Well with Arielle Lorre - 91: Dr. Uma Naidoo - Nutritional Psychiatry and What to Eat to Feel Good

Episode Date: January 6, 2021

In this episode I’m talking to Dr. Uma Naidoo, Harvard trained psychiatrist and founder/director of the first hospital-based Nutritional Psychiatry Service in the United States at Massachusetts General Hospital. She discusses her new book This is Your Brain on Food, and covers what Nutritional Psychiatry is; the mind-body and gut-brain connection; what foods to avoid and what to include for issues such as depression, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia and more; specific meal ideas to enhance our wellbeing; how to be cognizant of what we’re eating without being rigid, and much more.   www.Blublox.com/BLONDE for 15% off and Free Shipping worldwide. www.NativeDeo.com/BLONDE for 20% off your first order.   Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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or sunnycars. The following podcast is a dear media production. Hey, welcome to the Blond Files podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lori, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits. I know there is so much information out there, so I'm here to help you navigate it all and live your best life.

Thanks for listening. Let's get into it. Hello, everybody. Happy New Year. I hope everybody is feeling good, feeling positive and hopeful coming into 2021. I personally am feeling pretty good. I had the most boring New Year's Eve. I think I was asleep by like 930 or 10, but, you know, very on brand for 2020.

But yeah, feeling pretty good, cautiously optimistic at this point, three days as I record this into the year. And yeah, at least we're all safe and healthy, and we've made it this far, right? So I have a fascinating episode today. I'm talking to Dr. Uma Naidu. She is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, and she founded and directs the first hospital-based nutritional psychiatry service in the United States. She is the director of nutritional and lifestyle psychiatry at Mass General Hospital,

Massachusetts General Hospital, MGH.H, it's a big hospital out there on the East Coast. And she is also the director of Nutritional Psychiatry at Mass General Hospital Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School. She has a new book called This Is Your Brain on Food. That is amazing. It combines her knowledge of psychiatry with her knowledge about food. And she draws from over 500 different studies to explain how different nutrients affect our moods, our bodies, and various issues like depression, anxiety, fatigue, low sex drive, OCD, PTSD, and more. She also talks a lot about the gut brain connection, or as she calls it, the gut brain romance, and we talk about all of that in this episode and more. So, enjoy.

So welcome, Dr. Nadu. Thank you so much for being here. Thanks so much, Ariel. I really appreciate the invitation. I've been reading your book and I shared it on Instagram and I'm sure a lot of the audience already has it, but you have a new book. This is your brain on food. It is amazing. It's such a great resource for anybody who wants to learn about nutrition, how it affects your mind, your body, your cognitive function, mood, all of that. So to start out, I would love to just hear about your career trajectory, the evolution of how you went from psychiatry to where you are now with nutritional psychiatry. Thanks. So, you know, it's interesting because it really began in my childhood. My relationship with food was built around family, a very large Southeastan family that I grew up in, many generations, large family meals, and a focus on good eating and healthy eating, but also joy around food and nutrients. So I really stems from way back when.

But also in my family, there were a large number of allopathic doctors and a couple of Ayurvedic practitioners. So there was a sense of healthy eating as well as just learning something about food. And I brought that with me because in a large South Asian family, you also have many cooks in the kitchen. You know, grandmother's aunts, older cousins, mothers. So there was much that I needed to do except hang around and taste food. But it was always really around food. But my mom is a double-border physician and she recognized that I loved science. So she taught me how to bake and measure.

So I could bake that I really didn't come to cooking until later. And when I discovered cooking, it was as I was studying in Boston. And I realized that when I went to prepare whichever meal it was, that that was for me a very mindful time and almost a respite from the rest of my busy day studying. And I found that I was looking forward to it more, even though I was, you know, testing recipes that I'd watched my mom. prepared home or using her spice blends. And it not only brought me a sense of comfort in terms of, you know, having moved far away from where I was born, but also I realized that this was a great

time in my day to decompress. And my interest in love for cooking really developed in a very real way. And I was, you know, watching Julia channels on television because they couldn't afford cable TV in those days. And she was on public televisions. And that helped me gain confidence as a young cook, really, that you know, you could make mistakes and fix them. And all of this happened at the same time and without much planning. But also I think that what I would think looking back is that I followed my instinct.

