Meal Ideas For Better Mental Health

Transcript:

KARA: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. Today's podcast is brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. We're a company that has been around for over 30 years. We specialize in nutrition, education, and counseling, and it's based on science and the latest research. We also bring you real life client and personal examples to make the information more practical for your everyday living.

I'm Kara Carper. I'm a Licensed Nutritionist. I'm a board Certified Nutrition Specialist and I'm one of your cohosts today. Melanie Beasley is also here with me. Melanie is a Licensed and Registered Dietitian and she works with clients in the Eagan office here in Minnesota.

MELANIE: Yep, and we have a serious topic today on mental health, and our podcast title is Meals for Good Mental Health. Have you ever considered that low moods, depression, anxiety, or issues related to attention or behavior could be related to what you're eating?

KARA: I don't think everyone makes that connection. I have experienced firsthand how foods can either improve or worsen mental health. For me, I'm very sensitive to blood sugar fluctuations. If I get kind of careless and don't eat enough protein, or maybe I forget to include a healthy fat with my meal; even if I just wait too long to eat, those are all scenarios that can lead to spikes and crashes in my glucose, which results in low moods, anxiety. I've talked about my sleep issues. Let's throw in brain fog. And definitely lower resilience to everyday stressors.

MELANIE: So I'm guessing, because we were talking earlier that your husband always has food on hand or in his pockets.

KARA: The weight of my heart is five to six ounces of cooked protein.

What do we mean by the term mental health?

MELANIE: Yeah, I love that. So what do we mean by the term mental health? According to the CDC, Centers for Disease Control, mental health includes are emotional, psychological and social well being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices, which is what we're going to focus on today.

KARA: So mental health really does affect all stages of life, from childhood and adolescence throughout adulthood. Mental health, it's actually a broad term because there are technically 200 different types of mental illness and mental disorders,

MELANIE: Which we won't be addressing today. Well, it's also the state of our mental health is constantly changing based on many things, including some external things out of our control, but what we're here to talk about today are things that we can control.

KARA: For example, if you recently had a stressful life event, such as the death of a loved one, a job loss or job change, separation or divorce, perhaps your elderly parent is ill or you're taking care of a child with neurodiverse needs; people go through rough patches with their mental health really based on external circumstances.

MELANIE: The things that we can't really control and really grief after a death or loss or job burnout or really any trauma or situations that can lead to poor mental health, trying to get out of the hole that was created by the trauma. Sometimes it's short term, but it can also be long term.

How can nutrition help mental health?

KARA: And so at this point, you might be wondering, you know, our show today is obviously based on nutrition and how that can help improve mental health. You might be wondering, well, how is what I'm going to eat make a difference if I'm grieving the loss of a loved one or how is what I'm eating going to help pay the bills? I just lost my job.

MELANIE: Right. Right. Yeah. How is this really going to relate? Although food can't take away those stressful circumstances, if we're eating the right foods in balance, it provides our brain and nervous system and our digestive system with nutrients that can help us feel more calm, clear, and stable. Then we're able to better manage the situations that life is throwing at us. And that's really the goal is being able to cope in these situations.

KARA: Yeah. Improving that resilience to stress. And so we just have a couple of statistics to share on mental health. And then I'm really excited to introduce a special guest joining us today. So be sure to stay with us. The first statistic that was really alarming to me states that mental illnesses are the most common health issues in the United States.

MELANIE: Yeah. Wow. Another number the CDC reported is that one in five adults and one in five youth ages 13 to 18 live with a mental illness or have had mental illness at some point in their life. And although serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression are less common, it's still 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. have these more serious conditions. So when I'm meeting with clients, they may not always be making the initial appointment with me to address their mental illness. But if the It's very common among clients and I do as a practitioner want to address it.

KARA: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's great that you do a dive into that with your in clinic, Melanie. So let's take a moment to introduce our guest. Many of you already know Chef Marianne because she's been hosting our cooking classes at Nutritional Weight & Wellness for the past five years. My goodness. Welcome Marianne. Thanks so much for being here.

MARIANNE: Thank you ladies. Thank you so much I appreciate you inviting me in today. I love to talk about food and mental illness is certainly touching everyone's lives I think, and food is an important part of that, and getting people into the kitchen I think is an important tool that people can have for their mental illness.

