Nutrition and mental health are a bidirectional relationship. Food can have an impact on our mental health and our mental health can also influence our food choices and access to nutritious foods. The modern lifestyle requires not only physical health but also a high level of cognitive function and mental resilience. Nutrition is undoubtedly one of the key factors affecting overall well-being, particularly brain function and emotional well-being.
Nutrition-related interventions are an important component of treatment that should be available to individuals living with mental health conditions as an adjunct to support other medical, psychiatric, pharmacological and psychological treatments. Nutrition plays a key role in promoting mental health. A diet that provides all essential nutrients will prevent any deficiencies, which may contribute to mental health conditions. Proper nutrition, including adequate fiber intake, promotes healthy gastrointestinal (GI) function.
Impacts of nutrition on mental health
The food we eat affects our mental well-being in many ways. Some of the impacts of nutrition on mental health are highlighted by The MIND 24-7 Team (2024):
1. Brain fuel
Our brains use about 20% of our body’s energy. To run smoothly, our brains need a steady supply of glucose, best found in whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. These sources give us consistent glucose release that is better than the quick spike and crash from sugary foods. Our brains also rely on certain nutrients, like B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids, to create chemicals called neurotransmitters that regulate mood, stress, and sleep. Eating a rainbow of multicolored fruits and vegetables, as well as healthy proteins, fats, and whole grains, will help you get all the nutrients you need to think and feel your best.
2. Gut and brain connections
Stomach and brain are closely connected. All the bacteria in your gut play a big role in your mood and mental wellbeing. Eating a diet rich in prebiotics found in fiber-rich foods and probiotics found in fermented foods can help your stomach and mental health.
3. Inflammation and mental health
Chronic inflammation in the body may make certain mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety, a bit more intense. Some foods can make inflammation worse, like processed and sugary foods, and other foods like fruits and vegetables can lower inflammation and help your body and mind heal.
4. Diet and sleep
What we eat can affect how well we sleep at night. The quality of our sleep affects how we feel. Consuming certain foods and drinks before bedtime can help us feel more relaxed, setting the stage for a restful night. These foods and drinks include warm milk, bananas, and chamomile tea. While chamomile tea and warm milk are widely known to help induce a feeling of calmness, the sleep-inducing potential of bananas may come as a surprise. But actually, bananas are high in magnesium, tryptophan, and potassium, which all promote relaxation. The better quality of sleep we get, the better we feel overall.
Benefits of eating healthy nutrients
Eating healthy food has a ton of amazing psychological benefits that might surprise you as stated by Rauth (2023):
• Builds your self esteem
Self-esteem usually starts with a positive body image, and eating healthy foods is obviously one of the keyways to achieving this.
• Improves your overall energy level
If you start eating a more balanced diet that includes unrefined carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, with an emphasis on vegetables, whole grains, and healthy oils, you’ll start to see your energy levels increase.
• Increase brain function
Eating foods that are rich in nutrients improves your brain function. The healthier you eat, the healthier your brain is which is why eating things like blueberries, wild salmon, fresh brewed tea, and dark chocolate so your brain can snack on those nutrients.
• Reduce depression
The brain responds to what you eat and drink, just like any other organ. The brain needs essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients to stay healthy and keep your mind sharp. If you don’t provide your brain with these essential nutrients, it can’t function properly and can raise your risk of mental health problems like depression. Minerals like magnesium, selenium, zinc, amino acids, fatty acids, and a lot of water are good for the function of brain.
• Lower risk
Good nutrition may not be a cure, but it can play a major role in preventing, managing, or healing conditions like depression, anxiety, and cognitive decline.
• Improve sleep
Eating a balanced diet helps us get certain nutrients, such as magnesium and tryptophan, that help us relax and get a deeper sleep. Foods like nuts, seeds, whole grains, and dairy can help us get better sleep.
• Regulate mood
Specific nutrients, like omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, flaxseeds, and walnuts, have been linked to better mood regulation. It’s because fatty acids play a role in making neurotransmitters like serotonin that help keep our mood stable.
Nutritional tips for mental health
Below are nutrition tips for for mental health identified by Mental Health Foundation:
• Eat omega-3 fatty acids
These powerful fats support brain health and may help with mood regulation. Foods such as salmon, flaxseeds, chia seeds, and walnuts will help you get this valuable nutrient.
• Eat mindfully
Practice mindful eating by paying attention to the feelings of hunger and fullness. Eating slowly and really savoring your food can make the eating experience nicer and help you feel good about what you are eating.
