A Well-fed Brain Is A Happy Brain. Part 1 - Quality Of Life, Reviews

• A well-fed brain is a happy brain. Food heals depression, anxiety, and anger
• By Raphael Kellman
• SPb.: Peter, 2019

Publishing chapters from the book

How is your brain doing today? Are you thinking clearly? Are you in high spirits? Are you working at your peak while successfully completing tasks? Does your brain allow you to remain calm, cheerful and optimistic? Or do you feel anxious? Despondency? Is it foggy in your head? Is your brain like an adversary that you must constantly fight? Do you need medications to stimulate your brain or lift your mood?

Or are you already taking medications, but they are not as effective as you would like? Perhaps you are tormented by the question of whether your brain will ever return to normal. And you still hope to wake up one morning refreshed and energized for a new day.

There is a proven method that will solve the problem - without drugs, without side effects, without fear that drugs will suddenly stop working. I wrote this book to share my findings and help you feel calm, energized, clear-minded, and optimistic on a daily basis. I'll show you how to get your brain working at full capacity.

If you are one of the millions who feel that the brain is simply "not working properly", who has lost the ability to think clearly or maintain a joyful mood, do not despair. The problem is not “in your head”.

There is a crisis in brain treatment. The level of depression and anxiety jumped sharply. More and more people are struggling with a decline in cognitive abilities: confusion, difficulty remembering, blackouts. The number of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Alzheimer's disease, autism and neurodegenerative diseases is also on the rise.

I am constantly confronted with the negative consequences of old methods of treatment. My patients have a long history of depression or anxiety (and sometimes both) and years of experimenting with drugs. Maybe their depression has eased slightly. Maybe their anxiety has become a little better under control. But often, after the onset of short-term relief, the drugs stop working - and you have to increase the dosage, change the drug, or experience the painful return of the same symptoms, only more pronounced.

Even when drugs help, at best they only relieve some of the symptoms. In this case, undesirable side effects almost always occur - weight gain, sleep disturbance, confusion, fatigue, decreased or impaired sexual function. Worst of all, the means used rarely allow people to achieve the optimum levels of enthusiasm, clarity, cheerfulness, and energy that make life truly complete.

Fortunately, the end of an old era marks the beginning of a new one. Modern discoveries in brain science mean we can treat it differently. The first step to understanding this amazing concept of mental illness treatment is to realize that the brain is not just a gray and white matter in the skull. Rather, it is part of a system that includes the gastrointestinal tract and the microbiome - the community of bacteria that inhabit the digestive tract. This system makes up what I call the whole brain. It also depends on the state of the thyroid gland: if it does not function properly, then your brain, gastrointestinal tract and microbiome will malfunction.

If you have problems with the gastrointestinal tract or the state of the microbiome leaves much to be desired, you will feel as if the brain refuses to obey you, and emotions cannot be controlled. Therefore, when a patient comes to me with complaints about the head, I look at the whole picture - and at the whole brain. The results of whole-brain treatments are amazing.

Almost all of my patients have given up on antidepressants, drugs for the treatment of anxiety and attention deficit disorder. People with common diagnoses - anxiety, depression, confusion - got rid of their symptoms and discovered a new world filled with vigor and determination. Those who told me they “just can't think normally” or “the brain is not working properly” have acquired the ability to think clearly and enjoy optimism, energy and calmness.

It's not just that the symptoms are gone. People have taken to the next level, gaining access to vitality and joy that they have not felt in a long time. Life has regained its taste. Common to many of them was the recognition: "I finally felt like myself." They talked about significant life changes: deeper and more satisfying relationships in marriage; the ability to feel compassion for parents; awakening interest in favorite activities; a sense of belonging and genuine interest. “It's like I'm finally living the life I was meant to be,” one patient told me. "As if I had dispelled the fog and adversity on my way and finally I can just live."