Like me, you probably grew up on breakfast cereal.
What was your favorite?
Every couple weeks, my mom would let my sister and I get say in the making of the grocery list, and we’d each get to pick the cereal of our choice.
Frosted Mini Wheats, Frosted Flakes or Capn’ Crunch were my usual go-tos. And my sis usually picked Reeses Peanut Butter Puffs or Lucky Charms.
And most mornings, we’d have a bowl of cereal in 2% milk, maybe some fruit, a glass of Tropicana orange juice, and a piece of toast with jelly alongside it. Other breakfast staples included Pop-Tarts or Toaster Streudals, Eggo Waffles with Aunt Jemima syrup, and on special occasions, Pillsbury ‘homemade’ Cinnamon Rolls (the kind you buy in the canned tube).
It’s amazing we lived to tell about it all.
If only we knew then what we know now about how these processed food choices were impacting not only our little guts and bodies…but our brains…I could have spared myself a lot of heartache.
You see, the gut is the ‘second brain’ of the body (a command center)—and when things are not going right there, a whole host of health issues can occur as a result—not just indigestion, allergies, poor immunity, fatigue, weight-related issues, hormonal imbalances, or poor blood sugar regulation, but ALSO mental health issues.
In my case, from the time I was 10-23: Anorexia Nervosa—characterized as a “mental health disorder.”
For others, particularly kids nowadays, this can look like ADD/ADHD, Autism spectrum disorders, dyslexia, depression, and mood disorders—just to name a few.
How are the two connected—the gut and the brain (our mental health)?
How does what we eat (in my case: all that processed food as a kid) really contribute to an eating disorder, ADD/ADHD, Autism, depression or other neurological struggles?
The answer: GAPS—a.k.a. “Gut and Psychology Syndrome and Gut and Physiology Syndrome.”
The idea of GAPS as one of the root causes of eating disorders and other mental health issues, takes the view that these disorders are greatly connected digestive problems. While other factors certainly can contribute as well, an often overlooked component within the field of psychology, in general, is your nutrition.
In fact: 95% of our body’s serotonin (the ‘feel good’ brain chemical) is found in the gut (it’s an important neurotransmitter for digestive health and function).
In short: We eat at least three times per day, and the gut nourishes the brain.
However, when you’re not properly nourished (as my kid body was not, living on so much processed and fake foods), OR you are unable to fully digest and process all your nutrients (due to impaired digestion, leaky gut syndrome, constipation, IBS, bloating, allergies/intolerances, etc.), then a lot of things go awry down the line—brain chemistry included.
Therefore, restoring the health of the gut is the best way to treat diet anorexia, eating disorders, ADD/ADHD, Autism, depression, mood disorders, etc.
Long before I began restricting to lose weight and “be skinny” in my anorectic years, little did I realize that I had been deprived of several key nutrients for a vast majority of my childhood life (unbeknownst to anyone at the time, as processed foods were seen as our ‘real food’ back then).
When we eat foods our body was not intended to eat (i.e. cheap ‘fuel’: cereal, Pop-tarts, Goldfish crackers, Doritos, Hi-C juice boxes, Fruit Gushers, Fruit Roll-ups, Iron Kids bread, processed dairy, poorly prepared grains), the digestive system is weakened. Before long, nutritional deficiencies begin to develop, including: B-vitamins, essential amino acids and fatty acids, zinc, niacin, proteins)…And, when these deficiencies develop…malnutrition sets in. (Note: Malnutrition does not have to mean skin and bones either—rather, whether a person is overweight, obese, underweight or perfectly ‘normal weight’, it essentially means they are not receiving the necessary nutrients for vitality).
Without proper nourishment, the brain is deprived, setting the individual up for all sorts of mental health diagnoses that we see today (as mentioned above).
If you have not heard of or read Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, I’d HIGHLY encourage it for understanding more on this issue. As a parent to a former Autistic child, Dr. Campbell-McBride writes about her child’s full recovery, and her own personal discovery, of the impactful effects of diet on the brain and body (more on this in another post on another day).
If anything, let the following two studies, specifically on cereal consumption, provoke you to at least think about how the foods we eat can, and do, effect our brain and thought patterns:
One study (1), from 1960, was conducted at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor
In it, researchers wanted to know the effects of cereal consumption on the body. They divided mice into three groups:
- Group one received cornflakes and water.
- Group two were fed the cardboard box that the cornflakes came in, and water.
- Group three received rat chow and water.
The results? The mice who ate only the cardboard box outlived the mice eating the cornflakes!
Moreover, the mice who ate the cornflakes showed signs of violent behavior. They threw fits, were anxious and agitated and eventually went into convulsions. After the study, an autopsy revealed these mice had damage to their pancreas, liver and kidneys. They also suffered degeneration of the nerves along their spine (all signs of insulin shock). The absurd-sounding conclusion revealed there was more nourishment in the box than in the cornflakes!
In another study (2), mice were divided into four groups:
- Group one received plain whole wheat grains, water and synthetic vitamins and minerals.
- Group two received puffed wheat processed through an extruder, water and the same nutrient solution.
- Group three received water and white sugar.
- Group four received nothing but water and synthetic nutrients.
Obviously, the mice existing on sugar and water, or just water and synthetic nutrients would die first, right?
Nope.
Group two (the mice who ate the puffed wheat) ALL died before ANY of the mice in groups three or four died. In fact, the mice in group two were all dead within two weeks. The mice who had just sugar and water lived for an entire month.
What is your kiddo eating for breakfast?
“Magically delicious” may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
Resources:
- Weston A. Price. (2005). Dirty Secrets of the Food Processing Industry. http://home/laurynlax/public_html.westonaprice.org/health-topics/dirty-secrets-of-the-food-processing-industry/
- Paul A. Stitt, Fighting the Food Giants, Manitowoc, WI: Natural Press, 1993.