Improving Mental Health through Diet: Weekend Learning

By Lee Aase • January 21, 2023

While our free Learning modules feature original videos from HELPcare and HELPcare Clinic staff, on weekends we occasionally share externally sourced videos on the blog when we think the content is especially valuable for those interested in lifestyle interventions to improve their health.

This video from the Huberman Lab YouTube channel (highly recommended!) features a compelling discussion between Dr. Andrew Huberman, a Ph.D. researcher at Stanford Medicine, and Dr. Chris Palmer of Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Palmer, a clinical psychiatrist, shares fascinating information on how he has used dietary interventions — particularly intermittent fasting and the ketogenic diet — to help patients get relief from depression, schizophrenia and many other mental health problems.

At Harvard's hospitals he's not getting the "easy" cases: most of his patients have seen many other psychiatrists and therapists and have been on various drug therapies for years. And yet many make substantial mental health progress with dietary interventions, even when pharmaceuticals have failed.

In this video, Dr. Palmer shares his personal story of mental illness and how he discovered the therapeutic benefits of a ketogenic diet for mental health. The ketogenic diet was originally developed by Dr. Russell Wilder of Mayo Clinic in the 1920s to help children with epilepsy stop having seizures.

Given its well-studied effects in that brain-centered disease, Dr. Palmer decided to encourage some of his patients try using the ketogenic diet for various mental health conditions, and found significant benefits.

Several larger studies are now underway, as this is one of the most exciting fields of scientific research looking at interventions that can simultaneously treat many different diseases at their roots.

You will not regret taking time to watch this!

Dr. Palmer is the author of Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health--and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD and More.

I just downloaded the Audible audiobook version and look forward to learning more from Dr. Palmer.

Lee Aase

Lee Aase is the founder of HELPcare LLC, which provides comprehensive membership, marketing and management services for provider-owned HELPcare Clinics, as well as metabolic health education and coaching for people interested in restoring health and reversing disease through lifestyle changes. Lee and his wife Lisa live in Austin, MN and have six married children and 19 grandchildren.

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Improving Mental Health through Diet: Weekend Learning

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