Dr. Christopher Palmer on Is Mental Illness a Metabolic Disorder of the Brain?

Episode Highlights With Dr. Palmer

• His amazing story of almost not finishing high school and eventually becoming a Harvard professor
• Why mental health issues are on the rise and what’s wrong with what we currently understand about mental health
• Mental health disorders are now the leading cause of disability on the planet
• Why it isn’t a coincidence that rates of all these things are on the rise at the same time and how this can be a clue about how to handle serious mental illness
• How mental health and metabolic health are connected
• When the brain is malfunctioning, the only way to understand that is to understand the metabolism
• How mitochondria come into play in understanding mental health
• We’ve known for over a century that people with mental disorders have a metabolic issue
• Mitochondria play a direct role in the production and regulation of neurotransmitters and hormones
• How trauma and stress come into play and how they're connected as well
• Why these metabolic and mitochondria dysfunction issues exhibit in different ways in different people
• Smokers have double the rate of type 2 diabetes even though they're thinner on average than non-smokers and why this is important to understanding mental health
• Dietary strategies that may help with mental health: biggest one is to get rid of processed food especially highly palatable food
• How community and social factors come into play for both mental health and metabolic health
• The dietary factors that can support metabolic and brain health
• Prevention strategies in children for avoiding mental illness

Resources We Mention

• Dr. Christopher Palmer - Website
• Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health--and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD, and More by Christopher M. Palmer MD
• Atkins for Life: The Complete Controlled Carb Program for Permanent Weight Loss and Good Health by Dr. Robert C. Atkins M.D.
• Wellness Mama Bulk Protein Ebook
• Levels

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