The 6 Pillars Of Nutritional Psychiatry

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Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Our diet does a lot for our brain, and we get to choose whether it does a lot of good or a lot of ill

  • Today’s main feature is full of advice from Harvard’s nutritional psychiatrist Dr. Uma Naidoo

  • From what to eat (e.g. colors!) to what not to eat (e.g. UPFs!) and how to eat (e.g. mindful eating and interoception), Dr. Naidoo’s “6 Pillars of Nutritional Psychiatry” are well worth implementing.

• Being unable to easily participate in spoken conversations is not just an inconvenience; it’s also a [causal, fixable] risk factor for age-related cognitive decline.

  • Today’s sponsor, Hear.com, are offering the most cutting-edge dual-processing technology in hearing aids that isolate and separate speech from background noise, now with their latest most advanced device yet!

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

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👀 WATCH AND LEARN

What it feels like to die (5:02)

ASAP Science is here with information based on studying brain scans during the process of death, and also interviewing those who crossed the threshold sufficiently to be considered dead at the time, but were revived later:

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YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

• Fitness In Our Fifties

• The Neuroscience of You (book)

❓ MYSTERY ITEM

It’s A Squeeze

Hint: today’s mystery item can stand in for several different pieces of gym equipment

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

• Hypertension: Factors Far More Relevant Than Salt

• The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Beginners (book)

🧠 MAIN FEATURE

Dr. Naidoo’s To-Dos

This is Dr. Uma Naidoo. She’s a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, professional chef graduating with her culinary school’s most coveted award, and a trained nutritionist. Between those three qualifications, she knows her stuff when it comes to the niche that is nutritional psychiatry.

She’s also the Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at MGH Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School.

What is nutritional psychiatry?

Nutritional psychiatry is the study of how food influences our mood (in the short term) and our more generalized mental health (in the longer term).

We recently reviewed a book of hers on this topic:

This Is Your Brain On Food – by Dr. Uma Naidoo

The “Six Pillars” of nutritional psychiatry

Per Dr. Naidoo, these are…

Be Whole; Eat Whole

Here Dr. Naidoo recommends an “80/20 rule”, and a focus on fiber, to keep the gut (“the second brain”) healthy.

See also: The Brain-Gut Highway: A Two-Way Street

Eat The Rainbow

This one’s simple enough and speaks for itself. Very many brain-nutrients happen to be pigments, and “eating the rainbow” (plants, not Skittles!) is a way to ensure getting a lot of different kinds of brain-healthy flavonoids and other phytonutrients.

The Greener, The Better

As Dr. Naidoo writes:

Tap into Your Body Intelligence

This is about mindful eating, interoception, and keeping track of how we feel 30–60 minutes after eating different foods.

Basically, the same advice here as from: The Kitchen Doctor

(do check that out, as there’s more there than we have room to repeat here today!)

Consistency & Balance Are Key

Honestly, this one’s less a separate item and is more a reiteration of the 80/20 rule discussed in the first pillar, and an emphasis on creating sustainable change rather than loading up on brain-healthy superfoods for half a weekend and then going back to one’s previous dietary habits.

Avoid Anxiety-Triggering Foods

This is about avoiding sugar/HFCS, ultra-processed foods, and industrial seed oils such as canola and similar.

As for what to go for instead, she has a broad-palette menu of ingredients she recommends using as a base for one’s meals (remember she’s a celebrated chef as well as a psychiatrist and nutritionist), which you can check out here:

Dr. Naidoo’s “Food for Mood” project

Enjoy!

A QUICK QUESTION…

We’ll then talk about this on Friday!

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📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Kettlebell Sport & Fitness Basics: Unlocking Strength, Endurance, and Resilience with Kettlebell Sport – by Audrey Burgio

Professional athlete & coach Audrey Burgio covers how to get a full-body workout that will make you stronger and more flexible (there are stretches here too, and many exercises are about strength and suppleness), as well as building stability and balance. In short, more robust and with better mobility.

Which is one of the best things about kettlebell training—unlike dumbbells and barbells, a kettlebell requires the kind of strength that one has to use when doing many routine tasks, from carrying the groceries to moving a big pan in the kitchen.

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However, making one's body so robust does require training safely, and the clear instructions in this book will help the reader avoid injuries that might otherwise be incurred by just picking up some kettlebells and guessing.

Bottom line: if you'd like to get strong and supple from the comfort of your own home, this book can definitely lead the way!

Click here to check out Kettlebell Sport & Fitness Basics, and see the difference in your body!

May today see you happy and healthy in every way,

The 10almonds Team