Mental Health and Nutrition

More evidence is out regarding the connection of mental health and nutrition.

The healthier your nutrition, the happier you will be!

It seems that inflammation in our gut is responsible for depression and other mental disorders in adults and children.

Some proteins called cytokines drive inflammation and in turn they influence how we feel.

More specifically, there is a mechanism that directly connects inflammation to mental illness. "Interferon-alpha, a cytokine, can cross the blood-brain barrier and start a reaction from the immune defence cells of the nervous system to attack the junctions between nerve cells in the brain."(EurChildAdolescPsychiatry, 2018;23:48:58).

Some food, air toxins, poor sleep, medication and too many vaccinations at once have an impact on the state of our immune system.

Therefore, it is important to lower your inflammatory triggers to help your immune system to calm down. You have control over many of these factors and I urge you to take action.

Manage your nutrition. Finding out what foods cause intolerances can be easily done with a food intolerance test.

What else could you do to lower inflammation through your diet?

*Increase omega 3s in your diet: fish, flax seeds, olive oil

*Cook more with anti-inflammatory spices such as turmeric, fennel, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, sage, rosemary.

*Fermented foods such as yogurt, saurkraut, tempeh, miso soup, kimchi, are good examples to add in your food shopping weekly.

They will improve your microbiome and help decrease inflammation in your system.

Exercise and good sleep are also important to keep you happy and sane. Schedule it in your daily routine!