I loved cooking. I did more of it. I loved learning about nutrition. I wanted to study more. And I understood there was a real gap in medical school. And that brought this forward into. to when I began to see patients in mental health and in psychiatry, I really wanted to ask them more because also that Hindu background came with mindfulness and meditation, learning that as a child,

yoga practice and that type of thing and really looking at health in a very holistic way. And I guess automatically that kicked in when I began to see patients. And I started to ask about what they were eating and after being yelled at by patient when I was very early in my career and being able to take that situation. and turn it around by providing information to him that was then valuable about what he was drinking and eating really helped me understand how valuable it was, what a powerful tool nutrition was to someone who was, whether they were struggling with emotional well-being or other things, how powerful it could be as a tool because it was a tool that they could employ, they could use.

And I had learned the power of a prescription pad, but I think that what was very appealing about sharing nutritional strategies with someone was that they could feel empowered and that they could make choices. And it blended into my career in a more longitudinal way. A trip to culinary school was really a trip of passion and wanting to follow something that I love to do.

I didn't know that it would fit into my career in a particular way. And I was very blessed that it did come together in the way that my career came together in forming the clinic that I work in in Randak Mass General. And that's really how it came. to be putting those components together in a recipe that was somewhat unplanned and for which I feel very grateful. New years are all about fresh starts, right? And there's no way to be fresher

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works. So make the switch to Native today by going to nativedo.com slash blonde. That's N-A-T-I-V-E-D-E-O-D-O-com slash B-L-O-N-D-E, or use the promo code, blonde at checkout. And you, you you can get 20% off your first order. So again, that's nativedo.com, N-A-I-V-E-D-E-O-D-E-O-D-O-com slash blonde, B-L-O-N-D-E, or promo code blonde at checkout for 20% off your first order. I was reading in your book, you were talking about traditional psychiatry,

and you said that, you know, psychiatry, you look for symptoms and then you make a diagnosis, and often that diagnosis comes with the prescription of medication, right? But oftentimes people come in with depression or anxiety that's very real, but it doesn't meet the criteria for medication. Yes. In traditional psychiatry, how would one fill that gap without lifestyle modification or something like what you do? That's actually a great question because I think that when you're seeing a psychiatrist in a hospital or clinic, much of that is insurance driven by time, by coding, by billing. And the doctors are really under a lot of pressure to make a decision and see the next client.

It's not that they're trying in any way to not give you the time you deserve. There's this for that issue. But there's also the issue of how the diagnostic and statistical manual DSM-5 is set up. You know, there's no tissue diagnosis in psychiatry. So there's no blood culture, blood test, brain biopsy or other culture that you can do. If you have an infection and you have a cough, you know, the culture of the sputum. They might do a blood culture, but it's a severe infection and you're hospitalized. But we don't have that in mental health.

We don't have that in psychiatry. That really clinically, as someone who's been a practice in clinician for a couple of decades now, what I see a lot of is in those individuals who don't quite meet the diagnosis of those criteria from DSM-5, but are still suffering or struggling on some level. And I think bringing it back to the point about the way that doctors are expected to use appointments when you see someone in a clinic or a hospital, the tendency is let me pull out my prescription pad and give you something to try.

And I feel like individuals who think, well, you don't need a medication, may then refer you to different forms of therapy, all of which I support wholeheartedly because I really think that if you are taking medication, therapies and the different types that we do in psychiatry and mental health are worthwhile. But I feel that that gap that you pointed to

is exactly what is missing in our approach to mental health. There isn't really a holistic or integrated approach. And I think that lifestyle changes, individuals who are not suffering to the point that they can function, if you can function, but you're not feeling good, if COVID has pushed your mood in the wrong direction, has made you more anxious, it might be that you can actually do these lifestyle changes

to fill that gap if it makes sense. And I see that as not really existing in traditional practice. right now. Perhaps it will change, I'm not sure, but really it comes from the clinician being willing to look at the other components, and sometimes that's driven by not having enough time as well.

