Ultrametabolism: New Directions: Food As Medicine

With all of the new basic information available for our use in psychiatric services, diet and nutrition lead the pack. This post is to tell you an important resource on this subject: my good friend Mark Hyman, MD, author of Ultrametabolism: see his blog connection on the sidebar.

Get on his blog or newsletter now. Mark is on the Board of the Institute of Functional Medicine, lectures internationally, is one of the leading nutritional authorities in the world, was Co-Medical Director of Canyon Ranch Spa in MA, and writes like he is in the room with you.

Proper nutrition is either happening or not happening more than 3 times a day to everyone everywhere in the world. We find that in chronic psychiatric conditions, the difficult and untreatable, the ones who are most hopeless and have “tried everything” [e.g. 20-30 different meds for more than 15 years], most suffer on some level from a [now] measurable malnutrition or physiologically toxic metabolic process.

In previous posts I've talked about “categorical thinking” and “2D6,” certainly we can add that basic word “metabolism” to our working clinical vocabulary.

Just recently evaluated a 45 year old woman treated psychiatrically for PTSD since she
was about 15 years old. Sexual, emotional and severe physical abuse at
the hands of her natural father. She had ear infections, cutting [self
injurious behaviors] and anorexia, and had been on and off medications,
on and off suicidal thinking for those 30 years, and was again
suicidal. I changed her diet and her meds, and she is dramatically
better in part with simple changes in breakfast and protein [and different meds], -and
that's before we completely reviewed all of her metabolic issues [more
details in a podcast with her early next year].

Basic point: She looked physically sick when she first walked in the door. Previous full medical review: negative.

Our brains dramatically drop in function with poor metabolic and
nutritional support. We regularly confirm these brain changes in SPECT
imaging. In our office that brain evidence encourages additional Comprehensive
Metabolic Testing with my full time virtual nutritionist in Seattle,
Camille Gallinger CN. Metabolic evidence counts.

New core psych science gives us hard evidence, and metabolic measurement significantly helps with precise interventions. My prediction: in the near future every cutting edge pych practice will
have access to nutritional testing and review. Many already do. Dr Hyman is an expert in these matters and isn't trained as a psychiatrist. Metabolic review is the next logical
step.