#diet-and-mental-health

#diet-and-mental-health

Norwegians are a great lens to teach us about some healthy longevity practices. The Norwegian diet is a significant factor. It's been described as the cold-weather cousin to the Mediterranean diet.

Small quantities of chocolate with a high cocoa content can actually be good for you, challenging the common perception of chocolate as merely a source of empty calories.

Rather than simply extending the fasting window or cutting more calories, the intervention group was simply asked to finish eating at least three hours before their usual bedtime. That meant no snacking while watching TV after dinner and no "just one more bite" at 10 p.m. (my personal downfall). This relatively simple intervention ensured that the overnight fast overlapped with the body's natural sleep-wake rhythm.

We compared how participants fared while eating their habitual diets with how they responded to the two diets that were low in ultraprocessed foods. During the periods when participants ate fewer ultraprocessed foods, they naturally consumed fewer calories and lost weight, including total and abdominal body fat. Beyond weight loss, they also showed meaningful improvements in insulin sensitivity, healthier cholesterol levels, fewer signs of inflammation, and favorable changes in hormones that help regulate appetite and metabolism.

While it may seem like setting a weight-related goal is just the kickstart you need, consider how doing so may actually destroy your motivation in the long run. Motivation is a finicky beast. It's often fleeting-here today, gone tomorrow. Motivation researchers found that there are different types of motivation, which sit on a spectrum with extrinsic motivation at one end and intrinsic motivation at the other.