Chennai

What would you do when you feel stressed out at the end of the day? Well, most of your answers would be head to a pub and chill over a cold beer. But, this city youngster has got another answer. “Have a glass of orange juice – it will help reduce your stress level by relaxing your muscles, reducing your stress hormones and lowering your blood pressure,” says Senthil Kumar Balu, a city-based cancer researcher, who also runs a healthy baking initiative called Wholesome Rhapsody. In order to create mindfulness to healthy eating, he has come up with an interesting series of workshops — where he’ll talk about the connection between mental health and cooking.

“Most of us often forget the fact that cooking is one of the best ways to tackle mental health disorders like anxiety and depression. We’ve thoroughly experienced the joy of cooking, but most of us don’t know the mental health benefits of cooking. In today’s day and age, it’s imperative that people should understand the strong correlation between mental health and diet. We all know that baking is therapeutic— it’s all about chemistry and you’ll never go wrong with it,” he starts the conversation.  

Senthil will be conducting the workshops in collaboration with city-based psychiatrist  Dr C Anbudorai, open community groups, individual organisations and volunteers of T.A.P Chennai. One such workshop series will be held at The Banyan, where he was instrumental in starting their in-house bakery, The Nalam Bakers.

“The main focus of the workshop would be about the importance of balanced eating and its eventual impact on psychological balance. I am a healthy baker myself and in a way, this helps me to translate the old saying ‘let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’,” he explains.

The model for this workshop is structured on 3 Rs of self-care — recreation, relaxation, and rejuvenation. “The process of making these healthy treats and bakes would create awareness on mental health and sensible eating in the public. It will be a community group activity. If you look at the recent reports, you can notice there is a huge increase in the number of lifestyle disorders. Mental health is no more a taboo topic — it should be discussed openly.” 

A diet rich in fibre, protein and essential amino acids like folate, vitamin B12 greatly enhances mood, eases depression and increases ‘feel good’ hormone serotonin. “For example, Beta-carotene from our home-grown sweet potato reduces oxidative stress on brain cells and may have a positive effect on depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. The Vitamin C from our humble gooseberry can improve symptoms of anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder,” says Senthil.

The ingredients for the upcoming workshops are hand-picked from regional cultivation. “At one of the sessions, I will be teaching how to bake without refined flour, refined sugar, trans fat, artificial colour, artificial flavour and preservatives,” he sums up.

Road to mental health

• Beta-carotene from sweet potato may have a positive effect on depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.
• Besides mental health, the steamed sweet potato is essentially a low-glycemic food suitable for a diabetic diet and does not spike the blood sugar level. It acts as slow-reducing sugar (SDS) and the soluble fibre pectin in them helps to reduce food consumption.
• Magnesium and flavonoids from dark chocolate alleviate stress, improves cognitive function and may reduce the risk of dementia.
• The high iron content of amla or gooseberry increases oxygen transportation and prevents brain degeneration.
• Phytoestrogens from flaxseeds have a positive effect on post-menopausal depression.
• Olive oil has the right proportion of healthy omega 3 to omega 6 ratio which is important for recovery from psychiatric disorders.

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