Right. So I'm curious how you work with your patients, if somebody comes in to see you and they're feeling anxious or they're feeling depressed, obviously you talk about different cases in the book, and so I'd like to hear just kind of how you look at somebody holistically

and how you might treat them understanding that it's very individualized. And then the second part to that question is you said, one of your earliest success stories was a referral from an infectious disease specialist. And I would love to hear a little more about that if you can share what that case was like. Sure. So a couple of things. I think that microbiome is really like a thumbprint, right? So each case has now, my clinic over the years of running it, has become so much more personalized because of understanding more research and knowing that individuals have different responses. So in that point, the way that I employ a holistic model is I really spend the first visit

with someone finding out as much as I can beyond the traditional good and comprehensive history that a doctor or a psychiatrist would take. So I literally want to know what they're doing. It's not only, it's not just a food log, it's what they're doing, how are they sleeping? What's affecting their sleep? you know, do they have a pet? It could be as important as or someone might think that it's irrelevant, but, you know, are you moving? Are you doing any exercise? Are you doing a dance class? Are you walking a dog? So I find out as much as I can. I'm kind of inquisitive and curious at the same time to find out about someone. A lot of the referrals I have now are really for nutritional psychiatrists. So people come in with a good sense of what they're looking for. And sometimes the decision tree for me is, Are you doing okay? You still have symptoms that we can help with,

but can you manage the rest of your life? And I'll give you an example. I evaluated someone in the last six months that had severe symptoms of OCD that had been lifelong and had taken medications back and forth. But when I truly evaluated the symptoms, I have to say that she didn't necessarily like the conclusion of what I said, but I said, you know,

I'm going to give you all my recommendations. But I am also going to tell you, as someone who prescribes medication, I wasn't a health prescribe issues, seeing someone else, that I think you should, you should take a little bit of the medication and do the lifestyle strategies because your symptoms of OCD have you locked in. They have you afraid to do certain things. They have you not being able to enjoy aspects of your life, even with COVID restrictions. And, you know, I had to be very honest and transparent about it. And I said, I think you need to do a little bit of both to make this what you need.

And yet there are other people who have others who may come in with symptoms of OCD who have milder symptoms. And they actually could engage in the nutritional strategies to help alleviate some of that so that they continue to function. Will all the symptoms go away? Maybe not. But they could be lessened to the point that the person can really feel they are functioning better. So it gets complicated. And sometimes I go back and say, you know, I'm really sorry, but I think you need to do some of this because there are these reasons that you're not functioning.

And that's where clinical training and knowing the psychiatric diagnosis and having some clinical experience becomes quite important. When it comes to specific patients and how they've been referred, I was interested that, you know, the clinician who referred that particular individual had the wherewithal. to realize that the gut microbiome research is really burgeoning and is really increased over time. And she figured that the client had actually read about me and had asked, you know, had said, I really think there's something wrong here. I want to get help from this doctor. Can you arrange it? And so I give both people credit for that because the doctor could have said, I think that's, you know, I think that's not going to work for you and you really shouldn't do that. But she didn't. You know, she contacted me, she had a conversation with me, which was very helpful. And I also give

the client credit because she had read about something and she said, oh, there's the gut microbiome and I want to know more. And I think it was, you know, it ended up being very meaningful for everyone because that is, to go back to an earlier question for you, that's really how change starts to get implemented in the medical system, isn't it? That people are open, willing to look at other ways to help patients willing to refer to another colleague and get some input on that. And it certainly was very important for me. If you're staring at a screen all day or looking at your phone constantly, or waking up and scrolling Instagram or watching TV before bed, which let's be real, I'm sure a lot of us are doing. I mean, that's life today. I do it too. But if you're doing that, you could be welcoming

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You know, I started my account almost, I guess, four years ago. And I was having a lot of gut issues. And I've always shared very openly about them. And I was very overwhelmed by the response that it seems like everybody, is dealing with it. And it always kind of, it just makes me wonder why it's so prevalent right now.

Maybe is it just that we're more aware of it and learning more about it? And so people are more cognizant of what's happening. And for people who don't know, maybe can you just, in layman's terms, talk about how they are connected?

Absolutely. You know, until about 15 to 16 years ago, let's just say in the last two decades, that's really when the, gut microbiome research burgeoned. So if people weren't hearing much about it, it was because it wasn't in scientific journals and the research was still being done, etc. So I think that, you know, the way it starts for people and where it's important in mental health is that the cliche, you know, you are what you eat, becomes much more relevant. The gut and the brain may seem far apart

in the body for most people, but they are actually originating. in the embryo from the same cells. And that becomes really important to understand they're functioning later in life. So they grow to different parts of our body, but the gut and the brain are connected. They're then connected by the vagus nerve, which is the 10th cranial nerve,

which connects the gut to the brain and the brain to the gut. And that acts like a two-way superhighway, allowing for 24-7 channeling of information, really chemical messages back and forth throughout time. So there's that connection. And then, you know, the 39-od trillion bacteria, but really microbes, because they're about five different types that live in the gut, and they, you know, they are impacted by food.

