Food for Thought
What if you could change your diet and improve your health in as little as 5 days? People who are studying diet, gut health, and brain health say it’s possible.
Nutritional Psychology
The Wall Street Journal published an article last year that said diet could help prevent and treat depression. While the article didn’t focus on perinatal health, I did a little digging to learn more for us. I focused on the research of Professor Felice Jacka, an Australian nutritionist and epidemiologist whose work has informed the new field of nutritional psychiatry. Then, coincidentally, I listened to a “Deliciously Ella” podcast episode called “How Our Food Affects Our Mood,” and Ms. Jacka was the guest! There, she talked specifically about diet and health during the perinatal period.
Diet and reproductive health
First, let’s back up and review the basics and why this matters. We know that many women experience depression and anxiety while pursuing fertility treatments, during pregnancy, and after birth. In fact, depression is the most common complication of pregnancy! Researchers and clinicians have asked all kinds of questions trying to understand women’s experiences from many different angles. The more angles we have, the more opportunities we have to make positive changes. For instance, we’ve learned that a history of depression increases someone’s chances of depressive symptoms in the future. If you know you’ve experienced depression before, looking for signs and catching them early could prevent more severe symptoms in the future. Data show us that diet could be another lever of positive change.
That said, women get varying amounts of information about diet from their providers. Typically, some basic information is shared at one of the first OB visits. If recommendations are at all detailed, they tend to focus on what not to eat. Perhaps if you’ve sought specialty fertility services, diet has been discussed to some degree as it relates to medical procedures. More rarely but increasingly, people are talking about the importance of diet on postpartum recovery.
So what do we know about diet and health? In “The Food That Helps Battle Depression,” Dr. Drew Ramsey (a New York psychiatrist, Columbia assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, and author) said, “‘It really doesn’t matter if you need Prozac or not. We know that your brain needs nutrients.’” Ms. Bernstein, author of the article, noted that even if you also need therapy or medication, everyone seems to benefit from diet changes. She wrote the following: “And at the very least, it can serve as a supplemental treatment – one with no bad side effects, unlike antidepressants – that also has a giant upside. It can prevent other health problems, such as heart disease, obesity and diabetes.”
Studies are showing that eating a diversity of good-for-you foods (think whole, colorful foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes) reduces risk of depression and anxiety, while eating junk and processed foods increases risk of depression and anxiety. So we really need a diet full of the good stuff, not just a bland diet free from junk. And these effects are seen for children too. A mother’s diet during pregnancy and a child’s diet during the first few years seem to play a big role in the child’s emotional and cognitive health.
How does it work? Gut bacteria influence growth of neurons in areas of the brain, specifically areas involved in learning and remembering, that actually continue to develop over a lifetime. Gut bacteria also influence our neurotransmitters, like Serotonin, which affect mood. Diet influences gut microbiota more than anything else we know, and – great news – it looks like changing your diet for as little as 5 days changes your gut health in noticeable ways! Important to note, a large emphasis has been placed in American culture on weight as a marker of health. Studies show that diet changes lead to positive health and behavior changes long before weight may change.
Even better news – changing diet seems to promote other positive changes! Think about what you may do if your mood were generally better, and you were thinking more clearly…
Think about it... and then make a change!
Now, how to do it? Set a short-term goal. And if you need help, ask for it! Since everyone seems to benefit from positive diet changes, others may want to make changes with you. If you’re wanting more support, meet with a psychologist to make this important change now.