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Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

Dr. Georgia Ede received her B.A. in Biology from Carleton College in Minnesota, then spent seven years as a research assistant in the fields of biochemistry, wound healing and diabetes before going on to earn an M.D. from the University of Vermont College Of Medicine.

Dr. Ede then completed her residency in general adult psychiatry at Harvard's Cambridge Hospital in 2002 and was a staff psychopharmacologist at Harvard University Health Services from 2007 to 2013. In 2013 she left Harvard to become the psychiatrist for Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts where she provides nutrition consults as well as psychiatric services to Smith students. 

Dr. Ede was the first and only psychiatrist at Harvard University Health Services to offer nutrition consultation as an alternative to medication management to students, faculty and staff. Her areas of expertise include ketogenic and pre-agricultural diets, food sensitivity syndromes, and college mental health. She explores food’s powerful effects on brain chemistry, hormonal balance and metabolism for Psychology Today and on her website www.DiagnosisDiet.com.

Video Presentations of Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

"Nutritional Psychiatry in the Real World" - Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

Dr. Georgia Ede received her B.A. in Biology from Carleton College in Minnesota, then spent seven years as a research assistant in the fields of biochemistry, wound healing and diabetes before going on to earn an M.D. from the University of Vermont College Of Medicine.

Dr. Ede then completed her residency in general adult psychiatry at Harvard's Cambridge Hospital in 2002 and was a staff psychopharmacologist at Harvard University Health Services from 2007 to 2013. In 2013 she left Harvard to become the psychiatrist for Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts where she provides nutrition consults as well as psychiatric services to Smith students. 

Dr. Ede was the first and only psychiatrist at Harvard University Health Services to offer nutrition consultation as an alternative to medication management to students, faculty and staff. Her areas of expertise include ketogenic and pre-agricultural diets, food sensitivity syndromes, and college mental health. She explores food’s powerful effects on brain chemistry, hormonal balance and metabolism for Psychology Today and on her website www.DiagnosisDiet.com.

"Nutritional and Metabolic Strategies for Optimizing Mental Health" - Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

"EAT-Lancet's Plant-Based Planet: Food in the (Mis)Anthropocene" - Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

"Our Descent Into Madness: Modern Diets and the Global Mental Health Crisis" - Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

Separating Fact From Fiction - with Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

It turns out that the brain and the body aren't that different when it comes to the risk of toxicity from too much glucose and carbohydrates. As a practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Georgia Ede has seen the benefits of reducing carbohydrate intake on the mental health of her patients. She shares her experience and the unfortunate reluctance of some to acknowledge this association. 

Georgia is also an expert in nutritional science, and she lends her take on incomplete and baseless reports such as the EAT-Lancet report. Is it science? Or is it vegan propaganda cloudy by faulty science? Georgia dissects the science and clearly shows how the report falls short of its "evidence based" claims.

"Treating Mental Illness with Keto" - Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

Interventions like ketogenic metabolic therapy (aka ketogenic diet) are being used to treat serious mental illnesses like major depression, bipolar and schizophrenia.  Georgia Ede, MD is a pioneer in Metabolic Psychiatry, and has used a ketogenic diet to help hundreds of patients improve their symptoms of mental illess. 

Dr. Georgia Ede is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and worldwide expert in nutritional psychiatry. Dr. Ede has over a decade of real-world experience using nutrition as a treatment for mental illness. In her talk, she describes her real-world experience using ketogenic metabolic interventions to restore brain function in psychiatric disorders.

Interview with Psychiatrist and Ketogenic Nutrition Consultant - Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

Dr. Georgia Ede is a Harvard-trained, board-certified psychiatrist specializing in nutrition and college mental health and was the first psychiatrist at Harvard University Health Services to offer nutrition consultation as an alternative to medication management. Dr. Ede speaks internationally on a wide range of topics, including Alzheimer’s prevention, the nutritional differences between plant and animal foods, and dietary strategies to optimize brain health. She writes about food and the brain for PsychologyToday.com and about all aspects of food and health on her own website DiagnosisDiet.com.

Mood and Memory: How Sugar Affects  Brain Chemistry - Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

Scholarly Articles from Dr. Georgia Ede, MD

The Ketogenic Diet for Refractory Mental Illness: A Retrospective Analysis of 31 InpatientsBackground and HypothesisThe robust evidence base supporting the therapeutic benefit of ketogenic diets in epilepsy and other neurological conditions suggests this same metabolic approach may also benefit psychiatric conditions.Study DesignIn this retrospective analysis of clinical care, 31 adults with severe, persistent mental illness (major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder) whose symptoms were poorly controlled despite intensive psychiatric management were admitted to a psychiatric hospital and placed on a ketogenic diet restricted to a maximum of 20 grams of carbohydrate per day as an adjunct to conventional inpatient care. The duration of the intervention ranged from 6 to 248 days.Study ResultsThree patients were unable to adhere to the diet for >14 days and were excluded from the final analysis. Among included participants, means and standard deviations (SDs) improved for the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores from 25.4 (6.3) to 7.7 (4.2), P < 0.001 and the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale from 29.6 (7.8) to 10.1 (6.5), P < 0.001. Among the 10 patients with schizoaffective illness, mean (SD) of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores improved from 91.4 (15.3) to 49.3 (6.9), P < 0.001. Significant improvements were also observed in metabolic health measures including weight, blood pressure, blood glucose, and triglycerides.ConclusionsThe administration of a ketogenic diet in this semi-controlled setting t...
Low carbohydrate and psychoeducational programs show promise for the treatment of ultra-processed food addictionFood addiction, specifically ultra-processed food addiction, has been discussed in thousands of peer-reviewed publications. Although 20% of adults meet criteria for this condition, food addiction is not a recognized clinical diagnosis, leading to a dearth of tested treatment protocols and published outcome data. Growing numbers of clinicians are offering services to individuals on the basis that the food addiction construct has clinical utility. This audit reports on clinical teams across three locations offering a common approach to programs delivered online. Each team focused on a whole food low-carbohydrate approach along with delivering educational materials and psychosocial support relating to food addiction recovery. The programs involved weekly sessions for 10–14 weeks, followed by monthly support. The data comprised pre- and post- program outcomes relating to food addiction symptoms measured by the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0, ICD-10 symptoms of food related substance use disorder (CRAVED), mental wellbeing as measured by the short version of the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, and body weight. Sample size across programs was 103 participants. Food addiction symptoms were significantly reduced across settings; mYFAS2 score −1.52 (95% CI: −2.22, −0.81), CRAVED score −1.53 (95% CI: −1.93, −1.13) and body weight was reduced −2.34 kg (95% CI: −4.02, −0.66). Mental wellbeing showed significant improvements across all settings; short version Warwick ...