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80/20 nutrition (March 2020)
Well, what a strange time we are living in now. Everything has changed, normal life is suspended and those of us who are self employed are being forced to change the way we think of our work.
seasonal affective disorder (February 2020)
This can be a gloomy time of year for of a lot of us – shorter days, colder weather, grey skies. A common problem for many is appropriately known as SAD (seasonal affective disorder), characterised by low mood, lethargy, carbohydrate cravings and general malaise.
There are many contributing factors to SAD: low Vitamin D levels, low light levels, lack of activity, low B Vitamins, low protein intake and insufficient Omega 3. In summary, these things might help:
This is very common, and the UK government advises that we might all consider supplementing Vitamin D in the winter months. This is because we can’t make any Vitamin D from sunlight between about October and March. Normally, exposure to the sun reacts with cholesterol (it does have helpful uses!) in the skin and this is eventually converted to Vitamin D.
IF we get sufficient sun exposure over the summer months, we might finish the summer with good levels of Vitamin D, which might just see us through until the Spring. This depends on many factors, including:
Given the last thirty years’ caution over sun exposure, we have all developed habits of avoiding the sun and covering up as much as possible, which may not have been to our benefit.
Obviously you don’t want to burn, but you do need some unprotected sun exposure to manufacture Vitamin D. The amount depends on you – we all know how much sun we can take, and the important thing is not to burn. If we start going into the sun in the early Spring, little and often, we might be able to build up our resilience and actually cope with more sun than we thought, because Vitamin D could actually protect against sun damage.
Anyway, back to SAD – getting a Vitamin D supplement might be a good place to start. If in doubt, you can get a relatively low cost test through www.Vitamindtest.org which is a home pin prick test. You get the results within a few days and can see how well you’re doing, which gives you a clearer idea of whether you need to supplement.
The optimal level of Vitamin D seems to be somewhere around 100nmol/L (UK units) or 40ng/mL (US units). When you get a test, anything over 50nmol is marked as adequate, but clearly, the closer to 50 you are, the less reserve you have, and of course, if your level is below 50, you do need to supplement. If you test at this time of year it gives you a great idea of whether this might be contributing to your SAD.
You might like to know that there are Vitamin D receptors in almost every cell, and low Vitamin D is linked with inflammation, poor immunity and many chronic diseases. It is also frequently found in people with Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer and more, so it clearly has many important uses in the body.
Light
Exposure to natural light has a powerful effect on our circadian rhythm – the internal clock which determines what time different things happen in the body. Our hormones, our sleep pattern, eating patterns and more, can be influenced by light exposure.
You probably already know that the blue light from the screens we are all attached to can disrupt sleep if used in the evening, because it is similar to daylight.
Daylight triggers the release of the get up and go hormones, so at the wrong time of day it can have a serious effect on sleep quality. Simply avoiding screens at night and making sure your rooms are softly lit might help your sleep, which in turn could reduce your SAD symptoms.
The morning light is the brightest, and being outside for a few minutes early in the day can have a profound effect on mood and wellbeing, as well as sleep quality. It does need to be outside, not just sitting by a window, as the light levels either side of the glass are significantly different. For example, even on a cloudy day, light outside can be around 10,000 lux, whereas just on the other side of the glass it is a tenth of that, at 1,000 lux. Away from the window it can be as low as 25 lux.
So another thing you can do is get out in the daylight in the first half of the day, regardless of the colour of the sky!
Exercise
We all know exercise/activity is good for us. The release of endorphins alone might help improve mood and wellbeing, and get us over that hump which prevents us getting on with our day.
Choose something you enjoy – walk, swim, dance, play table tennis, run, cycle, gardening. Make it easy by choosing an activity you will get pleasure out of so it won’t feel like a chore.
Even aiming for more activity in your day might help – run up stairs, avoid the lift, walk a little bit faster than usual, think about whether you really need to use the car. Do a few star jumps or get a skipping rope out! Every little really does help, and the more you do, the better you feel and the more you want to do.
B Vitamins
B Vitamins can be pretty magical in their effect on mood and energy. They play a role in energy production and mental health, so they are key when it comes to something like SAD. They are also easily depleted with many aspects of our modern lifestyle including stress, poor sleep, alcohol and sugar consumption. This is because they are used in detoxification and conversion, so if demands are greater, there is less available to provide us with energy and good mood.
