We believe in functional mental wellness, a holistic approach to mental health. We know that there's hope for those of us who have experienced trauma, even profound trauma and that's why we created the universe is your therapist podcast, we believe whether you call it God, the universe, source, unity or love that there is something much greater than us that conspires for our good, we envision a world of healing and connection. And we teach you simple but powerful practices that integrate your mind, body and spirit so that you can come home to your highest self and your truest identity. You are not broken, you are loved, and you can heal. My name is Amy Hoyt, and together with my sister, Lena, we will take you on a journey of healing and self discovery.
Welcome, everybody, to this episode of the universe is your therapist, we're so glad that you've joined us today. We are focusing this month on the hustle culture that we experienced here in the United States, and nutrition and mental health. And last month, we were focusing on movement and making sure that we got some movement in every day. Hopefully, you guys were able to do some mini steps toward that. And our goals this month are to hydrate and to have five servings of fruit and vegetables a day. And while it may seem a lot, I think even adding one serving extra day can be helpful. So as we look at hustle culture, what I'm referencing is this culture in America, where we just keep working and working and working and driving and driving and driving toward more success. And the idea that we have to prove ourselves sometimes even to ourselves and to others, and how that hustle culture can get in the way of rest, it can get in the way of good mental health, and it can get in the way of life balance. And when we think about hustle culture, we see that we are greatly rewarded for it societally. And that everybody loves somebody who's so busy. Sometimes we even wear it as a badge of honor. I'm so busy, I have so many things to do. And we want to encourage everybody to take a look at that and see how hustle culture is affecting their life balance and their mental health. We're also talking about hydration this month. And the importance of being fully hydrated, it affects the way our cells functions. It affects the way that our brain works, and affects our energy and that sort of thing. And so, for hydration, what we're focusing on instead of a certain number of ounces, is we're focusing on making sure that when you urinate, your urine is either pale, yellow or clear. And that will give you a very good idea of whether or not you're getting enough water. As you can see in our show notes, we have a couple of articles that we've referenced in this episode. One of the articles by Karen Mayo talks about five essential nutrients that we all need in order to have better body and brain functioning. And these nutrients are vitamin D, vitamin B, magnesium, omega three fatty acids, and a pro probiotic. The article suggests that if you are able to you request a blood panel done to test these levels in your own body, and then work with your medical professional to decide how to work with any Wak than any of those nutrients. Always. Medical professionals and health professionals and nutritionists are always going to recommend that we get the nutrients we need from whole food, and that we find ways to use certain types of foods that are rich in some of these nutrients in order to get these nutrients without having to use supplements. So vitamin D is helpful in the production of adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine and it helps with brain function. A lack of vitamin D can lead to fatigue, muscle weakness, hair loss, back pain, poor skin healing, bone pain and mood changes. And I know that recently I was talking with my doctor about my fatigue and they ran a panel and I was low in vitamin D. And I was able to take a six week course one pill a week for the vitamin D deficiency I had and it's really helped a lot vitamin B It is important because a lack thereof can contribute to depression, anxiety and mood swings, and it can be consumed in the form of folate. Some of the food we can consume that contain folate are dark green vegetables, beans, peas, citrus fruits, and legumes such as lentils and garbanzo beans. I love hummus and so I probably get the majority of my folate from hummus and kale probably. And then the deficiency in magnesium can contribute to anxiety, confusion, insomnia or headache. I remember a client I was working with years ago who has started using magnesium as a supplement and reported that it really helped his anxiety. I know the other night I was having trouble sleeping and so I took a magnesium supplement and that really helped me as well. As far as omega three fatty acids go. These are vital for brain function supporting mental sharpness and positive mood. oily fish is a great way to get your omega threes I hate fish, they make me want to vomit. And so I do not use oily fish but I have a vegan Omega three supplement that I use that I believe uses seaweed to provide the Omega threes. And then a probiotic is also very important, because our mental health is what is linked strongly to our gut health. And when we are having problems with our gut health, we might want to take a look at what is also happening in our mental health and with our mood. And our probiotic is a mix of live bacteria and yeast that live naturally in the gut and taking a probiotic can help mitigate ATD or ADHD, reduce anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease. Some