Redefine Fitness with Kelsey Wells
Impact of Diet On Our Mental Health: In Conversation with Dr. Uma Naidoo
In this week’s episode Kelsey is joined by special guest Dr Uma Naidoo - a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, professional chef, trained nutrition specialist, best selling author and an internationally regarded medical pioneer in the filed of Nutritional Psychiatry.
Considered Harvard’s Mood Food Expert, Dr Naidoo talks to Kelsey about her latest book - Calm Your Mind With Food - touching on everything from healing your relationship with food, to the gut brain connection, the link between food and anxiety, blood sugar & panic attacks, and how you can optimise your diet to improve your mental health.
A fascinating conversation with so many great tips on how you can use food and nutrition as an essential tool for calming the mind.
About Dr Uma Naidoo:
Uma Naidoo, MD, is a board-certified Harvard Nutritional Psychiatrist, professional chef, and nutritional biologist. She is the Founder and Director of the first and only hospital-based Nutritional and Metabolic Psychiatry Service in the United States which is housed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Naidoo also serves as the Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at MGH Academy, the world-renowned educational organization, for which she designed and released the only CME-based Nutritional Psychiatry educational program for clinicians at an academic teaching hospital. Additionally, Dr. Naidoo serves on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Department of Nutrition, and is an instructor at The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.
- Website: umanaidoomd.com
- Instagram: @drumanaidoo
- Read: Calm Your Mind with Food by Uma Naidoo, MD
- Sign up for Dr Uma’s new Mood Food newsletter here
1:00 - Kelsey introduces Dr Uma Naidoo
3:25 - Dr Naidoo’s upbringing & background
7:00 - How Dr Naidoo got into Nutritional Psychiatry
9:18 - How Dr Naidoo is helping people heal their relationship with food
10:00 - How harmful diet culture is to our psychology
10:30 - Optimising your diet for your mental wellbeing
11:30 - Kelsey’s lifelong journey with anxiety
11:50 - Dr Naidoo’s new book, Calm Your Mind With Food
14:20 - Food marketing industry
17:15 - Link between anxiety & food
20:00 - Simple food tweaks to help anxiety
23:09 - Gut health & metabolism
25:00 - Gut microbiome
27:00 - How to know if you have bad gut health & how to fix it
28:10 - Self check in & body intelligence
29:39 - Three tips to to foster a healthy microbiome
31:20 - Eat more, add in and not feel deprived
31:50 - Movement
33:00 - Fitness world & macros
35:40 - Importance of not discarding micronutrients in your diet
39:00 - Whole foods vs processed foods
40:00 - Homemade sweets vs processed sweets
43:40 - Link between blood sugar & panic attacks
48:00 - Doing what works best for you
In this week’s episode Kelsey is joined by special guest Dr Uma Naidoo - a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, professional chef, trained nutrition specialist, best selling author and an internationally regarded medical pioneer in the filed of Nutritional Psychiatry.
Considered Harvard’s Mood Food Expert, Dr Naidoo talks to Kelsey about her latest book - Calm Your Mind With Food - touching on everything from healing your relationship with food, to the gut brain connection, the link between food and anxiety, blood sugar & panic attacks, and how you can optimise your diet to improve your mental health.
A fascinating conversation with so many great tips on how you can use food and nutrition as an essential tool for calming the mind.
About Dr Uma Naidoo:
Uma Naidoo, MD, is a board-certified Harvard Nutritional Psychiatrist, professional chef, and nutritional biologist. She is the Founder and Director of the first and only hospital-based Nutritional and Metabolic Psychiatry Service in the United States which is housed at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Naidoo also serves as the Director of Nutritional Psychiatry at MGH Academy, the world-renowned educational organization, for which she designed and released the only CME-based Nutritional Psychiatry educational program for clinicians at an academic teaching hospital. Additionally, Dr. Naidoo serves on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Department of Nutrition, and is an instructor at The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.
- Website: umanaidoomd.com
- Instagram: @drumanaidoo
- Read: Calm Your Mind with Food by Uma Naidoo, MD
- Sign up for Dr Uma’s new Mood Food newsletter here
1:00 - Kelsey introduces Dr Uma Naidoo
3:25 - Dr Naidoo’s upbringing & background
7:00 - How Dr Naidoo got into Nutritional Psychiatry
9:18 - How Dr Naidoo is helping people heal their relationship with food
10:00 - How harmful diet culture is to our psychology
10:30 - Optimising your diet for your mental wellbeing
11:30 - Kelsey’s lifelong journey with anxiety
11:50 - Dr Naidoo’s new book, Calm Your Mind With Food
14:20 - Food marketing industry
17:15 - Link between anxiety & food
20:00 - Simple food tweaks to help anxiety
23:09 - Gut health & metabolism
25:00 - Gut microbiome
27:00 - How to know if you have bad gut health & how to fix it
28:10 - Self check in & body intelligence
29:39 - Three tips to to foster a healthy microbiome
31:20 - Eat more, add in and not feel deprived
31:50 - Movement
33:00 - Fitness world & macros
35:40 - Importance of not discarding micronutrients in your diet
39:00 - Whole foods vs processed foods
40:00 - Homemade sweets vs processed sweets
43:40 - Link between blood sugar & panic attacks
48:00 - Doing what works best for you