But what's important to know is that, you know, people are often prescribed medications such as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors like Prozac or Zoloft and many others. but the serotonal receptors more than 95% are in the gut. So that's really helpful for people to know. The fourth factor that I think is super important about the gut brain, access is that the very large component of our immune system is in the gut. So how we eat as far better immunity becomes important as well. It becomes important for our mental health and it becomes important for our immunity as well as our physical health.

But, you know, my focus tends to be on the mental health. So your book covers 10 different conditions and, you know, how nutrition affects those conditions in good ways and in bad ways, right? So how to use nutrition to treat those conditions and how you might kind of lifestyle your way into that. So we can't go over all of them, unfortunately, but there are some big ones. and a lot of people sent in questions, particularly around anxiety. Everybody wants to know, what do I eat for anxiety?

So, you know, I think that what's super important here is that we start off with things that we should be concerned to avoid. And the reason I say that is because so much of our, so much of what we are often doing. I think you've heard the expression that you cannot exercise out of a bad diet. Well, in a similar way, you know, you really can't sort of eat your way happy. So in other words, what do I mean by that? You know, eating poorly and taking supplements, that doesn't help us.

And I think that it becomes really important for people to truly know the things to avoid first so they can start to be wary of them. Why do I say that? Because there are individuals who have said, you know, I'm trying to cut back on sugar. I know it's bad for me. I know worsens how I feel. But they go from having a lot of sugar, say candy bars. Maybe that's the person, the thing that the person is eating. And they start to drink or eat foods that have artificial sweetness. And the foods are labeled sugar-free. So they think, this is great, I can, you know, come off sugar. But unfortunately, artificial sweetness worsening anxiety. So if we were to go through it very quickly, highly processed and ultra-processed

foods worsen symptoms of anxiety. Trans fats, you know, and processed vegetable oils are problematic for anxiety. The more high glycemic index carbohydrates can basically not help anxiety. refined and added sugars, so not necessarily from fruit, which is a natural sugar, certain amounts of coffee, so less than 400 milligrams a day is what's suggested. And if you are sensitive to coffee, then cutting it, cutting back on it and coming off of coffee may be important. You know, having a moderate level of alcohol intake. And in certain cases, also watching the amount of gluten that you eat, if, in fact,

it's quite possible gluten may be driving your symptoms of anxiety. And why is that important? Because gluten has been shown in studies to worsen certain individuals' sort of level of anxiety. And therefore, I think that people need to not necessarily just go out and eliminate it off, you know, immediately, really assess their body intelligence. See how they feel. See if they start to, you know, take out. the foods that I just mentioned. Maybe they were hidden in things that you don't realize.

For example, processed vegetable oils are used in many fast food restaurants because it's less expensive. But that could be setting up inflammation in your body because of the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. So those little things that someone, for example, told me that they were buying a healthier version of ketchup because they know that I talk about the added sugars and savory foods like ketchup. And water-healthy ketchup and then found, was reading the label and found that ingredient as an artificial sweetener, which was listed in my book, and realized, you know, I'm moving to this healthy ketchup, but actually it contains ingredients that are worsening my anxiety. So it becomes just us being observant, reading food labels

and understanding. Now, what are the things you can add in that can help you? Well, you can start in with things like adding fiber-rich foods. Why do I say that? Because fiber-rich foods break down more slowly in your body. Therefore, there's less of an insulin spike when you have them. So if you have a sugary donut or something like that, you may have what people will experience as a sugar crash or feel okay when you have it because you liked it or you enjoyed it and then not feel so great afterwards. When you eat more filling and fiber-rich foods,

there's an evening out of your blood sugar level. So there's less of those insulin spikes, if not at all. And the food is broken down and digested in your body, and you just don't have those ups and downs, which can actually make people feel quite uncomfortable. So, you know, we can't get fiber from animal seafood protein, but adding in veggies and, you know, servings, one to two servings of low glycemic fruit like berries are really good. So, you know, load up on the broccoli, the bros or sprouts, the cauliflower, and then, you know, things like nuts