• Enjoy complex carbohydrates
Our bodies and brains need carbohydrates to thrive, but not all carbohydrates are the same. Choose complex carbohydrates like whole grains, beans, and vegetables. These foods give us a steady supply of energy and can help stabilize blood sugar levels, reducing mood swings and helping us feel our best.
• Eat a balanced diet
Aim for a well-balanced diet that includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats. This is the best way to get all the nutrients your brain and body need for overall health, including mental well-being.
• Get protein-rich foods
Include sources of lean protein in your meals, such as poultry, fish, beans, lentils, tofu, and dairy. Protein powers the brain chemicals called neurotransmitters that influence our mood.
• Limit processed foods and sugar
Everyone deserves a satisfying snack, but if you are looking to improve your mental health, it’s best to opt for fruits or vegetables over anything you can find in a vending machine. Highly processed foods and sugary snacks can make our energy levels spike and then crash, leading to rollercoaster moods.
• Limit caffeine
Drinking caffeine in the afternoon or evening can make it hard to go to sleep at night. And the biggest stressor on mental health is not getting enough sleep. Keeping your daily brew to just the morning will make it easier to get good sleep at night and feel your best throughout the day.
• Stay hydrate
Stay well-hydrated by drinking plenty of water throughout the day. For an added boost, infuse your water with electrolytes in the form of a store-bought powder or a sprinkle of Himalayan salt, a drop of maple syrup, and a squeeze of lemon. Electrolytes help our bodies absorb water without washing away all the vitamins and minerals. Staying well-hydrated helps us think clearly and have a steady mood.
• Avoid alcohol
Avoiding alcohol is the best way to improve one’s health. Alcohol can affect mood and disrupt sleep, making it hard to feel healthy and well.
• Get vitamin-rich foods
For the best mental health, it is important to get enough vitamins, particularly B vitamins and vitamin D. Eating whole grains, leafy greens, lean proteins, and fatty fish will help you get all these nutrients.
Foods that support well-being
By eating the following categories of foods as highlighted by UCSF Health (May, 2024), you’ll be well and enjoying the positive side of the food-mood connection.
1. Fatty fish
Fatty fish-like mackerel, herring, salmon, and sardines can help support brain health with important nutrients like selenium, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids, and B vitamins.
2. Whole grains
Most of the energy the body needs to function comes from carbohydrates, which are converted into glucose to provide fuel for tissues and organs. Glucose is especially important for the brain, which relies solely on glucose for energy, and the brain uses more energy than any other organ in the body.
However, simple carbohydrates like those found in refined sugar and white flour; are broken down rapidly, causing blood sugar to quickly spike and just as quickly to drop.
By contrast, the complex carbohydrates found in foods like oats, brown rice, buckwheat, barley, quinoa, and beans are broken down slowly, releasing a steady, controlled stream of glucose into the blood, which keeps the body and brain functioning at peak capacity for a more extended period.
3. Lean Protein
Protein is the second most abundant substance in the body after water, and it plays a vital role in almost every biological process. The body requires amino acids to create protein, and one of these amino acids is tryptophan; influences the production and release of serotonin. By including foods like meat, poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, oatmeal, beans, nuts, and seeds in your diet, you can help ensure your brain has the tryptophan it needs.
4. Leafy green vegetables
Eating leafy green vegetables like kale, broccoli, chard, mustard greens, and spinach helps improve memory and keep the brain sharp, for these nutritious greens are packed with vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and antioxidants; all of which safeguard brain function and mental health.
5. Antioxidant-rich fruits
Whether you prefer blueberries, prunes, cranberries, grapes, cherries, raspberries, or all of the above, these fruits have one thing in common; they’re loaded with free radical–scavenging antioxidants. Which means they work to fight the effects of inflammation and stress and even help ward off anxiety and depression and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. In addition, antioxidants have been shown to aid in improving memory and cognition.
6. Fermented foods
Yogurt, kefir, kombucha, kimchi, miso, tempeh, and other fermented foods contain probiotics, which help keep the immune system functioning at optimal levels by preserving the gastrointestinal tract’s balance of good and bad bacteria. The gut is the body’s second brain, so maintaining gut health helps ensure a healthy functioning brain as well.
Wrap-up
We have discussed many important aspects of the foods we eat as related to our physical well-being, our thoughts and mental health. The impacts of nutrition on mental health, the categories of food that develop our brains, as well as nutritional tips on how to eat for better physical and mental health, are also explained.
References
Mental Health Foundation. (n.d.) Diet and mental health
Rauth, R. (2023). The benefits of eating Healthy for your Mental Well-Being. Job Skills
The MIND 24-7 Team. (February, 2024). Learn how nutrition affects mental health
UCSF Health. (May, 2024). Top 10 foods for Health. UCSF Health