/  Background

 

The brain is an organ which moderates your thoughts, emotions, reason, and memory. It also helps maintain hormonal balance alongside your digestive tract where 90% of serotonin is produced. When the brain is malnourished (lacking omega 3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and minerals) or toxic (due to a poor diet full of chemical-laden foods), mental health disorders are extraordinarily common and difficult to combat. These disorders are most often caused by how your genetics cope with two factors: your lifestyle (exercise, diet, stress) and your toxin exposure (environment). But, above all, many of your mental health challenges lie in your control.

 

Our mental health relies upon our body's ability to thrive. For optimal mental health, we must exercise regularly and absorb the nutrients necessary to reduce chronic inflammation (causing a prolonged immune response) brought on by our environments. We must also reduce our toxic load and manage our emotional/mental stressors effectively to maintain healthy nutrition absorption and to reduce chronic inflammation. Our brain is not separate from our body; when we reduce inflammation in our entire body, we can increase the health of our brain too. With the guidance of your healthcare provider in combination with the following lifestyle choices, mental health conditions can be prevented, managed, and possibly even overcome. Here are some guidelines to help you prevent and combat mental health disorders while always consulting your medical doctor first.

 

/  5 Guidelines to Mental Health. A Holistic Approach.*

 

The following is not an all or nothing guideline but is designed to increase healthy behaviors while decreasing unhealthy ones. Try to adhere to it as closely as possible to see the greatest mental health improvements. Many people can also lose weight while experiencing a variety of other major health benefits too. Good luck!

 

1. Social- We are emotional beings who need to love and to be loved. Seek to be around friends/family who genuinely love you and have your best interests at heart. Being around the people who emit positivity and have developed healthy habits away from addiction and substance abuse is key. When we are loved, we learn to fully love ourselves; we can then have a healthier long-term outlook on life and be prepared for long-term relationship success. Lastly, reducing our social, mental, and emotional stressors through meditation is a great way to improve mental health.

2. Exercise- Be active outside in the sunlight 4-5 times per week (running, swimming, jogging, hiking, walking etc.) for 15-30 minutes. Sunlight and cardio is shown to help reduce depression and other mental health disorders.

3. Nutrition- Eating a varied diet of essential vitamins and nutrients is absolutely necessary for optimal mental health. These can be found in a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables (strictly organic to reduce pesticide exposure). While we know there are many mental health benefits to these nutritious foods, there are thousands more healthy phytochemicals (plant compounds) that scientists have not yet fully studied and documented. The following are helpful for optimal health:

   • Avoid sugar and refined flour- Rarely eat sugary snacks/desserts and refined flours (never if possible). Satisfy your sugary cravings with healthy organic fresh fruits in season whenever possible.

   • Eat more minerals- This is probably the most important tip. There are 60 essential minerals for the human body. These come primarily from plants that absorb minerals from the soil. Our agriculture has become depleted of minerals as the human population grows. Today, the soils do not have the same numbers of essential minerals as they once did 100 years ago for our bodies to thrive. You can find these 60+ minerals in unrefined sea salt, Himalayan salt, and colloidal (bio-available) liquid mineral supplements. Along with mineral consumption, it's critical we eat probiotics in our foods to allow minerals to be effectively metabolized, absorbed, and then utilized by our brain and other organs.

   • Organic foods- Foods such as organic fruits/veggies, organic bread, organic seeds/nuts/legumes, organic grass-fed beef, organic dairy, organic eggs & poultry, and all other organic meats.

   • ​Omega-3 fatty acids - Research shows that regular consumption of omega-3 fatty acids can decrease inflammation and improve mental health. Wild caught small fish under 1 lb. is a healthier source due to lower contamination levels. Plant sources are the most beneficial due to millions of other phytochemicals (each with unknown health benefits) included with the omega-3s. They include green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, & Brussels sprouts), most fruits, walnuts, wild rice, chia seeds, flax seeds, and hemp seeds.

