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We've all experienced feeling incredible after a healthy meal and feeling annihilated after stuffing ourselves with crazy food. Our diet clearly affects the way that we feel, and those impacts are both immediate and long term.
Most of the time, we hear about diet in terms of health, longevity and weight management. But we can weaponize our diet to impact our mental health. The CINDERS approach to mental health is to get your physical foundation in order while you are building mental tools on top of that foundation. Diet is one of the levers we can and should pull.
Before we dive in, nutrition science is incredibly complicated, and I'm by no means an expert. Nutrition can also a very emotional and charged topic. I'm not even going to cite any sources, because it's useless. Each one can be combatted with another. What I'll do is share what I have been taught and understand to be generally accepted guidelines and the tradeoffs associated. If anything I say is wrong, I would LOVE to be corrected. Shoot me a note.
OUR FOOD ENVIRONMENT MAKES THINGS DIFFICULT
Our food environment is different than it used to be. Processed foods are abundant. Fast food is everywhere. This is not necessarily bad. Non perishable of food reduces waste and feeds the hungry.
But we also can't ignore the prevalence of being overweight, obese and depressed and the overlapping timelines they share with processed foods. I recently heard Dr. Layne Norton describe the issue as follows. Our metabolism and brains weren't built to regulate appetite in this food environment.
We've gotten too good at making food hit all of our pleasure centers in the brain. This, again, isn't necessarily bad. It just comes with a tradeoff. Dopamine is powerful, and spiking it to unusually high levels with the foods we have easy access to can make it difficult to stop eating.
Another side effect that I've found is just a constant craving for food. When I am eating a lot of processed foods, or indulging in some from time to time, I cannot stop thinking about food. I have always wrestled with binge eating.
EAT DIFFERENTLY
Being stuffed, lethargic and foggy sucks. Feel light, energized and sharp feels good. So how do we get to that?
We know that not every diet works for everyone. Some people have Celiac's disease. Some people are lactose intolerant. The Jailhouse Strong "law of individual differences" applies to just about everything. Everyone has their own unique circumstances, preferences, morals and goals. One size does not fit all. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is selling snake oil.
The reality is you have to try a few different things and see how you feel. You have to stick with it for a while. If you truly have no idea where to start, start with a week, then reassess. See what makes you feel good. See what doesn't make you feel good. Be mindful how you feel. I've found it helpful to keep a journal of this stuff to be able to reflect on patterns.
YOUR NORTH STAR
With all of this complexity, it can be daunting. Complexity can create chaos. We could get into all of the the minutiae and all the individual micronutrients but at the end of the day, that's boiling the ocean. There are some fundamental principles we can use to ensure that we are following a health diet that will benefit our mental health. We want simplicity.
Build your diet around nutrient dense, highly satiating foods that you enjoy eating and make you feel good.
Nutrient Dense
Highly Satiating
That You Enjoy Eating
Make you Feel Good
NUTRIENT DENSE
We want to eat healthy, nutritious food. More micronutrients. We want to find foods that aren't "empty calories." I'll explain. We can "burn" carbs, fats and proteins as fuel. A gram of sugar from a blueberry and a gram of refined sugar are molecularly identical as far as the body is concerned. But blueberries have fiber and a variety of other micronutrients that come along with them. All of these micronutrients are going to increase the likelihood that everything is functioning well in your brain which leads to better mood.
There isn't necessarily anything wrong with rice, potatoes, corn or bread. BUT. You can get a lot more micronutrient bang for your buck from other foods, so it's a factor to consider. Foods that are generally considered to be highly nutrient dense. These are safe bets for building the majority of your diet around:
Meat, Fish, Eggs, Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts & Seeds*
Some secondary options to consider based on preference and how they make you feel:
Dairy, Whole grains
*Nuts & seeds, while very nutritious, are also very calorie dense. I've been known to binge eat some salted nuts. I often opt for unsalted, raw nuts to combat this craving.
HIGHLY SATIATING FOODS
Satiating foods combat craving and regulate appetite. Protein and fiber are the gold standard for satiety. The next layer would be complex carbohydrates. Generally potatoes (maybe sweet potatoes to get more nutrient density eh?) and whole grains. These take longer to digest than simple sugars, but do still ultimately end up as glucose just like a simple sugar does. It's just a longer process and a slower release as opposed to a spike.
THAT YOU ENJOY EATING
If you don't enjoy eating it, you won't stick to it. I look forward to the meals I'm going to have everyday. I've gotten to the point where I usually don't order steak from a restaurant because I prefer the way I make it at home. The foods I eat everyday are some of my favorite things to eat. I'm not sacrificing.
