So over the past few years of teaching anatomy and physiology to college students it became very apparent we eat like crap. Like all of us... Every morning on the way to the school to teach I would get a coffee and some little snack at McDonald's. (Not that I want to pick on McD's, actually like the food on occasion. It reminds me to eat better by the way I feel afterwards).
I have always been interested in the nutritional aspects of health whether it was physical, chemical or emotional health. I mean, chemical health is all the aspects of your hormones, neurotransmitters, and cell structures and abilities as they should work normally. Healthfully...
This brought me years ago to pro-biotics, when it was still considered 'witch craft' by some and just plain quackery by others. I was into making Kombucha at home. It went crazy and I couldn't give the stuff away because my 'scoby' had over produced and I had to get used wine bottles to get the stuff contained. I also made home made sauerkraut, that was easy and fun, but still always seemed to make way more than I could use myself. I did notice that I felt better with that in my diet. I included Miso, and Natto (a fermented soybean delicacy... well I think it is... everyone else thinks its gross).
Now we are starting to broadly accept and understand that there is an entire 'biome' not only in us but on and around us. We are like a little planet. We have environments and areas of different species etc. (check out this great NPR animation... https://youtu.be/5DTrENdWvvM )
That is the animation I use in my class when the computers work!
I recently went to a licensing seminar which was focused towards nurses and other practitioners such as dentists and medical doctors. It was basic for what my understanding already was, including the 'fecal transplant procedure' which has not gone so well in human trials. It basically is exactly what you think. In a clinical setting, fecal material (poop) is taken from a 'healthy subject' and 'processed' then transplanted in a clinical setting (I assume this means sterile and all that) into the rectum of the more 'ill' person. The idea is that the healthy person's biome or flora will populate the ill person's body and therefore make them healthier. In fact this idea is not that uncommon... since kissing is really a symbolic reception of food from the mother... (you know you were not just breast fed until one day you jutted into steaks and stuff. You needed pre-chewed food and the best way to do that was mouth to mouth... Later we see (mostly in movies, but there is some truth to it) a bowl of water passed around (Vikings) at a table to rinse their faces, drink, clear their noses etc... You can watch the series Vikings or you can watch the 13th Warrior and see it in action. That too spread the biome from person to person enhancing them and keeping them similar and therefore healthy. Lastly you can now see in some cases, especially those births that have doulas or midwives present, cesarean births will have vaginal fluids from the mother swabbed in the newborn's mouth, nose, eyes etc, as this populates the newborn with the mother's outer biome...
Anyway. We find that the internal and external flora can have something to do with depression, anxiety and other mental illness. It is assumed that since the biome can help make serotonin having the Vagus nerve and the enteric nervous system 'pick that up' or sense it helps us be more happy and calm.
https://www.longdom.org/scholarly/nutritional-psychology-journals-articles-ppts-list-3729.html
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/09/food-mental-health
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-201511168626
Nutritionally speaking though, when we talk about mood, we also need to have a chance to look at the neurotransmitters and hormones that have to do with mood. Basically; Serotonin, Dopamine, Nor epinephrine, Endorphins, and others that regulate and determine 'mood'. Basically if you have no building blocks of these chemicals you cannot make them.
So here are the ones that make a difference based on articles and research I have read.
1. Magnesium (helps in neuron conduction and relaxation)
2. Vitamin D3. (Helps with the production of melatonin for sleep as well as serotonin and dopamine)
3. Fish oils or other Omega 3-6-9 oils that help with nerves and the processing of many nutrients.
4. Calcium (this is used by the nerves and as a buffer for acids in the body)
5. Water... yea. water... it is what EVERYTHING is mixed with and produced with..
6. Zinc (has to do also with the maintenance of cells an such)
here is a link to an article about that.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5492454/
Basically, the above six care helpful in many other ways. If you are taking any psychotropic drugs or medications prescribed for anxiety, depression or even bipolar disorder (for which I suggest you supplement Pellegrino water which has lithium in it. A typical drug for bipolar disorder).
We have now added all of these to my and my families diet. We are happy and healthy,,, at least we are getting there. Turns out, taking the proper supplements can help you eventually get off many drugs or at least get them decreased over time with your counselor.
