Eat To Beat Depression

T H E F E E D T HE F E E D

Y O U R M O N T H LY D O W N L O A D O F T H E L AT E S T L I F E - E N H A N C I N G R E S E A R C H

How Changing Your Ways in the Kitchen Could Lif t Your Spirits

THE SAME FOOD THAT’S PUTTING LARD AROUND YOUR MIDDLE COULD BE UNDERMINING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH, TOO

WE ALL HAVE our guilty pleasures, right? A sneaky soft drink to chase your 1pm sandwich, perhaps? Or a bag of potato chips to complement your after-work tipple? While the odd bit of junk food is all but harmless, it’s well-established that a habit in this area can be terrible for your physical health. Now, a new study has upped the ante, suggesting that ultra-processed foods are rotten for your mental wellbeing, too – regardless of how good they make you feel while you’re eating them.

The study, from Florida Atlantic University, shows that relatively high consumers of ultra-processed food are significantly more likely to show symptoms of depression and anxiety than relatively low consumers. This might be just the spur you need to find alternatives to white bread and chocolatechip muffins if weight gain and increased risk of chronic disease haven’t been enough to scare you straight. While we’ve all been taught to avoid or cut back on processed food, there’s an important distinction between ‘processed’ and ‘ultra-processed’. By definition, a processed food is simply one that’s been altered from its original form. Heated, pasteurised and canned products are all counted as processed. Some definitions even put refrigeration in the mix.

Ultra-processed foods are designed to be convenient, low cost, ready-to-eat and oh-so-tempting, but the processes involved in making them tend to strip them of any of the nutritional goodness they had in the first place. Ultra-processed foods – think biscuits, sweets, Doritos – invariably contain additives such as preservatives, sweeteners and artificial colours and flavours.

“The ultra-processing of food depletes its nutritional value and increases the number of calories, as ultra-processed foods tend to be high in added sugar, saturated fat and salt, while low in protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals,” said study author Eric Hecht.

“More than 70 per cent of packaged foods are classified as ultra-processed food and represent about 60 per cent of all calories consumed by [adults].” The study showed

WE ALL HAVE our guilty that people who consume pleasures, right? A sneaky a lot of ultra-processed soft drink to chase your food were unlikely to 1pm sandwich, perhaps? report having zero mentally Or a bag of potato chips to unhealthy days. Though the complement your after-work connection between ultratipple? While the odd bit of processed food and mental junk food is all but harmless, health isn’t entirely clear (do it’s well-established that depressed people eat more a habit in this area can be junk or does eating junk terrible for your physical make you depressed?), this health. Now, a new study has study is being touted as a upped the ante, suggesting big step towards establishing that ultra-processed foods a correlation. are rotten for your mental “The data adds important wellbeing, too – regardless of information to a growing how good they make you feel body of evidence concerning while you’re eating them. the adverse effects of ultra-

The study, from Florida processed consumption on Atlantic University, mental-health symptoms,” s says co-author Dr Charles c Hennekens. fo Ask yourself this question: li if I’m not prepared to change d my diet to look better and re live longer, would I do it to m blow away the blues?

need to find alternatives to white bread and chocolatechip muffins if weight gain and increased risk of chronic disease haven’t been enough to scare you straight. While we’ve all been taught to avoid or cut back on processed food, there’s an important distinction between ‘processed’ and ‘ultra-processed’. By definition, a processed food is simply one that’s been altered from its original form. Heated, pasteurised and canned products are all counted as processed. Some definitions even put refrigeration in the mix. tend to strip them of any of the nutritional goodness they had in the first place. Ultra-processed foods – think biscuits, sweets, Doritos –invariably contain additives such as preservatives, sweeteners and artificial colours and flavours.

“The ultra-processing of food depletes its nutritional value and increases the number of calories, as ultra-processed foods tend to be high in added sugar, saturated fat and salt, while low in protein, fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals,” said study author Eric Hecht. that people who consume a lot of ultra-processed food were unlikely to report having zero mentally unhealthy days. Though the connection between ultraprocessed food and mental health isn’t entirely clear (do depressed people eat more junk or does eating junk make you depressed?), this study is being touted as a big step towards establishing a correlation.

“The data adds important information to a growing body of evidence concerning the adverse effects of ultraprocessed consumption on mental-health symptoms,” hows that relatively high onsumers of ultra-processed ood are significantly more kely to show symptoms of depression and anxiety than el i

Ultra-processed foods are designed to be convenient, low cost, ready-to-eat and oh-so-tempting, but the processes

“More than 70 per cent of packaged foods are classified as ultra-processed food and represent about 60 per cent of all calories

says co-author Dr Charles Hennekens. Ask yourself this question: if I’m not prepared to change pression and anxiety than my diet to look better and atively low consumers. This ght be just the spur you the processes involved in making them 60 per cent of all calories consumed by [adults].” The study showed my diet to look better and live longer, would I do it to blow away the blues?

Junk food may weigh down your brain, too.

SMARTER SNACKING

It’s the between-meal eating when you’re most likely to go rogue. Swap out the not-so-great options for these proven mood-boosting wholefoods OUT Jam Toast IN Handful of Almonds

OUT Box of Sultanas

OUT Milk chocolate

IN 1 Cup of Berries

IN 2 Squares of 70%+ Dark Chocolate

Why It Sometimes Pays to Stay in Your L ane

THINK AGAIN ABOUT THE THRILL OF PUNCHING ABOVE YOUR WEIGHT. RESEARCH SHOWS THAT PARTNERS OF SIMILAR DESIRABILITY ARE MORE LIKELY TO MAKE THINGS WORK

THEY SAY in most relationships there’s a reacher and a settler – one who’s landed someone out of their league, and one who’s made do with a someone below theirs. However, a new study shows that partners who are roughly equally attractive have a better chance of staying together.

