TITLE

Try These Brain Foods to Improve Your Mood

DESCRIPTION

Can food affect our mood in the sense of improving it when we feel stressed?  Can food affect our feelings of depression?  Are there such things as comfort foods?  “For years research on healthy eating has focused primarily on physical health and the link between diet, weight and chronic disease. But the emerging field of nutritional psychiatry studies how foods can make us feel….Nutritional psychiatrists say food shouldn’t replace other treatments for mental health, including therapy and prescription drugs, but it shouldn’t be ignored either. A number of studies have suggested that dietary changes can lead to meaningful improvements in mood and mental well-being.”  The article highlights a number of studies and includes links to the studies that demonstrate that some types of diets (not the weight loss type) that emphasize healthy eating, such as the Mediterranean diet can have a positive effect on mood. Interestingly, the article describes the studies that have examined the use of comfort foods and provides details of a nicely designed experiment.  Further the article discusses the biome, brain, and neurotransmitters.  Further the article highlights food categories that have been found to be helpful for “mental well being.”  

SOURCE

New York Times, January 24, 2022, by Tara Parker-Pope

LINK TO RESOURCE

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/24/well/eat/brain-food.html?smid=em-share

(Tiny URL)  https://tinyurl.com/yc7b2c4a

CLASS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

•What is nutritional psychiatry?  What is the current belief regarding food and mood (mental well being)?

•What is the myth of comfort food?

•If you were working with a depressed individual in a therapeutic situation, what advice would you give about food?  How would you explain the beneficial effects of certain nutrients on the brain?