MELANIE: Well, this is fun to have you here. You have some great cooking classes. My clients are always talking about the classes that they've taken. You teach for Nutritional Weight & Wellness many of the cooking classes that we have offered and my clients love them.

They appreciate how practical you make navigating the kitchen. They also enjoy your humor and your knowledge based on your cooking experience and you throw in nutritional content in there, which we always appreciate. I love that. That's great to hear. So thank you.

KARA: So, Melanie and Marianne and I, we're just going to have some good conversation today, a little bit of banter. Our focus will be on specific foods and meals to support the brain, which can lead to better overall mental health.

MELANIE: Let's circle back to a comment you made a few minutes ago when you shared how food personally affects you. You mentioned that if your blood sugar levels are spiking and crashing, that you can turn into an anxious, depressive individual and less able to tolerate stress, right?

Stabilize blood sugar to stabilize moods

KARA: Yes, absolutely. It's like night and day for me. I know I'm not the only one. We had Dr. Leslie Korn, a behavioral medicine doctor. She was on our podcast or at the time, a radio show three years ago. She's written 10 books, including The Good Mood Kitchen and Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health. And there was a phrase in her book that just has always stuck with me: mood swings follow blood sugar swings. So really the number one tip for stabilizing moods is to get that blood sugar, the glucose in balance as much as possible.

MELANIE: Yes, I mean if you've ever been driving home and you are starving because you skipped lunch, everybody on the road is not driving, right?

KARA: It's not you, right? It's everyone else.

MELANIE: It’s everyone else. And that really is chemistry. That's your low blood sugar. So really you want to start with some protein on your plate and pair that with at least a one to two cups of vegetables. You might want to add in a half cup of something starchy or sweet, like potato, wild rice or berries.

And remember always to add in that one tablespoon of your favorite healthy fat. Because this is what anchors your blood sugar and keeps you from having those valleys and those spikes in your blood sugar that affect your mood.

KARA: And many people just feel better if they eat a breakfast with protein within an hour or maybe two hours of waking, but don't wait all day to eat. If I just get up in the morning and I don't eat and I'm sipping on coffee, it's really not starting my day off for positive mental health.

So Marianne, you taught a cooking class that focused on brain building foods. There was a weekday frittata recipe and it looked delicious. So this frittata is a great example of a balanced breakfast that already contains the protein, it's got the veggies, it's got the healthy fat all included, right?

MARIANNE: Yes, it is. It's actually a great recipe. I love it. It's a great way to feed a crowd. You can make it in advance. You can use last night's leftovers as the base for that frittata. So there's really no rules. I think in that class, we made it dairy free. If you tolerate dairy, you can absolutely add dairy to it. It's fun. It looks beautiful. It presents well, because of course we eat with our eyes. And so that's important. You can make it ahead. You can freeze it if you want, and then, you know, cut it in slices, take it out, have your morning piece of frittata, which is nice. It's a very easy recipe that anyone can conquer.

KARA: Yeah, it really looks simple. It is on our website, which is weightandwellness.com under recipes. It's called the fast frittata recipe.

Overviewing nutrition benefits & cooking tips for different foods

MELANIE: Well, and the thing I love about eggs is it is a complete protein. So that means it has all of the amino acids. And don't be afraid of the egg yolks. The egg yolks provide such a good, diverse nutrient profile: riboflavin, protein, healthy fats, iron, phosphorus. All of the fat soluble vitamins: A, D, E. K, it's got some B12, some folate, it's got some selenium, choline, and lutein. The egg yolks also provide, you were talking about the healthy fat, omega-6 and omega-3 profile that we need for both heart and brain function. And it lowers inflammation. So the egg yolks are almost, eggs are almost a perfect food.

KARA: Right, and I think of the yolk as liquid gold. It really is perfect. Our brain is 60 percent fat. So, you know, it's very important to be eating fats that support the fat in our brain. And add to that healthy 60%.

MELANIE: Then I notice in the recipe there's vegetables. Okay, so the vegetables are going to give us, of course, they're our powerhouse of fighting disease. They're loaded with antioxidants, they've got fiber to stabilize the blood sugar, also helps with bowels, digestion, preventing colon cancer, with that fiber, acting like a scrub. So, I love it. And don’t make a shortcut when it comes to using herbs. You want to use fresh herbs. And Marianne, I know you can talk more about that.

