food

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----- Original Message -----

From: tbayuk@...

To: tbayuk@...

Sent: Thursday, February 02, 2006 10:22 AM

How Food Affects Your Mental Health

Two British health organizations have reported that the way food is produced

in the modern age has altered the balance of key nutrients people consume, and

consequently affected mental health.

Less Fresh Food

A smaller amount of fresh food, and more saturated fats and sugars, may be

leading to depression and memory problems. Addressing mental health problems

with dietary changes can show better results in some cases than either drugs or

counseling.

Omega-3's

People are eating 34 percent fewer vegetables and two-thirds less fish

than they did 50 years ago. Fish are one of the few sources of omega-3 fatty

acids, which are crucial to brain health, in the human diet.

These changes may be linked to depression, schizophrenia, attention

deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Alzheimer's disease.

Mental Health Foundation (UK)

BBC January 16, 2006

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Dr. Mercola's Comment:

Conventional medicine is finally starting to appreciate just how much eating

the right types of foods affects your mental health.

Both of these British organizations agree with my position that the

ways foods are processed and produced -- as fast food and genetically modified

crops for example -- have significantly diminished the number of nutrients you

eat, leading to potentially serious mental health issues.

Your body was designed to eat natural foods as they are found in

nature. Processed foods -- containing high quantities of:

a.. Trans fats

b.. High fructose corn syrup

c.. Artificial sweeteners

d.. Additives, preservatives

... have created an epidemic of degenerative diseases in the modern

world.

I would urge a return to the foods of your Paleolithic ancestors.

Those are the foods that the human body adapted to over many hundreds of

generations, long before fairly recent (in evolutionary terms) farming

techniques loaded our diet with simple sugars and carbohydrates.

If you really want to be healthy, reduce or eliminate grains and

sugars from your diet, and eat the foods you evolved to eat.

It still perplexes me, however, to know that some conventional

medicine " experts " still shy away from making the connection between food and

mental health, even though omega-3 fats -- specifically those found in a

high-quality fish or cod liver oil, since fish itself contains too much mercury

-- are a proven natural tool for fighting depression, and a folic-acid-rich diet

has been found to slow a patient's mental decline.

And, if you don't think you can afford to make the transition to

whole food living, review Colleen Huber's awesome piece comparing the prices of

organic and processed foods

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Regards,

Tom