AND MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD
I enjoy eating Blizzards and sleeves of Oreos in a glass covered with milk. But it feels like I got hit by a bus afterward. I essentially quit drinking alcohol, not because I don't enjoy it, but because I enjoy other things, and those other things make me feel good. I enjoy eating steak, ground beef, eggs, salmon, avocados and blueberries. If I throw together a meal with those foods, I feel like I can run through a wall afterward.
WHAT ABOUT CALORIES
The brass tacks answer is, find your maintenance. If you want to build muscle, add 300 calories. If you want to lose fat, remove 300-500 calories. Tracking is an incredibly useful exercise. I track foods about half of the time. Tracking truly teaches you how much you are eating and puts things into perspective. It helps you dial in portion sizes and your macro nutrients. But it can be cumbersome. I'd recommend everyone try it for a week, it will teach you a lot.
The simple answer is this. Don't worry about it. Eat until you are satisfied. We'll define satisfied as 80% full. This is a common practice in "Blue Zones" and there's a cool documentary called "Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones" on Netflix. MASSIVE CAVEAT. You need to be strength training.
Why? Because if you are eating foods vetted through the 4 part checklist we talked about, and you are in a calorie surplus, you will be creating the perfect conditions for gaining muscle. If you are in a deficit, you will be creating the perfect conditions for preserving muscle and losing fat. In either case, your body composition will be improving. Do that for a few months and see how you are looking and feeling, then you will have the information you need to decide whether you want to eat more or less.
KETOSIS: SOMETHING TO CONSIDER
Dr. Chris Palmer wrote what might be my favorite mental health book to date called Brain Energy. He essentially spells out a theory (bulletproof theory in my opinion) for the cause of mental illness, which is essentially that they are caused by metabolic disfunction of the brain. He's well known for some pretty incredible transformations utilizing the Keto Diet. He's had incredible results with schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and bipolar disorder among others. I've played around with Keto and also had great results. Be sure to consult with your doctor, I made sure to bring my psychiatrist along for the ride.
HOW I EAT
I do rotate my diet here and there to try different things. But the majority of the time, here is how I am eating. I like to build my meals around red meat and eggs. I typically eat at least a pound of beef a day. Usually in the form of grass fed ground beef. I also typically have 6 eggs and 1-2 avocados per day.
Those three staples, beef, eggs and avocado are present nearly every day. I LOVE these foods. Eggs and beef provide high quality protein and tons of micronutrients. Avocados provide healthy fats and are a great source of fiber. For reference, a medium sized avocado has about 10 grams of fiber. Recommended amounts vary, but 20-30 grams is a good target. Two avocados a day and I'm golden. I'll get some additional fiber from fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds to round me out to 30+ grams per day.
Beyond that, my nutrition comes from additional meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. I cook with grass fed butter, olive oil and avocado oil. I like blueberries, salmon, cucumbers, pickles and carrots. Nuts and seeds rotate through pecans, walnuts, brazil nuts, chia seeds, hemp seeds and almonds. For a little extra spice, I top things with a little honey and maple syrup.
When I am trying to put on muscle and have more calories to spare, or when I want to mix it up, I'll rotate in some dairy, usually greek yogurt and cheese, and whole grains, usually oats.
My diet is high fat, low carb. It's not quite keto, although I do often get into a mild state of ketosis when I'm a little higher in nuts, lower in meat, and eating less fruit. I like to eat this way because it keeps me satiated and focused. It keeps my blood sugar under under control and helps me avoid crashing. But more than anything, it's because I love to eat this way, and it works for me.
One of the major drawbacks of my diet is the amount of saturated fat. I eat more than what would be considered optimal. Saturated fat increases LDL ("bad") cholesterol. I combat that in two ways. The first is fiber. Fiber can bind to LDL cholesterol and help reduce. So I'm extra cognizant of fiber intake (hence the avocados). The second is regular cardio training. I run or ruck with my dog about 5 days per week, and we walk every day, typically twice a day. With that, Jiu Jitsu and Skateboarding, I get plenty of cardio in a variety of intensities.
RECAP
Eat nutrient dense, highly satiating foods that you enjoy and make you feel good
Eat until you are about 80% full
If you do these things and are doing regular strength training, you are going to cover the vast majority of the bases. You can get into the nuances later.
Do you have any questions on this article? Do you have any topics you'd like to see covered in the future? Email me at jack@leaveitcinders.com and let me know!
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Recommended/Mentioned Books:
Fasting: Fast Track to Fat Loss (authors of Jailhouse Strong)
Keto Built (authors of Jailhouse Strong)
Affiliate disclosure:
CINDERS utilizes affiliate marketing, all of which are products I legitimately use and have purchased myself. I don't think you "need" any of these things, they've just provided a lot of value to me in my mental health journey. 10% of all revenue from all CINDERS, including affiliate sales, goes to mental health charity.
