Dr. Uma Naidoo: The Secret of Mood-Boosting Foods

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

foods, eat, gut brain connection, gut, inflammation, uma, important, mental health, microbes, water, craving, drinking, improve, lemons, cut, finding, called, impact, nutritional, depression

SPEAKERS

Dr. Uma Naidoo, Gemma Toner

Gemma Toner  00:06

Have you had this conversation? A TONE networks podcast.  Hello everyone and welcome to have you had this conversation. I'm Gemma Toner. And today our guest is Dr. Uma Naidoo. Dr. Uma is Harvard train, nutritional psychologist, nutrition specialist and a professionally trained chef Dr. Uma is also the author of this is your brain on food, which is an absolute must read. Thank you so much for being here, Dr. Uma.

Dr. Uma Naidoo  00:39

Thanks so much, Gemma. I looking forward to talking to you. Thank you and Dr. Irma, you specialize in an area of psychiatry that not many people are aware of, can you help us understand the area of nutritional psychiatry? And what does it mean? Because so many of our audience have given us feedback that they're very curious, but they don't seem to know how or what it means. Absolutely. So nutritional psychiatry is the use of healthy whole foods and nutrients to improve your mental well being. And it forms and provides an additional tool in our toolkit to really feel emotionally more fortified and stronger, especially at these times. And uses the evidence base of what the current research has shown us up until this point as to guidance around foods and nutrients that improve mental health, but also those foods that can be worsening of symptoms in mental health as well.

Gemma Toner  01:49

So that's incredible. So we could actually improve our mental health by eating differently. Is that Is that what this field focuses on?

Dr. Uma Naidoo  02:03

Yes, we can not only eat differently, we can eat with awareness and mindfulness, using what we understand from research, to include foods that actually fortify brain health improved symptoms of mood anxiety, and also start to slowly eliminate or cut back on foods that worsen certain symptoms. So can you help us understand how this works that my, my mood and food are connected? Absolutely. So you know, we need to think about the gut brain connection. Here, the gut brain connection explains the food mood connection, very simply put, and the way to think about it is that the gut and brain are four parts of the body, but they are inextricably linked throughout our lives because they originate from the exact same cells. They then divide up and formed the gut to the brain and the body. The gut and brain are also connected throughout our lifetime by the vagus nerve, which is our 10th cranial nerve. And I think of the vagus nerve as a two way superhighway, which allows for chemical messaging between these two organs day and night, like day back and forth. And it never stops. So this chemical signaling will include signaling of neurotransmitters and other substances, which then impact our emotional health. Another way to think about this, Gemma is the food that we eat gets broken down into substances, and the gut microbes, of which the 39 trillion, approximately, in the gut microbiome, are there to break help to break down these foods. And there are both good microbes and bad microbes. And when we eat healthier meals, the good microbes thrive and function from good breakdown products of food called short chain fatty acids. But when we eat less healthy foods, sugar laden foods, fast foods, junk foods, and processed foods, bad microbes thrive, when the bad microbes thrive, they overcome the good microbes. And this is a setup for inflammation in the gut. And over time leads to certain conditions such as leaky gut that people may have heard about, you know, the digestive tract begins in the mouth and ends and our bottom with the way to think about a gym is that they these microbes that live this part of us part of our bodies, part of our system, they're there to help us and we can help them by eating in a slightly better way by improving what we are thinking more carefully about the choices we make. And that allows them to thrive they have many functions. They are involved, for example, environment production, they help with hormones. They help sleep and circadian rhythm, they help fight infections. They do A lot of things and our diet or how we eat can also impact how they survive and thrive. And one way to take care of them is by feeding them fiber. Fiber is easily found in vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, legumes, and healthy whole grains. So that's just one tip to keep the gut microbes happy and your gut happy. And so that's, that's so helpful to understand. And, and and then what are the types of food that can actually negatively impact us, and especially with everyone being so anxious, and it being such a chaotic world? What are the things we should avoid? Absolutely, that you, these are foods, which you won't be surprised by because you would have thought about them in terms of physical health. But it turns out, there's a good emerging body of evidence around very similar foods impacting our mental health. So let's start it off with packaged processed foods, sometimes junk foods, these have a lot of processed, stabilizes Coleman's food dyes that are very impacted impactful for our mental health. So cutting back on those and being aware of them becomes important. And then this added and refined sugars, there were upwards of 200 other names for sugar and food labels. And we just need to become a little bit savvy about knowing where hidden sugar lies, and to try to cut back on these. So being aware becomes important. Another category is actually artificial sweeteners. For the most part, the there are some more recent artificial sweeteners that seem somewhat better, but many artificial sweeteners actually worsen symptoms of mental health. Processed vegetable oils is another category of fast food restaurants tend to use these because they are less expensive. And being careful about you know, fast foods and that type of thing becomes one because the processed vegetables are pro inflammatory. So they cause inflammation in the gut, and inflammation in the body. And you know, then it's the wrong types of fats, things like the trans fats and certain foods become important for us to cut back on and have an awareness of, and those are just some of the some of the foods to start with, to start with,

Gemma Toner  07:37

and can you speak to because inflammation sounds bad? And like, what does it mean, when you say, well, food is creating inflammation?

