Dr. Georgia Ede

And most of us stumble into it either because a patient comes to us and says, hey, you know, I've tried this new way of eating and that's why I'm so much healthier than when you saw me a year ago.

And most of us stumble into it either because a patient comes to us and says, hey, you know, I've tried this new way of eating and that's why I'm so much healthier than when you saw me a year ago.

Or the physician themselves encounters their own health challenges, uses the conventional nutrition approaches, they don't help, and they find that they're kind of left to their own devices to solve their own health problems. And that's exactly what happened to me. So when I was experiencing all kinds of

Or the physician themselves encounters their own health challenges, uses the conventional nutrition approaches, they don't help, and they find that they're kind of left to their own devices to solve their own health problems. And that's exactly what happened to me. So when I was experiencing all kinds of

health issues in my early 40s, despite doing everything correctly, eating low-fat, low-cholesterol, calorie-restricted diet that was high in fiber. mostly whole foods and exercising religiously, despite doing all of those things, my health was declining in my early 40s in ways that was true for a lot of my patients as well. And I had no idea how to help my patients with these issues.

health issues in my early 40s, despite doing everything correctly, eating low-fat, low-cholesterol, calorie-restricted diet that was high in fiber. mostly whole foods and exercising religiously, despite doing all of those things, my health was declining in my early 40s in ways that was true for a lot of my patients as well. And I had no idea how to help my patients with these issues.

These were things like chronic fatigue and IBS and fibromyalgia and migraine headaches, very common in middle-aged people and older and even younger people nowadays. So When I encountered those issues, and I was working at Harvard at the time, I had access to all kinds of specialists, caring, intelligent, thorough. They did all kinds of tests, all kinds of tests.

These were things like chronic fatigue and IBS and fibromyalgia and migraine headaches, very common in middle-aged people and older and even younger people nowadays. So When I encountered those issues, and I was working at Harvard at the time, I had access to all kinds of specialists, caring, intelligent, thorough. They did all kinds of tests, all kinds of tests.

And they said, everything is normal. There's nothing wrong. Of course there was something wrong. So I instinctively started experimenting with my diet.

And they said, everything is normal. There's nothing wrong. Of course there was something wrong. So I instinctively started experimenting with my diet.

And long story short, six months later, trial and error changes, Food and Symptom Journal, at the end of six months, and this was back in 2007, the diet that I ended up on purely by trial and error was almost upside down and backwards from what we're told is healthy for us. And that was the diet that resolved every single one of my physical health symptoms.

And long story short, six months later, trial and error changes, Food and Symptom Journal, at the end of six months, and this was back in 2007, the diet that I ended up on purely by trial and error was almost upside down and backwards from what we're told is healthy for us. And that was the diet that resolved every single one of my physical health symptoms.

But as a psychiatrist, what really got my attention was that it improved my mental health significantly. And I wasn't even trying. I wasn't even aware that my mental health needed that much attention. I think like most people, I was walking around with suboptimal mental health.

But as a psychiatrist, what really got my attention was that it improved my mental health significantly. And I wasn't even trying. I wasn't even aware that my mental health needed that much attention. I think like most people, I was walking around with suboptimal mental health.

You know, more anxiety than was necessary, than was, you know, slumping in the middle of the day, brain energy, you know, faltering a couple of hours after lunch. Coming home at the end of the day and being completely spent and not being able to get anything else done after 5 o'clock. Being really anxious on a Sunday night before Monday morning work. You know, being depressed in the wintertime.

You know, more anxiety than was necessary, than was, you know, slumping in the middle of the day, brain energy, you know, faltering a couple of hours after lunch. Coming home at the end of the day and being completely spent and not being able to get anything else done after 5 o'clock. Being really anxious on a Sunday night before Monday morning work. You know, being depressed in the wintertime.

I mean, all of these things we think of as really normal. We've come to expect so little of our mental health. We've come to expect poor mental health as normal. And it isn't. If you feed the brain properly, it works better. And you can expect so much more of yourself. So when that happened to me, I thought, Well, that's interesting. This diet seems to be good for the brain.

I mean, all of these things we think of as really normal. We've come to expect so little of our mental health. We've come to expect poor mental health as normal. And it isn't. If you feed the brain properly, it works better. And you can expect so much more of yourself. So when that happened to me, I thought, Well, that's interesting. This diet seems to be good for the brain.

This was a mostly meat, low carbohydrate, low fiber, low cholesterol, high fat diet. No whole grains, no legumes. very few plant foods, mostly seafood, meat, poultry, non-starchy vegetables, and fats from whole foods. It really was as simple as that. And a diet similar to that is one of the starting places in the books.

This was a mostly meat, low carbohydrate, low fiber, low cholesterol, high fat diet. No whole grains, no legumes. very few plant foods, mostly seafood, meat, poultry, non-starchy vegetables, and fats from whole foods. It really was as simple as that. And a diet similar to that is one of the starting places in the books.