MARIANNE: Yes, I love fresh herbs. And you know what? We have our little spice drawer and a lot of times we kind of ignore it. We don't think about it, but it really is the easy way to add variety. And I think that's often where we sort of get caught up in the same old, same old. So I encourage you to use spices. In fact, there's a story I often tell in my classes.

In ancient Greece when, the men were taking their exams, they would pick fresh rosemary and they would smell it and it would ignite their memory so that they could remember what they needed to know for their, exams. And so herbs have a lot of lovely gifts to give, and I hope that everyone grows an herb garden and cuts some fresh herbs. Throw them in those eggs. It is such a lovely, easy way to add some fresh herbs.

MELANIE: Yes, and just to nerd out as a nutritionist here, rosemary, fresh rosemary has antifungal, anticarcinogen, antioxidant properties. I just don't think you get that from the dry. What do you think?

MARIANNE: Yeah. And you certainly, I think you're going to lose some of the smell because of the essential oil. You're going to lose some of the essential oil when you have dried. But I will say, if you're making a soup or a stew, dry absolutely will work.

You're still going to get that aroma, that, that lovely smell. You're, there's still some of the healing elements in the herbs. I think what you lose is the vitamin C, which is a water soluble vitamin. And of course you're dehydrating that herb. So you're probably losing that, but you know, it has a lot of things to give.

MELANIE: So don't not cook just because you don't have the fresh. Especially here in Minnesota a lot of times I don't want to go out in four degree weather to get fresh rosemary, but it is the best.

MARIANNE: And if it survived that weather.

MELANIE: At Whole Foods.

MARIANNE: Exactly.

Different ideas & ways to cook eggs

KARA: There's something to be said about Instacart in Minnesota in the winter. What are some of your favorite ways to prepare eggs? Like, let's just say somebody doesn't have all the ingredients, but they want to boil some eggs. I mean, do you like an instant pot? What are some other ways that people can prepare eggs?

MARIANNE: Oh my gosh. So let me, first of all, if you've all seen a French chef with his tall hat and you see all those pleats, that represents all the ways that you can make an egg. So there's a ton of ways to make eggs. They're so versatile. As Melanie was saying, it is a perfect food.

It really, nature just spit out this perfect food for us. You can boil them. You can scramble them. You can bake them. I've used my Instant Pot to boil eggs. You can do a whole dozen at the same time. Which is lovely. I love to batch cook boiled eggs. It's such an easy snack to grab. It can go with you; easy to pack. And you can put some of those herbs on the outside of that boiled egg and it tastes delicious.

KARA: That's a fantastic idea.

MELANIE: A simple thing I do for lunch all the time when I have not prepped some meat is I will bring three to four hard boiled eggs. And then I just put them in warm tea water while I'm melting butter. And I just put chives and melted butter over chopped eggs. And that's my, that was my lunch today with a salad.

MARIANNE: That sounds delicious.

KARA: That actually does sound delicious.

MELANIE: Because butter.

MARIANNE: That's right.

KARA: And I do something similar if I'm in a pinch. And I usually do have some boiled eggs on hand. I boil a dozen every Sunday. So I'll go in my fridge, I'll take three, I'll peel them, and it's my own quick version of egg salad. I just put a tablespoon of avocado mayo, tiny bit of mustard, some salt and pepper, and I mean, that's enough protein and healthy fat for a good serving of lunch.

MELANIE: And we can't forget deviled eggs, which , I don't take the time to stuff them, but I'll make the deviled eggs all chopped up, you know, and just eat them with celery. Great. Or an Egg Life wrap. I love an Egg Life wrap to add a little more protein.

KARA: So those were some fantastic ideas from Marianne and Melanie. We do want to acknowledge that when it comes to mental health, if you're someone who is in a really rough spot with depression, low energy, gathering up groceries and making a recipe and spending time in the kitchen, that might sound very overwhelming and unattainable. Just remember, you can always get back to basics, and still support your body and your brain and give it the nutrients it needs to feel its best.