They are highest in animal products. Nuts, seeds, bananas, whole grains and vegetables are also useful sources.
Basically, eating a wide variety of real, unprocessed foods, should provide you with good levels of B Vitamins (and many other nutrients).
Some of us have a genetic alteration (like a minor spelling mistake in our genes) which means we have a higher need for particular B Vitamins; if you have a tendency to low mood and SAD, this might be you. It’s estimated to be an issue in 40-50% of the population, so it is a real possibility.
If you want to consider a B supplement, I would suggest taking a B complex, which means it contains all the different B Vitamins, as they work together. If you are taking medication, please check with the pharmacist, just in case there is an interaction. Generally they are safe, but it’s always best to be sure.
Protein
Protein has been a bit demonised, especially animal protein, but it is an essential part of our diet. It contains amino acids, which have many functions in the body, including the building of neurotransmitters, or brain chemicals. If we don’t have a full range of amino acids, we may lack the building blocks for serotonin and other feelgood hormones. This can have a significant effect on mood.
Simply ensuring you consume some kind of protein with every meal and snack, and varying your proteins throughout the day and the week, can go a long way to making sure you are getting the building blocks for your brain chemicals.
A further benefit of protein is that it is more satiating, so it could also help reduce the carb cravings.
Diet generally
We are surrounded by a lot of edible products masquerading as food. What I mean is, food should feed us, nourish us and provide the materials we need to produce energy, immune cells, hormones, neurotransmitters, maintain a healthy weight and strong muscle and bones.
Consider the number of products calling themselves food, but which in reality have had much of the useful stuff removed, and sometimes artificial substitutes added.
These products can’t provide us with even the minimum daily requirement of vitamins and minerals, which are needed as cofactors in all chemical processes in the body.
Making an effort to choose unprocessed food, and a wide variety within all food groups, as this can also help support us at this time of year.
Omega 3 and oily fish
We have all heard about studies where Omega 3 supplements are given to schoolchildren and prisoners, resulting in behaviour and mood improvements. It is now well established that Omega 3 oils are important for mental health.
Eating oily fish (sardines, mackerel, anchovies, salmon, herrings – SMASH) three times a week can go a long way to giving you this supportive nutrient. Alternatively you could take a fish oil supplement; look carefully at the label, as your daily dose needs to include around 500mg of EPA and 300mg of DHA. Some of the cheaper makes contain far less than this, so they may be a false economy.
If you don’t eat fish and don’t want to take a fish oil supplement, there are now products made from algae. The Omega 3 in linseeds, while useful, is difficult to convert, so is likely to be insufficient for vegetarians and vegans.
Finally – look around you!
There are lots of signs that Spring is on its way – snowdrops appear very soon after Christmas, daffodils are beginning to flower, buds are forming on trees and shrubs, and the days are getting longer.
I hope you found this interesting and useful. Next month I will write about genes and the impact common ‘spelling mistakes’ can have on our health – and what we can do about it. Look out, too, for a talk on this topic on March 5th.
Have a good February,
Tina
There are many contributing factors to SAD: low Vitamin D levels, low light levels, lack of activity, low B Vitamins, low protein intake and insufficient Omega 3. In summary, these things might help:
- Taking a Vitamin D supplement
- Getting outside in the morning
- Doing some exercise
- Seeking out foods with good levels of B Vitamins or taking a B complex (check with your pharmacist if you’re taking any medication)
- Make sure you get enough protein – ie some protein with every meal and snack
- Eating oily fish three times a week or supplementing with Omega 3
This is very common, and the UK government advises that we might all consider supplementing Vitamin D in the winter months. This is because we can’t make any Vitamin D from sunlight between about October and March. Normally, exposure to the sun reacts with cholesterol (it does have helpful uses!) in the skin and this is eventually converted to Vitamin D.
IF we get sufficient sun exposure over the summer months, we might finish the summer with good levels of Vitamin D, which might just see us through until the Spring. This depends on many factors, including:
- The shade of your skin – darker skin doesn’t make Vitamin D so easily
- Whether you use sun screen or cover up
- And of course, how much you actually get out in the sun
Given the last thirty years’ caution over sun exposure, we have all developed habits of avoiding the sun and covering up as much as possible, which may not have been to our benefit.
