Food as Medicine: Certification Course for Mental Health Professionals
Full Course Description
Fundamentals of Food and Assessment Tools
Program Information
Objectives
- Analyze nutrition-based physiological contributors to fatigue, depression, and anxiety to improve treatment outcomes.
- Evaluate the connection between inconsistent eating patterns, the sympathetic nervous system, and emotional dysregulation.
- Differentiate between mental illness versus nutritional and hormonal imbalances in clinical practice.
- Construct a food diary to assist with treatment planning.
- Provide psychoeducation regarding the impact of meal and sleep patterns on mental health via cortisol levels.
- Appraise food choices that will improve energy and mental clarity.
Outline
Nutrition and Mental Health
The Body as Power Source
- The 4 main body-based sources of energy
- What do anatomy and physiology have to do with mental health?
- What you need to know about the messenger system between the body and brain
- How the skeletal and nervous systems interact
- Impact of cortisol dysregulation on mood
- Poor glucose regulation can present as or contribute to neuropsychiatric symptoms
- Why routines of diet, sleep, breathing, and exercise are so important to mental health
- The physiology of breathing and anxiety tolerance
- Polyvagal theory and the trauma response
- Potential problems with fad diets and lifestyle eating – fasting, keto, vegan, and more
Fundamentals of Food
Help Clients Understand How What They Eat Makes Them Feel
- What is a healthy meal?
- The 10 emotional food groups for stabilizing mental health
- Meal composition and timing determines whether clients respond or react to stress
- Protein, carbohydrates, and fats – the building blocks of nutrition
- Diverse consumption of vegetables to support the gut biome and nervous system
- The true impact of processed food on mental health
- High-quality meals for anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD
- The relationships of acute and chronic emotional dysregulation with food
- Lizard brain treats and meals to regulate mood, foster energy, and mental clarity
- Food insecurity, food quality, and how to put an affordable meal together
Assessments for Nutrition and Mental Health
How to Get the Information You Need
- Important body-based questions to ask with dysregulated clients
- Pros and cons of the 24-hour food recall
- Best practices for gathering and using a 3-day food diary
- Well-validated tools to measure depression, anxiety, fatigue, and more
- How therapists can use the review of medical symptoms
- Steps to evaluating a food label and why it matters
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Case Managers
- Social Workers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Psychologists
- Addiction Counselors
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Dietitians and Dietician Assistants
- Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapist Assistants
Copyright :
09/29/2022
Clinical Applications of the Mind-Body Connection
Program Information
Objectives
- Differentiate common vitamins and nutrients involved in the formation of neurotransmitters.
- Evaluate reasons why the gastrointestinal tract is considered the “second brain.”
- Investigate the role of nutrition and gastrointestinal dysfunction in conditions that impact mental health.
- Appraise the role of the immune system in mental health conditions.
- Conduct three natural interventions to enhance vagal tone.
- Construct an integrative care plan including lifestyle and nutrition changes.
Outline
Nutritional Psychology
Apply the Science of the Mind-Body Connection
- The link between neurotransmitters and emotions
- How nutrient deficiencies lead to neurotransmitter dysfunction
- The role of inflammation and serotonin in autism, addiction, and more
- Dopamine and dysbiosis – impact on mood
- Norepinephrine, blood sugar dysregulation, anxiety, and PTSD
- Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and oxidative stress
- Endocrine imbalances and psychiatric manifestations
- How psychosocial interventions may help improve immune biomarkers
- The gut as the second brain – basic understanding of the digestive system
- Mindful eating practices to aid digestion and absorption
- Impact of stress on the gut-brain axis
- Dysbiosis and increased intestinal permeability in severe mental health conditions
- Enhance vagal tone through natural interventions to reduce digestive disorders
Clinical Applications
How to Create a Healthy Lifestyle Plan for Your Client
- Understand and harness the power of physiological rhythms
- Circadian synchrony – nutrition, physical activity, and sleep
- Stress, depression, and more symptoms of rhythm dysregulation
- Chrononutrition – how the timing of meals matters
- Why exposure therapy for PTSD might be more effective in the morning
- Spotlight on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Cortisol, thyroid hormones, and PMS/PMDD
- Rituals and lifestyle interventions for restoring circadian rhythms
- Creating a healthy connection with self – promote rest and recovery
- How to overcome negative self-worth that is an obstacle to new behaviors
- Motivational Interviewing to resolve ambivalence about healthy habit change
- Essential routine and recovery practices – breathing, movement, and more
- Not just at bedtime – daytime sleep hygiene practices to get better rest
- Co-regulation and social support networks
- Adding novel stimuli to enhance neurogenesis and cognitive flexibility
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Case Managers
- Social Workers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Psychologists
- Addiction Counselors
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Dietitians and Dietician Assistants
- Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants
Copyright :
10/20/2022
Dietary-Related Mental Health Symptoms and Interventions, and Scope of Practice Issues
Program Information
Objectives
- Investigate nutritional factors that may underlie mental health symptoms.
- Analyze the potential usefulness of functional testing, elimination diets, and labs in treatment planning.
- Describe the impact of the gut-brain connection on mental health.
- Evaluate the role of inflammation in brain health.
- Plan for ethical, safe, and legal use of nutritional psychology in clinical practice.
- Develop an integrative care team and system for referrals.
Outline
Food as Medicine
Dietary-Related Mental Health Symptoms
- Potential nutritional contributors to ADHD
- Supplements for use in treatment of bipolar disorder
- Deficiencies and excesses – anxiety and depression
- Nutritional and herbal supplements in the treatment of OCD
- “Fake” foods that might influence behavior
- Food as information, energy, and connection
- Sugar, artificial sweeteners, and mental health
Test, Don’t Guess
Functional testing, Elimination Diets, and Labs
- Nuts and bolts to ordering tests
- Understand the difference between “normal” and “optimal” results
- When to choose an elimination diet
- Potential risks and benefits of gluten free, paleo, keto, and more
- Rotation diet and intermittent fasting
- Organic or not organic – is it worth the price?
- Helpful tips for buying organic foods
- Best practices for collaborating with other professionals
The Gut as the Second Brain
Keys to Understanding the Digestive System
- Your client’s unique microbiome and where it comes from
- The balance of healthy and unhealthy gut bacteria
- Interactions with diet, medication, and the environment
- Probiotics and prebiotics
- Nutritional and lifestyle strategies to reduce inflammation and its effects
- Running on empty or an overfull tank – adrenal fatigue, dysregulation, and the HPA axis
- Adrenal support 101 – nutrition, sleep, and stress management
- Herbs and vitamins to improve mental health
Scope of Practice
Ethically, Safely, and Legally Use Nutritional Psychology
- The importance of your client’s regular medical care
- Address clients’ desire to stay on or stop medications
- Nutritional therapies, culinary medicine, and more – who can practice, who needs to refer
- How to build an integrative care team
- What is functional medicine?
- Developing a niche practice as a certified specialist
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Target Audience
- Counselors
- Case Managers
- Social Workers
- Marriage & Family Therapists
- Psychologists
- Addiction Counselors
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Dietitians and Dietician Assistants
- Occupational Therapists and Occupational Therapy Assistants
Copyright :
10/20/2022