Dr. Georgia Ede - Change your Diet, Change your Mind

Thoughts on Record: Podcast of the Ottawa Institute of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

There has been increasing discussion of the metabolic basis of mental disorders and the potential benefit a low-carb/ketogenic approach could hold with respect to the treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrist Dr. Georgia Edes joins us for a discussion of major themes of her new book Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind. In this conversation we cover:

• why Dr. Edes wanted to write this book
• the underlying evidence to suggest that there is likely a fundamentally metabolic mechanism underlying mental disorders
• what contributes to the evolution of developing a metabolic disorder within the brain
• signs that one could be in a danger zone from a metabolic perspective
• controversies and emerging views around cholesterol and other markers of metabolic health from an energy balance perspective
• what a brain healthy diet looks like from a metabolic perspective
• the role inflammation plays a potentially in the development and maintenance of mental disorders
• Dr. Edes staged model or algorithm of progression through paleo to keto to carnivore to evaluate what benefits a metabolic approach might offer measures beyond nutritional factors that could impact upon metabolic health
• discriminating between a metabolically-based depression vs. depression precipitated by loss of a job, relationship or similar (i.e., perhaps an expected and reasonable response to a stressor)
• safely and effectively combining pharmacological and nutritional strategies
• how can psychologists & psychotherapists, how can we leverage knowledge of the underlying metabolic processes to optimize their clinical - mainly psychotherapeutic - interventions

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Dr. Georgia Ede is an internationally recognized expert in nutritional and metabolic psychiatry. Her twenty-five years of clinical experience include twelve years at Smith College and Harvard University Health Services, where she was the first to offer students nutrition-based approaches as an alternative to psychiatric medication. Dr. Ede co-authored the first inpatient study of the ketogenic diet for treatment-resistant mental illness, developed the first medically accredited course in ketogenic diets for mental health practitioners, and was honored to be named a recipient of the Baszucki Brain Research Fund’s first annual Metabolic Mind Award. Her new book Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind was released on January 30, 2024.