Science has shown us that the food we eat can have direct impacts on both our physical and mental health. This has important implications for those that suffer from depression and anxiety.
What is the gut-brain connection?
Anatomically speaking, the vagus nerve connects the gut and brain. From a mental health perspective, 90% of serotonin receptors are located in the gut. It is therefore not surprising that when someone is prescribed an antidepressant symptoms such as nausea or vomiting are common.
To improve mood and anxiety, some people use food-mood interventions along with their medications, and this is effective for mild to moderate depression and anxiety. However they are not likely to affect suicidal ideation or a psychiatric emergency.
Understanding the microbiome:
The human microbiome is a community of different bacteria that inhabit the body and is beneficial to humans. Diseases may occur when the balance between “good” and “bad” bacteria is altered, such as irritable bowel disease, mood and cognitive problems.
Healthy gut bacteria break down complex carbohydrates, are responsible for the production of vitamins and nutrients, protect against pathogens, help train the immune system, support detoxification, and help modulate the nervous system.
Processed foods and the gut:
A study reported that the gut environment (or microbiome) is changed by what we eat and is affected by ultra-processed foods. Processed foods are poor nutritional substitutes to whole foods, and affect the inflammatory processes in the body.
The food industry has continually increased the number of food additives without testing their impact in the microbiome. The findings from this study suggest that reducing processed foods from our diets would help reduce the likelihood of diseases related to inflammation.
Basic Nutrition tips:
1. Eat whole foods and avoid packaged or processed foods.
2. Think of eating an orange rather than drinking orange juice.
3. Instead of a vegetable juice, consider increasing your daily servings of fruits and vegetables.
4. Eat foods rich in fiber.
5. Replace sugary desserts with a serving of fresh fruit and dark chocolate.
6. Avoid processed and packaged foods that are high in food additives that disrupt the healthy bacteria in the gut.
7. To protect our microbiome, include both prebiotic (onions, leeks, asparagus, bananas, garlic, etc), and probiotic foods (yogurt, pickles, kimchi, kombucha, etc).