Ep6: Episode - 6 - Nutrition and Mental Health - a podcast by Raina Jain

Let us take the privilege to welcome Dr. Rohit Jain who is a practicing physician, and a recognized specialist, also an expert at understanding the relationship between what we eat and the way we feel – i.e. Nutrition and Mental Health. His exceptional vision and the ability to provide insights will inspire each one of us to look at the familiar in new dynamics. In my experience with the doctor, I only remember him as a person who influences people to live a better way of life. Let us now welcome a very rare combination of a doer and a doctor who celebrates his choices with pride and excellence. There’s a lot of discussion going on around this topic of whether what is the connection between mental health and nutrition. Our listeners would like to know about how certain foods affect the way we feel and how one should avoid certain food items as it affects our mental energy. There is a list of questions that I have with me right now. How about we start of with understanding the association between nutrition and mental health? When people decide to go on a diet, they automatically feel like they are depriving themselves and their bodies of the foods they want. And do you know what it makes them feel? Miserable. Well first off, the word “diet” has the word “die” in it. That should be a huge indicator that they fail because your body is not getting the fuel it needs to think properly or operate optimally.  Diets create too many restrictions that take a toll on a person’s mental state, leading to increased emotional eating and therefore, increased calorie consumption.   Dieting creates an unhealthy relationship with food, and as we know, negative thoughts lead to negative behaviour. This is the reason why two out of every five people on a diet quit in the first 7 days! Only 1 out of those 5 end up going strong after a month. Why do so many people have diets that nose-dive? They fail because we concentrate too much on a diet and forget about the lifestyle changes. The majority of diets require an extreme reduction of overall calories. Physiologically, this puts our body into a “starvation mode”. The lack of calories needed to support normal daily functions (heartbeat, breathing, etc.) leaves us in a catabolic state forcing the body to use muscle for fuel. This will lower your overall metabolic rate (mitochondria found in muscle is our calorie burning center). The decrease in calories will also cause many to have headaches, mood swings, and fatigue due to metabolic imbalances. Psychologically, the headaches, mood swings, and fatigue are challenging enough, but most diets are also set up with unrealistic all-or-nothing meal plans. A list of “bad” vs. “good” foods starts to consume daily thoughts leading to cravings & bingeing. The diet mentality is one of a temporary fix for long term results, when in fact, a temporary fix leads to temporary weight loss. Once you return to a “normal” eating pattern the weight returns setting up feelings of failure and possible emotional eating. I am sure many people recognize the healthy way of life but many people also do so blindly without understanding the science behind it, lets say for example when you spoke about why one should avoid eating meat and you also scientifically explained what kind of process takes place within our body. I hope now after having heard this episode people make some wise choices for themselves, especially choices that align their mental and physical health and choices that have long term effect on their lives.

If you wish to contact Dr. Rohit Jain, please feel free to email him for any queries that you have - Rohit5196@icloud.com

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