of the most effective probiotics we can consume as food are things such as kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, you can ingest probiotics in the form of fermented foods, such as yogurt, non GMO miso, combo G, and Kimchi and sauerkraut. One of the other articles that we have listed in our show notes is also about how certain types of diets and eating programs can affect our mental health and can contribute to different moods and an increase in dopamine and a way to help manage some of the difficulties we might have in this stressful world of the stressful time. There are several theories about how diet may influence mood, or the risk of conditions such as depression and anxiety. And while research is ongoing, there's an increased interest in noticing how our gut biome and our eating patterns and the way inflammation plays a role in our bodies and brains. One thing that has been studied quite a bit lately is the role that inflammation may play in our mental health and various mental conditions such as depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer's. And while we are still researching that, there are many scientists that believe that inflammation can create very significant challenges in our mental health. One way to fight inflammation is to eat whole foods, plant based as much as you can, and to make sure that you're eating foods that will provide you with those essential nutrients that we need, so that our body has a chance to operate most functionally and our brain follows suit. One dilemma we face as part of the hustle culture is that in order to change our eating habits, it requires enough time and energy to plan and to prepare food differently. And when we are always in a hustle mode, it's really difficult to slow down enough to prioritize our healthy eating and to prioritize our gut biome when we realize that we can have a positive impact on our gut biome just by adding an increased servings of fruit or vegetables every day. And certainly well five servings are optimal. Even again, even one or two servings is better than none servings and is an increase and a way to help contribute to our body's health. That is a My first step or a mini step, when we're talking about fruit and vegetables, we're talking about focusing on fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables. The reason for this is that canned vegetables and fruit often lose a lot of nutritional value. And so when we are looking to increase our consumption of fruit or vegetables, we want to shop in the frozen food aisle, or in the fresh produce aisle. Two main questions that researchers are asking in regards to nutrition and mental health are does diet help improve mental health conditions and our nutrition interventions helpful in treating these conditions, I believe that the more healthy we eat in terms of eating unprocessed foods, and adding lots of fresh food to our diet, will also help raise levels of essential nutrients in our body will give us additional energy and will give our gut biome a chance to be restored to a more healthy place. Many of you may be familiar with the idea of the standard American diet or sad. And I know that in my circles, it's been kind of a joke for several years about the recommendations that we have nutritionally in America. And research continues to support the idea that a Mediterranean style of eating is very helpful for our bodies. This would include high intakes of fruit and vegetables, whole grains, olive oil, fish, low fat, dairy, and antioxidants, as well as a low intake of animal foods. This type of eating pattern this Mediterranean diet has been researched in nutrition for over three decades. And the results continued to indicate that it's a very solid healthful way to eat, and a way to help your body repair, to help your brain functioning, and to help your mood and your gut biome. So as we move forward in this month, keep in mind that we're taking these steps so that we can continue to build on a foundation of health, with our whole body, our whole mind and our whole spirit. And that by attending to our physical health and our nutrition, we can have a positive impact on all the parts of us. Thanks for joining us this week. We look forward to seeing you next week. And remember if you're interested in more information, please look at us at www. Mending trauma.com Thank
you so much for listening to this episode. If you want to go deeper on this subject or any other subjects we've covered in the podcast. We are so excited to be launching our signature membership program at mending trauma.com This is a trauma informed mental health membership where we combine clinically effective practices courses and mentoring while putting you in the driver's seat. We teach you how to heal your trauma with the latest research combining mind body and spirit we want to walk you through a healing journey while also empowering you if you have felt this episode is helpful. We would absolutely love if you would go to Apple podcasts or wherever you listen to your pods and give us a review. We'd also love it if you would share it with someone you think it might help tag us on social media at mending trauma.com Or at Amy Hoyt PhD, we would love to reshare and also if there's anything we can do to help we would love to hear from you email info at mending trauma.com Give us your suggestions or topics you want to hear about. We would absolutely love to be of more service to you. We're so excited because we have so many good episodes coming up in season two, and we can't wait to go on this journey with you
