“

Fathers and teachers, I ponder, “What is hell?” I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love. 

” - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

This chapter will aim to cover areas like - The proportion of premature death & illness due to poor diet.  The prevalence of obesity & eating disorders (and malnutrition).  Diet & ecology. Recent research on diet & mental health. What is a really healthy diet? Mediterranean diet & SMILES study.  The value/dangers of supplements.

 

Note there are already a number of resources available on this website that are relevant for "Food".  These include the cluster of downloadable questionnaires & handouts available in the "Good Knowledge" section's "Alcohol & food" folder.  There are also a series of blog posts I have written over the years that still contain interesting information about food.  These include "New study highlights potential value of dietary change in depression treatment", slides 50 to 67 in the downloadable Powerpoint presentation at "Biological treatments update for psychotherapists", "Zinc and depression", "Are dietary supplements a dangerous waste of money?", "Effective weight loss: a wake-up call and a personal story", "How can we best assess the healthiness of our diet?", "Emerging research on diet suggests it's startlingly important in the prevention of anxiety & depression", "Health crisis for Britain's middle-aged", "How to cut down on saturated fats", "Vegged out & fruitless: lifestyle & health", "Would you like to be 14 years younger - it's largely a matter of choice!", "Does healthy lifestyle really make a difference?" and "Common sense isn't common".  If you visit any of these links, it's worth noting the date when the post was first published.  It's still likely the information in the post is of interest, but ... especially with those published a few years ago ... there will probably have been subsequent research studies throwing further light on the areas being discussed.

 

More to follow ...