The Undoctored Brain
Mental Health Tips
Edition: 2023-05-02
Most of the “problems in living” seen today are probably
not, at root cause, neurological. There’s a huge metabolic component,
a microbiome component, a toxin component, and toxic culture component.
Fixing all these won’t work for everybody, but everybody needs to
address these basics. Medications might still be needed, and even be crucial
in acute phases, but meds are usually symptom management, almost never
cure for this class of ailments, and could be part of the problem
in the long run.
The core program here does a number of things that have direct bearing on
mental health, and these benefits have been a recurring theme in the
program. ⎆Here’s
“mental health” on the Infinite Health Blog, for example
⎆WBB: No grainer brainer.
Substance abuse issues are presumed to be off the table.
This is all program core. Anyone interested in mental health is presumed
to have this well in hand (have been following the 2014+ Wheat Belly,
Undoctored or Infinite Health programs).
⟲ Grain Free
Eliminates opioid peptides highly correlated with things like
schizophrenia, not to mention autoimmunity enabled by grain proteins.
Diets that are ⎆merely
gluten-free (⎆on PCM) are
possibly helpful, but only a small part of the answer (and are often
just a different form of sky-high glycemic).
⟲ Very low net carb
Optimal blood sugar reduces brain glycation and inflammation (and I
personally suspect reduces overload of the recently discovered
deminimus brain lymph system). Diets that are merely LC are probably
helpful, but only a small part of the answer.
At 50 grams net carb/day, this program is at the borderline between
full-time glycemic and full time ketotic diets, and that may be all
that’s needed for most people. Chronic keto, clearly of benefit
in some chronic ailments (like epilepsy), is a tool in our box, but not
generally necessary. Diets that are merely keto are probably helpful,
but only a small part of the answer (they would be inherently very low grain).
Is a course of keto worth a try for someone who has done everything else?
Yes, but be sure to ⎆keep
ample prebiotic fiber in the diet, and be aware that only about
half of the ⎆usual
sources are sufficiently low in net carbs.
⟲ High specific fats
The brain is made of fat (lots of cholesterol and DHA). This program has
specific targets for fish oil intake. Culture-wide low-fat mania has
been a disaster for brain function, as probably has been the modern
overload of so-called vegetable oils (industrial grain and legume oils
high in ⎆Omega 6 linoleic acid).
⟲ Low-inflammatory generally
⎆Weight
loss alone is a big contributor here (⎆on PCM),
with reduction of leaky gut also dialing down the provocations. Elimination
of zonulin from grain proteins is a key factor in tightening up the leaky gut.
⟲ Thyroid focus
Grossly ⎆distorted thyroid function
is pandemic, and the mis-testing, mis-diagnosis and mis-treatment
scandal has left many people with not just uncorrected function,
but being put on anti-depressants. Yes, consensus medicine
is often causing mental disorders.
⟲ Gut flora cultivation
⎆It’s not yet known how huge this is.
The program has had a focus on it for over 8 years now, and it is still
developing. These bugs and their metabolites have a powerful influence on
mental health (in part due to sleep effects). Adding prebiotic fiber to the
diet often reveals what now appears to be a very high incidence of SIBO.
That needs to be corrected for multiple reasons, one of which is mental health.
Implicit in this is minimizing excessive exposure to antibiotics. Take them
only when really needed, and unless otherwide contraindicated, consider a
course of high potency probiotics during and for a month after the AB course.
There’s an internet meme that “all drugs are antibiotics”.
Presume that any medications are microbiome stressors, if not antagonists.
Where meds are contributing to dysbiosis, they may have self-perpetuating
effects. Entirely apart from the known side effects and the co-pay, wean-off
could have wider benefits.
⟲ Micronutrient deficiencies
⎆Fish oil, at program-suggested
intake levels, reduces inflammation and increases brain DHA. Higher-dose
fish oil is being used in treatment of PTSD, TBI and acute anxiety.
