Tagged With "mental"

Raw fruits and vegetables may play a role in improving mental health, according to a new study by the University of Otago. Researchers have found that people who eat more uncooked produce tend to have fewer symptoms of depression and other mental illness, compared to those who eat cooked, canned or processed versions. More than 400 people aged between 18 and 25 were asked about their typical consumption of fruit and vegetables, including which varieties they ate and how they were prepared.

"Once we've sourced our food, the next step is preparing it. This part of the process can also be an avenue for enhancing teen mental health – particularly when young people approach cooking as a creative activity that they enjoy doing with and for others. A recent study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology followed more than 650 young adults. Each day, they reported how much time they spent on creative activities and how they felt that day. The researchers found that the...

This NPR story shares recently released study supporting what we know in our bones: humans thrive with connection to nature. Read more here: Replacing vacant lots with green spaces eases depression . This study is hot off the press: " Effect of Greening Vacant Land on Mental Health of Community-Dwelling Adults: A cluster randomized trial. " "The impact was strongest for residents of poorer neighborhoods — they showed at least a 27.5 percent reduction in the prevalence of depression." "The...

The link between poor mental health and nutritional deficiencies has long been recognized by nutritionists working in the complementary health sector. However, psychiatrists are only now becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of using nutritional approaches to mental health.

This is an important disclaimer from the article: "Obviously, this study isn’t claiming a cause-and-effect link between what you eat and your mental health status. Depression can’t be caused by a lack of vitamins or cured by a surplus. It simply says that there’s an association between what we eat and how we feel." However, I would love to see more research in this area. Original research paper found here .

Of course. I don't believe there are panaceas or "miracle cures" for anything that ails us. I do believe that every little bit that we can do to improve our health matters, though, including eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. That alone won't cure depression, but it can play a big part along with other lifestyle changes and treatments.

It’s 6 p.m. on the patio at Il Moro, a twinkly-lit Italian gastro pub in West Los Angeles, and Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole are intuitively eating their dinner. They start with warm, crusty bread, liberally dipped in olive oil, and then move on to salad, branzino and the penne tossed with little pillows of burrata that Ms. Resch ordered for the table. In accordance with one of intuitive eating’s 10 principles — “challenge the food police” — neither woman moralizes about the carbs. “The...

Roughly 60 percent of the calories in the average American diet come from highly processed foods. We’ve known for decades that eating such packaged products — like some breakfast cereals, snack bars, frozen meals and virtually all packaged sweets, among many other things — is linked to unwelcome health outcomes, like an increased risk of diabetes, obesity and even cancer. But more recent studies point to another major downside to these often delicious, always convenient foods: They appear to...

To listen to Julia Rucklidge TedTalk, please click here. "In 1847, a physician by the name of Semmelweis advised that all physicians wash their hands before touching a pregnant woman in order to prevent childbed fever. His research showed that you could reduce the mortality rates from septicemia from 18%, down to 2% simply through washing your hands with chlorinated lime. His medical colleagues refused to accept that they themselves were responsible for spreading infection. Semmelweis was...

The British psychologist Kimberley Wilson works in the emergent field of whole body mental health, one of the most astonishing frontiers we are on as a species. Discoveries about the gut microbiome, for example, and the gut-brain axis; the fascinating vagus nerve and the power of the neurotransmitters we hear about in piecemeal ways in discussions around mental health. The phrase “mental health” itself makes less and less sense in light of the wild interactivity we can now see between what...

The brain doesn’t fully develop until about the age of 25. This fact is sometimes quite surprising and eye opening to most adults. It can also be somewhat overwhelming for new parents and professionals who are interacting with babies and young children every day, to contemplate. It is essential to realize however, that the greatest time of development occurs in the years prior to kindergarten. And even more critical to understand is that by age three 85 percent of the core structures of the...

Yes! I have been saying this (to myself mostly) for years. One cannot address ACES if understanding of child development is not part of it.

I like the idea of nutritional psychiatry that takes into account individual needs. I think it's important to not only eat healthy foods, but also take natural supplements that can improve your mood and reduce stress. For example, I read that theanine and vitamins can increase dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain, which promotes relaxation and reduces anxiety. I myself tried gaba theanine from https://www.amazon.com/GABA-Su...eanine/dp/B0BZQBB3CX and felt the difference. I recommend...