#256 The link between inflammation mood, dementia and how to calm your mind with food, with Dr Uma Naidoo
16th Jul 2024
Dr. Uma Naidoo has spent her life exploring the unique connection between food and brain health.
Her first book, 2020’s groundbreaking This Is Your Brain on Food, offered readers around the world a better understanding of the many ways our diets impact our mental, emotional, and cognitive wellbeing, and provided a useful blueprint for working through conditions like depression, OCD, PTSD, dementia, and more.
Her next book “Calm your mind with food” is a deeper exploration of this. Today we talk about:
- How inflammation affects everything from anxiety and depression to Alzheimer’s disease
- How the trillions of bacteria living in your gut are key to controlling anxiety
- The six pillars for calming the mind
- What to eat to balance the appetite hormone leptin, a key link between the central nervous system and metabolic processes
- How to incorporate anxiety-busting foods into your diet, from ashwagandha to vitamin C
Episode guests
Michelin-starred chef David Bouley described Dr. Uma Naidoo as the world’s first “triple threat” in the food as medicine space: She is a Harvard trained psychiatrist, Professional Chef and Nutrition Specialist. Her niche work is in Nutritional Psychiatry and she is regarded both nationally and internationally as a medical pioneer in this more newly recognized field.
Featured in the Wall Street Journal, ABC News, Harvard Health Press, Goop, Healthline, and many others, Dr. Uma has a special interest on the impact of food on mood and other mental health conditions.
In her role as a Clinical Scientist, Dr. Naidoo founded and directs the first hospital-based clinical service in Nutritional Psychiatry in the USA. She is the Director of Nutritional and Lifestyle Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) & Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital Academy while serving on the faculty at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Naidoo graduated from the Harvard-Longwood Psychiatry Residency Training Program in Boston during which she received several awards, some of which included a “Junior Investigator Award” (American Psychiatric Association); “Leadership Development for Physicians and Scientists” award (Harvard), as well as being the very first psychiatrist to be awarded the coveted “Curtis Prout Scholar in Medical Education”. Dr. Naidoo, has been asked by The American Psychiatric Association to author the first academic text in Nutritional Psychiatry.
In addition to this, Dr. Naidoo is the author of the upcoming title, This Is Your Brain On Food to be released August 4th, 2020. In her book, she shows the cutting-edge science explaining the ways in which food contributes to our mental health and how a sound diet can help treat and prevent a wide range of psychological and cognitive health issues, from ADHD to anxiety, depression, OCD, and others.
References/sources
- Dr Uma has her own Mood Food Meals with the Daily Dose - delivering freshly prepared meals using her brain food recipes and spices
- subscribe to Dr Uma’s newsletter on Substack
- Dr. Uma is an instructor @MasterClass - see her classes on Brain Health
- Sign up for Dr Uma’s course on Nutritional Psychiatry
- Access over 800 research backed recipes
- Personalise food for your unique health needs
- #267 Think clearer and stay sharp with these brain health strategies from Neurophysiologist Dr Louisa Nicola
- #266 Why consciousness is important to health, vitality and a happy life with Prof Anil Seth
- #261 Early warning signs of Dementia, plus neuroprotective foods and lifestyle measures to prevent dementia with Dr Rupy Aujla
- #244 How Immunity is influenced by the Mind with Dr Monty Lyman
- #221 ADHD and diet with Dr Miguel Toribio-Mateas DProf
- BONUS EPISODE: Food for Mood with Dr Michael Dixon & Dr Uma Naidoo
- #203 Look after your brain and live longer with Max Lugavere
- #169 Build Your Brain Using Food with Dr Uma Naidoo
- #110 Beating Brain Fog with Dr Sabina Brennan PhD
Relevant recipes
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New!Stir Fries 4.1
Tofu, Peanut and Ginger Stir-fry
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Free!Fish and Seafood 4.9
Salmon Poached in Harissa Coconut Lentils
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Pancakes 3.0
Red Lentil Pancakes Filled with Spiced Tofu
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Tofu and Tempeh 3.0
Tofu Ball and Butterbean Traybake
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New!Curries 4.2
Tempeh and Red Lentil Keema-style Curry
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New!Tray Bakes 5.0
Salmon, Broccoli and Potato Traybake with Harissa Yoghurt
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New!Pasta
Prawn, Mushroom, Kale and Chickpea Puttanesca Pasta
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New!Family Meals
Thai Green Chicken Curry Pie
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Fish and Seafood 4.6
Hake Poached in Ratatouille
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Tofu and Tempeh 5.0
One Pan Black Bean, Tofu, and Rainbow Rice Bake