Obviously you don’t want to burn, but you do need some unprotected sun exposure to manufacture Vitamin D. The amount depends on you – we all know how much sun we can take, and the important thing is not to burn. If we start going into the sun in the early Spring, little and often, we might be able to build up our resilience and actually cope with more sun than we thought, because Vitamin D could actually protect against sun damage.
Anyway, back to SAD – getting a Vitamin D supplement might be a good place to start. If in doubt, you can get a relatively low cost test through www.Vitamindtest.org which is a home pin prick test. You get the results within a few days and can see how well you’re doing, which gives you a clearer idea of whether you need to supplement.
The optimal level of Vitamin D seems to be somewhere around 100nmol/L (UK units) or 40ng/mL (US units). When you get a test, anything over 50nmol is marked as adequate, but clearly, the closer to 50 you are, the less reserve you have, and of course, if your level is below 50, you do need to supplement. If you test at this time of year it gives you a great idea of whether this might be contributing to your SAD.
You might like to know that there are Vitamin D receptors in almost every cell, and low Vitamin D is linked with inflammation, poor immunity and many chronic diseases. It is also frequently found in people with Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer and more, so it clearly has many important uses in the body.
Light
Exposure to natural light has a powerful effect on our circadian rhythm – the internal clock which determines what time different things happen in the body. Our hormones, our sleep pattern, eating patterns and more, can be influenced by light exposure.
You probably already know that the blue light from the screens we are all attached to can disrupt sleep if used in the evening, because it is similar to daylight.
Daylight triggers the release of the get up and go hormones, so at the wrong time of day it can have a serious effect on sleep quality. Simply avoiding screens at night and making sure your rooms are softly lit might help your sleep, which in turn could reduce your SAD symptoms.
The morning light is the brightest, and being outside for a few minutes early in the day can have a profound effect on mood and wellbeing, as well as sleep quality. It does need to be outside, not just sitting by a window, as the light levels either side of the glass are significantly different. For example, even on a cloudy day, light outside can be around 10,000 lux, whereas just on the other side of the glass it is a tenth of that, at 1,000 lux. Away from the window it can be as low as 25 lux.
So another thing you can do is get out in the daylight in the first half of the day, regardless of the colour of the sky!
Exercise
We all know exercise/activity is good for us. The release of endorphins alone might help improve mood and wellbeing, and get us over that hump which prevents us getting on with our day.
Choose something you enjoy – walk, swim, dance, play table tennis, run, cycle, gardening. Make it easy by choosing an activity you will get pleasure out of so it won’t feel like a chore.
Even aiming for more activity in your day might help – run up stairs, avoid the lift, walk a little bit faster than usual, think about whether you really need to use the car. Do a few star jumps or get a skipping rope out! Every little really does help, and the more you do, the better you feel and the more you want to do.
B Vitamins
B Vitamins can be pretty magical in their effect on mood and energy. They play a role in energy production and mental health, so they are key when it comes to something like SAD. They are also easily depleted with many aspects of our modern lifestyle including stress, poor sleep, alcohol and sugar consumption. This is because they are used in detoxification and conversion, so if demands are greater, there is less available to provide us with energy and good mood.
They are highest in animal products. Nuts, seeds, bananas, whole grains and vegetables are also useful sources.
Basically, eating a wide variety of real, unprocessed foods, should provide you with good levels of B Vitamins (and many other nutrients).
Some of us have a genetic alteration (like a minor spelling mistake in our genes) which means we have a higher need for particular B Vitamins; if you have a tendency to low mood and SAD, this might be you. It’s estimated to be an issue in 40-50% of the population, so it is a real possibility.
If you want to consider a B supplement, I would suggest taking a B complex, which means it contains all the different B Vitamins, as they work together. If you are taking medication, please check with the pharmacist, just in case there is an interaction. Generally they are safe, but it’s always best to be sure.
Protein
Protein has been a bit demonised, especially animal protein, but it is an essential part of our diet. It contains amino acids, which have many functions in the body, including the building of neurotransmitters, or brain chemicals. If we don’t have a full range of amino acids, we may lack the building blocks for serotonin and other feelgood hormones. This can have a significant effect on mood.
