Good Mood Food

We are allowed to have an off day where we feel a bit grumpy, flat or irritable. To experience the full range of emotions is to be human, and we all must learn to sit with uncomfortable feelings at different points in our life. However, depression and anxiety have tripled in the last ten years, which suggests that black moods frequently overwhelm many of us.

The link between nutrition and mental wellness, and the gut- brain connection, is absolutely clear: we must eat well in order to feel well. The gut is, essentially, our most primitive brain. So, when we say we have a gut feeling about something, it is actually quite accurate. The zillions of microbes that colonise our gut (our microbiome) can have either a profoundly positive of negative impact on our mental health. A diet high in sugar & other processed rubbish changes the microbiome, which then affects how our brain functions. An altered microbiome results not only in more anxiety & depression, but also more complex issues like Autism and Schizophrenia.

The following good mood guidelines can very powerfully lead to positive mood changes:

• Fat, Fat, Fat: our brain is composed primarily of fat, especially of the creamy, saturated kind. This means we absolutely need to eat saturated fats- butter, egg yolk, the natural marbled fat in meats, and coconut oil. The omega-3 fats found in oily fish, chia, flax and walnuts are also beautiful for our brains. The fats to avoid are the vegetable oils like soy, corn and canola.

• Greens: Raw leafy green vegetables like baby spinach are rich in folate, which is vital for mental health. More and more people are discovering they have problems with their methylation cycle (an important pathway for neurotransmitter production). High doses of natural folate, and NOT the popular folic acid supplements we buy, can help this.  

• Protein: beef, lamb, fish, chicken and eggs supply the brain with all the building blocks needed or healthy neurotransmitter production. Vegetarians must ensure they eat good amounts of legumes and nuts & seeds in order to access this good protein. In practice, I see many vegetarians who really struggle to maintain a healthy mood- not just because of the protein, but also because of the zinc, iron and Vitamin B12, which is so easily found in animal sources.

• NO processed foods: these are like poison to the brain. If your Grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as food, then you probably shouldn’t eat it! There is NO place for artificial colours and flavours, preservatives, artificial sweeteners or any ingredient that needs a number to identify it in a good mood diet.

• Avoid stimulants: coffee, sugar, cigarettes, alcohol, even cocaine, makes your anxiety or depression temporarily better. However, their effect rapidly wears off and leaves you feeling worse than before. Their harmful effect on mental wellness is well studied.

Fasting

Fasting has been used as a healing practice for thousands of years. Hippocrates, Aristotle, Socrates & Plato all praised the benefits of fasting, and our Grandmothers encouraged us to starve a fever, feed a cold. Essentially, fasting, means abstaining from food. It can be a multiday fast, or it can be skipping a meal a couple of times a week. It can also include fasting on juices, raw foods, rice or broth. There is well-documented evidence that short term fasting conveys a number of health benefits: fat loss; reductions in inflammation, diabetes, ageing, cancer & heart disease; and improved cell longevity.

From an evolutionary perspective, the idea of 3 meals a day for our hunter-gatherer ancestors was unheard of. Food was never in such an abundant supply; humans would feast when it was plentiful, perhaps once a day, and fast the remainder of the time. Consequently, this selected the genes that stored fat, which was vital during times of fasting.  Translate this to now, and the genes that promote fat storage are still working perfectly- only now we have three meals a day plus countless snacks to go with it. The end result is, of course, a huge rise in obesity.

Most of us eat too much, too often. We are stuck in a cycle of relying on sugars from carbohydrates as being the primary fuel source for our body, so we crave sugar every time our stores run low, usually every couple of hours. We need to switch to an alternative fuel source: FAT. Once we start burning fat for fuel, food cravings and hunger disappear, blood sugar levels stabilise, and energy levels are high. Fasting is an excellent way to get the body into fat-burning mode.

The main drawback for most people is that it is perceived as being tedious and difficult. However, it doesn’t have to be! Many people would be familiar with the Intermittent Fasting 5:2 diet (eat freely for 5 days, fast for 2) which has been well publicised & researched. I also suggest a version of this, whereby you simply reduce the window during which you eat; for example, between 9 am – 7 pm, providing a 14 hour fast each day, or from 10am- 6pm, giving a 16 hour fast each day. You need to find what works for you- if you’re naturally not hungry in the morning, then skipping breakfast is fine. Or perhaps it’s better for you to cease your day’s eating by 5 pm, and increase the time you’re fasting overnight.