MELANIE: I agree. And I love the, you know, a dozen eggs in the Instant Pot, 10 minutes, you've got it done. My Instant Pot, I probably use I would say daily in making things. So it's a really good point is that every grocery store I go to lately seems to have hard boiled eggs, even if you don't want to cook them yourself, they're already cooked and peeled. A quick breakfast can be three hard boiled eggs. Or like I said, for lunch, you know, hard boiled eggs, an apple, tablespoon of peanut butter, you've got it.

KARA: Yep.

MELANIE: You'd have all your parts. Yeah. Or you make that egg salad and you wrap it in a lettuce wrap with some celery and I did pumpkin seeds. So keep it simple because it's you're trying to support yourself, but not overwhelm yourself when you're already in a mentally distressed state.

Brain building lunch ideas

KARA: Yeah. And you're all in a different place, right? Our listeners are in different places. So maybe somebody has the capacity to make the frittata, and someone else is just kind of struggling to get out of bed. So we just want to acknowledge that. So let's move on to some more brain building foods. We have some lunch ideas.

Now you've probably heard that salmon is a wonderful brain food. One of the reasons is because it's so high in omega-three fatty acids. Most Americans do not get adequate omega-3 fatty acids from their food sources. And it is, it's what we call an essential fatty acid. Our bodies don't produce it. We are forced to get it from outside sources from our food.

It's time for our break. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. Our topic today is meal ideas for good mental health. And we're very pleased to have Chef Marianne as our guest today. She hosts cooking classes from her kitchen on a regular basis.

They're so helpful, informative, interesting, just a lot of fun. So stay with us. When we come back, we'll give you more information on an upcoming fall cooking class.

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MELANIE: Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Melanie Beasley, a Licensed Dietitian here with Kara Carper, a Licensed Nutritionist, and we have a cooking class coming up that you're not going to want to miss. It's called Delicious Nutritious Soups on October 30th at 6pm. Our live cooking classes on Zoom are 75 minutes long.

And you receive recipes, a shopping list, and you'll get the recording in case you miss the live class. Or if you want to rewatch it in your own time, the recording lasts for three days. Go to weightandwellness.com for more information and to register. It's a screaming deal.

Sign Up for a Cooking Class!

MARIANNE: Yeah, it's a lot of fun. I love teaching these classes. Soups are a great way to usher in the cooler weather. And I think we all love to have a nice steaming pot of soup simmering on the stove.

Benefits of fatty fish & what to look for

MELANIE: That sounds great. So before we went to break, we were talking about fatty fish, specifically salmon, but I want to talk a little bit about sardines and herring. I don't think they're mentioned enough. They're also high in omega-3. Now, if you're thinking of the sardines of your childhood, that had the head, and I challenge you listeners, go out, get a can of sardines that's wild caught, in olive oil. When you open it up, it's pretty much like tuna.

You're not going to see anything that's alarming. It tastes delicious. I think it's very mild. It's a delicious fish you can use in any application that you would use canned salmon or canned tuna, but the benefit is huge and it's low in mercury. So the cold water and fattier fish, they tend to contain the highest levels of that omega-3 that fights that inflammation.

And Marianne, can you tell us a couple of good sources for buying fish? Because we know that a lot of store bought fish is farm factory raised and has fewer omega-3s, higher contaminants and mercury as well as antibiotics. So, give us your secrets.

MARIANNE: Yeah, oh, well, here's a soapbox. I'll try and keep it short. But, I encourage everybody to, if your grocery store has a fish counter, talk to your fishmonger. Ask them if they know the country of origin, if they used antibiotics. Was this farm raised? Is it wild? If you have a fish market, go to the fish market. It's lovely. They have a lot more knowledge.

As Melanie was saying, that factory farm, you know, the omega-3s come from the carnivorous part of this fish. They eat other fish. which is where that fattiness comes from. And so, you've got these farmed fish that are eating soy and corn. It's sort of the factory farm of the sea.

And therefore, you're not going to get those omega-3 benefits because they're eating corn and soy rather than other fish or phytoplankton. So, important when you are looking for canned fish, also look for wild caught so that they are not fed the corn and the soy and they get to eat what they're supposed to eat.

MELANIE: I think fish, animals, they're meant to eat certain things in nature. And that is what provides quality nutrition for us as we consume. But I remember seeing a documentary on certain places that had farmed shrimp. And they're literally swimming in a slurry of antibiotics. So we get that residue, which affects our microbiome. So I love what you said about that. I never even thought about what they're feeding them.

