This article came as no surprise to me! The new and exciting field of nutritional psychiatry is so key to cognitive and mental health. Of course what we eat matters to our brain! And how we feel emotionally is clearly linked to our physical state.
Our brains need many varied nutrients to function properly and also need a healthy gut microbiome. The health and happiness of the bacterial civilization inside our colons has an immense impact on the status of our brains. They make byproducts from the foods we eat, with a great emphasis on the fermentation products of fiber from vegetables, called short chain fatty acids, which circulate and enter our brains and keep all working well and helping us to feel happy.
A diet which mostly consists of processed foods and animal products and is short on vegetables and some fruits will leave our gut microbiome hungry and our brains unhappy.
So what is the recipe for happiness? It seems clear now that a diet with lots of vegetables and fiber from whole grains, along with lots of healthy fats from plant materials, with just a small amount of animal protein and fat, is the ticket to health and happiness!!
