Food and Mental Health

We can’t argue that there is an increase in mental illness. From depression to bipolar to anxiety. There’s even a major increase in Autism and Aspergers.

Every human being is made up of cells, every single part of the body from the brain to the small capillaries. Cells are made from what we digest;

Two-thirds of a cell is water, which means that two-thirds of your whole body is water. The rest is a mixture of molecules, mainly proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. Your cells turn the raw materials in the food you eat into the molecules your body needs, using thousands of different chemical reactions.

When we digest our food we are also digesting chemicals, additives, hormones, sugar and high refined grains and GMO’s if we’re not eating a strict clean organic diet. Fetuses are being made with these same non organic “stuff”. In addition to digesting this non organic additives, we are also lacking in our diet. While many people (a large bulk Americans) are eating a high processed food diet, they are not eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, resulting in a lack of nutrients that the body needs to function properly and efficiently and to generate new cells.

In light of the mass shootings, (please dont make this about guns), increase in mental illness and other conditions, food is being researched and looked at as having a direct correlation and a possible cause of the increase in mental illness.

Study: Brain Foods: The Effects of Nutrients on Brain Function

Part of the Abstract

“ It has long been suspected that the relative abundance of specific nutrients can affect cognitive processes and emotions. Newly described influences of dietary factors on neuronal function and synaptic plasticity have revealed some of the vital mechanisms that are responsible for the action of diet on brain health and mental function”

Health Harvard EDU Blog synopsis:

“It makes sense. If your brain is deprived of good-quality nutrition, or if free radicals or damaging inflammatory cells are circulating within the brain’s enclosed space, further contributing to brain tissue injury, consequences are to be expected. What’s interesting is that for many years, the medical field did not fully acknowledge the connection between mood and food.

Today, fortunately, the burgeoning field of nutritional psychiatry is finding there are many consequences and correlations between not only what you eat, how you feel, and how you ultimately behave, but also the kinds of bacteria that live in your gut.”

I think the march this weekend showing solidarity in regards to demanding gun control and to put an end to gun violence speaks loudly about the major mental health issues within the country.

My question is do you think it’s time we demand a change in the way food is processed? And what types of foods are available? That we have organic produce and organic meats. That we put an end to Conventional Farming (aka Industrial Farming) and we return to Organic Farming? By doing this multiple issues would begin to be corrected ranging from health to environment.

Im curious as to what everyones thoughts are and also wanted to increase awareness as to an actual underlying issue with the potential to help correct many issues. Would you all march in demand for organic food and to hold the government and food manufacturers accountable and demand change?