Brain Health and Mental Health Problems

Today we want to dive a little bit deeper into brain and mental health problems and why – next to other therapies – it is so important to heal the body too.

How is the body connected to the brain, and which factors influence our mental health?

Yes, let’s start with the mind-body medicine first.

As we already know, thoughts, beliefs, traumas, life experiences and stress have a major impact on our health. Up to 95% of illness is caused by stress! What you think can influence how sick or well you are. The mind influences the body. But also, the body is affecting the mind.

This is called somatopsychic (relating to mental symptoms caused by bodily illness). To understand better, we need to take a closer look at

• Nutritional status
• Food intolerances & allergies
• Digestive Imbalances
• Hormonal imbalances
• Toxins

All the above influences our Mood, Behavior, Attention and Attitude. To make that clearer. Have you ever experienced the following?

• Have you ever felt foggy, unable to concentrate after a large meal?
• Have you ever felt stressed or anxious, and after a long walk or bike ride, you felt calm and relaxed? How come? You burned off chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol.

These are some examples of the body-mind-connection but there are so many other things that occur inside of you that effect your brain and mind.

Just consider for a moment that

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Insomnia
• ADD, ADHD and other
• Mental disorders

Maybe primarily caused by imbalances in the body. There are already few conditions recognized by conventional medicine that clearly show how problems in your body cause disease in your brain. Now imagine that

• Changing your diet
• Balanced nutrient levels
• Good sleep hygiene
• Exercise and playtime
• Getting rid of toxins
• Balancing your hormones
• Taking care of your digestive track
• Fixing food intolerances and allergies

can all transform your mood and brain function.

Does that mean that depression, autism, dementia and other mental disorders can be cured?

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, M.D. and chairman of the Institute of Functional Medicine, it is possible to treat brain diseases and mental disorders by healing the body. His method is based on science and medicine. He sees brain problems as systemic disorders and the cure will be found outside the brain inside the body.

Brain function is directly influenced by

• What you eat
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Allergens
• Infections
• Toxins
• Stress

There are several steps to take to fix the body to achieve optimal mental health and brain function. These steps are unique for every person. Everyone needs to be diagnosed individually but the formula is simple:

Get rid of the bad stuff and add the good stuff.

What needs to be eliminated from our bodies, and what must we add?

We need to clear out

• the bad bugs
• eliminate food allergens
• help the digestion with enzymes
• add probiotics and prebiotics
• healing nutrients
• give the second brain a chance to relax too

Toxic waste like bacteria, fungi, parasites, and heavy metals must first be eliminated. To find out if you do have an overgrowth of any of them you need to consult a health practitioner or doctor. Some of the infectious waste can be treated with herbal formulas or detoxification programs based on natural supplements.

However, when it comes to bacteria overgrowth antibiotics are sometimes necessary. After your system is free of waste you need to find out which minerals and vitamins are missing. If your brain is not functioning right thus inflamed, then there is definitely a lack on minerals and vitamins in your body too.

An easy way to find out what is missing is through Hair Mineral Analysis, OligoScan, saliva, blood or urine tests. Important minerals and vitamins for a healthy brain are folate, Vitamin D, B6 and B12, Zinc, magnesium, and selenium. Just to name a few.

But before you even start taking supplements it is crucial to fix your digestion. The most powerful thing to fix your brain is fixing your gut. First you need to find out if you are suffering from food intolerances, allergies or autoimmune diseases. The best way to get a clear picture about that is the Elimination Diet. It is also recommended to do enemas in combination with psyllium and cuppa clay. Enemas help to eliminate the waste in your gut faster.

What is the elimination diet all about?

The elimination diet is used to identify

• food intolerances
• sensitivities
• allergies
• autoimmune diseases

The goal is to track down the culprit in the food and remove it from the diet for a while. Because then our digestive system has the first chance of recovery.

The Elimination Diet consists of 3 phases: elimination, provocation, and stabilization phase. In the elimination phase, intolerable food groups are removed from the diet.

It only consumes foods that are proven to be tolerated and usually trigger neither intolerance nor allergies. The introduction of previously avoided food takes place during the provocation phase (testing phase).

In this phase, an intolerance or all

ergy is either confirmed or excluded. In the stabilization phase, foods that have caused no discomfort can be re-integrated into the diet in the long term.