Simply ensuring you consume some kind of protein with every meal and snack, and varying your proteins throughout the day and the week, can go a long way to making sure you are getting the building blocks for your brain chemicals.
A further benefit of protein is that it is more satiating, so it could also help reduce the carb cravings.
Diet generally
We are surrounded by a lot of edible products masquerading as food. What I mean is, food should feed us, nourish us and provide the materials we need to produce energy, immune cells, hormones, neurotransmitters, maintain a healthy weight and strong muscle and bones.
Consider the number of products calling themselves food, but which in reality have had much of the useful stuff removed, and sometimes artificial substitutes added.
These products can’t provide us with even the minimum daily requirement of vitamins and minerals, which are needed as cofactors in all chemical processes in the body.
Making an effort to choose unprocessed food, and a wide variety within all food groups, as this can also help support us at this time of year.
Omega 3 and oily fish
We have all heard about studies where Omega 3 supplements are given to schoolchildren and prisoners, resulting in behaviour and mood improvements. It is now well established that Omega 3 oils are important for mental health.
Eating oily fish (sardines, mackerel, anchovies, salmon, herrings – SMASH) three times a week can go a long way to giving you this supportive nutrient. Alternatively you could take a fish oil supplement; look carefully at the label, as your daily dose needs to include around 500mg of EPA and 300mg of DHA. Some of the cheaper makes contain far less than this, so they may be a false economy.
If you don’t eat fish and don’t want to take a fish oil supplement, there are now products made from algae. The Omega 3 in linseeds, while useful, is difficult to convert, so is likely to be insufficient for vegetarians and vegans.
Finally – look around you!
There are lots of signs that Spring is on its way – snowdrops appear very soon after Christmas, daffodils are beginning to flower, buds are forming on trees and shrubs, and the days are getting longer.
I hope you found this interesting and useful. Next month I will write about genes and the impact common ‘spelling mistakes’ can have on our health – and what we can do about it. Look out, too, for a talk on this topic on March 5th.
Have a good February,
Tina
why i won't be doing veganuary
Some of the arguments for going vegan and/or reducing meat consumption run along the lines of:
Meat is bad for you, raises cholesterol and increases the risk of cancer and heart disease – meat studies have never differentiated between naturally and sustainably reared meat and factory-farmed, processed meats, and even then, it is debatable whether it poses a significantly increased risk. Sugar is the baddie as far as most of our chronic diseases go; high carb diets are increasingly seen as the main cause of imbalanced cholesterol, not our fat intake per se. They also promote weight gain, inflammation, diabetes, and could be implicated in many more health issues.
Meat and dairy production is harmful to the environment and produces high levels of methane – this is possibly true with intensive farming, but may not be so with ‘extensive’ farming, where animals live naturally and eat a natural diet (not soya and grains, but grass based); there is a new movement of farming called regenerative farming, which says that grass fed cattle actually help sequester carbon in the ground, as well as fertilising it for the growing of crops.
We do need protein to survive and thrive, both physically and mentally, so where we will get the protein from? Supplying our protein from nuts, seeds and beans necessitates intensive farming and monocultures, which are undeniably harmful to the environment and wildlife. In the UK we don’t grow much in the way of nuts, seeds and beans, which means we have to import them – we have to ask, where is the sense in this when we have abundant sources of protein in the hills and sea around us?
It seems to me that buying local and unprocessed food would have a bigger impact on the environment than choosing protein sources which are imported from far away and/or highly processed in energy- and water-intensive factories – then needing packaging and transport to get them to us.
Choosing local food, thoughtfully and sustainably produced, has to be a better way forward; it also allows for different countries to farm appropriately, according to their environment and climate.
A vegan diet is healthier than one based on meat and animal products – from the point of view of good nutrition, animal products have higher levels of almost all the important nutrients than their vegetable counterparts. While plant foods contain many valuable nutrients, antioxidants and so on, they tend to be lacking in iron, zinc, fat soluble vitamins (D, E, K and A), and do not contain the full range of amino acids.