MARIANNE: Yeah, we are what the animal eats actually. So what you did, which you basically just said, I mean, that is true.

KARA: And Melanie, I'm so glad you brought that up. I did not know that about the shrimp. And when you said that affects our microbiome negatively, because if we're consuming, you know, any kind of an animal or fish source that was given antibiotics, we get the residues, which kills off our good bacteria, you know, and we're left more vulnerable and most serotonin, our feel good chemical, is made in our microbiome if it's healthy.

MELANIE: Right, because the good bacteria and the protein are really what's making those precursors to our brain chemicals. So if we are killing off the good bacteria, we're missing half of the equation that helps make those good brain chemicals, serotonin, dopamine, things that make us feel good.

MELANIE: So for mental health, we don't want antibiotic residue is really the bottom line here.

KARA: Really trying to avoid any protein source where the animal, fish, seafood has been exposed to antibiotics. So I want to jump into another recipe that Marianne made during her brain building class. And this one actually is a big hit in our family. It's called the salmon cakes.

MELANIE: Love these and they freeze great.

KARA: They really do. So, Marianne, when you were making the salmon cakes, can you just remind me, were you, did you use the canned in your cooking class?

MARIANNE: I did. I, I think it's a really, approachable, affordable way to get salmon. I think fish can be intimidating to a lot of people and canned salmon is a lovely way to introduce that fish. I'll tell you a little story. My son loves to have a tinned fish night. He and his girlfriend have a date night and they go into their pantry and they do sardines and anchovies and salmon. And it is really a fun idea, I think.

So if anybody wanted to explore that, it's kind of interesting. But this recipe, super easy. The great thing about these salmon cakes, you can pan sear them. If you're feeding a crowd, you can put them on a parchment lined sheet pan and you can bake them, and they still get that lovely crust on the outside, the really flaky and lovely on the inside. I encourage everybody. I think they're on the website. It's a great recipe really great way to get some salmon.

MELANIE: I challenge our listeners, make this recipe. I think it's worth the time. When I open the can of salmon, I have to dump and stir rapidly because of, you know, what's in the canned salmon can be off putting to see, but it's a wonderful source of nutrition.

MELANIE: It's very affordable to get canned salmon that's wild caught. And you can have it on hand. So if you as a snow storm or anything going on, it's an easy thing to throw together.

MARIANNE: Yeah. It's, it's all, if you always have it in your pantry. You don't have to run to the store. You've got it all. Everything you need from that recipe is pretty much in your pantry.

KARA: Yeah.

MELANIE: So it's fantastic. So Dr. Daniel Amon is a neuroscientist, psychiatrist and brain imaging expert. He has authored many books. His latest book is called change your brain every day. And he explains why the omega-3 fatty acids called EPA and DHA, are critical for optimal brain functioning.

KARA: DHA makes up a large part of the gray matter of our brain. And both the DHA and EPA, those again are components of the omega-3. They promote healthy blood flow. That's really important for optimal brain function. And Dr. Daniel Amen uses the analogy that if our brain was an engine, the omega-3 fatty acids are working like a high quality motor oil to keep the brain finely tuned.

MELANIE: Yeah, he's brilliant. And he talks about a study with 3,317 men and women. And it was a 20-year-old study that found people with the highest consumption of EPA and DHA were less likely to have poor mental health. I think that translates to eating more salmon.

KARA: It absolutely does. And I've been, just to circle back to the canned salmon, I've really been enjoying that even more than canned tuna fish.

MARIANNE: If you are buying tuna, get skipjack. It's a smaller fish because remember, you know, think about the tuna is a huge fish and then it's eating smaller fish and small. So it accumulates that mercury. And so if you, if you really love tuna, try and buy skipjack. I'm also going to suggest that you buy sardines with your tuna and mix the two together. And make a tuna salad as you would.

I throw capers in. If I have tarragon, I love it. A good squeeze of lemon juice. And I dare to say that no one would even know those sardines are in there. I fed it to my family and they had no idea. And it's just lovely. So yes, you kind of have to get over the, I'm eating this whole fish that may have bones and skin in it, but you can't taste the bones. You can't taste the skin; mixes all in. Beautiful. Love it.