Good luck, and be healthy.
I just had to get this all off my mind.
Also do your stretches!
Dr. Sean
I have always been interested in the nutritional aspects of health whether it was physical, chemical or emotional health. I mean, chemical health is all the aspects of your hormones, neurotransmitters, and cell structures and abilities as they should work normally. Healthfully...
This brought me years ago to pro-biotics, when it was still considered 'witch craft' by some and just plain quackery by others. I was into making Kombucha at home. It went crazy and I couldn't give the stuff away because my 'scoby' had over produced and I had to get used wine bottles to get the stuff contained. I also made home made sauerkraut, that was easy and fun, but still always seemed to make way more than I could use myself. I did notice that I felt better with that in my diet. I included Miso, and Natto (a fermented soybean delicacy... well I think it is... everyone else thinks its gross).
Now we are starting to broadly accept and understand that there is an entire 'biome' not only in us but on and around us. We are like a little planet. We have environments and areas of different species etc. (check out this great NPR animation... https://youtu.be/5DTrENdWvvM )
That is the animation I use in my class when the computers work!
I recently went to a licensing seminar which was focused towards nurses and other practitioners such as dentists and medical doctors. It was basic for what my understanding already was, including the 'fecal transplant procedure' which has not gone so well in human trials. It basically is exactly what you think. In a clinical setting, fecal material (poop) is taken from a 'healthy subject' and 'processed' then transplanted in a clinical setting (I assume this means sterile and all that) into the rectum of the more 'ill' person. The idea is that the healthy person's biome or flora will populate the ill person's body and therefore make them healthier. In fact this idea is not that uncommon... since kissing is really a symbolic reception of food from the mother... (you know you were not just breast fed until one day you jutted into steaks and stuff. You needed pre-chewed food and the best way to do that was mouth to mouth... Later we see (mostly in movies, but there is some truth to it) a bowl of water passed around (Vikings) at a table to rinse their faces, drink, clear their noses etc... You can watch the series Vikings or you can watch the 13th Warrior and see it in action. That too spread the biome from person to person enhancing them and keeping them similar and therefore healthy. Lastly you can now see in some cases, especially those births that have doulas or midwives present, cesarean births will have vaginal fluids from the mother swabbed in the newborn's mouth, nose, eyes etc, as this populates the newborn with the mother's outer biome...
Anyway. We find that the internal and external flora can have something to do with depression, anxiety and other mental illness. It is assumed that since the biome can help make serotonin having the Vagus nerve and the enteric nervous system 'pick that up' or sense it helps us be more happy and calm.
https://www.longdom.org/scholarly/nutritional-psychology-journals-articles-ppts-list-3729.html
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/09/food-mental-health
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-201511168626
Nutritionally speaking though, when we talk about mood, we also need to have a chance to look at the neurotransmitters and hormones that have to do with mood. Basically; Serotonin, Dopamine, Nor epinephrine, Endorphins, and others that regulate and determine 'mood'. Basically if you have no building blocks of these chemicals you cannot make them.
So here are the ones that make a difference based on articles and research I have read.
1. Magnesium (helps in neuron conduction and relaxation)
2. Vitamin D3. (Helps with the production of melatonin for sleep as well as serotonin and dopamine)
3. Fish oils or other Omega 3-6-9 oils that help with nerves and the processing of many nutrients.
4. Calcium (this is used by the nerves and as a buffer for acids in the body)
5. Water... yea. water... it is what EVERYTHING is mixed with and produced with..
6. Zinc (has to do also with the maintenance of cells an such)
here is a link to an article about that.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5492454/
Basically, the above six care helpful in many other ways. If you are taking any psychotropic drugs or medications prescribed for anxiety, depression or even bipolar disorder (for which I suggest you supplement Pellegrino water which has lithium in it. A typical drug for bipolar disorder).
We have now added all of these to my and my families diet. We are happy and healthy,,, at least we are getting there. Turns out, taking the proper supplements can help you eventually get off many drugs or at least get them decreased over time with your counselor.
Good luck, and be healthy.
I just had to get this all off my mind.
Also do your stretches!
Dr. Sean
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032719333713
