid deficiencies, a lack of vitamin B12, a low-functioning thyroid or chronic mercury toxicity.
The bottom line is that nutritional influences affect mood through the body, and they do so powerfully. So optimizing nutrition through mood-calming foods and supplemental nutrients is one of the most important factors in keeping your brain healthy and your mood steady.
In fact, when it comes to dealing with anxiety, moodiness, depression and memory problems, certain healthy foods including a wide array of fats, proteins, carbs and special nutrients help heal and comfort your brain in ways that no drug or other intervention can. And chances are good that you could benefit from eating a whole lot more of these foods more often.
More from Megan, selected from Experience Life (33 articles available)
related stories
-
(4 comments)
-
(1 comment)
-
Robyn
Melissa
Deepak
Eric
Dave
Dr. Brent
Isha
Susan
Delia
Michelle
Wendy
Megan
Hilary
Ann
Judi
Ronnie
Kelly
Lily
Terri
Betsy
Cait
Andrew
Jana
Annie B.
Veronica
15 comments
add your comment »Although getting enough protein in one's diet is essential, be careful of "high-protein" diets/supplements. In a recent article I read online a study linked the development of "brain plaque" to excessive protein intake on a regular basis. These are the plaques that are linked to the onset of altheimers and various other types of dementia. Just abide by the old saying "everything in moderation."
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Thank you for presenting all the information in such a compact form. It took me many years of trial and error to find solutions - some of which I stumbled across here.
By adding Omega-3 capsules to my diet, increasing tryptophan and reducing refined carbohydrates I am pretty much free of blinding headaches and nightly nightmares suffered for over 20 years.
These are just the two most visible benefits too me - there have probably been a lot more too which I haven't yet discovered.
Thank you once again for putting all the information in one succinct form.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Megan, I believe you posted an article on prescription / OTC drugs and the vitamins / essential nutrients they deplete in the body, so that's another good reason to supplement. Stress and sickness also deplete B vitamins which is probably a good reason for the folate among others. For those of you on medication, I advise you to ask your doctor which of your essential nutrients are being depleted by your intake of drugs. Of course, most conventional doctors don't like to talk about natural supplements; they're afraid of offending their drug company gods.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Hi Loretta, I agree with you. Although sometimes anxiety and depression can stem from purely physical causes, too many times it is the result of both emotional trauma and physical causes. Both need to be addressed in healing from this condition.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Julie wrote she had trouble printing the articles, wasting paper. I copy each part to NotePad, then transfer the whole thing to WordPerfect where I can change margins, adjust font, if I want to. No wasted paper at all - I can easily copy the articles to e-mail family and friends. Thanks, Care2, for all the fine ones!
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Juanita, anxiety and depression aren't psychiatric disorders? HA! Try living with them, UNTREATED, and then tell me what is and isn't a disorder.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
I found this article informative and helpful... with one exception: your recommendation to take additional folate. The Center For Science in the Public Interest published an article in their newsletter which says that research is now suggesting that more than 400mcg of folate per day may increase the risk of breast cancer in women, and even that much is a factor in prostate cancer in men. So readers, before rushing out to consume more folate, please do additional research.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
I am so impressed by your article and the research you've done, although not your quote "psychiatric disorders like depression and anxiety" Oh my, these are not psychiatric disorders, but rather, they are normal reactions to our environment, physical, emotional & spiritual. I know you didn't invent this quote. However, it is the problem with our medical profession. They lump all normal responses to our world and feel they must be medicated as they are "disease" either physical or emotional. That is so Not true. Not in your article, but in general "Stress" is misrepresented. "Stress" is not just our emotional reaction to the world, it is also our body's reaction to the food or lack there of, the environment and the toxic emotional stuff coming at us, such as the to do lists and the must have things in our lives. All of which makes your article so compelling. Again Thank You!
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Great article. It reenforces my change of diet. Have been eating a lot of what you talked about and it does improve your well being.Now for the exercise!!
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
For some people it takes great pain and discomfort to get them to change their diets, but unfortunately most people turn to doctors for relief. Then their misery is usually only exacerbated. Pills for the ills lead to more ills and more pills.
Modern medicine and so-called agricultural progress have resulted in more disease and obesity.
Fake meat products and other soy by-product foods are definitely not healthy, especially when made from GMO soybeans.
I wish more people would realize that they can grow mini-gardens to contribute to their health and well-being. A bucket can yield quite a bit of food.
send green star | flag as inappropriate
why is this inappropriate?
Facebook account: