Introduction<br > When I started practicing psychiatry according to traditional<br > metbods， 1 realized it wasn t going to work for all my patients. I<br > had been trained to do psychoanalytically oriented psycho-<br > fflerapy and to prescribe drugs. But psychotherapy is a lengthy<br > and expensive process， practical for only a few. Drugs were sonre-<br > times effective in smothering synrptoms but did not treat the<br > cause of most problems.<br > Simultaneously， I became aware of the importance of sound<br > nutrition and a fit body for mental health. Most of us know of<br > the deleterious effects of alcohol and drugs on our bodies. Less<br > obvious but equally real are the subtle effects caused by coffee，<br > tobacco， pollutants such as lead and mercury， food additives，<br > and food iutolerances， l came to realize that every vitamin，<br > every mineral， and every food has a distinct and specific effect<br > on our bodies， and consequently our mental function.<br > In the past ten years， I ve explored ever more deeply this<br >relationship between nutrition and the mind. 1 am now con-<br >vinced that what we eat nrakes a crucial difference in how we<br > feel. This book， written over the past three years， documents<br > that relationship in as much detail as is currently possible.<br > Nutrition and vitamin therapy will not cure everything.<br >Often it s not the main problem. But whether or not we are<br >aware of it， nutrition does affect us all. Incredible though it may<br >seem， correct nutrition can mean the difference between depres-<br >sion and good cheer， between sanity and insanity， even between<br >law-abiding self-control and criminal behavior.<br > A chemical understanding of the mind was what Sigmund<br >Freud sought at the turn of the century， before abandoning his<br >search as premature. Freud died in 1939; but I feel confident<br >that were he alive today， he would be keenly interested in the<br >developments of nutrition and vitamin therapy.<br >