Tuesday July 28

Banting's sleep and mood enhancing benefits

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You may be able to Bant your way to happier days and more restful nights

By Tamzyn Murphy Campbell

BSc, BSc Med(Hons) Human Nutrition and Dietetics, RD

Paediatric and adult psychiatrist and speaker at the LCHF Convention earlier this year, Dr Ann Childers , is a firm believer that a low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) lifestyle can enhance mood and sleep. After falling ill, being diagnosed with osteoporosis and suffering a minor stroke, Dr Childers realised that something was terribly amiss. She says that changing from a very low-fat diet to a LCHF, real food-based diet made all the difference ¹. Not only did she become healthier, but she felt happier too. Her mood became more stable and she slept better. After recommending these lifestyle changes to her patients Dr Childers soon saw similar results: once we get the nutrition and sleep healthy and established, there [is not] very much left to do with medication ¹. Preliminary research is emerging in support of what Dr Childers and her patients experience in practice every day. ²

Dr Ann Childers

Delightful Diets

Research indicates that eating processed foods, high in refined carbohydrates, (such as sweetened beverages, sweets, fast food, and pastries) may increase your risk of becoming depressed ². A study looking at children and adolescents found that those who ate junk food were more distressed and violent ³. Another study found that students who ate unhealthy foods felt more down in the dumps and stressed ⁴. Eating real foods (e.g. fresh fruit, salads, vegetables, fish/seafood), on the other hand, was linked to happier mood and less perceived stress ⁴. The link between depressed mood and junk food is a bit of a chicken and an egg situation though - it’s difficult to know whether depressed mood and stress causes people to turn to junk foods, or whether eating junk food makes people depressed and stressed. Current evidence indicates that it likely works both ways.

Obesity is related to increased risk of depression ⁵. And losing weight makes overweight people feel happier ⁵. Evidence indicates that low-carb, high-fat (LCHF) diets may be superior to conventional low-fat, calorie restricted diets for weight loss (probably due to LCHF’s penchant for making people feel less hungry and therefore eat less) ⁶. This weight loss in turn equates to better mood. However, when studies artificially match calorie consumption in people following low-fat, high-carb diets and those following LCHF diets, weight loss results are similar, as are changes in mood ^6,7. This means that the weight loss, rather than the fat or carbohydrate content of the diet, is responsible for the improvements in mood. However, Dr Childers’ begs to differ: Once people start stocking up on the fats in their diets, they actually feel better. The mood seems to level out and they sleep better.¹

Unlike the fat and carbohydrate content of the diet, sufficient dietary protein does seem to elevate mood ⁸. One study found that Japanese men who ate too little protein stood a greater chance of being depressed ⁸. Another study found that low-carb, high protein diets improved depression and self-esteem in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) ⁹.

I think that the lower we go on fat and protein, the less satisfied we are and the more likely we’re going to have mood swings; because along with extreme hunger comes a mood swing, explains Dr Childers. In fact some people call it being ‘hangry’ – being both hungry and angry at the same time.

In addition to the mood lifting protein content of animal foods (such as meat, poultry, organ meats, fish and eggs), these foods supply vitamin B12, a key mood-boosting nutrient that’s virtually absent from non-animal-derived foods [10]. Add brightly coloured vegetables to your protein power-houses to ensure you’re getting ample folate, another mood-elevating vitamin, and you’re likely to feel even happier¹⁰.

Sleep

What you eat can affect how quickly you fall asleep, as well as your sleep quality. Eating high glycaemic index, refined carbohydrate foods (like confectionary) appears to make people fall asleep more quickly ¹¹. However, once asleep, these foods may worsen sleep quality ¹². Conversely, eating healthy, real foods, such as vegetables and fish, seem to make people sleep better ¹². One study found that a very low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet (containing less than 50g carbs per day) increases stage 4 slow wave (deep) sleep (which promotes brain recovery and restoration ¹³), while reducing rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep (also known as dreaming sleep) ¹¹.

Start the day with a Banting friendly breakfast

To stabilise and elevate mood and improve sleep Dr Childers suggests that people change one meal at first: breakfast. She recommends a very low carb, ketogenic breakfast of bacon, eggs, pasture-fed butter and vegetables that grow above the ground. In her experience this one change can make all the difference to people’s mood, smoothing things out or making for a more stable mood throughout the day. Her core message is to stop eating processed food and start eating a whole food diet, which she says is much safer and predates our obesity and diabetes epidemics. ¹

If mood and sleep disorders are something you are currently suffering with and you want to find out more about the LCHF lifestyle and how you can take the first steps to implement this in your own life, join our Online Program

References:

• 1 Sboros M. Down in the dumps? Eat fewer carbs, more fat, says Dr Ann Childers. BizNews. 1 Apr 2015
• 2 Gangwisch JE, Hale L, Garcia L, et al. High glycemic index diet as a risk factor for depression: analyses from the Women's Health Initiative. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Jun 24. pii: ajcn103846.
• 3 Zahedi H, Kelishadi R, Heshmat R, et al. Association between junk food consumption and mental health in a national sample of Iranian children and adolescents: the CASPIAN-IV study. Nutrition. 2014 Nov-Dec;30(11-12):1391-7 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25280418
• 4 El Ansari W, Adetunji H, Oskrochi R. Food and mental health: relationship between food and perceived stress and depressive symptoms among university students in the United Kingdom. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2014 Jun;22(2):90-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25230537
• 5 Fabricatore AN, Wadden TA, Higginbotham AJ, et al. Intentional weight loss and changes in symptoms of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Obes (Lond). 2011 Nov;35(11):1363-76. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21343903
• 6 McClernon FJ, Yancy WS Jr, Eberstein JA, et al. The effects of a low-carbohydrate ketogenic diet and a low-fat diet on mood, hunger, and other self-reported symptoms. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2007 Jan;15(1):182-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17228046
• 7 Halyburton AK, Brinkworth GD, Wilson CJ, et al. Low- and high-carbohydrate weight-loss diets have similar effects on mood but not cognitive performance. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Sep;86(3):580-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17823420
• 8 Nanri A, Eguchi M, Kuwahara K, et al. Macronutrient intake and depressive symptoms among Japanese male workers: the Furukawa Nutrition and Health Study. Psychiatry Res. 2014 Dec 15;220(1-2):263-8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25200761
• 9 Galletly C, Moran L, Noakes M, et al. Psychological benefits of a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome--a pilot study. Appetite. 2007 Nov;49(3):590-3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17509728
• 10 Sánchez-Villegas A, Doreste J, Schlatter J, et al. Association between folate, vitamin B(6) and vitamin B(12) intake and depression in the SUN cohort study. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2009 Apr;22(2):122-33. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19175490
• 11 Afaghi A, O'Connor H, Chow CM. High-glycemic-index carbohydrate meals shorten sleep onset. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007 Feb;85(2):426-30. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17284739
• 12 Katagiri R, Asakura K, Kobayashi S, et al. Low intake of vegetables, high intake of confectionary, and unhealthy eating habits are associated with poor sleep quality among middle-aged female Japanese workers. J Occup Health. 2014;56(5):359-68. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25168926
• 13 Roth T. Slow Wave Sleep: Does it Matter? J Clin Sleep Med. 2009 Apr 15; 5(2 Suppl): S4–S5. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2824210/