Dr. Uma Naidoo  07:48

Absolutely. So the inflammation is actually also a natural process in the body. So if you say, scuff your knee, or have a cut inflammation sets in to help with the healing process. In this context, though, what we're talking about is inflammation, that is chronic, low grade and ongoing. And this is where something like how you eat is one of the factors that impacts inflammation. And while it has good and positive functions, when you need to heal from from a cut, or bruise or scrape, and other conditions, in the context of what we're speaking about here, it's really inflammation within the body, the back lining, that got inflammation of the cells in the gut environment, also lead due to that gut brain connection lead to inflammation on your inflammation or otherwise called brain inflammation. And where this becomes important is that many conditions in mental health like xiety, depression, cognitive problems, actually, really a thought due to it with the research being done to be related to inflammation. And, you know, we what we want to do and how we eat is eat anti inflammatory foods, eat antioxidant rich foods, on which have substances have qualities to those types of foods, which reduce and lower inflammation in the body specific foods that as we you know, look to make a what you might consider a bad choice, right? Something that is not anti inflammatory.

Gemma Toner  09:34

Is there a food that we can turn to that helps us kind of push away from that, that bad choice that craving, if you will?

Dr. Uma Naidoo  09:45

Absolutely. Absolutely. So the way to think about this is that you know, one of the things to think about is how do you change your environment. If you over COVID stuffed up on cookies orfor things that you know, you know may not be the best thing for you, removing them from your environment becomes important.Including healthy foods in the environment becomes important making mindful choices. If you have a craving for certain foods, thinking about ways to distract yourself from that craving, from that say, say piece of cake that you wish to eat, you don't have to starve yourself, you definitely don't have to deprive yourself. And really finding other ways to cope with these types of feelings becomes important. calling a friend taking a walk, watching something online listening to an interesting podcast, journaling things that get you get your mind off that craving that wants you to want to eat that piece of cake, and it's set on doing it. And may not it's not perfect, may not always be able to do it. But also having healthy options in your environment becomes important too. And that's one of the ways to think about it.

Gemma Toner  11:02

Thank you. That's that's very helpful. Just knowing that can you help us understand why sometimes we will eat but yet we still don't feel satiated. And in why does that happen?

Dr. Uma Naidoo  11:19

A lot of times this is because we may have not been eating that healthy appetite, we may be stressed, we may be experiencing certain emotions, we may be having a difficult time in our lives in some format. And the disruption of our hunger hormones and our hunger and satiation cues can be offset by gut inflammation can be offset by our emotional state by stress. And so there are days that will be more difficult, and we won't necessarily be able to get, you know, move away from that craving, etc. So some of that is really related as well to our emotional health as well, as well as our gut health. And some of the work in terms of including those healthier, anti inflammatory, and antioxidant type foods become important in terms of trying to help with healing of the gut. So would you say that when we look at sort of the American diet in general, that we're actually kind of eating ourselves into anxiety and depression? Yeah, so easing into this would really be about assuming a diet that is healthier, starting with slow and steady habit changes that you can sustain, you know, maybe just examining today, what it is in your diet in the past year that you may be struggling with, that you may not be something that you you know, you're eating too much of or a habit that you've taken to that you may not like, maybe trying to just start with one thing that you can try to change step back from cut back on, and do it slowly give yourself patience, you know, give yourself some space to do it. What I do find with my patients clients is that when they assume a healthy habit, then they start to feel better, they then really want to do more, they want to include healthier habits in their diet and their lifestyle. As they do that, and as they follow either the foods to brace for conditions like depression, the foods to cut back on those conditions, they really do start to feel emotionally better over time.

Gemma Toner  13:49

And so while it can feel overwhelming, like if I look up an anti inflammatory diet, it can be very our our audience often says you know, nutrition is so difficult to figure out what's right, you know, you hear a sound bite of eat butter, then you hear a sound like don't eat butter, you know, how do we simplify some of this so that we can begin and feel defeated? already? How it can be so overwhelming to get started. How do we take that first step because there's so much misinformation or or actually conflicting information? How do we take that first solid step to managing our gut brain connection?

Dr. Uma Naidoo  14:40

 So some of the easiest ways to get started are again to evaluate ourselves what how we may be feeling emotionally, what our stress level is, be struggling for example with sleep and what it what is it in our if we were to think about what we ate and The past week or the past month for the past year, food or foods that are either not agreeing with us or we know, traditionally are not necessarily healthy, perhaps we think about it not being healthy because of our waistline. But really to think about it now in terms of our mental fitness, and stuck there, just just start small with a simple habit change, maybe you're working from home. And you realize that unlike when you're in the office, and there's water cooler, and you refilling your water bottle and drinking throughout the day, that at home, you you go for hours on end without taking a sip of water, maybe it's you know that you have had a tub of ice cream in your freezer, and you've tended to buy a tub of ice cream every time you go to the supermarket, because that becomes something you're leaning on, to get through the pandemic. You know, it's whatever it is in your life that is unique to you that you feel you'd like to start to change, I would just say stop there. And that makes it much easier for you to, to, to start to heal your gut, to start to change your diet to start to implement the small and steady steps. So it's true it is start small, and then keep growing.

