Optimal Mental Health is related to Metabolic Health
Conventional treatments for mental health do not usually address metabolic health or diet. Many simple diagnostic tests can be conducted to reveal nutrient deficiencies, gut dysbiosis, or to detect markers of metabolic disease that are associated with depression, anxiety, rigid and disruptive behavior. Based in part on the results of testing, targeted changes in diet and lifestyle serve to break stubborn, long term cycles of anxiety and depression.
Heart surgeon Phil Ovadia MD discusses about how he learned about the importance of metabolic health only after he finish medical school and was a practicing heart surgeon. He outlines different ways to eat metabolically healthy, including giving options for people with different approached, including carnivore, Mediterranean, vegetarian and vegan.
Groundbreaking book that documents research and clinical case studies of individuals who reverse yearslong disorders like depression, anxiety, OCD, Bipolar and Schizophrenia. According to the evidence, all metabolic disease is linked to disorders of mitochondrial functioning.
Coming in January 2024, this is another book that highlights the connection between diet and mental health. Georgia Ede MD is apioneer in this field who is responsible for publishing much of the research on this topic with worldwide relevance.
Chris Knobbe MD is the founder of the Cure AMD foundation (Age-related macular degeneration). He learned that AMD, a disease that first started appearing in the middle of the 20th century, is reversible and or treatable with diet and lifestyle changes. He has been studying the diets and lifestyle habits of populations across the world and has found that these 'Diseases of Civilization' begin to develop only after populations begin to add processed food to their diets.
James Greenblatt MD outlines his approach to treating ADHD. As a psychiatrist, Dr Greenblatt prescribes medication, however he points out that medication side effects as well as lack of effectiveness of medication is often associated with vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Correcting these deficiencies serves to reduce or eliminate side effects, reduce the total amount of medication required, or reduces the need for any medication at all.
Ben Bikman PhD goes deep into the science of why we get sick. In this important book, he outlines how insulin resistance is a main link or driver of chronic disease. Diabetes, Type 1 and 2 result from insulin resistance in the body, while Alzheimer's is often called type 3 diabetes as it is associated with insulin resistance in the brain. There are lots of links between his theory and those proposed by Chris Palmer MD in Brain Energy and Chris Knobbe MD in his work. In short, insulin resistance makes it harder for glucose to enter the mitochondria. Insulin resistance is caused in part by elevated levels of sugar and carbohydrate consumption, and it is also likely caused by the consumption of industrially refined 'seed oils' .
Amy Berger MS outlines how to safely implement a low-carb and high-fat diet for the treatment of Alzheimer's, mild cognitive impairment and other disorders of aging.
Loads of sugar-free and low-carbohydrate recipes. Plus, the first chapter is a great reference for important dietary principles including child protein requirements, which fats to prioritize and/or avoid, and the differences between various protein sources (spoiler alert, all protein is not equal!).
An inspiring story about both Autism recovery and Prevention. Dara and her family approached the healing process as a family, which is the only way to go in my opinion. This led to health improvements in both Dara and her husband along with a reversal of her son's autism. Through the successful application of these principles, she may have also prevented Autism from developing in her second child. There is no way to prove this, of course, but it makes sense since it has been demonstrated repeatedly in the scientific literature that poor parental metabolic health leads to increased incidence of Autism, ADHD, Intellectual disability and other conditions.
An inspiring story about healing autism that outlines different treatment options and how parents can help recover or optimize functioning in children with Autism.
Watch Dr. Ferrera and Casey Ruff discuss the importance of making dietary changes for Autism and other conditions and the universal principles of dietary change that lead to improvements in metabolic and mental health:
with Casey Ruff and John Ferrera PhD
Watch Dr. Ferrera and Dr Ovadia discuss the link between metabolic and mental health:
with Phil Ovadia, M.D. and Jack Heald