In collaboration with Make It Neuro on August 31st we hosted an expert-led webinar to explore the intricate relationship between nutrition and mental well-being. Our guest speaker Annika Angelo, Nutritional Mental Health Practitioner talked about how each ingredient in the recipes she made connects with brain health.
Instagram: @nutrimindcoach
Q&A
Q: Are there any specific foods that would be beneficial to eat every day?
A: It’s better to eat for your month or week, not day. It’s helpful to eat specific food groups throughout the day but not specific foods. Unless you’ve worked one on one with a person and need to target a food. In general, make a specific goal of eating different plants throughout the day.
Q: What role does mindfulness and present moment awareness play in the cooking process?
A: We want to be present and mindful when eating in order to avoid overeating and undereating. It's also to make sure our nervous system is regulated to the point where we are in what’s called rest and digest and don't process the foods correctly. In general being mindful in life is important for digestion.
Q: How do I overcome under-eating due to ADHD?
A: You might be on the avoidant restrictive side (ARFID). It’s an eating disorder where you might want to eat but food isn’t the right texture or doesn't feel right so you can’t eat them. Basically your stomach rejects them. When you’re in that state, the best thing to remember is eating something is better than eating nothing. There are also a lot of therapists to assist with that issue.
Q: How does the nature of cooking affect brain activity and cognitive function?
A: In general, when we do movement it stimulates brain activity. When you do mindful activity, it improves the amount of serotonin in our brains.
Q: Does sharing food with others impact social connection and emotional well-being?
A: When eating by ourselves, we tend to overeat or undereat. We also tend to be distracted or not release oxytocin when we eat. However, there’s studies where we sit down with people and eat it releases oxytocin as well. It also helps with ADHD due to the feedback.
Q: Does the food have a lot of sugar and calories in it?
A: Yes it does. If you’re really obsessed with calories, that's a really hard place to be. For me, that’s where I was in highschool. At the time I was in powerlifting so I had to be in a certain weight class in order to lift competitively and it led to a type of eating disorder where you do restrict food. It wasn’t full of anorexia but it was to an extent. This recipe has around 600 calories which is not a lot of calories in a healthy diet. We want to make sure we are eating a lot of fat, protein, and fiber. Talk to your healthcare provider if you need further and safer assistance with losing weight for any reason.
Q: Are there any specific foods that help with energy and stimulation that's also healthy?
A: With long term ADHD, we want to reduce our sugar intake as well as salt. With long term energy, spread the sugar out throughout the day. With short term energy, eating something that’s more available. More sustained energy should be paired with carbs and protein with fat. Along with eating a high fiber diet. Specific foods would be berries for immediate energy.
Q: What foods in particular will maximize cognitive performance?
A: Fibers are so important in All your fruits and vegetables. So ideally we want to be eating different fruit groups a day. For example, a citrus fruit, a berry, one other type of fruit a day. We want to be eating a dark green vegetable, cruciferous, and two other types of vegetables. As well as eating starches such as potatoes and grain. Pair it with protein to maximize cognitive performance.
Q: What does it mean when your body craves certain foods?
A: Specific cravings such as sugar could mean our body wants energy. If I want sugar, I ask myself, “when was the last time I ate?” If it was outside for three hours, I would eat protein and carbs. But it was within an hour or two then I’ll eat sugar. If I crave sugar right after I ate, it’s my body experiencing that instant gratification because we live in an instant gratification culture so our brains have adapted to that. Other foods such as the menstrual craving of chocolate during the late luteal phase. During that time, our body is low on magnesium and iron while chocolate has both of those. Body intuition is cultivated over time.
Q: Are there any studies on how low calorie sweeteners affect cognitive function?
A: Not that I know of. There are studies that low calorie sweeteners can actually improve weight loss since the typical ones we eat take the place of the craving itself. Long term, it will be reduced.
Recipes
Smoothie
Ingredients used:
¾ Greek Yogurt
Probiotics
Protein
Peanut Butter
Polyphenols
Protein
Fats
Maple Syrup
Glucose
Flavanols
Cocoa Powder
Magnesium
Almond Milk
Vitamin E
Vitamin D
Calcium
Optional:
Protein Powder
Spinach
Fruit
Instructions:
Place ingredients into a blender
Blend or shake
Power Balls
Ingredients used:
Pumpkin Seeds
Tryptophan
Magnesium
½ cup of flaxseed
Phytoestrogen
Omega 3
Chia seeds
Fiber
Omega 3
Magnesium
Antioxidant
½ cup Peanut Butter (or any binding ingredient such as nut butter)
Cocoa Powder
Cinnamon
Antioxidant
Nuts
Chocolate
Optional:
Oats
Instructions:
Place ingredients into bowl
Mix ingredients
Roll mixture into ball
Place in fridge
Highlights
Diversity is always important. That is essentially proven to be one of the best things we can do for our body mentally.
With the power balls, they have an omega 3 called ALA. It is not as effective for our brains as something called EPA or DHA Omega 3s. These only come from salmon or tuna. If you could eat salmon or tuna ideally two to three times a week, your cognitive function is going to improve a lot more.
Work on stress reduction. Working on nervous system regulation is going to improve your digestive function.
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