Lucinda Miller: Neurodivergence, brain health, and ultraprocessed foods
Sep 2, 2024
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Lucinda Miller, a naturopath and functional medicine practitioner, discusses her journey with ADHD and the transformative power of diet on brain health. She shares how neurodivergent brains process information differently, necessitating specific nutritional support. The conversation dives into the gut-brain connection, emphasizing the effects of antibiotics on gut health and children's behavior. Lucinda offers insights from her book, Brain Brilliance, on how dietary choices can enhance emotional regulation and cognitive function, making nutrition vital for everyone.
Diet directly impacts brain health and emotional regulation, especially for neurodivergent individuals, emphasizing the importance of nutritious food choices.
Understanding neurodivergence, such as ADHD, enables tailored support and interventions that cater to unique learning styles and behaviors.
Nutritional strategies, including high-protein breakfasts, are crucial for stabilizing mood and cognitive function by managing blood sugar levels effectively.
Deep dives
The Impact of Diet on Brain Function
Diet plays a significant role in brain health, particularly for individuals with neurodivergence. High-protein breakfasts can profoundly influence daily functioning and mood, with the speaker sharing personal experiences and significant improvements following dietary changes. This connection between nutrition and cognitive function suggests that dietary adjustments can be an effective strategy for enhancing brain performance rather than aiming for a 'cure' for neurodivergent conditions. By focusing on nutritional strategies, individuals can optimize their brain function and emotional regulation.
Understanding Neurodivergence
Neurodivergence refers to variations in the human brain, including conditions such as ADHD and dyslexia, that affect learning and behavior. There is increasing awareness regarding the spectrum of neurodivergence and how it manifests in both children and adults. The speaker emphasizes the importance of recognizing unique learning styles and behaviors among neurodivergent individuals, especially in educational settings. This understanding can lead to more tailored support and interventions that cater specifically to the needs of these individuals.
The Crucial Role of Nutrition and Gut Health
Proper nutrition and a healthy gut microbiome are critical for emotional and cognitive well-being. The microbiome significantly influences the production of neurotransmitters that affect mood and stress levels. Poor dietary choices, particularly high consumption of processed foods, can disrupt the gut health, affecting not just physical health but also mental state. Implementing dietary changes to include more nutrient-dense foods can foster a healthier gut microbiome, leading to improved mental clarity and emotional balance.
Managing Blood Sugar for Emotional Regulation
Balancing blood sugar levels is vital for managing mood swings, especially in neurodivergent individuals. Consuming a high-protein breakfast helps stabilize blood sugar throughout the day, reducing spikes and crashes that can lead to emotional dysregulation. The speaker highlights practical dietary adjustments that can mitigate these sugar swings, such as replacing processed snacks with protein-rich alternatives. These small changes can lead to significant improvements in behavior and emotional stability for both children and adults.
The Interplay of Nutrition and Sleep
Quality sleep is essential for cognitive functioning and emotional regulation, particularly in neurodivergent individuals. The podcast discusses how certain foods can enhance sleep quality by promoting the production of melatonin and tryptophan. Foods like bananas, nuts, and cherry smoothies are recommended as evening snacks to help improve sleep patterns and promote relaxation. Additionally, creating a calming bedtime routine that includes nutritious foods can support better sleep, ultimately leading to improved overall mental health.
What you eat is having a direct effect on your mood and behaviour. Naturopath and functional medicine practitioner Lucinda Miller wants to help your brain thrive.
In this chat with Fearne, Lucinda talks about her own ADHD diagnosis and how changing her eating habits has changed her ability to cope with day-to-day life.
Learn what it means to have a neurodivergent brain, and how symptoms can be managed with diet and nutrition. A neurodivergent brain may use five times the brain area of a neurotypical brain to do just one simple task, so proper fuelling with nutritious food is essential.
Lucinda talks through the nutrients that best support emotional regulation, memory and mood, regardless of whether you’re neurodivergent or not. Plus, how the antibiotics you took years ago might still be affecting your gut health, and in turn, how your brain functions.