The lack of these important nutrients can have a big impact on energy, immunity and mental health; a population suffering from the effects of these is likely to be a much bigger drain on society and the planet, with an increased need for financial and practical support while being less able to be physically active and therefore reliant on cars and other transport to get around.
Animal protein contains no carbohydrates (with a tiny amount in dairy), whereas a diet which has to rely on pulses will naturally be much higher in carbohydrate (pulses can have 40-50% carbs in them). If we accept the idea that a high carb diet is likely to be the most significant underlying factor in obesity and diabetes, as well as heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s, this might not be the wisest route to take.
Processed vegan substitutes are not nutritionally equivalent – for example, vegan cheese has nowhere near as much protein, or the range of amino acids, you would find in sheep, goat or cow cheese, and it invariably contains gums and other additives which we cannot really call food. Many of us struggle to eat five vegetables a day and do not cook food from scratch; choosing a vegan diet requires a lot of time, effort and thought to maintain health and good nutrition.
These are some of the reasons I could not be a vegan, from a personal health point of view.
Mental health
I am deeply concerned about the explosion of serious mental health issues in young people, and I can’t help thinking that it could, in part, be fuelled by our diets:
We tend to have an all or nothing view of diets, so meat eaters are seen as low vegetable eaters, for example. What if we have a truly mixed diet, incorporating meat, eggs, fish, pulses, nuts, seeds and dairy where tolerated, along with lots of vegetables and relatively low carbohydrate? That way we tick most of the nutritional boxes by having a wide variety of all kinds of foods in our diet.
We recognise the importance of diversity in wildlife, plant life, gut bacteria, even in life (variety is the spice of life). Perhaps it’s time to recognise that diversity in our diet plays an important role as well.
Thank you for reading this far!
Meat is bad for you, raises cholesterol and increases the risk of cancer and heart disease – meat studies have never differentiated between naturally and sustainably reared meat and factory-farmed, processed meats, and even then, it is debatable whether it poses a significantly increased risk. Sugar is the baddie as far as most of our chronic diseases go; high carb diets are increasingly seen as the main cause of imbalanced cholesterol, not our fat intake per se. They also promote weight gain, inflammation, diabetes, and could be implicated in many more health issues.
Meat and dairy production is harmful to the environment and produces high levels of methane – this is possibly true with intensive farming, but may not be so with ‘extensive’ farming, where animals live naturally and eat a natural diet (not soya and grains, but grass based); there is a new movement of farming called regenerative farming, which says that grass fed cattle actually help sequester carbon in the ground, as well as fertilising it for the growing of crops.
We do need protein to survive and thrive, both physically and mentally, so where we will get the protein from? Supplying our protein from nuts, seeds and beans necessitates intensive farming and monocultures, which are undeniably harmful to the environment and wildlife. In the UK we don’t grow much in the way of nuts, seeds and beans, which means we have to import them – we have to ask, where is the sense in this when we have abundant sources of protein in the hills and sea around us?
It seems to me that buying local and unprocessed food would have a bigger impact on the environment than choosing protein sources which are imported from far away and/or highly processed in energy- and water-intensive factories – then needing packaging and transport to get them to us.
Choosing local food, thoughtfully and sustainably produced, has to be a better way forward; it also allows for different countries to farm appropriately, according to their environment and climate.
A vegan diet is healthier than one based on meat and animal products – from the point of view of good nutrition, animal products have higher levels of almost all the important nutrients than their vegetable counterparts. While plant foods contain many valuable nutrients, antioxidants and so on, they tend to be lacking in iron, zinc, fat soluble vitamins (D, E, K and A), and do not contain the full range of amino acids.
The lack of these important nutrients can have a big impact on energy, immunity and mental health; a population suffering from the effects of these is likely to be a much bigger drain on society and the planet, with an increased need for financial and practical support while being less able to be physically active and therefore reliant on cars and other transport to get around.
Animal protein contains no carbohydrates (with a tiny amount in dairy), whereas a diet which has to rely on pulses will naturally be much higher in carbohydrate (pulses can have 40-50% carbs in them). If we accept the idea that a high carb diet is likely to be the most significant underlying factor in obesity and diabetes, as well as heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s, this might not be the wisest route to take.
