If you are still unsure if sorting your gut out is going to be part of your recovery from a mood disorder please take the time to read Dr Perlmutter’s book “Brain Maker”.
Here is a video where Dr Perlmutter shares from his new book. You may wish to skip the introduction and start watching from 3 minutes…
I know this is such important information I am sharing this one-to-one and in group training sessions in the UK.
It gives a lot of essential information in less than half the time of the full interview. However, please consider this:
For me, taking note of what these two doctors are saying about diet, health and especially brain health has been a huge step in developing resilience to all sorts of disorders. It allows me to say, for sure, I do not have the disorder part of bipolar in me these days.
Like Tom Whootton, I continue to be aware of my moods, especially the higher energy and positive feelings, just that I am free of that disorder. I sleep well. I, at last, have good steady energy levels again. I get lots of good stuff done every day. I get on with friends, family, neighbors and other health professionals. Life is good.
A lot of this goodness is due to doing the sorts of things discussed in this interview. This is why I am adding both a link and a ‘watch here option’ for this 1 hour 18 minutes version. It could be that, like me, you need to know precisely what these doctors are saying about brain health.
If you have concerns about the health of your brain or simply want to be thinking clearer and feeling better, then please watch and listen to all of this and let me know if you decide to include some of the ideas into your life – either using the reply option on this blog or through this contact form.
Teaching about nutrition and mental health since 2005, I have found that all my students who have had mood disorders (who have told me what they eat) have been on low-fat diets. Some simply choose low-fat options from the supermarket, while many have had periods of extreme low-fat dieting. Others simply choose to eat lots of fruit and avoid foods such as butter because they believe fruit = good / butter = bad.
None of this is surprising as food companies, drug companies, governments and health services tell us not to eat too much fat.
One change I noticed recently is more of my students are now already aware that the brain consists mainly of fat (65% to 75% depending on how it is measured) and this helps in explaining why healthy fats are necessary to allow our bodies to support and repair brain cells. What is less well-known is that healthy fats and in particular those rich in omega-3 allow you to create new healthy brain cells regardless of your age. This is contrary to what doctors were being taught up until a few years ago. Your current doctor may be unaware of this important new finding.
Part of recovering from any mood disorder is, I believe, to get expert nutritional advice on how much fat is likely to be good for you and how to get a full range of healthy fats into your diet. This is something I can help you to get to grips with, so please contact me if you are seriously considering dietary changes to help stabilize/improve your mood.
If you have not been convinced so far of how essential fat is for a healthy brain then please pay special attention to at least the first ONE MINUTE of this interview of Dr Perlmutter…
You can find out more about nutrition and brain health by visiting:
Rethinking Bipolar 