We’ve all seen movies where the nerdy guy gets the popular girl. Back to the Future, Revenge of the Nerds and Spiderman all imply that you can overachieve in the romance stakes. But research from the University of Missouri suggests that this admittedly feel-good cliché is probably best left in the cinema.

Research led by anthropology professor Sean Prall found that people of corresponding desirability were more likely to have successful, long-term relationships than, say, a flat-out 10 and a mediocre five. Prall studied the behaviour of the Himba people, a group of nomadic pastoralists in northwest Namibia. We know what you’re thinking: what does the behaviour of agrarian nomads in Africa have to do with me? Well, Pratt believes the Himba are the perfect subject group because they’re unhindered by societal pressures and norms.

“We were interested in this [topic] because much of the anthropological work on human-mating patterns is based only on people’s preferences,” Prall says. “This research focuses on people’s actions. Sure, you might say you’d prefer someone who’s deemed ‘really desirable’, but that’s heavily impacted by societal norms. What do you do in that relationship? How does it actually go? That was what we were looking at.”

In other words, there’s little point asking guys what they look for in a partner because they’ll probably describe an unattainable babe they saw on TV the night before. Instead, Prall’s group looked at who people actually end up with, having spent five years analysing data on marriage, parenting, child health – and just how picky some of us can be when choosing a partner. It found that subjects of similar physical attractiveness more often paired up and usually stayed together longer.

While the study focused on the Himba people, Prall says the information gathered can be applied in a broader context. “This was a great population [through which] to look at these questions because everyone knows each other and most date and marry within the population,” Prall says. “You can ask them how much they’d like to be in a relationship with a specific person because they actually know that person.” The research on aspirational dating habits explains a lot. If it doesn’t help you find your next partner, it might tell us why on earth Jay-Z would cheat on Beyonce.

You might charm her. But will she stick around?

REEL-LIFE GUYS WHO’VE OUTDONE THEMSELVES

Big- and small-screen characters have long ventured out of their depth for comic e ect

Paul Tannek (Jason Biggs) and Dora Diamond (Mena Suvari) – LOSER

Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neill) and Gloria DelgadoPritchett (Sophie Vergara) – MODERN FAMILY

George Costanza (Jason Alexander) and Mary Anne (Rena Sofer) – SEINFELD

Ben Stone (Seth Rogan) and Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) – KNOCKED UP

Don’t Give Icy Swims the Cold Shoulder

WHAT IF COLD-WATER DIPS COULD CAUSE THE RIGHT KIND OF SHRINKAGE?

WHETHER IT’S the frosty chill of an early-morning swim in the ocean to shock you awake or an icy bath to promote recovery after a workout, the benefits of cold-water immersion are well known. But there might be an added benefit: frigid water could be a key to cutting body fat. While devoted disciples of coldwater swimming will tell you they’ve known this all along, there hasn’t been much by way of solid scientific evidence to support the claim. Until now.

Enter a major scientific review from the Arctic University of Norway, where there’s surely no shortage of ice in which to submerge yourself. The review looked at 104 studies analysing the effects of cold-water immersion, with the aim of determining whether exposure to cold water has any significant effects on human health. Let’s just say the results might give you goosebumps.

“From this review, it’s clear that there is increasing scientific support [for the belief] that voluntary exposure to cold water may have some beneficial health effects,” says lead author James Mercer. “Many of the studies demonstrated significant effects of cold-water immersion on various physiological and biochemical parameters.”

The review probed a purported link between coldwater swimming and the activation of brown adipose tissue, a type of body fat that burns kilojoules. The authors report that “cold-water immersion seems to activate and/or transform body adipose tissue, as well as

ICE, ICE, BABY

No raging North Sea handy? Here’s how to engage in a touch of cryotherapy – a simple ice bath – at home

1

On The Rocks Fill your tub with cold water and add 1-3 bags of ice until you achieve a temperature between 10-15° celcius.

2

Easy Does It Slowly enter the water – body part by body part. Submerging too quickly can shock your system and cause you to hyperventilate. Meditating through the experience may help.

3

Short & Sweet Sit there for no longer than 15 minutes – and you’ll probably have to build up to that. Any longer puts you at risk of frostbite and hypothermia.

4

Thaw Out When time’s up, exit with care, towel o and don warm layers (which you laid out in advance) to restore normal body temp. A hot drink will help, too.

reduce insulin resistance and improve insulin sensitivity. This may have a protective effect against cardiovascular [problems], obesity and other metabolic diseases.”

In short, cold water shocks your body, forcing it to burn fat to keep your temperature from dropping too low.

The review also found that cold-water exposure may protect you from diabetes and heart disease. How? By increasing the production of a protein called adiponectin, which regulates blood-sugar levels and breaks down fatty acid.

Does this mean you should start every day with an ice bath or a freezing dip in the ocean? Well, not necessarily. The risk of hypothermia is still the elephant in the room when it comes to cold-water swimming. But the next time someone tells you to “toughen up” when you’re hesitating at the shoreline, you might just have to listen to them.

Coldplay: Ice baths may help get you trim.