[00:00:00] Vesna: today we're going to talk about nutritional psychology and if your food is making you anxious or depressed.
[00:00:50] Now our food choices affect our mental wellbeing. And when I talk about mental wellbeing, for most people, the first thing that pops into their head is that. It's the absence of anxiety or depression, but really mental wellbeing is about reaching our highest potential using our cognitive abilities, our emotional resilience in order to be our best versions of ourselves or hit our peak potential.
[00:01:11] When we think about anxiety or depression, we think about all the external circumstances that create anxiety or depression. And what I want to talk about in this podcast episode is the How there is a lot more internal things going on and imbalances that are really causing the anxiety and depression.
[00:01:28] The first one is glucose control. Now our brain, its main source of fuel, is glucose. and so we need a constant supply, a 24 7 supply of this fuel, glucose. Our brain controls our breathing, our heartbeat, so many different things in the body, even when we're sleeping. So therefore we need to make sure we have Correct glucose control.
[00:01:48] when there isn't enough glucose in the brain, or we have a dysregulation without glucose, those symptoms mimic anxiety and depression. if you have ever had low blood glucose levels or hypoglycemia, if you've gone way too long between meals, or you've been very stressed and you haven't eaten, you may feel irritable, anxious, depressed,
[00:02:08] hangry
[00:02:10] Just not yourself, total lack of concentration and confusion, right?
[00:02:13] So those symptoms mimic anxiety and depression. And that is because our brain needs the steady supply of glucose
[00:02:19] but if for whatever reason we go too long between meals, we have processed foods, we don't have enough protein, it is going to cause. A great big spike in our glucose and then it our glucose very low.
[00:02:31] It's in those low points that we can bring on symptoms of anxiety because when the glucose becomes low. it's kind of an alarm signal for the body. It floods the body with stress hormones to increase that glucose back up again.
[00:02:43] So when we have normal glucose control, so we eat something, you know, we have our lunch, we have some carbohydrates in there, glucose levels rise, insulin comes in, it pulls that glucose out and it moves the glucose into the cells where we convert it off as energy, except. When we've got this imbalance in this kind of glucose cycle where we have these spikes of glucose, which means that we have spikes of insulin.
[00:03:08] Now we have insulin receptors in the brain, which means that glucose disruption really affects our mental health.
[00:03:14] So I see this in my clients who are exhausted, overstressed, burnt out. They struggle, their body struggles to maintain correct glucose control. So they're going to feel those symptoms when they go too long between meals. The other thing is because we do have insulin receptors in the brain. If someone has insulin resistance, they're more likely to have a correlation with anxiety and depression.
[00:03:37] And in fact, they are calling dementia the type 3 diabetes. Okay, so it's all about this glucose control and how much it affects our brain and our mood and our mental well being.
[00:03:48] here, our diet choices really matter. If we're eating junk food, sugary foods, soft drinks, Yes. things that are high in sugar or ultra processed foods. That is going to cause a massive spike in our glucose, which is then going to dump us down later and we just kind of live on this rollercoaster.
[00:04:03] And the other thing is if we don't have our meal balanced right? So if you're having carbohydrates for breakfast in the morning carbohydrates would generally hold your glucose levels for about an hour and a half. And then they plummet. But if you can add protein to it, so like a protein powder or eggs or things like that, or yogurt and things like that in the morning, your glucose levels will stay stable for about three to four hours and you're not getting these dramatic drops.
[00:04:27] Again, this is really important because I see in my community, women who have these anxiety symptoms, who feel very, very tense and overstressed and overwhelmed. And as soon as we start improving the protein in the meals and adding more regular meals, eating every three to four hours initially, it really balances that glucose level and the brain has a sense of balance.
[00:04:47] Steady supply of fuel, and so therefore, it's able to keep up with the production of neurotransmitters, the chemicals in our brain that helps us to feel relaxed and feel good.
[00:04:56] The second huge impact to anxiety and depression is actually our gut health that may seem a little bit out fair rhyme, but really it's very much proven, the gut brain axis. So our digestive system is connected to our brain by the gut, brain axis or the vagus nerve. so what we are finding is that when there is.
[00:05:15] Gut derived inflammation or leaky gut. when the gut lining becomes compromised know, we have 70 percent of our immune system around our gut as it's compromised the immune system triggers inflammation Which becomes whole body inflammation including the brain and it's throwing out the neurotransmitters It's called an inflamed brain and it's leading to anxiety depression psychiatric disorders So what do we do here?
[00:05:40] Right? So how do we fix a leaky gut? I did talk about that in a previous episode on gut health, but what you want to look at here is removing the foods which are inflammatory, which are really going to irritate the gut and prevent the gut from healing. whether or not you're sure you have leaky gut or not, and sometimes people can be completely asymptomatic, but if you have an aspect of anxiety or depression or mood disorders or low mood.
[00:06:04] You really want to take a look at improving your gut health, and it can be as simple as removing the inflammatory foods. The big ones are wheat or gluten, because it really breaks down the gut. Wheat is very hard to digest. It's GMO wheat now as well, okay? And processed foods, and even milk, normal milk.
[00:06:22] The casein, the protein in the milk is harsh on the digestive lining and creates more inflammation. So, they become barriers to your gut being able to heal itself. Then reducing the inflammation and taking all that inflammation out of the brain so therefore your brain can regulate its neurotransmitters Which are basically your happy chemicals in your brain.
[00:06:41] Now the third one is overthinking what happens is we get in this habitual pattern we get stuck in this state of overthinking So I have a lot of women say to me my head just doesn't shut up. There's so much noise in there You I've constantly got something on my mind.
[00:06:55] There's something that I'm always worried about. Or I just feel constantly overwhelmed. And that level of, I guess, too much thinking, it kind of burns the brain out, right? So it's using a lot of the neurotransmitters, it's draining a lot of the neurotransmitters, and they can't be replaced in time.
[00:07:12] Okay? So neurotransmitters are meant to balance the brain from, you know, revving us up and slowing us down, and then when they become exhausted and we can't rely on those, we can't regulate our mood and we can't. relax or soothe our anxiety or elevate our mood naturally because those chemicals are gone If you relate to these symptoms of overthinking and being overstressed, and a lot of our stress is mental and emotional stress, if you relate to that, then you'll need to look at ways to reduce that.
[00:07:39] you know, the biggest thing that we do is we kind of get stuck in these thought traps. We get triggers and we dwell and we dwell and we tap into these analytical mind of ours. We just kind of spins in a loop it's that loop that keeps stress hormones activated all day long, which means. We need higher amounts of glucose, then higher amounts of insulin, which is going to lead to insulin resistance.
[00:08:01] But it's really going to disrupt brain activity and just burn a lot of these neurotransmitters that we need for a healthy, happy mood.
[00:08:08] So those are my tips. The first ones are really nutritional psychology. So really looking at your glucose control in your brain, looking at the foods that you may already have that are sugary, that are processed, carbohydrates. Sugars, junk food, confectionery, cakes, biscuits, soft drinks, even eating out, right?
[00:08:26] the condiments are full of sugary foods. That is going to throw out your brain chemistry. Okay, it's going to throw out your glucose control, affect your brain chemistry, and affect the insulin receptors leading to insulin resistance. And all that means is that our mood is going to be up and down, and eventually it can just stay quite low.
[00:08:42] The second one is the gut brain axis. So looking at how the gut is connected to the brain. Removing the inflammatory foods which are preventing the gut from healing itself And the third one is to rein in that overthinking, find better ways to not get caught up in those thought traps, not get caught up in the ways that when you get triggered, Okay. That your brain stays stuck on that thought and replays it as a loop.
