Unhealthy Eating can do more damage to your brain than we are taught. Why eating good food is vital to your mental health
When you think of Unhealthy Eating you tend to think no further than the damages to the physical body. There is usually no conversation around the mental issues unhealthy eating can bring. We know that a healthy body starts with a healthy immune system. And in order to get a healthy immune system you must focus on your digestive health. We also know that unhealthy eating leads to and unhealthy digestive system which then leads to compromised immune health. But how does unhealthy eating effect your mental health?
Eating: The Digestive system & Mental Health
Your digestive system don’t only have an affect on your physical well being it also has an affect on your thoughts. The brain in your head is responsible for processing and thinking, it’s also the central command center for our nervous system. It receives signals from our body sensory gland and once processed it sends the information to the muscles which then creates movements, and feelings. This is where the digestive system comes in. We have a second Brain that is located in the digestive system, thats right a SECOND BRAIN!
The brain located in your gut/ digestive system looks almost identical to main brain in your skull. I mean they can pass for cousins right? The second brain operates independently from our main brain. It controls our entire digestive system, the entire body system and our mental condition. It has neurons and neurotransmitters and proteins that zap messages between neurons. The main brain or brain in your skull communicates to the small gut by communicating with the small commander neurons.
How It works
The commander nuerons in the guts brain controls the activity of the gut. The main brain and the brain in your gut is in an intimate relationship with one another. The main brain protects the brain in the digestive system. In the battle field the main brain will tell the second brain to shut down. It will then scan the gut to make sure everything is alright. They both can have an affect on each other. The term “gut ” feeling or intuition is when we feel something isn’t right or we are nervous. Like butterflies in you tummy or diarrhea. This happens when our second brain sends signals to the main brain that we are not fine.
Research has proven that and unhealthy digestive system causes many neurological and mental health issues. This is due to low levels of healthy bacteria in the gut. The key to taking care of our second brain is supporting our digestive health by eliminating unhealthy eating such as the consumption of fried foods, red meats, and processed foods. Instead we should drink plenty of water, exercise, and take antioxidants everyday which can be found naturally in healthy foods.
If we are being good to our second brain then we are less likely to suffer from illness or other health issues including mental health and neurological issues such as Alzheimers.
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