Eating for Mind and Body
Why do we eat?
Eating, throughout our history, has been so much more than the simple process of replenishing nutrients and preventing deficiencies. It is indeed crucial for our survival but that is not the sole reason for eating. Eating with a capital E brings to our lives:
- The pleasure of sharing a meal with family or friends
- The rituals surrounding the preparation and serving of food
- Meals accompanying life’s great celebrations
- The comfort of food offered by a friend when we suffer an illness or a loss
- Food is a universal language of love
While ascribing to no particular diet and criticizing no one for their food preferences, it must be acknowledged that many of our food choices have been coopted by Agribusiness, Food Corporations, the Meat and Dairy industries. My own bias is toward mostly plant-based foods and some fatty fish.
What do we eat?
Rather than distinguish between “good” and “bad” foods, it is helpful to categorize food based upon how processed it is, i.e., how close to its original state. Currently, highly processed and ultraprocessed foods comprise about 60% of the average American diet. Why? For convenience, availability and ease of preparation. But in gaining these advantages, what have we lost? Most processed and packaged foods, e.g., sweetened breakfast cereals, packaged sweets and many frozen meals, to name a few, have been linked to health problems. The greatly increased incidences of Type II Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and particular cancers such as colon cancer, have coincided with the shift of the American diet to largely ultraprocessed foods And recent research, confirmed in institutions around the world, implicates a diet high in these processed foods as contributing significantly to mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, ADHD.
The NOVA scale was developed in 2009 by a scientist in Brazil as a way to classify foods. This system has since been adopted by the NIH and the United Nations. Foods are ranked on a scale from 1 to 4, with 4 being the most processed and 1 being closest to its original form.
1. Unprocessed and minimally processed foods: includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, berries, beans, and other legumes. A minimally processed food would be pasteurized milk, frozen vegetables, fermented vegetable or dairy products.
2. Processed culinary ingredients: the result of processing Group 1 foods via pressing, extracting and the use of additives to protect from harmful bacteria. Examples are: oil, butter, sugar, salt, honey, syrup.
3. Processed foods: created by adding group 2 ingredients to group 1 foods. For example, salted nuts, canned fish, fresh bread, cheese, smoked meats and fish.
4. Ultraprocessed foods (UPF): Contain any of a variety of dyes, sweeteners emulsifiers, artificial flavors, hydrogenated fats. In other words, ingredients no one keeps in their kitchen. A few examples are: mass- produced breads and baked goods, most packaged cereals and sweets, snack bars, soft drinks, many frozen food items and pretty much anything on a fast food restaurant menu. These foods have been carefully curated to be both highly palatable and calorie dense, a combination that makes us want to eat them again and again. They are very far from any food in its original form.
A diet high in UPF’s and most animal fat leads to a chronic state of low- grade inflammation in our body. This affects our blood vessels, our brain cells and immune system. The miocrobiome of our intestine, the trillion bacteria, fungi and viruses that coexist with us, thrive on foods high in fiber as well as plant and fish-derived fats. These organisms protect the intestinal lining which houses a huge percentage of our immune and nervous cells. In the absence of these good foods to metabolize, the organisms will instead eat away at the intestinal lining, causing inflammation and irritation. Even more problematic, they will damage the intestinal lining cells that produce and store many neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, thus interfering with emotional regulation as well as increasing the risk of depression and anxiety. And just as meat from animals raised humanely is far better than that from animals kept in confined conditions, force-fed corn, hormones and antibiotics, so also, grains and produce kept close to their natural state are health-enhancing. While there is no one definitive “diet” to follow for mental and emotional health, we can strive to consume MOSTLY whole and partially processed foods. We can still enjoy treats when we choose. As with most activities of life, it is a matter of proportion, not deprivation.
As Michael Pollan famously suggested: “Eat food, mostly plants, not too much.”
References:
The Mind-Gut Connection, Emeran Mayer, MD, , 2016, Harper Collins Pub.
Eat and Flourish, Mary Beth Albright, 2023, W.W.Norton and Co.
Disease-Modifying Nutrition, Dr. Michelle McMacken, 10/17/22, Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast
