How the Standard American Diet is Making Us Depressed, Anxious, and Inflamed

The Doctor's Farmacy with Mark Hyman, M.D.

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It's easy to overlook the connection between what we eat and how we feel, but in a country where more than 1 in 5 adults are battling mental illness, suicide is on the rise, especially in children, and drug overdoses are at an all-time high, we need to stop and ask why? Why are we witnessing such unprecedented rates of mental illness? The answer lies not only in our modern-day, high-paced, stressful environment but at the end of our forks.

In this episode of my Health Bites series, I discuss why our brains are so broken, the root causes driving neuroinflammation, and how this drives disconnection between our prefrontal cortex (the adult in the room) and amygdala (our reactive, child-like brain), causing our anxiety and emotions to take over. We’ll also discuss the research clearly showing how our toxic SAD is a key driver of our mental health crisis and how you can eat (and supplement) your way out of many mental health issues.

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In this episode I discuss (audio version):

• The state of the impact of our Standard American Diet on mental health (2:20)
• Why are we dealing with unprecedented rates of mental illness? (4:46)
• Top inflammatory foods and factors that are setting our brains on fire (6:34)
• What is metabolic health? (9:34)
• The impact of metabolic dysfunction on our brains, mood, and overall health (14:04)
• How is UPF driving poor metabolic health? (16:22)
• The link between leaky gut and leaky brain (21:47)
• How inflammation impacts the brain (23:33)
• Research on the link between junk food and mental Illness (28:01)
• The link between junk food consumption, violence, and aggression (32:38)
• The link between UPF, social functioning, and ADHD (36:58)
• Practical steps to fix your brain (39:36)

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