Can your diet help with chronic stress and trauma?
The mental health field generally has been slow to recognize the role that nutrition can play in mental health problems. However, recent studies have begun to change commonly held beliefs.
For example, research has shown that diet can play a significant role in treating depression (e.g., the SMILES trial and the HELFIMED study). Other studies have found that nutritional supplements can significantly reduce anxiety, depression, and osttraumatic stress symptoms following major traumatic events.
Trauma and Nutrition
Nutrition may be particularly important after a traumatic experience because our bodies have greater nutritional needs as we heal.
Traumatic experiences can also have direct gastrointestinal effects. We know that trauma does significant damage to every part of our digestive system. It damages the villi - the little projections from the cells that line the small intestine - which absorb the nutrients we need for every cell in our bodies.
Trauma can lead to a condition known as “leaky gut,” in which “the cells lining the small intestine separate, and through those passageways proteins leak into the bloodstream that don’t belong. When the gut becomes ‘leaky’ gluten and milk proteins can go into the bloodstream and cause inflammatory reactions everywhere in the body, including the brain.
Trauma has been found to damage and disrupt the microbiome—the trillions of bacteria in the intestines that are essential for gut health. The microbiome is an integral part of our immune system and produces many of the neurotransmitters we rely on. Post-traumatic changes to the microbiome may account for the greater risk for physical health problems after trauma.
How Trauma Affects Our Food Choices
The powerful effects of food on not only our physical health but our mental and emotional well-being is undeniable. The science has shown that when traumatized we either don’t want to eat anything, or we start eating comfort food: sugary, fatty, salty foods, Big Macs, mac-and-cheese, soda pop, ice cream.
We may be drawn to those kinds of foods. Taught to be comfort foods they increase the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain that are tied to a sense of well-being, like serotonin, dopamine, and endorphins. They may play a part in suppression of traumatic memories.
The problem, as with physical effects of unhealthful foods, is that they wind up being a net negative. The short-term gain is swiftly eclipsed by the long-term downside. Serotonin starts to go down, dopamine goes down, endorphins go down - and cortisol [one of the primary stress hormones] goes up, and the negative cycle start returning.
Feeling poorly and being haunted by traumatic memories can lead to an even greater reliance on unhelpful food choices, and a vicious cycle ensues. We keep eating more and more of these foods, and it doesn’t work.
Recommendations
An Holistic approach to digestive health when healing from trauma. Specific recommendations include:
Prioritize healthful foods: “We need to eat a diet that’s going to be less damaging to the gut—more whole foods, Nutrient dense foods, omega-3 fatty acids, Healthy Fats. Start with a balanced approach to making dietary changes.
Limit inflammatory foods: Highly refined foods, processed sugars, and certain food groups have been liked to inflammation, which affects mental health. Possible triggers are foods with gluten and milk proteins as the Gut may be over sensitive; try reduction for a month or two to let the gut heal itself. Reduce intake of highly processed foods, alcohol and extreme spices.
Take supplementary vitamins and minerals: Supplement as required (A regular or specific blood test): Multi Vitamins, B vitamins, Omega 3, vitamin D3 & K2, Magnesium Glycinate and Zinc. All found to be advantageous mitigating against trauma reactions in multiple research studies.
Replenish healthy gut bacteria: Add probiotics to make up for the disrupted microbiome. Probiotics can be taken in supplement form, and are also present in fermented foods like sauerkraut and kombucha, which also contain prebiotic which feeds the gut microbiome also.
Reduce stress: Healthy digestion comes from engaging the parasympathetic nervous system, “rest and digest” system for its role in digestion and relaxation. Try to engage some new easy to use techniques of stress reduction. In particular breathing practice, walking light exercise and mindfulness.
Diet modulates brain network stability, a biomarker for brain aging, in young adults.
GoNutro products which induce ketosis, the biological state of presence of ketone bodies >0.5mmol/l effect on metabolic pathways and marked potential mechanism of action to influence brain energy metabolism.