⎆Magnesium and ⎆Vitamin D, core program
supplements, likely are also very helpful in mental health. Magnesium is
a player in sleep and migraine, which itself is a huge factor in
mental health (more below). D3 is very effective in SAD.
These might be some items for extra focus.
⟲ Incep dietary status
The program generally presumes that people are transitioning off
the USDA’s MyPlateOfMetablicSyndrome diet. But people may
also be refugees from other dogmatic or dissident diets, some of
which are antagonistic to mental health, such as many ⎆vegetarian/vegan, chronic keto.
If you’re just here due to diet fatigue, from programs that
don’t work, rest easy. No calorie counting here. Willpower and
won’t power are usually not a problem. Exercise is optional,
but encouraged. There are no secret sauces or proprietary potions. All
that is counted are net carbs, and usually only transiently, until what
to eat is understood.
⟲ Sleep
If ⎆sleep
isn’t optimized, nothing else is apt to be either.
⟲ Get tested
Consensus medicine tends to avoid some key and meaningful tests, particularly
where the results reveal some condition they don’t know how to treat,
or for which there’s no pricey patented prescription potion. ⎆So learn as much as you can about your
overall health. Many issues can be effectively dealt with by natural
means (minimum or no meds). Certainly, several common anxieties
(e.g. heart disease, cognitive decline, oddball skin ailments,
and the general malaises of excess weight) can be neutralized.
Do not, however, bother about food sensitivity testing right away. Due
to the leaky gut enabled by standard diets, a Cyrex Array (for example)
could be expected to light up like a casino marquee for anyone
new to the program. Reserve such testing for way down the road, as you
may discover that your reactions have vanished.
⟲ Food toxins
The program tends to eliminate nearly all processed foods. Just doing
grain-free, added-sugar-free, and low net carb, shoves most of them off
the plate. But any desire to optimize mental health needs also to eliminate
added ω6LA and transfats, preservatives, emulsifiers, colorants and
flavorants, not to mention contaminants that won’t necessarily appear
on the Nutrition Facts panel, like heavy metals. Mental health wonks are
attuned to some of these, but it all needs to go. So in general, avoid
all processed foods until you become an NF panel ninja.
Even with single-ingredient foods, the program advises ⎆non-GMO, organic, and for
animal-sourced: pastured or wild-caught. Genetics aside, field,
transport and storage pesticides are an under-appreciated gut
microbiome hazard. The biggest problem with second-hand
antibiotics might not be resistant bacteria.
⟲ Personal environment toxins
⎆What’s in your water?.
Mental health advocates are often aware of modern hazard like flame retardants
in bedding and night clothes, but drink chloramine-laced municipal tap water,
or restaurant beverages made with it. There’s very likely a big problem
here. Further, swimming pools and hot tubs look like a perfect storm for
various body microbiomes, even if you promise to never swallow any of
that Cl- and Br-infested water.
On BPA, BPS, release agents and other endocrine disruptors:
favor glass and modern ceramics for containers and cookware,
then stainless steel, HDPE ♴ or LDPE ♶.
⟲ Exercise
Although many people first come to this for weight loss, exercise is
spectacularly inefficient for that. It is great for numerous other
reasons, and has brain and cognition benefits. It is getting additional
focus in the emergent ⎆Undoctored High Performance initiative.
So you did all that, double-checked it, and are looking for more, there are
some non-trivial philosophical, psychological, and cultural aspects to
mental health. Being beyond program, my insights on this aren’t so far
found in the forum. But you can take control of a lot of this, rather than
it being the other way around.
Another modern problem, that was a handful of isolated case studies when I
was born, but is now an exploding pandemic, is the unhappy presentations
of ASD. This might be preventable, and appears to be at least partially
responsive to the program. I have no roll-up of suggestions yet.
___________
Bob Niland [⎆disclosures] [⎆topics] [⎆abbreviations]