and seeds have a good amount of fiber in. So, so add those in. You know, so think healthy salad, think lots of colors and lots of seeds and crunch and fiber-rich foods. And then another category of food is the omega-3s. So things like fatty fish, which are things like salmon, sardines, but then plant-based sources such as algae, flax seeds, chia seeds, are also sources of omega-3s to remember. And then I go to vitamin D rich foods, a very important category, because although we get more than 80% of our vitamin D from sunshine, there are also vitamin D rich foods that can help anxiety, magnesium rich foods to help anxiety. Easy ones are chickpeas, pumpkin seeds, avocado, black beans, and then adding back pre and probiotic foods also become important because the pre and

probiotic foods and probiotic foods are usually what we often see as fermented foods. Those actually really help the gut thrive and those gut microbes thrive. So adding those in in the form of a probiotic rich yogurt, dairy, non-dairy, unsweetened or pre-botic foods, easy to remember the Allium family. There's many of them, but things like garlic onions leaks are ways to really enrich the diet that those gut microbes need to thrive. And by doing that, you really take care. find your mental health by doing that.

So those are sort of the categories that I go through with people of things to start embracing. And also spices, turmeric with a pinch of black pepper really has hit the high notes and a lot of conditions, including anxiety. So I would add that to a tea, a super smoothie if you don't cook, and try to add that in. The black pepper makes the curcumin and turmeric more bioactive and bioavailable to your brain and body. So just add a little pinch of black pepper. When it comes to sugars, this is another question that I get.

Anytime I have a doctor on any expert talking about nutrition and people ask this of you today as well, when it comes to sugar, is a sugar, a sugar, a sugar. Is coconut sugar better than brown sugar? Is maple syrup better than either of those? I mean, is it all the same? Obviously, all of it in moderation, but is there a difference of how they affect your body and your mental health? Sure. So I think that's a great question. I sort of look at sugars in this way. They're sort of the added and refined sugars that I'm most concerned about that we don't realize on foods because they're probably close to 250 other names for sugar now that are on food labels. So it's quite often that people don't even realize they're taking in sugar and something that they eat which they might perceive to be otherwise healthy or have a label that suggests to them. It might be healthy. I think of a good way. to get in natural sources of sugar through really taking to eating fruit, but eating is in moderation. So there's certain circumstances. If someone is overweight, struggling with that as one of their mental

health conditions, as say part of depression, maybe they've taken a medication or maybe they've had symptoms of depression and really been eating to feel emotionally better, but actually then gained weight, you know, the idea wouldn't be, let's eat a ton of fruit. But you can always eat lower glycemic fruit like berries, strawberries and blueberries being my favorite and eat small portion. So one to utmost, you know, most being three servings, but one to two is what I usually guide people to do. And the way that I also like people to use fruit, as you have seen in my book, is to really get that edge of a sweet tooth by including fruit in their diet, either in using whole fruit to make desserts or some kind of snack that you'd like, maybe you would like something sweet

after dinner or lunch. So think of fruit that way. The reality about the type of sugars that it's a natural sugar, it is for sugar. So you want to think about getting it from a natural source and also the fact that the fiber, the vitamins, the phytochemicals, and nutrients in that piece of fruit you are also getting. So think about a little plump blueberry and realize you're getting so much more than if you, you know, you were having some type of other sugar. But the rest of the sugars, they all break down to sugar. So the one that I will say drizzle in a recipe is a little bit of honey because honey has many other health benefits.

So I feel it's one that I've come to terms with as add a drizzle of honey to say the chocolate avocado mousse that we make. And added drizzle to say you want the topping on your oatmeal, although I'm going to say use cinnamon, because cinnamon can sweeten too. And so I'd like to suggest to people use low glycemic fruit. If you don't have an issue with some extra pounds, then expand to other food because those good for you. Lower glycemic fruit may be healthier just because you won't have the added sugar. Split up when you eat your food, use it, eat your servings throughout the day and try to eat your fruit, not drink your fruit.

I say eat your blueberries don't drink them because you lose some of the fiber in that as well as nutrients. And in terms of the other sugars, I'm sorry, they are sugar, including honey, but honey has a ton of other health benefits to it. I'm just waiting for someone to tell me that I can just eat coconut sugar forever in pounds and it won't affect me at all. I know. I think we all wish that that was the case. Okay.