Gemma Toner  16:19

So So again, just to recap, because you've shared so much information. Can you know the top three things that we can do? I think certainly small steps, what would be the other three tips that you would say if tomorrow, you want to improve your gut brain connection, here are the three things and there are three small things that each one of us can do to take that positive step,

Dr. Uma Naidoo  16:51

I would say pay attention to your body intelligence. Pay attention to and what that means is the food that foods that you're eating. Ask yourself, are they affecting you in a good or not so good way, if you're feeling sluggish every day at lunch in the afternoon, finding it hard to get onto zoom calls or to keep alert then ask yourself what you've been eating, and whether that may be impacting it as well. The second step, I would say the second tip, I would say is that spices are very powerful, easy, inexpensive, salt free, sugar free, calorie free way to improve mental health symptoms. So adding those into foods that you're eating soups, smoothies, tea, or stir fry or even roasted vegetables as easy way to get started. And the other tip is pay attention to hydration because dehydration can actually cause anxiety. And dehydration has been linked to depression. So it's not not something to be overlooked.

Gemma Toner  17:57

Oh, my goodness. So that's incredible. Getting those three tips. And can you tell us a little bit more about hydration? How do we know that we've hydrated enough?

Dr. Uma Naidoo  18:08

Firstly, you know, we should be drinking at least six to eight glasses of water a day. That's a general rule for most people. If you have problems with your kidney, or have any other medical condition, of course, you should be speaking to your doctor. But this is a general guideline for most of us. That usually is can easily be done by thinking about it as that few 20 ounce bottles or maybe a refillable glass or metal water bottle that you just keep filling throughout the day and sipping on how would you know a few things that you would notice when you go to the bathroom. If your urine is very dark. It usually suggests one of the reasons is it suggests that you may not be drinking enough water if you finding yourself thirsty, your skin being dry, your lips being dry. If you noticing that you're having a low mood, you know one of the things to think about is just sip on water, which is my favorite beverage sort of sip on it throughout the day. And maybe try to figure out ways that you can encourage yourself to be drinking more water throughout the day. Oh, that's one that I think many of us can can can take that step and it's certainly around us we're lucky enough to have plenty of water.  It just speaking of water we've certainly heard and some of our listeners have asked you know lemon water is that is it good for you or bad for you? Do we still continue with it? Absolutely  lemons have many health benefits. So if you're putting some fresh lemons in water, absolutely. If you enjoy it and you feel good when you drink it, drink drink it that's a great way to flavor I say you know natural sliced lemons, even pieces of fruit. So there is a great way to flavor your water rather than going for The sugar free options and things like that.

Gemma Toner  20:03

So can you help us understand? Sometimes we hear you should go on, you know, low carbs or you should eat more protein or you should eat more vegetables. Is there a formula? For the most of us? I know we're all individuals, but is there a guideline that you would say, you know, this is what you should strive for, on a daily basis when it comes to the components of what we eat.

Dr. Uma Naidoo  20:33

I think that you know, some of the pillars of nutritional psychiatry just talking about whole healthy foods talking about colorful vegetables may seem like very simple, simple guidelines, but they actually have a lot of good evidence around the ingredients and nutrients in those foods. Leafy greens, for example, contain folate, low folate is associated with depression. colorful veggies, have plant polyphenols which are great for those gut microbes rich in antioxidants are rich in anti inflammatory properties, which are great for your brain, great for your gut. So you know, I would, I would say, start there with with those, those those types of foods that you want to start including

Gemma Toner  21:18

now you are a trained chef. So you can you please tell us what is your favorite dish to make.

Dr. Uma Naidoo  21:28

So I am of South Asian descent. And so I definitely love spices and grew up eating them. So I like to tweak interesting things like I'll take a cauliflower steak and put chicken tikka masala, which I make or change it up so that I change the flavor of something and make it in a different way. So that's one of my favorite meals. I love leafy greens, and I'll also tell them, I'll make you know, spinach crisps. So that if I have that need for something crunchy, and spicy or flavorful and make some spinach chips in the oven. But those are some of my some of my favorite. Some of my favorite go tos. And then another is my something I actually learned to make for my grandmother, which is a golden latte. You know, it's basically turmeric milk. And you can substitute any type of milk of your choice. It has such brain boosting benefits, but I really grew up drinking with as a treat, you know, just something we did together as a warming beverage in the morning. So and that recipe is actually on my, my, my Instagram is my mood boosting golden latte.

Gemma Toner  22:44

people thank you, I was gonna ask you, I was gonna ask you, where can we get that recipe. So, again, you know, Dr. Uma, you have been so incredible sharing your knowledge and your time with us today. And I just want to remind everyone that you can actually catch a TONE talk of Dr. Uma. which is this is your brain on food, which is on a TONE network's website. And you can also find out a lot more about Dr. Uma when you visit her Instagram and her Facebook. So Dr. Uma one last question that we want to ask, which is, what is a conversation that you would like to have what is the next conversation you'd like to have?