Since none of us look like the cheeseburger or spinach salad we just ingested, it can be difficult to wrap our minds around the concept that what we eat influences every aspect of ourselves such that we definitely are what we eat. However, research has shown that our bodies, our energy level, how we age, and even our personalities are influenced heavily by what we eat.
How a poor quality diet affects us
A diet that offers insufficient nutrients affects many parts of our bodies, but most importantly, an inadequate diet negatively impacts the control center in our bodies, the brain. The relatively new science of nutritional psychiatry tells us that our brains can even be damaged when we eat improperly.
Most of us are familiar with the short term dietary effects of food like the energetic high followed by a crash we get from ingesting high doses of sugar. We likely have also experienced the mental fogginess that appears when we are hungry. But many of us are less aware of the ways that poor eating habits cause dramatic changes in our size, our personality, our energy level, how we age, our skin texture, and the types of illnesses that afflict us.
Eating a lot of sugar is a good example of one of the negative dietary habits that many of us have acquired. Oftentimes, we do not even realize how much sugar we get daily because sugar is especially prevalent in the form of high fructose corn syrup in many prepared foods. According to SugarScience.org, Americans on average consume 19.5 teaspoons of sugar daily. Consuming excess sugar like this increases the brain’s stress hormone levels, an increase that can trigger anxiety or depression.
Conversely, studies have shown that the risk of developing depression is between 25-35% lower in people who eat a diet consisting of lots of vegetables, fruits, seafood, fish, grains that have not been processed, and smaller amounts of lean meat and dairy products.
A UCLA neurosurgery and physiological professor with the Brain Research Institute and Brain Injury Research Center, Fernando Gómez-Pinilla, reviewed over 160 studies of the effects of food on the brain. His conclusions from this intensive study were:
- Our brains definitely need the omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts, salmon, fish oil, flaxseed, chia seeds, soybeans, spinach and kiwi fruits because they improve learning and memory. Additionally, the omerga-3’s ward off depression, dementia, schizophrenia, and mood disorders. Omega-3 fatty acid deficiency is also associated with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, and bipolar affective disorder.
- Gómez-Pinilla’s report said that there are also health benefits to be derived from controlled skipping of meals and intermittent restriction of calories because excess calories impair the flexibility of the brain synapses, increasing the possibility of cellular damage by free radicals.
- Diets that are high in saturated fats and trans fatty acids such as fast foods and junk foods negatively affect learning and comprehension.
- Sufficient levels of folic acid (found in peas, asparagus, spinach, beets, broccoli, lentils, oranges, Brussel sprouts, dried beans and whole-wheat breads) are imperative for brain functioning. Deficiencies result in neurological disorders, impaired brain functioning, and speed up age related mental decline.
Since what we eat is reflected in how we feel, how we age, and how we interact with the world, it just makes good sense to eat a healthy diet because we truly are what we eat.
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