66. How Your Diet Affects Your Mental Health

In this episode, Sam links cravings and unhealthy eating habits to her worsening anxiety when she stumbles upon old research from episode #21: Gut Health 101. Turns out, the connection between your diet and your mental health runs wayyy deeper than just blood sugar spikes and crashes. So she explores the role of your microbiome, your vagus nerve, glutamate, GABA, and more to uncover the truth about food, anxiety, and depresion. Listen to this episode if you've been eating like crap lately! Key moments: 08:19 The truth about burnout 13:20 The gut-brain axis, explained 13:38 What is your enteric nervous system (ENS)? 16:12 How the gut-brain axis affects your emotional state 16:20 Which neurotransmitters are produced in your gut? 17:41 How the bacteria in your gut can cause depression, stress, and anxiety 18:25 The link between IBS and clinical depression 19:52 The vagus nerve’s role in the gut-brain axis 20:19 What does the vagus nerve actually do in your body? 23:44 WTF is glutamate, and what does it have to do with your mental health? 24:38 What does glutamate do? 26:48 Foods that have high glutamate 27:43 WTF is GABA? 29:10 How does our diet affect glutamate/GABA balance? 31:35 The vicious cycle of unhealthy eating, glutamate and GABA production, and mood disorders (spoiler: they all feed each other) 33:16 Other ways your diet causes depression or anxiety 36:15 The impact of alcohol on glutamate and GABA production 38:54 How to change your diet to improve your mental health 39:28 What is vagal tone and how do you improve it? 39:52 Symptoms of poor vagal tone 40:10 5 things you can do RIGHT NOW to improve the health of your vagus nerve 42:36 Foods and eating techniques to beat anxiety and depression 44:00 HOW to eat (not just WHAT to eat) Join ⁠⁠WHOOP⁠⁠. Follow along: Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.instagram.com/lifeincapslock⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.tiktok.com/@lifeincapslock⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/@lifeincapslock⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.threads.net/@lifeincapslock⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Resources for this episode can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices