In these modern times, many struggle with mental health. The levels of stress, anxiety and depression are seemingly higher than ever, especially in Western societies.
Just last year (2024), 46% of all individuals that were on sick leave due during the year in Sweden were suffering from mental health issues. And the bill for sick leave increased by 14,2 billion SEK, to a whopping amount of 92 billion.
There is much to be said, discussed and brought to light on this topic. However, this blog post would turn into a whole book if I would go into my complete holistic view on what the root causes for these numbers in society are, how we can change them for the better – and for good. And so in this post I'll share about the two main building blocks for building strong mental health, increasing resilience towards stress and gaining an anxiety-free sense of purification. It's about two very basic, yet extremely powerful pillars. They both play a huge part of the solution when it comes to any illness; real food and functional breathing.
A bit about my story
As a young adult, I myself suffered from anxiety and depression, and during a particularly stressful episode in my life, I had panic attacks. Mental health conditions like these often stem from more than just one singular root cause, and the pieces of an individual's holistic life puzzle which need to be addressed, felt and dealt with, are more than just one. Because everything is connected. This also applied to me in my case, and I found my way back by returning to, caring for and focusing more on being present in my physical self. Because the way forward firstly goes through the body. For instance, I decided to immerse in nature, to connect on a deeper level with my body, spirit and breath. Initially through Ashtanga yoga in the jungles of Thailand, and also through vigorous physical exercise in forms of strength and endurance training, primal movement and in my case also for the pure joy of it; joining military-inspired bootcamps in glorious Scotland. This also increased my connection with others through the communing and shared experiences with like minded like-minded souls. Of course, one need not go abroad to go within or to experience community. But at the time, it was something which my heart was longing to do. One thing in particular has been, and always will be, the number one game changer; the first key to great mental health (as well as to presence in the body), is food as medicine. Because everything we put into our bodies will impact us mentally and physically, and this includes the brain and biochemistry, too.
Food and breath are connected
Mental health is built upon the foundation of real food. Proper food, which is about nourishment. For biology, for mitochondria (your cellular powerhouses), hormonally, biochemically, metabolically; Your foody fuel is directly linked to your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing.
And if the food isn't fuel, then it will act like poison. This of course goes for breathing too – how we breathe will either bring positive or negative effects on our state of health and how we are feeling, and functioning.
Both food and breath are essential, and in many ways they go hand in hand. They make the primary foundation for either health or illness, and are the primary building blocks to reclaim and improve your health and to rejuvenate, build longevity or optimise yourself, from within. Partly because the way you eat and breathe will either reduce or induce inflammation, and stress, in your whole innate system.
My own health journey resulted in a book to guide others
My first book, KETO-licious, was a result of my own health journey, and works as a concrete guide for anyone who wants to eat their way to better health and eliminate mental, physical, biochemistry-based and metabolical illnesses (food really is medicine), while also applying a holistic and more ancestral-based way of life. Nowadays my line of work is centered around helping others. I guide people both through my writing, consultations, health coaching journeys and lectures, as well as in my role as a breath guide, or breathwork instructor.
I am specialised in food as medicine, ancestral methods for healing, functional medicine and holistic health, holistic addiction medicine, sugar- and ultra processed food addiction, as well as functional breathing patterns, breathwork and other evolutionary, science-based tools. Holistic health and all things ancestral have over the years become something of a second nature, and I like to dive deep into the knowledge-wells of each of the areas I work with, continuously research and upskill, to find more keys and dot-connectors to human health. Both to widen the lens and to get into the lovely nitty gritty details needed for creating pure health and wholeness.
And with the combination of a human, empathetic, data-oriented, individual- and precision-based approach in my work, a true element for me (parallell to writing) is guiding and educating. On how to prevent illness, how to eliminate, and how to purify and heal from it. And also how to optimise, or re-ignite joy and creativity, find peace from within or build resilience and stability, unlock blockages or limitations, and reach homeostasis. And through holistic health and healing; thrive in life.
The conventional health care systems are broken
As mentioned in my book KETO-licious back in 2019, Swedish doctors only get to do 12,5 hours of nutritional education throughout their whole time in medical school. This says a lot about how broken the medical system is; a large part of the solution is missing when the patient's diet isn't taken into account, and when individual-based, proper food along with tailor-made lifestyle changes (and support) isn't prescribed as a part of their recovery and journey towards better health.
Instead, and too often, medication is prescribed and the suffering continues, but in another shape or form. Because chemical antidepressants will only numb or suppress the symptoms, they will not treat them. This is why functional medicine and the holistic approach to wellness, is needed. In my work, it's all about identifying and treating the root causes of illness. And it's about working together with the client to find his or her individual-based best solutions, tools and remedies. Physically, and internally. Acknowledging and using all the various pieces of the human health-puzzle. Because they are and always will be, connected.
Most people living in modern time are not yet aware of how fantastic they're actually built and designed to feel and function, because they have not yet experienced it.
The food and pharmacy industry have normalised fake foods and pharmaceuticals, to keep us sick, tired, brain-foggy and craving for processed, sugary foods. But there is a solution; returning to eating real foods, and natural methods for harmony and health. In other words, a life more aligned with our ancestral blueprint. This is the way.
If you ask me, real food is a massive part of the solution for saving the planet. It is the foundational hope for the future of human kind.
How? By returning to real, unprocessed and regeneratively farmed and grown foods, by teaching our children how to cook, and by simply going back to basics. This will be a game changer for mental health and for public health at large, and also for healing the planet, the soil, the environment. Add to that some proper education on CO2 and the benefits, spread the knowledge on functional breathing, and then watch the world transform.
Food and breath
I often refer to proper, unprocessed food as functional (or ancestral) food. Partly to describe that what we eat will have 100% impact on how we feel, think and function. It is also a reference to my lectures on functional breathing, and a way of emphasising the similarities and connections between the two main pillars for good health, which without doubt is food and ancestral breathing. Most people in modern times have dysfunctional breathing patterns. We are supposed to live and breathe in alignment with the ancestral, functional breathing patterns that our progenitors had, and which we are born with but usually lose already as very young children.
Therefore, we need to return to and consciously repeat the functional breathing patterns as often as possible, to re-learn them. Because modern life-patterned breathing will in one way or another lead to a variety of imbalances. Dysfunctional breathing is often a root cause for poor mental health and the incidence of metabolic, chronic disease. Simply put, it's an underlying factor behind the loss of zest for, and quality of, life.
Real food vs. ultra processed fake foods
Real food is about eating in alignment with our ancestral blueprints, meaning the foods that our ancestors ate. But these days, most of the food products being pushed by the industry aren't real food at all.
The majority of what's being sold is ultra-processed, contains additives and hidden –and very high– amounts of sugar (of various kinds).
These things are either foreign to our ancestral brains and biologies, or come with so much sugar and high-carb-content, that our forebears would have gotten high and hyperactive from just one bite of munching today's foodstuffs. Functional, a.k.a. real food, will not do that to you. Well, not unless you're binging a whole bush of sweet berries in one go, then your reward system will most likely light up like a Christmas tree, along with your blood sugar levels shooting to the roof. But hey, that natural berry binge in ancestral times served its survival-purpose too (more on that in KETO-licious). The modern, non-functional foods and high levels of sugar will wreac havoc on your health, and mental state especially, by;
adding stress to the brain and the physical body, rather than calmness
adding hunger and cravings for more, rather than satiation and contentment in the brain and belly
resulting in malnutrition, rather than nourishment and nutrient density
increasing inflammation, rather than reducing it, thus adding symptoms and suffering in forms of joint-and-back pain, depression, brain fog, imbalances, anxiety and a vast range of chronic diseases.
Non-proper food will also negatively impact your breathing patterns, by have you feeling breathless, stuck in shallow-breathing-mode, by imbalancing your gas exchange (which plays a key role for proper oxygenation) and leave you feeling drained, fatigued and sleep-disordered, with low libido and a lack of zest for life. Functional (proper) food and functional (proper) breathing are indeed equally important, but you can't breathwork your way out of food-based imbalances; you need the right nutritional fuel-mix to do that. And by eating your best fuel mix, you will also get the most out of your daily breathing, and the most vibrant experiences from breathwork sessions, too. Combine functional food and breathing, and not only will you reap many instant and proactive health benefits, with very good chances of also optimising your blood health markers. And both proper food and breathing techniques will help you balance your blood sugar levels, which is of importance for anyone who strives to feel calm and energised, reduce anxiety, improve their mood and live life without mood swings, as well gain more creative and mental focus to last evenly throughout the day, or gain physical benefits such as a healthy metabolism.
When food is poison
There are some things that all of us humans benefit greatly from not eating, such as ultra processed foods, addictive high-fructose corn syrup, artificial colourings, additives and sugars to name a few. I dive deeper on this subject in KETO-licious.
I can also highly recommend watching this podcast episode with the wonderful Dr. Robert Lustig, M.D. in the Huberman Lab podcast, explaining what sugar and processed food does to your health. Three and a half lovely hours of nutritional science, delivered in an authentic and warm conversation.
Your individual fuel mix
It's also a fact that we are not all meant to eat the exact same things. We have our individual best fuel mixes, depending on factors such as our ancestral blueprint, genes and predispositions, age, biochemical (brain-related) sensitivities, blood type, hormonal and metabolic status, stress levels, life situations, and also potential traumas (internal stress) which often lead to physical illnesses and conditions that need to be taken into account (e.g. thyroid problems, and dysfunctional breathing patterns). Different foods will also either reverse or trigger levels of inflammation, individually.
My animal-based foundation
My own way of eating is animal-based, rich in healthy fats and heart-healthy, unprocessed salt (not the table-version). I'm sometimes carnivore (I often refer to this woe as 'zero carb zen'), sometimes ketogenic for a state of optimum ketosis, sometimes low-carb & high--fat in forms of liberal keto. I choose my veggies / carb sources wisely, because through data and experience, I'm aware of which ones that I align well with, and which ones that are like poison to me.
Another key when I'm working with clients, are the differences between male and female biology, and as a woman I myself practice female cycle awareness and tracking to align food, breath, exercise and life with my innate rhythms. Awareness of how to tune in and both honour and use each season of each month to my advantage, creates the most harmony, energy, productiveness and creative flow. It even tells me during what time I can use the full capacity of my voice, which is my favourite vessel of communication parallell to my writing.
My food & breath + lifestyle protocols
Over the years as a nutritionist and functional medicine specialist with a neverending zest for learning, investigating and connecting dots, I have found many personal keys (and the personal keys for many clients) for optimum health and wellbeing, and created a series of food- breath- and lifestyle protocols for different phases, purposes and forms.
A little glimpse of what they have in common;
they're animal-based
they're sugar free
they're either low carb or zero carb
they align with my blood type, ancestral blueprint and DNA
they reverse inflammation
Rejuvenation & purification
A few of the things that they result in;
zen from within
a healthy shape and form
a sober, connected, happy and calm brain
a present, stable and resilient mind
mental clarity and cognitive sharpness
the feeling of what I like to call "life in technicolor"
access to my creativity and the gateway to flow
greater endurance, e.g. in the gym
Two key factors in my protocols which create the foundation for all of the above;
low insulin levels
balanced and stable blood sugar levels
(More on this topic is found in my book KETO-licious)
With that said, eating your way towards your best mental health and well-being need not be complicated, neither is it dull or restrictive. On the contrary, there is tremendous freedom, and a spectrum of deliciousness for your tastebuds to be found when eating real, unprocessed foods. And once you find your very own fuel mix, and start getting creative eating only the things that are like medicine to you, I guarantee you that your body, brain, mind, spirit and creativity will wholeheartedly thank you.
With love,
Hanna
P.S. For Swedish-fluent readers, here is a link to an interview with me in regard to ketogenic food as medicine for depression.
And a few science-based articles in English for the curious; Complete remission of depression and anxiety using a ketogenic diet The link between inflammation and depression The power of low-carbohydrate diets; improving multiple markers of inflammation The therapeutic benefits of wholefood ketogenic diets in psychiatric and neurological conditions The anti-neuroinflammatory impact of Omega-3 fatty acids and the decreasing effects on HPA axis hyperactivity
#holistichealth #mentalhealth #foodandbreath #functionalmedicine #ancestralhealing #nutrition #breathwork #lifestyle #ketolicious #wayoflife #longevity #zen
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