Meehl House Adopts Omni Paleo Diet
The Right Food for the Right Mood
The Meehl House currently offers the only transitional residential home specializing in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy that is an “Amen Brain Healthy Treatment Program” for clients with bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, PTSD, depression and substance abuse. Living in a supportive environment with Mark and Debra, residents learn new skills for achieving and maintaining emotional regulation with access to the Meehl Foundation Intensively Trained DBT Team. Clients develop distress tolerance skills and learn how to take control of their thoughts and their actions.
The Omni Diet – 70% whole, plant foods and 30% high-quality, lean protein – comprises all the foods that have the power to boost health and weight loss, so you aren’t forced to choose starvation. People are motivated by pain or pleasure, if you are starving yourself and are constantly in pain and hunger you will be behaviorally shaped to quite any diet because it is just too painful.
Most people do not have the constant discipline to count calories. The Paleolithic hunter-gatherers certainly didn't, goes the reasoning. While calories do count -- if you eat a huge number of them, you will gain weight -- they are not a barometer of healthfulness. Nutritionists agree that calories are merely a jumping off point toward looking at the health value of food. Nutrient density (high in vitamins, fiber), is a far better measure for health.
Eliminate processed food since it makes you sick, fat and inflamed. Follow your grandmothers’ good common sense. Eat your vegetables and enough protein every day to make your body and brain stronger. Read and educate yourself on food, nutrition and how your own body works. Eat whole, fresh food.
There is no nutritional value in sugar: don’t eat it. Consider your body a gift to be treasured. You only get one. Honor it. Do not eat anything that is toxic to it, or any ingredient on a box or can that you cannot pronounce, remember plutonium is natural but that does not mean you should eat it. A deficiency of 5-HTP can cause serotonin imbalances which are associated with high glycemic food cravings.
Limit Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates turn into sugar. Corn, carrots, white potatoes, white rice, and white flour all increase your blood sugar. Irritability and brain fog is the result of insulin and dopamine spiking, followed by a sharp decline. People with mood disorders are vulnerable to these sharp declines, called emotional vulnerability.
Debra speaks at national programs around the U.S. on the topic “Bipolar Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder with Substance Abuse.” She teaches works and lives the Dialectical Behavioral principles, while operating The Meehl Foundation The Meehl House is the only residential treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder that is an “Amen Brain Healthy Program”. Clients benefit from an individual plan for a holistic balanced approach to mental wellness with psychological testing and assessment, medication management, hypnosis, acupuncture, hair follicle testing for vitamins and mineral, hormone balancing, and nutritional counseling. Most importantly, clients learn how to take back, and create lives that are fulfilling and rewarding.
For Menu ideas at the Meehl House,
Contact us at meehlfou@meehlfoundation.org