KARA: I love that idea. That's fantastic. Yeah. Do you have other tips form this is kind of a big question, but either cooking or preparing different types of fish?

MARIANNE: Yeah. So like I was saying earlier, fish can be so intimidating to people. And the funny thing is, it's one of the quickest proteins we can cook. It takes no time at all. And I'm going to say a fatty fish like salmon is much more forgiving than say a lake trout or something that doesn't have as much fat. Because that fat will keep it luscious, you're less likely to overcook it. Again, you can steam fish, you can poach it, you can bake it;

Many different ways you can do it. You just don't want to overcook it. And by that just look, it's going to become opaque. And if you just sort of pull away with a fork. Just see if it starts to flake and you're ready to go. It's a lovely thing. It's so luscious. I love a really good cooked salmon. It's just amazing.

MELANIE: I love that tip because I overcook salmon regularly because I lose track of what I'm doing was I'm doing other things. I am the most distracted cook.

MARIANNE: You can even cut, cut, cut your salmon into little chunks. I mean, there's a lot of people with air fryers now. It is sort of the groovy thing of the moment. But you can absolutely do this in a skillet. Cut them into small chunks. It's going to take no time. Maybe you throw in a little Bragg's aminos or coco aminos. Now you've got this fun little Asian, sprinkle it with some sesame seeds and you've got a fun little way to make salmon, super easy.

MELANIE: Throw that over a cauli rice and you've got a meal. So, I love that. We have a couple recipes on our website, weightandwellness.com, that use canned wild salmon.

KARA: The salmon salad supreme: that's one of my go-tos cause I do like to keep canned salmon in the cabinet. It's simple. It's easy. Sometimes I just make the recipe for myself. My family honestly is not crazy about canned salmon, so I'll use the entire, I think it's a five ounce can. I drain it, mix it with a high quality avocado oil mayonnaise, just a few other ingredients, celery, green onion, olives, basil, a chopped hard boiled egg.

My absolute favorite part is topping it with frozen peas. I serve it on greens. And, you know, I think the recipe on our website does say use a seven and a half ounce can of salmon and it serves two people because you're getting the egg and the salmon and so that it is still adequate protein if you follow the recipe online.

The importance of vitamin D

MELANIE: And another important nutrient that most Americans are really not getting from foods they eat is vitamin D. Low levels of vitamin D are associated with so many diseases and conditions, including depression, anxiety, and fatigue. I've had clients where they struggle with anxiety their whole life, get their vitamin D at optimal level, and the anxiety has disappeared.

So you've heard about vitamin D as the sunshine vitamin because vitamin D is activated when sunlight hits the skin. But how many of us are actually using sunscreen all the time?

KARA: Yeah. And especially where we live in the Northern latitude here in, the upper part of the United States, there's fewer options to be getting vitamin D from the sun. And like Melanie said, the way that we activate vitamin D when the sunlight hits our skin is if there is no sunscreen being used, half your body's exposed and it's the optimal time of the day. So this can pose many challenges depending on your work situation, where you live and your schedule.

MELANIE: And your modesty level. We're just not sitting in our bathing suits for an hour at noon in Minnesota is I think what we estimated you'd have to do in order to get enough vitamin D.

MARIANNE: And traditionally, northern countries in Europe would take cod liver oil, or they would, you know, they would eat those fatty fishes in order to up their vitamin D because they didn't get enough sun. Think about it. The farther up you go, I mean, they have night all the time.

MELANIE: Yes. Yeah. Eating that cod liver, I think would, was probably key, right; to health.

MARIANNE: Absolutely.

MELANIE: Somebody knew what they were doing. I found findings from a meta-analysis and this was published January 2024 in the Journal of Effective Disorder. The study was titled “The Effect of Vitamin D supplementation on Depression”. They took a group of people and gave them enough vitamin D supplements to increase their blood levels to 50, and they gave another group vitamin D supplements and their blood levels stayed under 25.

KARA: Okay, well those findings. are very interesting. Vitamin D alleviated the depressive symptoms in the group who ended up having blood levels 50 or higher, but the depressive symptoms did not go away in the group who had blood levels of vitamin D under 25.

MELANIE: Yeah, it's really important to get your vitamin D levels checked. And for optimal mood, your levels need to be 50 or higher. And this is now become a lab test that you have to ask for. And a lot of times insurance won't cover it. But if you're struggling, if you're on the struggle bus emotionally or mentally, it's worth a check.

