Ivy Larson, nutrition expert, author, and founder of CleanCuisine.com shares her experience using Hardy Nutritionals® Daily Essential Nutrients for mood and anxiety.  Her newest book, The Clean Cuisine Cookbook provides more than 130 nutrient-dense and delicious recipes, and guides readers through everything they need to know to successfully (and deliciously) eat clean.  

Ivy was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) almost 20 years ago, and she manages her health through a combination of holistic therapies.  Years ago, when she was first diagnosed, her forward-thinking neurologist prescribed fish oil which got her thinking about how important nutrition is when it comes to brain function. Through her personal research and struggles with mood and anxiety, she finally discovered Daily Essential Nutrients.

In the interview, Ivy discusses the importance of supplementing properly, especially for those with the MTHFR genetic mutation which affects about 50% of the population, including herself. The Hardy Nutritionals clinical level micronutrient formulation, Daily Essential Nutrients, includes the proper B vitamins for those with MTHFR to assist in detoxification and methylation as well as many other essential elements in balanced, therapeutic levels.

Ivy's core belief when it comes to nutrition is that we need to eat anti-inflammatory and nutrient rich foods. This primarily means eating a plant-rich diet (not an entirely plant-based diet) based on a wide variety of whole foods.

In the video, Ivy shares her personal view that anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications come with very real side effects. She has never taken any disease modifying medicines for her MS, but she has taken anti-depressants which made her feel less alive.  She finds better relief using the Daily Essential Nutrients along with a few other very important factors.  Ivy takes a holistic approach to health, which includes mindfulness, exercise, proper sleep and "next level wellness" which involves connection to others, self-love, having a purpose, supplementing properly and eating clean.

Ivy says if there were just five diet tips that she would advise to those seeking balance, the first would be eating more Omega-3s (both land and sea Omega-3s) such as flax seeds, walnuts and fatty fish with EPA and DHA. She also advises eating more fruits and vegetables, especially when you want to lose weight without feeling hungry, which in turn, lowers inflammation which helps brain function. Ivy says we need to eat more beans too, because they are loaded with oligosaccharides which is a non-digestible plant fiber that is fermented and turned into beneficial probiotics in the gut. Foods that are beneficial for the gut have been shown to be beneficial for the brain. We also need to choose animal foods wisely according to Ivy's new book, the Clean Cuisine Cookbook. Most of the animal foods eaten today are factory farmed, which have a very unfavorable omega ratio and have been linked to mood disorders including anxiety and ADHD.  Ivy says that instead, we need to eat more fermentable foods which are loaded with beneficial probiotics since the gut and brain are so closely connected.

When Ivy first heard about micronutrients several years ago, she was researching supplements with lithium orotate in them (which is very different from the drug lithium). Lithium orotate is one of the essential nutrients missing from most western diets today. Daily Essential Nutrients contains lithium orotate along with 40+ other essential elements to support mood and mental health.  The balanced levels of micronutrients found in DEN provide a solid foundation, along with a healthy, clean diet, for balanced and optimized health.

Ivy says, "One of the things I really love about Hardy's Daily Essential Nutrients is that they've done such extensive research and chosen each different micronutrient and put it all together in one synergistic blend, so it's really a genius product because it really is based on research."
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About Hardy Nutritionals®

Hardy Nutritionals® multivitamin-mineral products are powered by our proprietary NutraTek™ mineral delivery technology, which combines each mineral with specialized organic molecules—just like nature—to optimize absorption and distribution to body cells. Our flagship supplement, Daily Essential Nutrients, is widely considered to be the most research-backed micronutrient treatment.