248: The Best and Worst Foods to Eat for Mental Health | Uma Naidoo, MD

Lean into a plant-rich diet, because the fiber, the prebiotic fiber, the fermented foods... any one of those things can, in fact, impact your gut health. And your gut health is now so central to the balance of your mental health. So, I always say a happy gut is a happy mood...

The other thing to remember in the morning is that some people haven't had enough water to drink. And when they're dehydrated... I've seen that precipitate panic, and I've seen people wake up really anxious. So, with anxiety and individuals who are struggling with that, I ask them to drink a glass of water in the morning.

With simple carbohydrates, they kind of go through our system like a rocket. And if you're eating that doughnut for breakfast, by the time you get to your desk or your drive to work or commute, you need a second or third doughnut and much more because you're hungry.

The other thing that tends to happen with anxiety is people are eating and consuming things that worsen anxiety, and they don't realize it. One big trap is artificial sweeteners that people don't realize, even ones that are more natural.

Leafy greens are rich in folate, and low folate is associated with low mood.

If you're really struggling with your mood, saffron has a really good body of evidence around improving mood.

We worry about our protein grams, but 1 in 10 Americans eat enough fiber in the diet.

There are also things like parsley, mint, Mexican oregano, which have luteolin. And those have been shown, in research, to help brain fog.