   • Probiotics- These are healthy microbes which have a massive influence on our mental health. Foods rich in these microscopic organisms are called cultured foods (e.g., yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, etc). We create a symbiotic (mutually beneficial) relationship with these microbes in our digestive tract. This occurs through their secretion of a variety of vitamins and hormones including folate, riboflavin, hydroxocobalamine, biotin, vitamin K, Vitamin D (a steroid), serotonin (90%), and among many others for our health benefit. Regularly consuming cultured foods rich in probiotics is shown to improve cognitive function, reduce stress, increase emotional well-being, improve immune function, and improve digestion. Probiotics also metabolize minerals into their absorbent form for brain and other organ function. You can easily make your own or purchase them too. (IMPORTANT: After a regimen of antibiotics, always consume cultured foods (or probiotic pill) with each meal during antibiotic treatment and for at least 1 month following treatment to regenerate healthy gut bacteria).

4. Genetics- Genetically, we can be predisposed to specific mental illnesses due to how our genetics interact within the environment we live. We can combat these genetic "weaknesses" by exercising regularly, eating healthy, and reducing toxic-load & stressors to preserve a thriving body and mind.

5. Toxin-Level- Reduce your toxic-load through the following:

   • Choose a day to eat only vegetables and fruits- Select 1 day each week to consume only vegetables & fruits (organic) for cleansing purposes.

   • Eat high vegetable meals- Doing this at least twice per day with cardio (3-4 times per week) can facilitate consistent toxicity secretion (urine, feces, & sweat).

   • Addictive substances- Limit alcohol consumption, quit all tobacco products, avoid illegal drug use, and never abuse legal drugs (including marijuana).

   • Don't over-indulge in gluten (baked goods, pasta, cereals) and casein (dairy products)- These two proteins are difficult to digest as we age and can disrupt our natural detoxification process.

   • Rarely eat large predatory fish- (e.g., tuna, shark, halibut, sword fish etc.) to reduce mercury accumulation in your brain, liver, & other tissues.

   • Have your silver amalgam fillings removed- (mercury) by a dentist specializing in proper removal and replace them with composite fillings.

   • Drink filtered water- Remember to drink at least 2 liters of water daily (women) and 3 liters (men) to optimize natural detoxification. Always use a BPA free water-bottle and rarely drink from the tap to reduce heavy metal and chemical toxicity accumulation in your body.

   • Sweat out toxins- Through moderate to vigorous exercise, detoxify your mind and body by sweating regularly. Also, regular sauna use can achieve a similar outcome but not quite as effectively. 

   • Rice contaminated with arsenic- Limit consumption of rice from developing nations such as China, Thailand, and India due to the elevated levels of arsenic. Brown rice and brown rice pasta is known to be very high in arsenic from developing nations​.

   • Food contaminated with lead- Avoid consumption of candy, chili peppers, and hot sauces from these five countries outlined by the FDA published on 08/02/2018 (China, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, & Singapore). 

 

/  Prevalence Today

 

Mental illness is one of the most common health conditions today. Yet, it is one of the most misdiagnosed and under-diagnosed health disorders. The most common of these disorders include different forms of depression, bipolar disorders, anxiety, schizophrenia, narcissistic personality, anti-social personalities, borderline personalities, Alzheimer's, dementia, autism, and obsessive compulsive to name a few. Many of these can be mentally crippling and have a variety of unknown underlying causes. That is why attempting to lead a healthy lifestyle that focuses on all 5 Guidelines to Mental Health is extraordinarily important to prevent and manage symptoms of many mental health disorders (along with regular physician consultation).

 

Unfortunately, mental health is often overlooked due to the common stigma surrounding its existence normally due to poor education and symptom variation from person to person. Yet, mental health must not be ignored if we are to live healthy and happy lives individually and collectively as a society.

 

Here's to your health and mental well-being!

 

- LMP -