Archive for Mind-Body
Omega mind
Posted by: | CommentsOmega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids can affect mood, personality and behavior, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
In a study of 106 healthy volunteers, researchers found that participants who had lower levels of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids were more likely to report mild or moderate symptoms of depression, a more negative outlook and be more impulsive. Conversely, those with higher levels of omega-3s were found to be more agreeable.
Installing the “infrastucture” of wellness: experiments in deep work-life balance
Posted by: | CommentsImmune system: the mind body connection
Posted by: | CommentsThe “inflammatory reflex” theory, put forth by Kevin Tracey M.D. suggests that there is a direct link between the mind and the body, specifically the immune system. According to Tracey, “the literature shows that for centuries, doctors, monks, priests, acupuncturists and even laymen believed that individuals’ state of mind influenced their health. But nobody could explain how, until now”.
Scientists now know that messages from the brain, sent through the vagus nerve, can stop certain immune activities such as the release of TNF, also known as the “tumor necrosis factor.” Though TNF fulfills a critical function in suppressing infection (i.e., making the body respond better to an pathogen’s attack), too much can actually cause harm.
Meditation has shown that it can change the structure of the brain and the amount of activity in certain regions of the brain. The inflammatory reflex shows the direct link between thought and immune response. Mental process (and corresponding changes in brain chemistry) can affect the way our bodies respond to disease, i.e., our resilience to biological, chemical and psychological stress.
Green leafy vegetables and cognitive decline
Posted by: | CommentsEating vegetables slows down the rate of cognitive decline in older s, according to a study published in the October 24, 2006, issue of Neurology. “Compared to people who consumed less than one serving of vegetables a day, people who ate at least 2.8 servings of vegetables a day saw their rate of cognitive change slow by roughly 40 percent, said author Martha Clare Morris, ScD, associate professor at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. “This decrease is equivalent to about 5 years of younger age.”
Green leafy vegetables had the strongest effect on slowing the rate of cognitive decline. The older the person, the slower the cognitive decline was — if that person consumed more than two servings of vegetables a day.
Per calorie, green leafy vegetables are the critical mainstays of a powerful restorative diet. Kale, collard, mustard greens, dandelions, watercress, brocolli rabe — these are excellent steamed and accompanied by a cup of thick dal (see my “standardal” recipe in an earlier post), topped with finely ground (for better absorption) high protein seeds like sunflower and sesame. This is one of my typical easy-to-fix dinners, btw.
You can really feel the energy difference, if you try this regularly. Very good habit to develop.
Exercise and brain function
Posted by: | CommentsExercise causes a protein called IGF-1 to travel across the -brain barrier. Once in the brain, it gives orders to produce an important substance called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which serves as the “fuel” for thinking. Regular exercise naturally builds up the levels of BDNF in the brain, allowing new neural pathways (i.e., learning) to occur.
Scientists have also discovered that neurogenesis, i.e., the production of new neurons in the brain, can be instigated by cardiovascular exercise. BDNF production affects the hippocampus (specifically, the dentate gyrus) which controls memory and learning.
Increased levels of this substance appear to reverse the age-induced deterioration of this part of the brain. In addition, exercise also increases the size of the frontal lobes, the areas responsible for higher level mental tasks such as planning and decision making.
The neuro-chemical relationship between exercise and mental functioning is increasingly being clarified by the research. The results indicate that exercise facilitates learning and slows down the deterioration brought about by the aging process.
We all know what needs to be done…
Neuroplasticity and weight loss
Posted by: | CommentsIt is well known that the use of a particular muscle creates pathways in the brain. It has also been established that mental (e.g., visual) practice causes a similar rewiring in the brain’s network. Mental training has the power to change the physical characteristics of the brain itself.
This is called neuroplasticity. Scientists are also discovering that this kind of change can also occur even without input from the material world, i.e., thought itself can cause actual changes in the neuronal connections of the brain.
I think that this kind of mind training can alter the way we approach eating behavior itself, affecting and changing the brain-gut pathways, and the accompanying neurochemistry involved in satiety and hunger.
On one level, one can hypothesize that this is one reason why cognitive behavior therapy can work in correcting disfunctional eating behavior that leads to obesity. In addition, I think that manipulating the nutritional profile of the food itself (i.e., maximizing nutritional density per calorie) will also help in creating a “positive neuro-behavioral feedback loop” that can ultimately result in restoring the body back to a correct and healthy weight. Nutrition and mind training working hand in hand.
Weight loss and stress
Posted by: | CommentsThe parasympathetic system (PNS) is responsible for the body’s “relaxation response,” the system that brings the body back in balance after the sympathetic nervous system’s response (from a stress stimuli) has passed. When the organism is constantly under stress, the autonomic system becomes used to sympathetic excitation. Most of us respond by using food as a stress management mechanism. This is the most common reason for weight gain.
With the practice of yoga or other mind-body approaches such as tai-chi or chi-kung, one is able to relax through the focused excitation of the PNS. By balancing the “mix” between the sympathetic and parasympathetic system, one is able to control the body’s physiological response to the environment at the cellular and chemical level. Practice, physiology, and “state of mind” affecting and shaping each other.
Welcome to Weight Loss Sherpa!
Posted by: | CommentsAs your weight loss guide, I will be exploring three key topics that affect our success in losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle: Food, Body, and Mind. My interests are the pursuit of nutritional excellence and how we use food as the key source of health and energy. How we approach training the body, as a system, to serve our larger goals. Lastly how we can use the mind in integrating, improving, and making meaning of our continuing struggle to remain sane and healthy in today’s times.
I would like to approach this blog as a place to share what I have learned about the process getting lean, healthy, and fit. I think of it as a “practice journal” not only about nutrition, eating, and food, but also about training both body and mind.
More significantly, I would like to focus on the intersection (i.e., the relationships) between food and mind, food and body, mind and body. I believe that the success or failure of our efforts (in our personal goals of health, personal relationships, or even our life’s work) intimately depend on how we manage these fundamental “intersections.”
Creating a healthy relationship with food requires both correct knowledge about nutrition, but more importantly, the ability to manage the emotional “gestalt” that gets in the way of recognizing and responding to true “physiological hunger.”
Food affects mood. Mood affects food. What comes first? And how do we break the negative dynamics that ultimately lead to disease? How does food affect the body? What happens to the systems (structurally, physiologically, energetically) when we do not sustain it with proper nutrients, overloading it beyond its capacity to repair and regenerate itself? Lastly, how do we move towards integrating the fracture between our body as a physical system, and the emotional/mental/spiritual objectives that define the pursuit of “a good and meaningful life?”
How do we get clear about right action? What actions should we do to obtain clarity in our lives?
We are what we eat. Food is a portal to the body-mind. It is both dependent and independent variable. Simultaneously, interdependently, con/sequentially, each one negating or supporting the other. Food. Body. Mind.
How do all these relate to weight loss? Simple. Being overweight means that at least one of these “systems” (or more likely, all three) are not in balance.
To lose weight, we first need to know what we don’t know. This is the beginning of the path.