KARA: I remember my cousin texting me several years ago, she's knew I was a nutritionist and she said, you know, I'm just kind of pale and I don't have any energy. We started talking about vitamin D. She went in to get her blood level tested. It was seven.

MELANIE: Oh my word.

KARA: Which is so incredibly low, like I don't even know how she was functioning. And so I coached her on how much to take to get her blood level up. She did have to take a supplemental form of vitamin D3.

MELANIE: You added some K, I'm sure, for absorption.

KARA: We did. We added some K because that's important to, shuttle the calcium where it needs to go. I personally take 5,000 international units of vitamin D3 and vitamin K2. I take that year round every day. I occasionally get tested maybe once every year, every other year.

MELANIE: What's your level run?

KARA: Just to really maintain at 70 to 80.

MELANIE: Yeah. And I, you know, and I've hit 90 and I've read a few studies that show that really you have to be at 350 for toxicity.

KARA: Yeah. People do have that concern. Am I going to, is my D going to get too high?

MELANIE: But in 40 years of practice, I have never seen someone have vitamin D toxicity. So it's one of those things that everyone's getting alarmed about lately, but I don't have concern. And I have seen someone with 150 level because she tanned every day in a tanning bed.

KARA: Oh, interesting.

MELANIE: So we did not give her vitamin D.

KARA: Okay. Yeah. I mean, often it's just difficult to eat enough cold water fatty fish and eggs to increase the levels, especially if someone has low levels. So supplementing is often recommended.

Tips on cooking vegetables

MELANIE: Yeah. Another reason that you want to have free range eggs, pasture raised eggs higher in vitamin D. Well, Marianne, I know you've given several cooking class demos showing viewers how to prepare a variety of vegetables and also how to cook them in different ways. So can you give our listeners some ideas on all the different ways of cooking vegetables? I wish we had two hours.

MARIANNE: So we are all somewhere on this culinary journey. We have beginners and we have people that are advanced and can, you know, whip something up in a second. I would say, for the beginners out there, we can always start with frozen vegetables, which also kind of get a bad rap, but it's a great way to always have them on hand. I say the freezer is part of your pantry. Just like Kara's keeping that canned fish, we can keep frozen vegetables in our freezer, and you don't have to worry about waste because you only have to take out what you need and you leave the rest in.

You can still sauté your frozen vegetables, really easy way. Cauliflower rice, I feel like has taught us all that, wow, we all love cauliflower and didn't realize it. We just changed the shape, which also brings me to the thought of if you were served some awful version of Brussels sprouts as a kid, maybe they were boiled and you thought really that's what these taste like? And now you'll never touch them again.

MELANIE: Or worse you had canned.

MARIANNE: Yes. Dare I say, shave your Brussels sprouts, cook them with a little bacon fat and oh my gosh, you will be a whole ‘nother convert, so any of your vegetables can taste different the way you cut them and the way you cook them. Again, I'm going to go back to the air fryer. Everybody's cooking things in air fryers or your nice hot oven with some avocado oil, some ghee, tallow.

You know, you want kind of a high heat oil. It's going to caramelize the edges of those vegetables and makes them absolutely delicious. I feel like you could get the whole family to jump on board with that.

MELANIE: And then crumble the rest of that bacon right in there, right? Because bacon.

KARA: Yeah, she had me at bacon there with that recipe. So, for shaving Brussels sprouts or other vegetables, is there a special tool?

MARIANNE: You have your knife is a special tool. You could use a mandolin, but I'm going to say your knife, but you can also, your grocery store will also do it for you. I mean, yes, you can buy containers of chopped vegetables, shaved Brussels sprouts. They absolutely, I feel like that that's your prep cook right there. If you don't have the time, buy it already done and, super easy. It make it into a little breakfast hash with that bacon and shaved Brussels sprout, throw a beautiful egg on top.

MELANIE: Delicious. Yum. So I love all these recipes that we have for vegetables. And again, there's a plethora on our website.

