Food for Thought (and our wellbeing)

Last Friday, I was in full Professor mode. I was part of a recruitment panel at Dublin City University (DCU), interviewing for an Associate Professor in mental health nursing. At the end of the day, we were able, unanimously, to recommend the appointment of an outstanding candidate. I came away feeling certain that they will continue to make a real difference to mental health nursing research, practice, and education as they progress their professorial career.

It was a real privilege to be part of the process, particularly as it reminded me of how fulfilled I had been as a nurse academic. It was also a trip down memory lane for me. I was last at DCU in 2007. Back then, with my long-time collaborator, author, and friend Professor Sue McAndrew, I presented two papers, plus we had an ‘installation’ that encouraged conference delegates to explore the landscape of emotionality and clinical reflection.

It was also memorable because for one of the papers we presented - ‘the divided self and the good enough psychiatric nurse’ - we were fortunate to have both the legends that are Phil Barker and Thomas Szasz in the audience. For younger readers of this blog, Szasz wrote the seminal book, the ‘Myth of Mental Illness’ way back in 1961. Although some felt he was part of the anti-psychiatry school, in fact he was just vigorously opposed to any form of coercive psychiatric treatment. He practised psychiatry and psychotherapy, but only with those who freely consented to treatment.

Friday also provided a lovely counterpoint and ending to my two-week annual leave. Jane and I had just spent the previous 10 days travelling by train through and across continental Europe. It was a great trip. The trains and train service are simply brilliant. 

I don’t usually plug individual commercial organisations, but I must pay credit to Byways, who arranged everything for us. You tell them where you want to go, and they work out an itinerary for you. Once agreed, they sort out all the tickets and hotels. They always use boutique hotels, and we have not been disappointed yet. This was our second long train trip organised by them.

We probably ate and drank to much over the past fortnight. I fear a diet regime is looming in the Warne home in the very near future. It is true we did eat very well. Pasta and Pizza in Italy, croissants and coffee in France, and classic fondue in Switzerland. Actually, truth be told, we also tried a chilli fondue as well – something highly recommended. Bizarrely, and for reasons entirely down to me, we did enjoy a wonderful Mexican meal in downtown Chur. Eating out was eye-wateringly expensive in Switzerland, particularly in St Moritz.  

We also probably ate an unhealthy diet too. Part of our challenge when travelling is that I’m a committed long-time vegetarian, and it can be difficult to find a restaurant that caters well for vegetarians. Likewise, a restaurant that serves wholefood dishes. Jane did, however, come up trumps in Bern. She found a vegetarian restaurant where the price of the food depended on how much it weighed. You filled you plates from an outstanding range of foods, weighed the plate at the till, and paid your bill. It was a great concept, and the food was simply delicious.

At home we try and avoid ultra processed foods (UPFs) being part of our meals. I think the jury is still out on veggie sausages and meat balls being UPFs (at least I hope it is). I enjoy cooking from first principles, although I do sometimes cheat. Life is too short to make puff pasty from scratch for example. But it is also easy to get fooled too. Canned soup and many of today’s breakfast cereals, for example, are UPFs and, as far as possible, should be avoided. However, I’m sure like me, many people like to have a bowl of tomato soup on a cold day.

One of the things I had saved to my iPad to read while travelling was a three-part series of papers published in The Lancet. The papers discuss the rise in the consumption of UPFs globally, (UPFs now form more than half of most UK and US family food consumption). Importantly, given this data, is the evidence-based connection between consumption of UPF and at least 12 major health conditions. Unfortunately, often UPFs are relatively cheap, and certainly a convenient way to feed a family. Changing from UPF to healthier options (like meals out in Switzerland), can be very expensive.  

However, read the articles because if you want to change your diet choices, there are plenty of really helpful tips. I liked; adding healthy wholefoods to your diet rather than changing everything all at once; and/or swapping to minimally processed foods. Best of all, start cooking and sharing home meals again. The benefits to your mental health and wellbeing will last long after the meal is finished.