Another issue that you talk about that I think a lot of people are dealing with right now is insomnia, fatigue, energy issues. How can we treat that with our nutrition? So, you know, with insomnia, one of the things that I start with this sleep hygiene, because especially in COVID times with people working from home, many different sort of age groups of the family being home together, homeschooling and the amount of stress that people are just generally experiencing, each person's situation may be different. Someone may be on their own and isolated from their family through COVID. I mean, everyone is different.

So starting with sleep hygiene is important. And I really personally feel that, you know, getting ready for bed, paying attention to when you drink alcohol, if you drink it, when you drink coffee, if you drink it, paying attention to hydration, making sure you're adequately hydrated throughout the day is really important. So all of that and also then thinking about, you know, when do you shut off your phone or when do you when do you leave your phone in another room?

When when do you shut up the television? You know, is your your bedroom where you sleep, you know, get restful for the night versus kind of eating your pizza and bed or, you know, habits that may have developed during COVID because it's such an unusual time. So pay attention to those things because they do affect the brain. They do affect how you get ready and how your body gets ready to rest. alcohol, you know, if you're having a glass of wine or two to help you sleep during COVID, that's probably disrupting your sleep architecture.

So even though it might put you to sleep, it's not the best choice for you. And people don't often realize that because they feel a calming feeling or they feel a sleepy feeling and they feel ready for bed. But over time, it affects your sleep architecture. But things that you can do, there's a good amount of evidence for a tart cherry juice that you can make from tart cherries. You can actually get tart trays. They exist. And you can make a little bit of juice. And if you are buying such a juice, just make sure that you're looking at the sugar content in that.

But it actually helps people go to sleep. And I've had people try it and buy some healthy versions and really use, drink a little bit of it and really sleep much better. So that's a tip that came out in the research. And the other tip I have around insomnia is to flip your breakfast. And the reason is that there are several breakfast foods which have melatonin. Things like good quality oats, eggs, certain forms of good quality dairy, certain vegetables have melatonin. So think about, you know, making an omelette and having it at dinner time. And, you know, if you eat there, you can add in some milk.

Grass-fed milk is what I generally prefer if you are able to get it and then add in, you know, asparagus and broccoli. And you actually have something with several melatonin-rich foods. in it. And there's a list of many other foods with Velotone in my book. But just think about putting those foods into your dinner time frame and sort of getting your body ready for sleep. And then watching for hidden sources of caffeine. There are several over-the-counter headache pills which have caffeine. So, you know, beware of that because you may be taking that and not realize it has a good amount of caffeine in it. Sometimes it's finding those hidden sources and making

you sure you are kind of winding down to rest at night. Another question that I get all the time that I wanted to ask you myself as well is about breakfast. I think it's a meal that so many people struggle with because kind of traditional breakfast is either very carb loaded and sugary or, you know, it involves animal protein and, you know, a lot of people now are vegan, vegetarian. So, you know, it feels like the options are kind of limited in more traditional breakfasts. I've had people on who said, well, you don't have to eat breakfast food for breakfast, first

of all, you know, that's a mindset that we can break. But I think, you know, people are just kind of at a loss as to what to do. So what's a good breakfast in your mind or what do you eat for breakfast? Sure. I think with breakfast it's all about planning because people, even if they're working from home, they tend to be busy. And so I do as much meal planning as I can because I'm busy. And one of my favorite go-tos is cheer pudding, something I can prep on the weekend because that happens to be a chunk of time when I can do meal prep for me. So someone else, it could be a Wednesday. You know,

it's just dependent on your work schedule or your life schedule. Cheap pudding is simple and I like it because it has coconut milk and cheer seeds. Cheer seeds are super rich in fiber and protein. And they are a great source of short chain omega-3. So I know they're good brain food for me. So I prep some ahead in small containers and I therefore have something ready. If I don't happen to eat it for breakfast, I have something else. I can also have that as a snack. And then I top it with my favorite toppings are things like a little bit of chopped hazelnuts and macadamia just for the crunch or I put some blueberries or a little bit of both. I might add a sprinkle of cinnamon. So I make it interesting for myself, but I make it interesting with easy things

that are in my fridge on my counter or my spice cabinet to make. And I think that that just takes, it takes the stress out of breakfast because you have something ready. You make, maybe you have a cup of coffee like I do or a glass of water, whatever it is, and you have it ready. So that or, you know, some people do oatmeal, they do overnight oats and then they make it for the week or for a few days at a time and add their toppings or maybe a knock milk to it. I like things like that that are easy that I can go to. If people consume eggs, I teach them to make a little frittatas that they can in a cupcake pan. So on a Sunday, bake them up and you can actually freeze them individually and you're good for a couple of weeks if you want that is either a snack or you want to eat one or two

