https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/brxvw9/finalmba_-_1_17_23_1031_AM84zj7.mp3
EPISODE SUMMARY:
Mary Beth Albright, a former food attorney, finalist on Food Network Star, and food expert, has used her experience and love of the food to maintain a successful and expansive career in the culinary industry. In today’s episode, we sat down with Mary to discuss the connection between food and mental health, the history behind the word “hangry”, serotonin and the gut microbiome, and the connection between inflammation in the body and mental health.
First, we asked Mary about the connection between the foods we eat and our mental health. She explained how research shows that our emotions and food are deeply intertwined. When we eat something, our bodies have a biological response that can directly affect our mood and mental state. While research surrounding food is hard to conduct on humans, for there are too many uncontrolled factors, scientists have done testing on mice to study the connection between emotions and food. In her book, Eat & Flourish, Mary discusses a specific study conducted on mice studying their gut microbiome. Through the testing, researchers found that mice that had experienced early childhood trauma, such as being separated from their mothers or being stuck in captivity, have a different gut microbiome makeup than other mice and experience more symptoms of depression and anxiety. When those mice were then given a probiotic, the decreased stress response they had was similar to the effects of Lexapro. Since the emotional connection between our mood and food is deep, ignoring our emotions can have negative effects. Mary explained that when we push down our emotions, cortisol can build in our bodies. To combat this, having a dietary food pattern or eating around other people can help improve your mood and decrease the buildup of cortisol in your body.
Another food topic discussed in Eat & Flourish is the acronym PING. Created by Mary herself, PING stands for pleasure, inflammation, nutrients, and gut microbiome. After doing research over the years, Mary found that in all the studies she read, pleasure, inflammation, nutrients, and gut microbiomes were four things greatly impacted by food. We also spoke to Mary about the phenomenon known as “hangry”, when a person becomes so hungry that they get irritable and upset. She said the connection between hunger and anger comes from AGRP neurons, which are connected directly to our gut. Hunger and anger are bundled in the same neuron, and it is believed that this comes from years of evolution. Centuries ago, hunger pains were not intense enough to cause a person to want to seek out food. Researchers believe that to rectify this, our bodies evolved and combined hunger and rage into neurons to ensure we would eat when hungry.
Serotonin plays a vital role in the relationship between our emotions in food. In the gut microbiome, a place where trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi are housed that live in our digestive tract, over 90% of the body’s serotonin is produced. Since the bacteria in our body influences social anxiety, sleep, metabolism, and more, our gut microbiome heavily affects our serotonin, which in turn influences our mental health. People with more diverse microbiomes tend to have better health outcomes, and Mary shared with us how a study showed that people who ate 30 plants per week had more diverse gut microbiomes than people who ate 10 plants per week.
Finally, we talked to Mary about the relationship between ultra-processed foods and inflammation. She told us that more than half of the average American’s diet is 60% processed foods. Ultra-processed foods can lead to inflammation, and inflammation anywhere in the body can affect our brain and mental health. Mary spoke about a study conducted where two groups were housed at the National Institute of Health for four weeks and fed different foods. For the first two weeks, one group was fed exclusively ultra-processed foods while the other was given only whole foods, and during the last two weeks, the groups switched. The results of the study showed that the group eating only ultra-processed foods ate 500 more calories a day than the group eating whole foods.
Mary Beth Albright
Mary Beth Albright is a food expert with broad experience, from food attorney to finalist on Food Network Star, where she competed on Iron Chef America. Her passion for good food grew from her mentor, the legendary Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. After 15 years of working with Dr. Koop on health and food issues, and attending Georgetown Law School, Mary Beth advised on food systems and managed a White House initiative. She also worked at the D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly and Roll Call, the oldest Capitol Hill newspaper. As an undergraduate, Albright attended The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She completed L’Academie de Cuisine’s two-semester culinary course in Bethesda, Md.
Mary Beth is a frequent panel moderator, including for the U.S. State Department and the Smithsonian, and her food-judging expertise is sought regularly, including the time she ate 2,000 foods in three days to judge the Outstanding New Products Awards. Outside of the food world, her service includes serving on multiple boards and co-chairing the National Cathedral Elementary School Scholarship Fund’s 40th anniversary, raising almost $1 million. She is an elected member of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an esteemed group of women in the culinary professions, which counts Julia Child among its alumnae. Mary Beth lives in Washington, D.C.
In this episode, we discuss…
- [0:01] ThePerfect3
- [0:56] Guest Introduction
- [5:15] Start of Interview
- [6:16] The Connection Between Food and Mental Health
- [13:36] Cortisol
- [16:58] PING
- [19:48] The History Behind “Hangry”
- [23:55] Serotonin in the Gut Microbiome
- [27:06] 30 Plants Foods V.S. 10 Plant Foods
- [29:47] Emotions and Food
- [33:09] Inflammation and Mental Health
- [40:59] Closing Thoughts
- [41:19] Outro
Useful Resources:
Mary’s Website I [http://www.marybethalbright.com/]
Mary’s LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-beth-albright-3a329a18/]
Mary’s Instagram I [https://www.instagram.com/mary.beth/]
Mary’s Twitter I [https://twitter.com/marybeth]
Mary’s Book
TRY THEPEREFCT3’S PURE COLLAGEN AND GET 10% OFF YOUR FIRST ORDER AT https://theperfect3.com/ !
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YouTube I [https://www.youtube.com/@HotFlashesCoolTopics]
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