The food you eat directly affects your brain. Food is the best medicine. All your cells, bones, signaling molecules, and tissues are built from what you eat. For example, dietary fats are the building blocks of brain tissue and help balance hormones. Muscles are built from protein. Different vitamins and minerals are used to create energy and send electrical impulses along neurons so that we can move, think, and feel. This physiological reality is why a nourishing diet is one of the best strategies against depression. The food we eat affects both our human cells and the cells of the microbes that live inside us. Numerous studies have shown that food changes the collection of trillions of beneficial bacteria in our guts, called the microbiome. In the name of convenience, flavor, or simply habit, many of us consume inflammatory foods on a daily basis. These increase intestinal permeability (leaky gut), …