Full Transcript Introduction to Mood Food and Anxiety 0:00 Can food help ease your anxiety or help uplift your mood? 0:05 You might be wondering who I am. 0:06 I'm Dr. 0:07 Uma Naidu, a psychiatrist, chef, and I also teach at Harvard. 0:13 What I do is fuse my knowledge of the brain of health and food to help my patients and students. 0:21 And also a national and international bestselling author, I've published two books all related to mood and foods. 0:29 And actually some people call me the mood food expert or moodfood MD which I kind of like because mood and food through this ironic pairing together actually 0:39 are related. 0:40 How so? 0:41 You might ask. 0:42 And that's the purpose of this channel. 0:45 For this video, I will talk about anxiety in food. 0:49 Back to my question, can food really help your anxiety? 0:54 Yes, it can. 0:56 In my years as a nutritional psychiatrist, as chef, I've met tons of people, not just patients, but people in my professional and personal circle who are 1:06 extremely anxious. 1:06 There was one that I distinctly remember, a nurse who was taking her graduate program. 1:11 While I was chatting with her, I noticed she was frantically looking for her eyeglasses.
Recognizing Anxiety Symptoms 1:16 It was a little funny but also sad at the same time because when I pointed out that her glasses are right in her cold pocket, 1:24 i saw tears well up in our eyes. 1:26 She shared that there was just this anxious feeling looming over her all the time. 1:32 But despite all of these feelings she, was acing her graduate program and still functioning really well as a nurse. 1:41 She's not the only one feeling like this. 1:43 There are a lot of people out there, and you could be one of them. 1:48 You might not know that the person you're talking to, your boss at work, or even a friend or family member, even the highest performing person in the office 1:58 may be suffering from anxiety. 1:59 Because anxiety can make you perform so well, but at the same time cause you to crumble when you are alone. 2:07 Some of my patients, especially those working in these highly stressful jobs, did mention that they felt like their anxiety's a double-edged sword because 2:17 they can work really well and concentrate, but that anxiety is always there looming over them, being worried that the may make a mistake. 2:26 While others have shared the most basic symptom one can notice, a horrible empty pit in your stomach like there's a gaping hole or butterflies in the stomach, 2:35 new emotion every single time, the urge to pick up your phone to endlessly scroll through social media or messages distracting yourself because there are 2:45 these endless thoughts flooding your brain. 2:47 You become angry as if it's the way to cope and you usually do not feel focused. 2:54 And lastly, that feeling of impending doom that something terrible is going to happen.
How Food Can Support Mood 3:00 So what exactly is anxiety? 3:02 And have we been using this term so loosely that these days some folks would just toss it around as though everyone feels that way? 3:11 Anxiety is a whole lot of things. 3:13 There are clinical criteria that a doctor or clinician will walk through to help with your diagnosis. 3:20 But here, what I'm really wanting to teach you about is to identify these emotions in yourself or someone you love and be able to help them because remember 3:32 that food is a very powerful tool. 3:34 Now you may need a medication, you might need to see a doctor, all of that is really important. 3:39 Psychotherapy, hugely important, but also what you can do is take the power into your own hands and help your anxiety. 3:49 And yes, as your mood food expert, I can assure you that food is a powerful tool to help you feel better. 3:57 And today, I will share with you the top 7 foods that can help you lower your anxiety and uplift your mood. 4:05 You can eat them daily, include them in your week, but add these brain foods in. 4:11 Let's start with almonds, one of my favorite go-to nuts. 4:15 Take a tablespoon or two of almonds. 4:18 They contain 37% of your daily vitamin E. 4:22 This vitamin reduces the effects of the imbalance in your cells that can contribute to the symptoms of anxiety. 4:28 They are also rich in magnesium and that helps you feel an improved sense of calm. 4:34 What about avocado, a healthy fat rich folate as well as fiber and helps in uplifting your mood? 4:42 About a quarter to a half piece of a small avocado a day is enough to give you a great percent of folate that your body needs because guess what?
Top Foods for Anxiety Relief 4:52 A low folade gives you low mood. 4:55 And what about a leafy green salad? 4:57 So like the avocado, a leafy green salad also contains folate, and folates helps uplift your mood, but not only that, it also maintains the function of 5:07 your neurotransmitters. 5:08 Neurotransmitters are like your brain's postal service. 5:12 They help deliver messages from one neuron to another, the faster the transmission, better. 5:19 What about turmeric, one of my favorite all-time spices? 5:22 I drink it every morning as turmeric with a pinch of black pepper relieves symptoms of anxiety and depression while relieving brain fog and increased focus 5:31 and energy. 5:32 A little bit of yogurt can be a great pick-me-up because of being rich in probiotics. 5:37 Eggs like the green salad are also good for your neurotransmitters and fermented foods like kimchi or even sauerkraut. 5:45 Adding in a fermented food into your diet can help your mental well-being. 5:50 Eating some fermented fruits every day helps to lower inflammation in the gut by adding in new strains of bacteria into the your gut that help lower the inflammation. 6:00 Just watch for any added sugars and unhealthy ingredients if you buy any fermented If these things are overwhelming, I suggest adding them a little at 6:11 a time into your diet, maybe just one food at time. 6:14 You can start first with just a handful of almonds, adding that into the diet. 6:18 If you happen to be allergic to nuts, go with the avocado first. 6:23 Whichever one it is, try to include these into you diet Take one food at a time and remember that one small change, one consistently done habit will have 6:35 huge impacts on your gut health and your mental well-being. 6:39 I am often asked how food and mood or the brain is related.
Simple Diet Changes and Key Takeaways 6:43 You might also be wondering how come food can affect my mood? 6:46 My stomach and my brain are pretty far away from each other. 6:50 Well, there's science to that. 6:52 And by understanding the relationship between your gut, where your food goes, and your brain, I've created a very simple PDF that can help you explain this. 7:02 Just download the ebook by clicking the link in the description box. 7:06 There are four key takeaways I'd like you to take note of. 7:09 The food you eat does affect your health, your emotions, or your mood. 7:14 You could be experiencing anxiety but still do great in some aspects of your life or vice versa. 7:21 Anxiety doesn't have a fixed face. 7:24 It's different for everyone. 7:26 Incorporate a simple change in your diet one food at a time and do not force yourself to change your lifestyle in one go. 7:35 Lastly, there's help for your anxiety. 7:37 If you'd like to know more about the science of your mood and food, click the link in the description below to get my free ebook that will help guide you 7:47 through improving your mental well-being.
Comments