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Mar 22

Key to Good Health? A Proper Diet for the Brain

Diet Comments Off on Key to Good Health? A Proper Diet for the Brain

When a psychiatrist sets out to write a diet book, he doesnt have a slimmer waistline in mind. Drew Ramsey, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and coauthor of The Happiness Diet (Rodale, 2011), believes good health and happiness are achieved when the brain is consistently fed all the nutrients it needs for optimal cognitive and emotional functioning.

Drew Ramsey, coauthor of The Happiness Diet, believes happiness isachieved when the brain is consistently fed the proper nutrients.

The modern American dietor MAD, as Ramsey calls itfails to nourish the brain. Heavily processed foods loaded with sugar and toxins have given rise not only to Americas obesity epidemic, but also an epidemic of depression, which Ramsey contends is even more dangerous. Studies show that obese peoples brains actually age faster than those of people at a normal weight, and excess weight has been linked to dementia.

The Happiness Diet focuses on nutrition from the brains perspective with a primary goal of improved brain health, said Ramsey, 37. While weight loss happens on this diet, the main goal is brain growth.

Ramsey and his coauthor, Tyler Graham, a journalist who specializes in health and fitness, based their diet on nutrients they deemed the essential elements of happiness. They include vitamin B12, used in the production of brain cells, as well as magnesium, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, said to improve memory, counter seasonal depression and promote strong neurons. Even cholesterol, which forms a crucial protective layer around the brain, gets a nod.

Ramsey, a practicing psychiatrist on the Upper West Side, always asks his patients what they eat. He believes this is the closest thing to primary prevention in psychiatry. When people eat too few calories, they can be depressed and irritable, so when patients are willing, he helps them overhaul their diet.

Just eating kale and salmon wont give you bliss, but by promoting stable, positive moods, better focus and concentration, and improved energy, people will engage in their lives in ways that promote feeling their best, Ramsey said.

Today, an average person on MAD eats three pounds of sugar every week. In order to make the switch to the Happiness Diet of organic and whole foods, Ramsey said carbage and bad mood foodsprimarily sugar-laden foods, industrial fats and factory-farmed meatmust be cut. He also urges readers to steer clear of artificially flavored foods and foods labeled low fat and fat free. When fats are extracted from foods, theyre usually replaced with refined sugars, which are less satisfying and have no nutritional value. Basically, dont eat stuff out of a package, he said.

Ramsey devotes a portion of his book to the origins of MAD and the advances in industry that brought processed foods to the mainstream. Though the Happiness Diet is not a diet in the traditional sense, the book does include a number of diet recommendations.

The good news is that the Happiness Diet is made of foods you already like, he said. Its a plant-based diet, though meat is an important component. He says its important to eat a wide variety of organic vegetables because conventional vegetables, depending on how they were farmed, are diminished in vital nutrients. A diet of whole foods naturally contains less fat and sodium.

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Key to Good Health? A Proper Diet for the Brain

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