The Dr. Hyman Show

We’re often told that eating well can prevent diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, but what about the effects of diet on mental health? The correlation is just as strong. What we eat impacts our brains and mental health—food does affect mood. In fact, highly processed foods can lead to a 50 to 100% increased risk for clinical depression and high-glycemic foods pose a significant risk as well. It’s time we stop thinking of the way we eat as relevant to only one piece of our health; it dramatically influences the entire body.

Today’s guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is here to talk about the link between diet and mental health. Dr. Drew Ramsey is not your average psychiatrist. A writer, farmer, and doctor who focuses on the connection between mental health and food, he is passionate about nutritional interventions and creative media to share a different way of thinking about the brain and mood. He is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and in active clinical practice in New York City. He also spends much of his time with his family, growing their own food, on a 127 acre organic farm.

When you meet someone who embraces their own spirit and the spirit of others in a loving way it engenders connection; it can be transformational on a physiological level and create change throughout entire communities. But approaching life with this mindset doesn’t always come easy, though it is innately within all of us. It is possible to shift a perception of fear to one of love, from judgement to acceptance, from blaming to wishing well, we just have to choose to do so.

This week’s guest on The Doctor’s Farmacy, Marianne Williamson, is here to talk about why that shift is not only crucial to our individual happiness, but why it’s imperative in order for our relationships, society, and even our political system to function at their best. Marianne is a spiritual and political activist, entrepreneur, and New York Times best-selling author. She also just announced she is considering running for the democratic nomination in the upcoming 2020 presidential election.

We are in the middle of a food revolution. Right before our eyes, a new food system is growing from the ground up, and as consumers we have a large impact on what form it takes. The future of food is not as dark as you might have imagined.

My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is Walter Robb, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, who has a long and varied entrepreneurial history ranging from natural food retailer to farmer to consultant. Walter is a mentor and advisor to the next generation of American food companies and he is dedicated to transforming our food system.

Having weak social ties is as harmful to our health as being an alcoholic and twice as harmful as obesity. Lack of support is one of the number one things my patients complain about. I’ve seen, firsthand, how social isolation can manifest into illness. Studies show that isolation can set off a cellular chain reaction that increases inflammation and suppresses the body’s immune response to disease.

Without community, we cannot survive and we cannot thrive. Finding our tribe is the topic of this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy with guest Radha Agrawal. Radha is the Co-founder, CEO, and Chief Community Architect of Daybreaker, the early morning dance and wellness move-ment. Daybreaker currently holds events in 25 cities and more than a dozen college campuses around the world and has a community of almost half a million people. She is also the author of a new book called Belong: Find Your People, Create Community, and Live a More Connected Life. In this episode, Radha makes a case for community.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

So often doctors tell their patients, just eat less and exercise more. The patient who is overweight is often blamed and called a lazy glutton who doesn’t have enough willpower. Well, willpower is not enough. Patients aren’t simply lacking in self-discipline. They are not weak and lazy. Most of them are biologically addicted to sugar, and it’s no wonder! Willpower is not enough to stand up to easy, cheap, convenient food. We need more than willpower. We need solutions.

My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is Dr. Sean Lucan, a practicing family physician in the Bronx treating children and adults. He is an award-winning NIH-funded investigator who has published numerous articles on food-related issues. Dr. Lucan and I talk about food environments—essentially how our surroundings dictate our food choices, and how OSBs (other storefront businesses, places like gyms, laundromats, the barbershop, etc…) are becoming a huge source of providing junk to both children and adults. It all comes down to this: grazing vs. grocery environments.

We also talk about food and beverage marketing to youth, and Dr. Lucan’s campaign to protect youth from dangerous marketing which led to a ban on alcohol advertising.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did.

Food should taste good, smell good, look good, and it should be good for you. That’s what this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is all about.

As a chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author, Marco Canora promotes delicious, simple, and healthful food. His restaurant Hearth is one of my favorites in NYC and has earned positive reviews from The New York Times as well as a prestigious “Outstanding Restaurant” nomination from the James Beard Foundation. In 2017, Marco won the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef NYC.

We need to transform our food system and address one of the biggest threats to our well-being: our lack of a coordinated and comprehensive food policy. Our nation’s and the world’s health crises are not driven by medical issues, but rather by social, economic, and political issues that conspire to drive disease. There is clear evidence that taxation on sugar-sweetened beverages results in reduced consumption and provides a funding source for public health measures to fight obesity and chronic disease and improve the health of communities.

My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary and one of America’s leading economists. In addition to serving as 71st Secretary of  the Treasury in the Clinton Administration, Dr. Summers served as Director of the White House National Economic Council in the Obama Administration, as President of Harvard University, and as the Chief Economist of the World Bank. Currently, Summers is the President Emeritus and the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University, where he became a full professor at age 28, one of the youngest in Harvard’s recent history. Along with Michael Bloomberg, Dr. Summers recently launched a Task Force on Fiscal Policy for Health.  He chairs the board of the Center for Global Development and chaired the Commission on Global Health, lauded by the UN Secretary General who noted that it “will bring more than health–it will bring equity, and contribute to a life of dignity for all.”

In this episode, Larry and I discuss the benefits of taxing junk foods. How would this affect the economy and the epidemic of chronic disease? Find out in this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy.

We can’t be perfect parents. There is always going to be some form of miscommunication, some misunderstanding, something that causes pain. The key to successful parenting is to make the time to address these challenges, and to listen with an open heart and mind.

My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy, Dr. Shefali Tsabary, is a clinical psychologist, an international speaker and wisdom teacher, and she’s written two bestselling books, The Conscious Parent and The Awakened Family. In this episode, we dive into parenting and family dynamics. I personally have seen a lot of trauma from family dynamics manifest into physical illness, especially the relationship between child and parent. Dr. Shefali challenges traditional family roles, and encourages us to rethink the way we raise our kids. How can we let go of the toxic expectations that stand in the way of real, authentic, and loving relationships?

Cholesterol has become so confusing. The reality is, most of us have little understanding about the cholesterol levels in our blood and the whole topic is much more complicated than we previously thought. Many people still believe that eating cholesterol and fat, especially saturated fat, causes heart attacks and that taking statin drugs provides a powerful way to reduce your risk of heart attacks. But is this really true?

My guest on this week’s episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is here to bust the cholesterol myth, and he is a cardiologist! Described as an inspiration by Jamie Oliver, internationally renowned Consultant Cardiologist and best-selling author of The Pioppi Diet, Dr. Aseem Malhotra has become one of the most influential and well-known health campaigners, and a pioneer of the lifestyle medicine movement in the UK. Today we talk about myths around heart health, and what it truly means to be heart healthy.