The Good Life with Michele Lamoureux Dr. Uma Naidoo: How Food Affects Your Brain & Mental Heath - Author of "This is Your Brain on Food" (Rerun)
Did you know that what you eat can impact your mental health? Dr. Uma Naidoo is a Harvard trained psychiatrist, who has studied nutrition and is a trained professional chef. She helps us understand the gut-brain connection and how what we eat can have a direct impact on our mental well-being. In her book, “This is Your Brain on Food,” she teaches us how our diet can fight depression, anxiety, trauma, OCD, ADHD and more. We dive into her research in this interview and you will learn so much!
All of the show notes and resources mentioned can be found at https://thegoodlifecoach.com/181
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WHAT WE DISCUSS:
1️⃣ How she became a pioneer in nutritional psychiatry. She also defines what that means for those who are unfamiliar with the term.
2️⃣ How she realized nutrition was an important part of mental health and decided to incorporate it into her practice.
3️⃣ How the pandemic shed a spotlight on the mental health crisis and just how important what you eat is to your mental and physical health.
4️⃣ The gut-brain relationship.
5️⃣ The impact inflammation has on your mental health.
6️⃣ Specific foods that make anxiety worse and others that help relieve it.
7️⃣ What Dr. Naidoo eats in a day to maintain a healthy gut-brain relationship, and more.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Book: This is Your Brain on Food
Website: https://umanaidoomd.com/
ABOUT THE GUEST
Michelin-starred chef David Bouley described Dr. Uma Naidoo as the world’s first “triple threat” in the food and medicine space: a Harvard trained psychiatrist, Professional Chef graduating with her culinary schools’ most coveted award, and a trained Nutrition Specialist. Her nexus of interests have found their niche in Nutritional Psychiatry.
Dr. Naidoo founded and directs the first hospital-based Nutritional Psychiatry Service in the United States. She is the Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at MGH Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School.
She was considered Harvard’s Mood-Food expert and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Naidoo is also the national best selling author of This Is Your Brain On Food.
In her book, she shows the cutting-edge science explaining the ways in which food contributes to our mental health and how a sound diet can help treat and prevent a wide range of psychological and cognitive health issues, from ADHD to anxiety, depression, OCD, and others.
Thank you for listening to the show!