for breakfast. And I tell people to put loads of veggies in, put your spinach, put your left over roasted veggies, you know, add some spices that you like and make it interesting. And all you have to do is, you know, you have it ready, frozen, and you have those prepped. I think that that for me makes a very big difference in terms of getting something in. A lot of people also doing intermittent fasting, that becomes slightly different. They might want to eat different things or eat at a different time. But for those people who are finding it hard to get breakfast in, I would say, number one, do some meal. prep. Decide on a few things that you like for breakfast. Maybe for someone else, it's a sprouted

piece of whole grain bread and avocado. You know, so great avocado toast. Then just have your avocado in the fridge peeled and ready or have it hold so that it doesn't go, kind of gets darkened or blackened and toast up your bread and make it easy for yourself so that it's almost like a no-brain in the morning that you don't have to think through that option. And those are for me what I find the most helpful in getting in other people like a smoothie or something like that. You can actually put the ingredients for your smoothie in a glass jar the night before, pop it into your blender in the morning. Some people even leave it in the blender container, seal it up, but then just blend it in the morning. And that way, again, you don't have to think through those steps when you're busy or you're

rushing or you have a tendency to forget breakfast. Those are great ideas. So something that I wanted to talk to you about around all of this is how do we, how do we remain cognizant about what we're eating, how we're eating is going to make us feel, but also stay out of the more orthorexic end of the spectrum because it's very easy. You know, there's kind of a fine line. So do you have any tips for that? Absolutely. I think that, you know, embracing a healthy diet is something any one of us can do, including myself. I mean, we can always up our game. But I think it becomes concerning a problematic way,

you fine-tuning things to the point that you're either starting to exclude entire food groups if you don't have a food, a food allergy or food intolerance. So if you're sort of going down the path of I cannot eat this food group, I only can eat extra amount of calories, I can only eat, you know, if you're becoming too rigid and structured around what you're doing, to the extent that it's starting to affect just your enjoyment of food, how much you're eating,

how much of a variety of foods you're eating. Because a variety of food and vegetables, for example, the beans, nuts, seeds, legumes, healthy, all grains that I mentioned earlier, that help bring fiber, also bringing variety and biodiversity to your gut microbes. So if you suddenly decide, I'm not eating anything green, and I'm just making that up, and not eating this, you know, it actually changes. what happens to your gut. And I would say if you are trying to be healthy,

but you've noticed in yourself, or your family is saying, someone your love is saying, or friend is saying, you know, we can't take you somewhere or can't go somewhere because you just cannot eat, you know, all foods that are green or whatever it is. If people that love you or know you are saying something back,

then maybe just reflect on what you're doing because that starts to become unhealthy for you where you start to exclude things or start to be so, rigid about your diet, that it's not helping you nourish your body. For me, food has always made nutrients and joy and something that, and that's why I don't people, I don't feel that people should have to eat non-tasty food if they are trying to be healthy. And I really care that recipes are delicious for people to enjoy, but they can still be healthy. Because if not, you don't want to eat it. You know, you don't want to eat the food. So I think that those things become important. And I think

it's a really good question because some people get too almost fixed, fixed on habits, which don't end up being the best for them. Absolutely. Well, there are plenty of other conditions in your book. You cover PTSD, OCD, depression, what else? Libito. There are so many. So everybody makes sure to go pick up the book. And where can everybody find you? So they can find me in two places. Find me on social media. We always sharing information on Instagram, which is at D.E. are U-M-A-N-A-I-D-O-O, which is at Dr. Uma-N-N-I-D-O-O-O-N-I-D-O, and go to my website. Please subscribe and you'll get our newsletters and get information about what I'm up to. That's Umanidu-M-D.com.

And you can also buy the book there or support your local bookseller or Amazon, wherever you prefer to get it. Amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming. Thanks so much, Ariel. It's lovely to talk to you. You too. I hope you enjoyed that episode.

if you liked it, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes a long way, and it's actually the best way to support the show. Also, if you want to see more about each episode, you can head over to The Blonde Files podcast on Instagram. I'm always posting about each episode there or over on my personal page at Ariel Lorry.