Eating for Thinking

It's time we talk about gut stuff.

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I like to start these articles with stories for a few reasons.

First, they're visual, so it gives you, the reader, something tangible to hold onto before we dive into heady takeaways.

Second, they’re captivating.

• Fact: "46% of Americans will meet the criteria for a diagnosable mental health condition in their lifetime."¹

• Story: Freddy stepped up to the door, beads of sweat drawing little rivers down his face. This was either the end of his road or the beginning of everything he'd worked toward.

Although true (and a little frightening), the first one doesn’t pull you along like the second. Freddy’s situation sparks a curiosity in us. We want to know what’s happening. It’s in our nature.

In a sneaky way, stories teach us what to believe. They are the inputs we accept with little pushback. Facts invite arguments and counterpoints. Stories just want to be heard.

Today, we’re going to talk about the relationship between food and the brain because your eating habits (no matter how good or terrible) are a direct byproduct of your beliefs, which are themselves side effects of the stories you’ve ingested.

So, if you want to feed the pink squish in your skull properly, you’re going to need a new story.

The Real Boss: Bacteria

“The basis of all body communications is chemical.”²

We’ve danced around this topic a few times already. During our discussions on sleep, posture, and exercise we saw how the outside things we do with our bodies influence the inside chemistry of our brains.

Most of the time, our chemicals want one thing above all else: balance. Sleep keeps our internal laboratories in equilibrium. As does exercising regularly and even sitting up straight.

But food is even more fundamental because it influences what chemicals exist in our bodies in the first place.

“The primary reason gut bacteria have such a profound effect on mental health is that they are responsible for making many of the brain chemicals …[that are] critically important for the regulation of mood, memory, and attention.”³

What you put in your mouth determines what goes on in your head. This is the new story you need to hear.

Bio 101

“Food’s most profound effect on the brain
is through its impact on your gut bacteria.”  

Now, obviously, everything is always more complicated than some guy on the internet (me, in this case) makes it out to be.

The chemical makeup of your brain is a Jackson Pollock of factors, including genetics, environment, experiences/trauma, and then some. But none of those are things you chose. You didn't get a say in them. That might mean you have to work harder than others to get your brain to do what you want it to — and that’s okay.

About 50% sure this is a Jackson Pollock.

You're not here to catch up to anyone. You're here to help you, and right now, that means reacquainting yourself with what it means to eat healthy.

Where to Start — Five to Thrive

Dr. Uma Naidoo provides a succinct little guide near the end of her book This is Your Brain on Food that looks like this:

Nothing on this list should surprise you, especially if you've given some thought to your diet already. But you might be interested in the principles that created this list.

Dr. Naidoo organizes her book around nine mental health challenges: depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, dementia, OCD, insomnia, bipolar disorder, and low libido. For each, she provides a customized diet based on research. It’s super interesting, but the overlap is what really caught my attention. 

If you just do these 5 things, you’ll cultivate a gut that optimizes your brain.

Get the right prebiotics and probiotics in place.

In this case, skip the supplements and focus on adding good things to your diet. For prebiotics, that looks like yogurt, sauerkraut, or kombucha. For probiotics, garlic, onions, and berries are foundational.⁴ Eat these dudes daily (and here’s a fuller list of each – find link).

• Why ‘biotics work? You know how bodybuilders have to follow strict diets to perform their best? Well, pre- and probiotics are the equivalent of that for your gut bacteria. For our bodies and brains to function at their best, we actually need things we can’t get by just digesting our food — our bacteria has to digest its own food for them to exist. That’s right, you’re eating for more than one. Congratulations.

Become obsessed with fiber.

Become obsessed with fiber. Walnuts (which are one of the only items mentioned in every chapter), beans, broccoli, oats. Not only will these keep you going to the bathroom regularly, but they’ll keep your thoughts and emotions from getting backed up too.⁵

• Why fiber matters? You ever hear someone joke about how Taco Bell goes right through them? Yeah, that’s really bad for your gut health. Think of it like a one-night-stand — string enough of them together, and you're going to catch something. Fiber is a healthy, long-term relationship. It slows everything down, helps you crave better food, and pulls out the building blocks of anxiety before they ever have a chance to reach your head.

Flavor your food with spices and herbs.

