The ModiMed Diet: Top 10 tips

THE HAPPY DIET!

For further information on beating depression with diet - click here

For more information on depression - click here

When Professor Felice Jacka began studying the effects of diet on mental health in 2005, people thought she was mad. "Suggesting that what we eat might influence how we feel was, to many, the domain of hippy-trippy, non-evidence-based belief rather than real medicine."

Jacka's interest in the field had come from personal experience - after developing an anxiety disorder as a child and suffering panic attacks and regular bouts of depression as a teenager growing up in Melbourne, she focused on hr exercise, diet and sleep and by her late 20s she had recovered.

Having previously attended art school, Jacka decided to return to university to study psychology, completing a PhD that made such significant findings it appeared on the cover of The America Journal of Psychiatry.

its biggest revelation was that women who consumed diets high in veg, fruit, unprocessed red meat, fish and wholegrain were less likely to suffer with depression or anxiety disorders than their counterparts who ate more typically "western" diets packed with processed food - meat pies, burgers, pizza, chips, white bread and soft drinks.

Perhaps more surprising, however, was it showed that those whose diets revolved around fish, tofu, beans nuts yoghurt and red wine also experienced more depression. (Spoiler: it turned out to be due to a lack of red meat. Contrary to her predictions, further research carried out by Jacka revealed that women who ate more red meat were 20-30% less likely to have a history of depressive or anxiety disorder).

"There was a very clear relationship between red meat consumption and mental health - but not in the direction expected." Further research clearly demonstrated that "compared to women consuming the recommended amount of red meat (65-100g three to four times a week), those eating either less or more than that were roughly twice as likely to have a clinical depression or anxiety disorder." 

Since that first research paper, Jacka has gone on to publish more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers which have changed popular opinion on the causes of mental ill health. In 2015, she discovered that, in essence, junk food shrinks our brain - or at least the left hippocampus (which, in part, regulates emotion, memory and mental health). "We found that getting not enough of the good stuff was problematic, " she says.

But it is Jacka's SMILES study (Supporting the Modification of Lifestyle in Lowered Emotional States) that may prove life-changing for anyone with mental health issues. For the trial, men and women with clinical depression were assigned either a dietary support group or social support. "The diet was developed using everything we had learnt to date on the links between diet, gut health and mental and brain health and was based on both a traditional Mediterranean diet and Australian dietary guidelines," says Jacka. "The team called it the MODIMED diet to signify it was a modified version of a traditional Mediterranean diet. It was specifically designed to be inexpensive and easy to make and follow."

The plan required eating more fruit, veg, wholegrains, legumes, nuts, low-fat dairy, fish and lean meats while cutting back on processed junk food and alcohol.

The results were astounding. After three months the mental wellbeing of a third of those on the ModiMed diet had improved enough to say their depression had gone into remission, compared to eight per cent in the second, social support group. 

"While we've been told for years that ultra-processed foods that are high in energy and damaging additives and low in fibre and nutrients will mean more illness and early death from chronic diseases only recently have we understood the implications for our mental health and the health of our brains."

Can what we put in our mouths really make a difference to our mental health?

(Source: Brain Changer by Professor Felice Jacka)

1) Select fruit, vegetables and nuts as a snack. Eat 3 servings of fruit and 30g (11/2 tbsp.) unsalted nuts every day.

2) Include vegetables with every meal. Eat leafy greens and tomatoes every day.

3) Select wholegrain breads and cereals. Base your serving sizes on your activity levels.

4) Eat legumes (lentils, peas, chickpeas, beans, soybeans and peanuts) three to four times a week.

5) Eat oily fish at least twice a week.

6) Eat lean red meat three to four times a week but limit your serving sizes to 65-100g.

7) Include two to three servings of dairy every day. 

8) Use olive oil as your main added fat. Use 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil every day.

9) Save sweets for special occasions.

10) Water is the best drink!