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Have you ever heard the saying, "fish is brain food?" Though I don't eat fish because I'm a vegetarian, I do make sure that I get enough omega fatty acids in my diet. They're essential to brain development, and guard the blood brain barrier. They are used in nerve transmission and many other vital functions in the brain and the rest of the body. I also take Zinc to aid neurotransmitter function, and a bunch of other vitamins for general health.

There's no doubt that nutrition plays a role in the treatment of mental-illness and for the maintainance of a healthy brain in n0rms, too! After reading Natural Healing for Schizophrenia: And Other Common Mental Disorders by Eva Edelman, I started paying more attention to my diet and making sure that I was getting my vitamins and minerals. Do you take specific supplements for mental-health reasons? What and why?

On a related matter, how do you feel about herbal treatments for mental-illness, like St. John's Wort for Depression? Can they be a natural aid to recovery, or are they just snake oil cures for desperate consumers?

Disclaimer: Remember to check with your pharmacist for medicine interactions before adding a nutritional supplement plan to your diet. (For example, St. John's Wort can make many anti-psychotics stop working!)

I've never heard that! So I looked it up, and I found some sources that agreed with your science teacher, and of course some that did not. But apparently some people take banana supplement pills! And bananas can interact with MAO inhibitors, so people can't eat them when they're taking some anti-depressant medicines.



Oh well, I like bananas anyway!

Yeah, people have been saying chocolate is an aphrodisiac. I've been trying to find a good sugar-free chocolate for a diabetic I know, but that probably won't work as an aphrodisiac since sugarless stuff is gross!

you should have a balanced diet and stick to healthy food anyways...

but when it comes to mental illness and food its actualy really important...

certain food arent necessarily the cure for a mental illness (there are many factors that come into play) but they can lessen the symptoms

things that are high in sugar, caffeine, highly processed are usually not good for us. they can increase the symptoms

eg. anxious people and caffeine are not a good mix...neither are high sugar levels... because they cause physiological symptoms similar to that of the condition itself

in order to control my mental illness i basically try to eat alot of healthy food, less take away and more home made stuff...i also avoid certain foods...having had anxiety and depression for so long i can actually tell when or when not to have certain foods...i only have caffeine during the day and only in small amounts because my anxiety is worse at night time...and things like that

i also suggest going on a low GI diet...it means u get ur energy over the course of the day rather then get a high peak of energy for a few hours...low GI foods are things like basmati rice, rice cakes whole grain bread, veggies, fruit etc

This topic has made me remeber that symptoms of autism can be reduced by avoiding certain foods.

Food does have a tremendous affect on us, but I don't think we can follow science comepletely with it as everyone's body is different. Like medicines; different ones work for different people.

My cousin did that but she doesn't have autism. I don't know why she was on it. I thought it wasn't a particularly great idea because that doesn't leave you much to eat and she used to be anorexic.

celiac (or however u spell it) its a condition that can make u really sick...basically it means your allergic to gluten and it can eat away your stomach lining...

my bf's mum has it...and it took her a while to get used to the diet but she's extremely healthy