Ones like turmeric and oregano punch way above their weight class in terms of how much they influence your body for good.⁶

• Why spice it up? You’ve heard of antioxidants but probably don’t know why they matter. The TLDR is that antioxidants counteract the molecules that lead to oxidative stress, which kills cells. However, not all antioxidants are equal. They're measured on something called the ORAC scale: oxygen radical absorbance capacity. A sprinkling of the right spices can literally get you 100x the ORAC benefits of eating a cup of fruit every day for a month (but you should still eat the fruit too!).

Source: USDA

Make variety a non-negotiable.

I know it’s tempting to meal prep the same four dishes week-in and week-out, or routinely order your favorite meal from the diner down the block — but a bored gut is a broken gut.

• How much variety? To really give your brain the balance it wants, aim for 30 different food items per week. I know — this number sounds super intimidating at first, but it’s much closer than you think. You could eat the same four dishes so long as each has 7-8 ingredients. For a stir fry, that could look like: chicken, broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and a (healthy-ish) sauce of your choice.

Moderate the bad stuff.

Sugar, alcohol, caffeine, fried food. There’s more than that, but if you watch these four, you’ll fix most of the mental difficulties we accept as normal due to the Western diet. 

• But I still want it! I know you do, so do I. Thankfully, the doc was kind enough to offer some measurable guidelines.⁷ For alcohol, men (of average size) should cap it at 14 drinks per week and never more than 4 in a single day (the numbers are 7 & 3 for women). For caffeine, keep it under 400 mg/day (if you ordered a large, you’re over the limit). Fried food should be a treat, eaten only weekly or monthly (for the hardcore health nuts). And sugar…that processed goodness you find in pretty much everything these days…well, it’s statistically bad in any amount.⁸ Kind of wish I never read that last data point…

Why Food Over Supplements?

These days, you can't get through two minutes of a podcast or YouTube video without being sold a miracle supplement. I'm not going to sh*t on any of them at the moment (because maybe they’ll sponsor my writing one day 🤑) but I am going to give you the highlight reel of why foods beat pills and powders.

1. Absorption. Supplements often come in their isolated forms, but our bodies haven't evolved to accept nutrients this way. Foods are complex, and that complexity is what makes the absorption of what we need possible. Think of it like a guy on the street selling hot dogs. In supplement form, he reaches in (with bare hands), pulls out a hot, steamy wiener, and hands it to you to eat (if you don't think this is gross, please leave). In food form, the hot dog is carefully laid in a bun, dressed with a rainbow of condiments, and then handed to you in a bag. Which would you rather eat?

2. Eating habits. Supplements are often used as a stopgap for bad eating habits. But they counterbalance that McDonald’s cheat meal much less than you think. When a supplement routine is absent from your diet, you’re pushed to be a more conscious consumer. You eat more veggies and fruits because you have to; and less “bad” foods because you’re already full of the good stuff. It’s a delicious cycle.

3. Appropriate dosage. You only absorb <30% of most vitamins. So, if you're relying on them to hit your daily quota – most days, you're nowhere near it. A varied diet is the best way to fix this. The variety ensures you get the right mix of what you need, and the physical act of eating bars you from overdosing on any particular nutrient that could throw your gut out of balance

💊 This is also why medications (particularly for mental health concerns) are most effective when paired with good habits. For example: "…treating mental symptoms with antianxiety medication [alone] doesn't mean that the imbalances in you gut will automatically fall in line. In order to address the root of the problem, you have to target the actual bacteria too.”

Motivated Munching

Dr. Naidoo writes that most people’s diets are driven by one of two motivators, “comfort or convenience.” I’d like to offer a third: conviction.

Your habits, in any domain, are the result of what you believe to be true about the world. Most of us believe that the food we eat can be offset by exercise or drinking lots of water or taking a multivitamin.

But those are untrue stories.

A better story is that your gut is an ecosystem, just like a forest or a coral reef. When you take care of it, it blooms — your brain comes alive. You think, uninhibited. Faster, clearer, calmer.

And when you don’t, it withers. Your brain goes dark. Everything you want to do, that you know you should do, becomes harder — because the foundation has wasted away.

What you put in your mouth shows up in your brain. That is the conviction I hope plants itself in your gut. That is the story I hope changes your life.

1. This Is Your Brain On Food by Uma Naidoo, MD, page 3.

2. Naidoo, page 14.

3. Naidoo, page 18.

4. Naidoo, page 32.

5. Naidoo, page 69.

6. Naidoo, page 374.

7. Naidoo, page 66.

8. Naidoo, page 34.