Calm your mind with food A revolutionary guide to controlling your anxiety

Uma Naidoo

Book - 2023

Based on cutting-edge research, a nutritional psychiatrist shows how to use food and nutrition to calm the mind, including the best diets for managing anxiety and depression, boosting immunity and enhancing overall mental well-being.

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Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 616.8522/Naidoo Due Dec 26, 2024
Subjects
Published
New York : Little, Brown Spark 2023.
Language
English
Main Author
Uma Naidoo (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
304 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-312) and index.
ISBN
9780316502092
  • Introduction
  • Part I. The Problem
  • Chapter 1. Fighting the Global Anxiety Epidemic
  • Chapter 2. Gut Feelings
  • Chapter 3. Immune to Anxiety
  • Chapter 4. Inflammation on the Brain
  • Chapter 5. Anxiety and Leptin, the Appetite Hormone
  • Chapter 6. The Dangers of Metabolic Disruption
  • Part II. The Solution
  • Chapter 7. Macronutrients
  • Chapter 8. Micronutrients
  • Chapter 9. Bioactives and Herbal Medicine
  • Chapter 10. An Antianxiety Shopping Trip
  • Part III. The Protocol
  • Chapter 11. The Six Pillars to Calm Your Mind
  • Chapter 12. Building Your Antianxiety Eating Plan
  • Chapter 13. Cooking Tips for a Calm Kitchen
  • Chapter 14. Recipes to Calm Your Mind
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Eating the right foods can reduce anxiety, according to this valuable guide. Nutritional psychiatrist Naidoo (This Is Your Brain on Food) explains that as gut bacteria metabolize food, they create metabolites that travel through the bloodstream to the brain where they're assembled into neurotransmitters ("chemicals that carry messages between your nerve cells") that regulate mood. Diet affects which neurotransmitters are created in the brain, she notes, observing that foods rich in the amino acid tryptophan, such as poultry and chickpeas, boost the production of the calming serotonin. A detailed overview of the mental health benefits of various foods reveals that kale and spinach "are a great source of polyphenols," which have "shown promise in reducing depression-like symptoms," and that walnuts, chia seeds, and flaxseeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which help fight "anxiety-causing neuroinflammation." Naidoo strikes the perfect balance between scientific background and practical advice, offering plenty of concrete takeaways ("Two meals a day should be fully plant-based, with meat at only one meal") while recognizing the importance of flexibility (because the gut "microbiome is heavily individualized... what is healthy and balanced in one person might look totally different in another"). It's a rigorous yet accessible look at how readers can eat better to feel better. (Dec.)

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