Welcome to week seven of the Feed Your Mental Health Challenge. We made it. Over the last several weeks, you have been eating lentils, pumpkin seeds, watercress, kefir, sardines, eggs. And now, for one, we’re all going to enjoy the food of the gods: dark chocolate. That’s right, dark chocolate, known as Theobroma, is named after a food of the gods.
And we’re gonna get into why that is, but most importantly, for our nutritional psychiatry purposes, we’re gonna talk about why dark chocolate can be a great food for your brain and for your mental health.
Chocolate can be part of a healthy dietary pattern. Yes, but before you go grab the biggest chocolate bar, candy bar, let’s talk about why and let’s talk about why dark chocolate is great for your brain.
Dark chocolate contains several nutrients and compounds, phytonutrients, that are great for the brain. We’re talking about a wonderful source of iron, magnesium, zinc, and polyphenols. Let’s get into some of the details.
Iron: nineteen percent of the daily recommended intake. Magnesium: fifteen percent. Zinc: thirty percent for men, forty-one percent for women. And then all these amazing phytonutrients that the data shows us are great for your brain health.
Now, just a quick review. Why is iron great for the brain? Well, your brain uses lots of oxygen. Iron transports that there. Also, ferritin, the measure of storage iron, is increasingly known to be a major predictor of mental health. Magnesium is involved in like 300 chemical reactions in your brain. It also binds to the same receptor as ketamine, the NMDA receptor. It’s been used to treat clinical depression, insomnia, and symptoms of depression for hundreds of years. And then zinc. Wow.
Zinc is just one of the most unheralded brain nutrients out there. It is just a workhorse when it comes to mental health.
And dark chocolate contains flavonoids. These are phytonutrients, molecules found in plants that are increasingly known to be just wonderful for our mental health and our brain health. And that really brings us full circle, doesn’t it? To this idea of nutrient density. Dark chocolate’s amazing for your brain health because it’s a very nutrient-dense food. And it brings us full circle to this idea of nutrient density. Week one, we got into lentils, which brought folate, potassium, iron, and protein to the table.
Now we’re ending with dark chocolate. And I think there’s something important about that because it gets us into thinking about nutritional psychiatry as a vehicle to help us enjoy our food more. Now, dark chocolate isn’t just here as, you know, a really tasty treat. As you can see, it’s got amazing nutrient density. It also brings a lot of pleasure to the table. And that’s why we want to emphasize not just all of the nutrients, not just all of these wonderful whole foods and all of the evidence that they support our brain health and mental health, but also to encourage you to take a lot of pleasure and a lot of enjoyment in your food.
Dark chocolate does that for me. It’s one of these foods that I keep at my desk. I always have it as a snack in the middle of the day. I find it kind of stimulating, but I just kind of find it amazing and delightful that this food exists.
Now, a few squares does it for me, but I also use cacao nibs to flavor all kinds of things. My oatmeal in the morning, I’ll put it on top of a smoothie. Cacao nibs are a really great way to get all of the benefits of dark chocolate, and you can add the sweetener, maybe a banana or some natural source of sweetness that you like. So, dark chocolate, more than 70%. Get a solid bar. If there’s gonna be anything in there, I’d say, like, nuts and berries, but be cautious of all the caramels and nougats and other delicious things that turn dark chocolate from a really wonderful brain food into an ultra-processed food that’s really full of empty calories and not bringing you the brain nutrition that you need.
Dark chocolate, like everything in the grocery store these days, is something you want to look at the label for.
What about heavy metals, lead, toxins, things like that? Well, there certainly were a lot of headlines a few years ago. And so chocolate producers really stepped up. There’s been a lot of independent testing. All of the brands that we use and affiliate with, we’ve checked out. They test for heavy metals. But make sure and use a brand that you have done just a little bit of research on, or check out some of the brands that we affiliate with.
And now, your week seven challenge, the final challenge. I’d like you to enjoy some dark chocolate, just a square or two, and I want you to engage in some mindful eating practices. A lot of times when we teach mindful eating, we’ll use dark chocolate because it really is one of those foods that you can experience over several minutes. Put a square in your mouth and just let it melt. Take some breaths, try and really lose yourself in the experience of dark chocolate, of cacao, of all of those rich and amazing flavors.
And as you eat and wander around in your mind and all of the flavors of chocolate, I want you to ask yourself the simple question: Can eating be both nutritious and pleasurable?
I think for sure the answer is yes. And nutritional psychiatry really helps get you there in a way that I hope you see: getting all these nutrients from the brain food challenge, but also getting all of the nutrients and all of the pleasure from dark chocolate. Boy, we didn’t even mention there’s also some fiber. It’s a fermented food. There’s so much to dark chocolate. We’ll have to do another video soon. But for this challenge, remember, just a square or two. Sit with it, enjoy it, meditate on it.
And know that you’re doing a lot to help your mental health, your brain health, and yourself.
And as we ask in all of our challenges, even for dark chocolate: Did you try it? Did you like it? And would you try it again? Now, maybe that seems silly for dark chocolate. Maybe you want to try some cacao nibs. Maybe you want to sit with it and have it be more of a mindful experience. And it usually is something that’s filled with joy, not guilt. But I hope week seven gives you both all of these nutrients and the clear message from nutritional psychiatry and from me, Dr. Drew Ramsey. We’re here to enjoy our food.
To enjoy nourishing our brain health and our mental health. And I hope this challenge has helped get you there.
The point of this challenge is to move your diet to that next step in sustainable ways that support your brain health and your mental health. We are about direction, not perfection. Thank you so much for joining us in the Feed Your Mental Health Challenge. Leave some comments below in week seven. How did you enjoy dark chocolate? And how has the mental health challenge been affecting you and how you eat? Thank you so much for joining us.
Now go enjoy some dark chocolate.