Some of the foods that may irritate the immune system are

• Gluten
• Dairy
• Corn
• Eggs
• Soy
• Nuts
• Nightshades
• Citrus fruits
• Yeast

Dealing with food intolerances or allergies is essential to creating wellness of body, brain, and soul. The allergens that most often cause brain problems first are dairy and gluten. If you are suffering under a brain disorder of any kind, it is likely that these substances are a problem for you. After you found out what you can’t deal with it is crucial to optimize nutrition.

Why is nutrition so important for brain health?

Nutrition is the most important factor in keeping your brain healthy. What you put in your mouth provides all the raw material to build the structure of your brain cells. Common sense and scientific research lead us to conclude that if we want healthy bodies and brains we must put in the right food.

• Real
• Whole
• Local
• Fresh
• Unprocessed
• Chemical-, hormone- and antibiotic-free

Really important for normal brain and cell function are omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3-fats come from wild things. In our world this would be fish. However, most of the fish nowadays are contaminated with toxins and mercury which may lead to a host of problems.

The two most important omega-3-fats are EPA and DHA. Since your brain is mostly fat and 60% is made of DHA you see how important omega-3-fatty acids are. If you don’t have enough your brain most likely doesn’t function properly. 

The omega-3 fatty acids play critical roles in

• Immune and inflammatory function
• Brain health
• Alzheimer
• Mental illnesses
• Heart disease
• Cancer

Good source for omega-3 fatty acids are (quality is key!)

• Fish oil
• Algae oil
• Flaxseed oil

Factors that are crucial to consider when it comes to brain disorders

If you are suffering under any kind of brain disorders, thus an inflamed brain, then your body is most likely inflamed too. Therefore, it is crucial to learn how to get rid of the causes of the inflammation and restore the immune balance through

• Food
• Nutrients
• Exercise
• Sleep
• Stress management

By the way in the end inflammation is also just a symptom or reaction of your body. To heal inflammation, you need to find the source which causes inflammation.

Then there is detoxification. Detoxification is next to nutrition one of the most important pillars to cure disease and create health.

Toxins are everywhere, in our

• Food
• Household cleaning products
• Plastic
• Tap water
• construction materials
• air supply

We are also dealing with our toxic metabolic waste created by our own bodies. Toxins can make us sick if our gut, kidneys, and liver fail or work less than optimal. They have a dramatic impact on the health of our brain.

3 big epidemics of hormonal problems

A next factor would be our hormonal balance. There are 3 big epidemics of hormonal problems today:

• Too much insulin (from sugar)
• Too much cortisol or adrenalin (from stress)
• Not enough thyroid hormones

They all interconnected and affect other category of hormones: our sex hormones. Imbalances of any of those systems can influence the way our brain functions and lead to everything from

• Depression to dementia
• Anxiety to ADHD

Then there is the energy metabolism. Enough energy means a happy, healthy, focused and sharp brain.

Lack of energy means

• Slowed mental function
• Autism
• Mood disorders
• Parkinson
• Dementia

The part of our body which uses the most energy is our brain which has the most mitochondria.

• Energy is necessary for memory and learning
• No energy equals abnormal cell function and cell death
• Abnormal cell function equals chronic illness and brain disease

So, if you want to benefit from more energy, it is crucial to heal your mitochondria. And here comes the formula again.

Take away what’s bugging you and give the body what’s missing.

• Fix the gut and cool of inflammation
• Get rid of fungi, bacteria, parasites, and heavy metals
• Add pre- and probiotics
• Eventually take digestive enzymes
• Replace the missing nutrients (zinc, magnesium, folate, b12, B6, vitamin A + D)
• Add brain supporting omega-3-fats
• Take the coenzyme Q10 to help mitochondria return to normal

Then there is another real important factor:

Calm Your Mind.

Thoughts are things. They can heal or harm. Our brain stiffens, slows, and loses function in direct relationship to our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes about us and our place in the world. It has an enormous impact of the health of our brain.

• Lack of social relationships
• Personality dispositions, including lost sense of mastery, optimism, control, and self-esteem
• Chronic or acute stress in life and work

All of this creates modern chronic diseases like mental disorders, including depression and anxiety.

Negative self-talk might lead to

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Behavioral problems
• Dementia

It is important to get negative thoughts out of your brain. There are several techniques available.

I’d like to bring awareness to all of us, that our body, more specifically digestive system, needs special and constant care to stay healthy physically and MENTALLY.