Knowing what to eat can make you crazy, in the age of
information overload – data roles in – minds change – it is hard to know what
is best.
It seems odd that the predominance of attention paid to
mental illness and nutrition by our medical system is well after the pathogenic
effects of poor nutrition are on display. The linkage between nutrition and
mental illness is clear in many cases, Berry Berry – B6, medication absorption
and B12 … the list goes on. Other linkages are less obvious, essential fatty
acids & cognitive function and capacity or the complete amino acid complex
for fetal brain development, for examples. In contemplating nutrition as it
relates to eating one needs to think about the impurities and additives in food,
and their effect on the human brain. Conventional western medicine is tardy
here, in the world of nutrition – when the symptoms arrive often the damage is
done.
Gut health, and the bacterial complex that resides in our
gut play an important role in health in general; hence the growing interest in
prebiotics and probiotics – so when I read recently that gut health affects
mental health, it was no surprise to me. There are a number of factors at play
here in the brains interface with the gut, but the scientific connection has
been made. The first time I fasted, I experience a real sense of well being,
oddly, I love to eat; after 3 or 4 days a general calmness came over me -
having this experience affirmed for me the brain gut connection. I am in
contact with people who fast regularly and they almost unanimously report the
same sense of wellbeing once into a fast for a few days. This article The
Emerging Field of Nutritional Mental Health: Inflammation, the Microbiome, Oxidative
Stress, and Mitochondrial Function, will help you understand the linkages and
functionality better than I would explain it, what is of interest to me is the
absence of this consideration in health delivery in general.
The term “Madder than a
Hatter” was used for people affected by mental illness, hat makers treated
the beaver felt with mercury – mercury exposure causes a complex of systems
related to depression and other illnesses. Lead exposure is blamed for ending
the Roman Empire; lead causes a “weak mind” and a complex of symptoms like
depression. Oddly however, Chelation therapy is absent in the conventional
approach to treating mental illness in western medicine, we never test for it
in British Columbia, much easier to push a pill.
Attention to holistic concern,
the willingness to take the time to treat illnesses like mental illness is
absent in government supplied medical care. We pay for illness in our system,
we fail in every way to reward health. Medical doctors receive income solely
for treating illness as opposed to the overall wellbeing of their keeps. There
is testing available to identify many of the subtle medical occurrences related
to mental health and nutrition, they’re left unused in most cases – or used
once things have progressed. We need to do better in this regard, perhaps if
people had the option to self-direct their medical spending, they would pick
the modalities of treatment that promoted health, rather than waiting for
illness to come.
For more on this issue click the links below
Bad Law - BC Mental Health Act.
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