Regardless of what type of fasting works for you, it is still important to choose the right foods when you do eat. Plenty of good fats from butter, avocado, egg yolk, olive & coconut oil, macadamias & seeds; regular protein from fish & meats; and loads of fresh, multi-coloured vegetables are key. 

Can You Reverse Type II Diabetes?

Diabetes was virtually unheard of before the advent of our modern western diet. Today, the number of people with diabetes is reaching world epidemic proportions: in 2001, 366 million people were officially diagnosed with the disease; by 2050, this is predicted to be over 550 million. This figure is likely to include many people you know.

Type II is by far the more common type of diabetes, and it predominantly affects middle-aged, overweight people. In these people, their body struggles to handle all the sugar in the blood. It produces ever more insulin to get rid of the extra sugar into the body cells, but the cells no longer respond to the insulin. Their insulin level is up to ten times higher than normal which has some unfortunate side effects: it promotes fat storage, weight gain & creates a feeling of constant hunger.

So, what is driving this diabetes plague? In short, SUGAR. Not just the white granules we add to our coffee, but any rapidly-digested carbohydrate that quickly converts to sugar, such as pasta, potato chips& bread.

Treating type II Diabetes

The simplest & most important thing to do is to avoid all sugars & starchy foods i.e. soft drink, juice, pasta, bread, baked goods (flour), cereals,  rice, potato chips, beer, etc. This will bring down your insulin levels, and finally allow you to start losing some weight. It will also raise your energy levels & reduce those hunger pangs.

You can eat freely from the following list:

• Meat: any sort, fat & skin on

• Fish & seafood: especially the oily ones like salmon, herring & sardines

• Eggs

• Natural fats: butter, avocado, coconut oil, olive oil

• Vegetables: plenty of greens, moderate amounts of the starchier vegetables (beetroot, sweet potato, carrot). Avoid white potato & corn

• Nuts & seeds: especially brazils, macadamias & pepitas

• Dairy: full fat Greek yoghurts, cream, cheese. Avoid skim & low fat products.

• Fruit: berries, lemons & lime are fine. All other fruit contains natural fruit sugars which will only spike those insulin levels again.

This style of diet will lower your blood sugar levels relatively quickly. Avoiding high blood sugars means that, over time, you’ll need less of the medication you may be taking to lower it, so make sure you monitor your levels regularly.

Bone Broth

If you had to choose a food that was richest in healing minerals, you couldn’t go past bone broths. These are extraordinarily rich in minerals and amino acids that offer some important health benefits. In traditional meat-eating societies importance was given to eating the whole animal, and the bones were especially revered for their health-giving properties. Most of us would remember a Granny or mother making us chicken soup when we were sick, and for good reason.

Bone broth (or stock as it sometimes called) is simply made from water, seasonings, vegetables and bones with or without meat on them, beautifully

simple to prepare and very inexpensive.

The healing benefits of bone broth are numerous, with particular emphasis on gut health, joints & bones, skin and the immune system. Bone broth contains minerals in a highly bioavailable form (i.e. in a form the body can absorb easily)— calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons- just the stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, which are often sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.

Bone broth has a powerfully healing effect on the gut. With our modern diets tending to be high in sugar & carbohydrates and low in healthy fat and minerals, the inner lining of the intestinal tract becomes inflamed and leaky. This predisposes us to all manner of illnesses, including IBS, allergies, autism, depression & migraines. Bone broth is a fundamental principle of the GAPS diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) by Natasha Campbell-McBride, which aims to heal and seal the gut as the primary treatment for all these disorders.

BONE BROTH RECIPE

This is borrowed from the wonderful book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. There isn’t a wrong way to make the broth- the bones, meats & vegetables can be varied.

1. Fill up a large soup pot with pure, filtered water.

2. Add 2 tbspns vinegar, plus 2 chopped carrots, 1 chopped onion and 3 stalks celery. (The vinegar is important to draw the minerals out of the bone)

3. Place a whole chicken into the pot; bring to a boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and let simmer.

4. The meat should start separating from the bone after about 1.5 hours. Simply remove the chicken from the pot and separate the meat from the bones. This meat is soft and yummy; perfect to add to salads, sandwiches etc. Place the carcass back into the pot and continue simmering the bones for as long as possible (ideally another 12-24 hours)

5. Add some fresh parsley about 10 minutes before finishing the broth; this will add further healthy minerals to your broth.

6. Remove remaining bones from the broth with a slotted spoon and strain the rest through a strainer to remove any bone fragments.