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The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

101–110 of 218 posts

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think most of us would agree that makes sense? Eat like crap, feel like crap? I’m just an average joe trying to figure out how to improve a diet, but I haven’t found much of a consensus regarding fats vs proteins vs carbohydrates.

I improved mine significantly by just cutting out processed foods. Almost everything I eat is made from whole ingredients, and no artificial or "diet" anything. I'm in much better shape, both mentally and physically, because of it. It also helps with portion control, since I'm getting the maximum amount of nutrients from my food, so I don't "feel hungry later".

There is so much debate and disagreement in nutrition that "eat no or very little processed foods; eat a lot of vegetables and fruits; and don't eat too much" is basically all you need to do or say. A lot of people wildly overcomplicate it, but if you don't have a metabolic disorder or a clearly defined dietary condition, then you can have a diverse and healthy diet pretty easily. A plus is you almost always end up learning to cook.

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#102

I'm glad to see more studies on this, as it's long been misunderstood how strong of a connection there is between the gut microbiome and mental health. Some go as far to referring to the gut as our second-brain, due to its critical role. Serotonin (the moood-regulating neurotransmitter), for instance, is produced _primarily_ in the gut (up to 95% of it). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6469458/#:~:tex...…

But unfortunately a great deal if hype. And junk science like this work.

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#103

> For this pilot study, we enrolled 20 adults to follow this protocol Is that even a large enough of a sample size to draw a conclusion from? Probably a big enough sample size to get funding for a larger study, but not big enough to draw general conclusions from.

No, not at all.

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#104

"After the diet change, we observed significant changes in measures of anxiety, well-being and happiness, and without changes in gut microbiome diversity. We found strong correlations between greater consumption of fat and protein to lower anxiety and depression, while consuming higher percentages of carbohydrates was associated with increased stress, anxiety, and depression." I think most of us would agree that make…

> Eat like crap, feel like crap?

feel like crap, eat like crap

starting the cycle

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#105

I was disappointed how vague carbs were defined, but I suspect we can all agree the best diet for an omnivore is the least processed food is the best choice. Anything that comes in a box or can should be suspect. Soup is best when the broth is made from leftover chicken bones and the rest of it with chicken meat and raw veggies. Fruit is better than candy, fish is better than bacon. YMMV

> I suspect we can all agree the best diet for an omnivore is the least processed food is the best choice

Given that nobody can even define what "processed food" means: no, no we cannot all agree on that. It's an utterly meaningless term.

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#106
post #56
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fats are not universally healthy. Saturated fats (above a threshold) and Trans fats are bad for you, the latter being very unhealthy and basically the worst thing you can eat. Conversely, the right carbohydrates can be very healthy when consumed correctly. "Essential" means just that, essential. It doesn't say anything about how much you should eat, how often, when, or anything else. Plenty of unessential things are…

[flagged]

> I, like anyone with any knowledge of nutrition, am saying "it's obviously protein and fat, the stuff that helps you grow"

Every major study comparing keto and other more balanced diets disagrees with you. Carbs aren't just good for what they are mixed with, but also because they can displace more harmful sources of energy, like saturated fats. Most things that are 0 carb, have lots of saturated fat and cholesterol. Note: Dietary cholesterol can have a disproportionate affect on blood lipids depending on your genetics, despite all the people clamoring that it doesn't matter.

It's not nit-picking if you're giving blanket advice that's misleading.

Necessary does not mean sufficient. In biology, necessary doesn't even mean harmless. It is often best to get small, or even minimal, amounts of needed things, like salt or iron.

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#107
post #36
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fiber reducing biodiversity would be news. I thought consensus was the other way around?

I wonder if it's a case of soluble vs insoluble fiber. Insoluble fiber is often described as speeding up transit through the intestines, which might leave microbes less food to eat, or increase the microbes being driven out before they can establish.

Microbes eat fiber. That's what a prebiotic is.

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#109
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I improved mine significantly by just cutting out processed foods. Almost everything I eat is made from whole ingredients, and no artificial or "diet" anything. I'm in much better shape, both mentally and physically, because of it. It also helps with portion control, since I'm getting the maximum amount of nutrients from my food, so I don't "feel hungry later".

> processed foods > whole ingredients These are utterly meaningless terms. You "process" food by cutting and cooking it. Everything is processed. Everything is GMO -- have you seen what corn looked like before humans bred it? Everything is organic. Everything is "whole". Nutrition is too complicated and too individualized for these nonsense labels. > I'm getting the maximum amount of nutrients from my food This is ut…

> ” You "process" food by cutting and cooking it. Everything is processed”

No one means that cutting a carrot make it into “processed food”. You are changing a mostly commonly understood definition to a new wanna-be-technically-correct one you just made up only to suit your argument.

There is a grey area in the definition of processed foods, but it’s not close as large as your definition maintains.

Re: The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

#110

This doesn’t seem to be worded very well: > greater fat and carbohydrate intake is directly associated with anxiety and depression Carbohydrate was positively correlated, and fat was negatively correlated with anxiety and depression.

Your brain needs fats. Your muscles need carbs. You need to exercise both. Ill never forget the comment of my grandmother, a life-long surgical nurse to one of the top neurosurgeons in California. - My daughter was opening the fridge and eating handfuls of butter when she was tall enough to do so (abt 3 years old) I called my grandmother and asked her about this She said to me : "let her do it, the brain needs fats t…

The consumption of a carbohydrate-rich, protein-poor meal or snack can increase the synthesis of the brain neurotransmitter serotonin; proteins block this effect.
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