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The bidirectional communication between the central nervous system and gut microbiota, referred to as the gut-brain-axis, has been of significant interest in recent years. Increasing evidence has associated gut microbiota to both gastrointestinal and extragastrointestinal diseases. Dysbiosis and inflammation of the gut have been linked to causing several mental illnesses including anxiety and depression, which are prevalent in society today. Probiotics have the ability to restore normal microbial balance, and therefore have a potential role in the treatment and prevention of anxiety and depression. This review aims to discuss the development of the gut microbiota, the linkage of dysbiosis to anxiety and depression, and possible applications of probiotics to reduce symptoms.

Activists and academics have increasingly drawn on the concept of "food justice" in recent years. While this trend is encouraging, we argue that a focus on "inclusion" by these actors may actually work to reproduce inequitable relationships. Food justice research and practice should thus move beyond inclusion to connect food system inequities to interlocking structures of oppression, such as capitalism, patriarchy, white supremacy, and colonialism. In Canada, placing food justice in the context of ongoing processes of colonialism—and recognizing that no justice can happen on stolen land—is particularly important. While we make these suggestions, we do not claim to have all the answers; we struggle through the same tensions we raise here in our own work. Nonetheless, we feel that encouraging those interested in food activism to consider intersecting systems of domination, to challenge such structures and their complicity in them, and to build solidarity with other activists, perhaps using land as the basis for new conversations and alliances, may be key steps toward cultivating an anti-colonial food justice praxis.

Alternative food initiatives have been challenged by critics to address the long-term, structural challenges confronting the food system in an integrated and comprehensive way. Confronting these challenges requires dynamic, multilevel and multisectoral strategies that integrate antipoverty efforts, ecological sustainability, food, wellness and community building throughout all aspects of the food system. Moving initiatives beyond the margins can begin by identifying and building on the successes of existing projects. In this pursuit, this paper articulates the case of The Stop Community Food Centre as it has evolved from a food bank offering emergency relief into a thriving neighborhood hub where people come together to grow, cook, and share food, and where people advocate for measures to establish a more just, sustainable, and healthy food system for all.

Recently, the planning profession in North America has begun to recognize the importance of integrating food considerations into planning. However, the field of food system planning is still in its infancy, and its proponents seek a more thorough understanding of the applied role of planning practitioners in this emerging field. This exploratory investigation included interviews with a small sample of self-identified "food system planners" in Canada and the United States whose work is quietly nurturing this emerging subfield in the planning profession. Based on the views of this sample of planners, we offer several considerations on how the professional planning establishment can enhance the ability of planners to contribute to the development of holistic, sustainable, and equitable food systems. The lessons learned here may be applicable to other fields and disciplines where food system work is an emerging focus.