YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. We’ve heard it all our lives, a pithy reminder that a good diet is crucial to physical health. But emerging evidence shows just how intertwined food is with mental health as well. So a more accurate line might be: You feel what you eat.
“There’s no question that the gut and brain share a special connection,” says Jay Pasricha, MD, chair of the department of medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Your noggin responds strongly to what you put in your belly, Pasricha says, in part because your brain needs energy to function, and your gut helps turn food into energy. But the connection goes beyond that, because like the brain, the human gut (aka the gastrointestinal system, comprising the esophagus, stomach, and…