Processed vegan substitutes are not nutritionally equivalent – for example, vegan cheese has nowhere near as much protein, or the range of amino acids, you would find in sheep, goat or cow cheese, and it invariably contains gums and other additives which we cannot really call food. Many of us struggle to eat five vegetables a day and do not cook food from scratch; choosing a vegan diet requires a lot of time, effort and thought to maintain health and good nutrition.
These are some of the reasons I could not be a vegan, from a personal health point of view.
- A vegan diet means it’s harder to get enough nutrients, especially vitamins D, A, B vitamins (especially B12) and iron. One would need to supplement most of these on top of trying extra hard to make the vegan diet tick all the nutrition boxes. I am a poor methylator, which means I have a higher need for B vitamins; health impacts of this can mean low mood/depression (which I have a tendency to), hormone imbalances (also me), higher risk of cancers (hands up again), and possibly cognitive decline and heart issues (not me – fingers crossed!). Poor methylation can be detected with a genetic test, and it’s estimated that 40-50% of the population have this alteration in their genes.
- Vegan protein doesn’t contain all the essential amino acids, which might affect protein manufacture in our bodies, and reduce the building blocks for neurotransmitters, meaning a risk to mood and mental health; at this time of year when many people suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, this could be a big mistake. It certainly would be for me, with a history of depression and low mood.
- Vegan sources of omega 3 are difficult to convert to the active forms, EPA and DHA, whereas in fish and naturally reared animals it is ready to use. What’s often missed is that while veggie sources of omega 3 may appear to be reasonably high, humans can’t convert much more than 10%, perhaps even less, and we all have different abilities to convert, depending on our genes and our current state of health and stress. Omega 3 is important for managing inflammation, mental health and mood (I have an inflammatory tendency and also low mood history).
- Animal sources of protein also provide the building blocks for collagen, which is important for bone, muscle and ligament health, as well as the more well-known impact on skin, hair and nails. I have osteoporosis and a tendency to injure soft tissue, so there’s no way I’m going to deprive my body of the nutrients it needs to maintain strength and structure.
- I don’t seem to be able to thrive and maintain a healthy weight with a carb heavy diet; a vegan diet requires intake of protein from pulses, which are relatively carbohydrate heavy. Meat and animal products contain no carbohydrate, which makes them a sensible choice for weight loss and healthy weight maintenance.
- I care passionately about the environment, and I don’t buy the argument that if we all went vegan, or even significantly reduced our intake of animal produce, we could save the planet. I don’t believe that food production is a major source of CO2 compared to transport and energy use. I believe that we all need to generally consume less and travel less, and regard it as a privilege, not a right, to travel abroad frequently.
- There’s a lot of money being made from processed vegan edible products, and I can’t help wondering about their motives – it’s unlikely to be to promote good health.
Mental health
I am deeply concerned about the explosion of serious mental health issues in young people, and I can’t help thinking that it could, in part, be fuelled by our diets:
- The advice that we shouldn’t eat more than 3 eggs a week because of the risk of ‘high’ cholesterol, means that we’ve been depriving ourselves of an important nutrient called choline, which is essential to brain health, both in utero and once we are born.
- The focus on processed vegetable oils instead of more natural fats may have fuelled an inflammatory blaze which is now recognised to have an impact on mental health.
- The demonisation of meat may have reduced the availability of important amino acids needed to build our neurotransmitters – serotonin, dopamine and GABA, for example.
- Our high sugar and processed carb diet not only feeds inflammation, but has been shown, along with processed fats, to alter the gut microbiome, which is also now recognised as crucial for mental as well as physical health.
- A low animal protein diet is low in zinc, which is a crucial nutrient for mental health, as are B vitamins, which are more readily available in animal products.
We tend to have an all or nothing view of diets, so meat eaters are seen as low vegetable eaters, for example. What if we have a truly mixed diet, incorporating meat, eggs, fish, pulses, nuts, seeds and dairy where tolerated, along with lots of vegetables and relatively low carbohydrate? That way we tick most of the nutritional boxes by having a wide variety of all kinds of foods in our diet.
We recognise the importance of diversity in wildlife, plant life, gut bacteria, even in life (variety is the spice of life). Perhaps it’s time to recognise that diversity in our diet plays an important role as well.
Thank you for reading this far!
