Eat Better, Feel Better? Food Advice From the Year in Well – The New York Times

Changing your diet may help you feel better. A roundup of food advice from the year in Well.

By Richard Schiffman

Nutritional psychiatrists prescribe antidepressants and other medications, where appropriate, and engage in talk therapy and other traditional forms of counseling. But they argue that fresh and nutritious food can be a potent addition to the mix of available therapies.

Americans routinely change what they eat in order to lose weight, control their blood sugar levels and lower artery-clogging cholesterol. But experts say it is still rare for people to pay attention to the food needs of the most complex and energy-consuming organ in the body, the human brain. Read more>>>

By Larissa Zimberoff

At the urging of doctor friends and a few popular books, I embarked on a diet plan earlier this year called intermittent fasting. The basics are that I could eat the foods I enjoyed and most of my regular meals, but it had to be within a short time frame of eight to 10 hours. Outside of that, I would stick to water, tea and black coffee.

Proponents of the plan, also known as time-restricted eating, say that intermittent fasting could help me lose weight, always a worthwhile goal. It would also give my gut a much-needed break from processing food, improve focus and lessen daily inflammation. In the long-term, it might even help me live longer. Read more>>>

By Judi Ketteler

I didn’t have a problem: I had only one drink a day.

But after three or four years of having an evening glass of wine, let me tell you what I did have: 10 extra pounds, a slightly bloated feeling after dinner most nights, increasing rosacea and anxiety that a small chunk of every day was organized around alcohol.

One morning several months ago, it hit me that if I really wanted to feel healthier and combat perimenopausal weight gain, I needed to cut out the daily drinking. Read more>>>

By Anahad O’Connor

Scientists have long known a fairly reliable way to extend life span in rodents and other lab animals: Reduce the amount of calories they eat by 10 percent to 40 percent.

This strategy, known as caloric restriction, has been shown to increase the life span of various organisms and reduce their rate of cancer and other age-related ailments. Whether it can do the same in people has been an open question. But an intriguing new study suggests that in young and middle-aged adults, chronically restricting calorie intake can have an impact on their health. Read more>>>