Food and mood | How can your diet support your mental health?
The right food can improve your mood, boost your energy and provide your mind with greater clarity. Read our guide on how your diet can support your mental health.
Growing up, you were probably more used to the narrative around how a diet could make you look, rather than how it could make you feel. Sound familiar? Us too. It was only later in life that we truly began to understand how your diet could also support your mental health.
A balanced, healthy diet can support your mental health in so many ways. It can:
Level out mood fluctuations
Improve your energy levels
Help you think more clearly
Here we explore the different ways that food can impact your mood, reduce levels of stress and enhance your sense of wellbeing.
How are diet and mental health linked?
The relationship between diet and mental health is a complex one - but the fact is that the two are very much linked. Research suggests that poor diets play a role in deepening mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression. On the flip side, diets rich in vegetables and olive oil, such as the Mediterranean diet, can improve their symptoms.
For many of us, stress and food can go hand in hand. We may overindulge, or under indulge when stress knocks at our door. The foods we crave may also be the ones that are doing our body and mind the most damage - not an ideal situation.
But, how can we combat that natural instinct? By picking up healthier, sustainable habits that ensure you still get to enjoy the food that brings you joy.
Mental health and digestion.
Dips in mental health and wellbeing can also cause a hefty host of digestive issues and irritations. This indisputable proof that mental health is both a mental and physical condition can lead to the ‘flight or fight’ reaction. This can show up in your digestive system by:
Making you feel nauseous
Giving you diarrhoea or constipation
Increasing the levels of acid in your stomach, which can lead to indigestion
Causing your oesophagus to go into spasms
And this can get pretty bad. In particularly challenging cases, mental health spikes can drop the levels of blood flow and oxygen that make their way to the stomach. This can lead to cramps, inflammation and even an imbalance of gut bacteria.
People living with mental health conditions may also find themselves with:
Irritable bowel syndrome
Inflammatory bowel disease
Peptic ulcers
Gastroesophageal reflux disease
For these people, it’s even more important that they look at the food they’re putting into their body so that they can make sure it’s delivering the nourishment and nutrition they need.
How can your food boost your mood?
Even the way we eat can improve our nutrition and, as a result, support our mental health.
Eat regularly and don’t skip meals.
Eating regularly helps you to maintain blood sugar levels and ensures that you are not physiologically hungry. This means you can function better and with a clearer mind. As a result, you may find yourself less stressed, anxious and overwhelmed.
Cut the caffeine.
Stimulants such as tea and coffee can give you an initial energy boost, but they reduce your energy levels and soak up your nutrients in the long term. Caffeine is also your digestion’s worst enemy; and we all know how much a dicky stomach can trigger stress.
Instead, try to drink a minimum of 1.5 litres of water every day and incorporate some herbal teas into your diet instead of all the caffeine.
If you ARE a caffeine lover, then make sure you don’t drink any past 2pm. Remember that caffeine has a half-life in your body of at least 6 hours, so if you can’t cut it out entirely then avoid drinking it too late (as otherwise it could mess up your sleeping pattern).
Keep a healthy snack on you.
If you’re hungry, then eat: it’s as simple as that.
Far too often we either demonise food or lean into unhealthy options, so keep some protein-rich, healthy snacks on you at all times. These can boost blood sugar levels and stop feelings of fatigue; important steps if you want to lift your mood. Fruit, nuts, energy balls, edamame, raw vegetables and seeds are all great options as they keep you full up and give you a lot of nutritional value.
While you’re packing your bag, chuck in a bottle of water as well. Often our bodies are craving water rather than food when we start to get those hunger pangs!
Avoid highly refined foods.
White bread, pasta, biscuits, sweets, chocolate and other foods with added sugars can cause an imbalance in your blood sugar levels. If you want to keep your levels in a healthy, nourishing state, opt instead for unrefined foods such as brown bread, rice and oats.
(Psst - we’re all about the unrefined foods at Avocaderia. Why not try one of our delicious salad bowls packed with warm brown rice?)
Eat the right fats.
Your brain needs fatty acids (such as omega-3 and omega-6) to keep it ticking along happily. So instead of avoiding all fats, it’s crucial that you focus on eating the right ones.
You find healthy fats in:
Oily fish
Nuts (in particular walnuts and almonds)
Olive and sunflower seeds
Milk
Yoghurt
Cheese
Eggs
And OF COURSE our favourite, the avocado
Keep a food diary.
And no - we don’t mean track your carbs.
If you do find that you’re experiencing drops in mood and energy at certain times during the day, or bloating and painful sensations, start to keep a food diary and look out for any common factors. You may find that there are certain triggers all contributing to the situation, for example:
Is gluten a trigger?
Does dairy upset your stomach?
Is your diet lacking any important nutrients?
Do you sit down to eat your food or do you eat on the go?
Are you drinking enough water?
Is there too much caffeine in your diet?
This is a great place to start and take a closer look at the ways your diet could be contributing to lower states of mental health.
What foods can help minimise stress and low mental health?
Alongside all the tips above, you need to make sure that you are getting enough nutrients as part of a balanced diet.
The core nutrients that help our adrenal glands (these are the glands responsible for our stress hormones) are:
Vitamin C - this is stored in the adrenal gland and we need it to make cortisol
Magnesium - when we’re stressed we can experience a huge drop in our magnesium levels, and this can cause us to experience fatigue, anxiety and insomnia
B vitamins - these help enhance the adrenal function, especially B5 which helps the adrenal cortex and hormone production
You can find the key stress-busting nutrients in:
Fruit and vegetables
Dark leafy greens
Wholegrains
Nuts
Seeds
Tahini
Green tea
Chamomile tea
Fatty fish
Garlic
Eggs
Kimchi
Matcha powder
Dark chocolate
Turmeric
… And so much more!
RELATED: 5 foods to supercharge your immune system
Eat mindfully, fill your diet with the RIGHT foods and cut out anything that could be causing you harm.
When joined by a healthy lifestyle, regular exercise, time in the fresh air, regular communication with loved ones and the opportunity to enjoy your hobbies, a nutritious and balanced diet can impact your mood tenfold.
At Avocaderia, every single one of our dishes have been crafted with an eye toward health and happiness. Because we believe that food shouldn’t just taste good, it should feel good too.