Check out some of our recipes

And also, with our cookbook, the Weight and Wellness Way Cookbook and Nutrition Guide, there's a lot of free recipes on our website, but getting those vegetables is key because vegetables have different fibers, different fibers feed different strains of the microbiome, which in turn, like we said earlier, is what helps us make brain chemicals for mental health. So all of it ties together. Real food. is going to help with mental health, emotional health.

Benefits & cooking tips of fats & oils

KARA: So, a moment ago, Marianne was talking about different ways to cook vegetables, and she had mentioned a few of the higher heat fats and oils, because fats have different smoke points. And so we can't use all of the same fats for the same cooking. So could you maybe just talk about a couple of the, maybe like the higher heat and the lower heat oils and fats?

MARIANNE: Yeah, absolutely. So I think it's one of the common mistakes when people get into the kitchen, they heat up that pan, they throw in whatever oil they have and next thing you know, you've filled the kitchen with smoke and the smoke detector goes off and we're all in trouble. So, really important to use the right fat for the right application. The higher heat oils, as we mentioned, your ghee, which is clarified butter, tallow, lard, avocado oil. Coconut oil is also a high smoke point fat.

So you can do that roasting at, you know, 450. When you're heating up your sauté pan, those are the oils to use. And the other fats you can use when you're sort of, I consider them finishing fats are your butter and your olive oil. So let's say we steamed some vegetables, but we want that luscious fatty mouthfeel.

Take that pat of grass fed butter, let it melt over those green beans that you just steamed. Add a little salt and pepper, maybe a fresh herb: delicious. Or you drizzle it with olive oil. Olive oil is really, it's a phenolic oil. It's really high in protective polyphenols. And it tastes delicious; good olive oil.

MELANIE: So I want to know where would you put bacon fat? High heat?

MARIANNE: You know, I wouldn't do it at 450, maybe 375. I'm also going to say, as you collect your bacon fat, strain it out of your pan. So you've just made a bunch of bacon and you want to keep that fat. I get a little strainer and strain it into a coffee cup so that you leave those burnt bits behind and you're just getting the fat. And that is delicious.

MELANIE: It's the best. It's the best. I was hollering at my husband the other day because I caught him throwing away the bacon fat. Like it's liquid wonderful. The other little point is that when we use fat on the vegetables, like Marianne said, it helps us with the absorption of magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, iron. So we want to get the benefit of all these wonderful organic vegetables that we're cooking. So that fat helps the absorption into our bodies a lot better.

KARA: Absolutely. And it helps absorb the fat soluble vitamins. We talked about vitamin D earlier. And so we actually need to be consuming healthy fats to be able to absorb and utilize our vitamin D better.

MELANIE: And they're a great source of vitamin K. So all of it, it's a win win.

KARA: And not only are our brains, you know, made up of 60 percent fat, but every cell in our body has a fatty membrane surrounding it. And so, whether it's our brain or our bodies, we really need to support all of our cells with the fats that we're consuming. And so it's important to be sticking with those pure, whole unrefined fats that Marianne mentioned the avocado, avocado oil, olive oil, butter, ghee, tallow, lard, and some coconut.

MELANIE: Yep, and when you are taking the time that Marianne has taught us on cooking when you're taking the time for the food prep, really, when you are struggling mentally, emotionally, there's a message that your body is absorbing is that you are worth the time and the care that you are taking to both grocery shop, maybe food prep, put something together. There's a message that you are telling yourself that you are worth taking care of and that in and of itself is a way to heal mentally and emotionally.

KARA: Absolutely. Yeah. Eating and preparing food in the kitchen is a form of self care.

MELANIE: A hundred percent. So, the message that we want to bring home today from what we've been talking about is you’re worth the time and the effort it takes to both heal mentally and emotionally. And a big component of that is what we consume, the quality of the food that we consume, the way that we put food together is all important for mental and emotional health.

I've seen more anxiety in the past five years than I've seen in 40 years. And I believe it's the processed food and the chemicals that we're consuming. So when you get a mile high above it, go back to basics. It doesn't have to be complicated. Put some real food together that's protein, healthy fat, some colorful vegetables, throw in some great colorful fruits, and you are caring for your mental and emotional health. And that's the goal.

KARA: So we want to thank Marianne for her time. Thank you for being here today. We wish we had like several hours with you. It's been so helpful. Our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple yet powerful message. Eating real food is life changing. So thank you all for listening. Have a wonderful day.