You Feel What You Eat: The Nutrition & Mental Health Connection

When you are struggling with symptoms like anxiety, depression, high stress, insomnia or irritability, it may seem like the best thing to do first is shine a light on those issues and pick them apart. So then why would it be important to talk about nutrition?

While it is incredibly important to develop a healthy relationship with your emotions, reactions and stressors, it is equally important to set yourself up for success by creating a state of homeostasis, or balance, in your body first. And in order to do that, we have to accept one simple reality:

FOOD. IS. MEDICINE.

In this article, we want to help you get started with understanding why nutrition is so important for your mental health and what you can do to make your diet more nutritious.

We will cover:

The link between your diet and your overall brain health
The link between your gut microbiome and your mental health
Simple ways that you can improve your diet for optimal nutrition

The link between diet and your brain

Eating a nutrient-rich diet plays a vital role in how well your brain can perform every day. Believe it or not, our brains actually use about 20% of the energy that our body needs all together. So if you’re not fueling your body with enough energy, your brain won’t be able to function properly.

The energy that your brain needs actually comes from your blood glucose (or blood sugar) and keeping those levels stable throughout the day can have a huge impact on having a more consistent, feel-good mood throughout the day.

If we don’t eat for a while, our blood glucose levels will fall so one of the most important things we can do to help stabilize blood sugars and support our brain is eating healthy, balanced meals regularly without letting our blood sugar levels drop throughout the day.

Start your day with a balanced breakfast and then eat at regular intervals (no more than 3 hours apart) throughout the day. This includes eating a combination of fibrous fruits and veggies, clean carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats at each meal and snack. Balance your plate and you will balance your blood sugar!

Studies have shown that people who struggle with insulin resistance from diets high in refined sugars tend to have much higher rates of depression than people with normal insulin sensitivity. Additionally, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) has been shown to trigger a variety of symptoms like anxiety, irritability, depression and headaches.

We don’t know about you but to us, that sounds like a good enough reason to start eating a more balanced breakfast!

The link between gut health and mental health

There is more and more research being done that is showing that there is a link between our gut health and the overall state of our brain and mental health.

You might not know this but our digestive systems actually produce over 90% of our serotonin (what we usually call the “happy” hormone). Our gut is also responsible for absorbing all of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals that our bodies (but specifically our brains) need to function properly and allow us to feel good. An unbalanced gut can also influence the functionality of the immune systems as well as our body's ability to regulate our nervous systems.

This connection between the gut and the brain is usually called the “gut-brain-axis” and if you’re interested in learning more about it, we highly recommend checking out this video that can quickly explain all of the current scientific information to you!

For now, what’s important to know is that creating a healthy microbiome (= a healthy balance of good and bad bacteria in your digestive organs) can be a crucial step to help us on our journey of improving our own mental health.

How to start improving your diet for optimal nutrition

1. Reducing our consumption of processed foods and hidden ingredients.

This is an easy place to start when embarking on the journey of improving your mental and physical health. Like we explained before, both our brains and bodies require high-quality fuel to run properly and feel good. When they don’t consistently get that, it’s not just our physical health that suffers but our mental health as well.

A general rule of thumb that we like to follow is to strive for around 90% of your diet to be whole, single-ingredient foods. If you’re unsure of what to eat then simply look at the ingredients on the package and remember if you don’t recognize any of the ingredients listed as food, then your body won’t either, and your brain probably can’t use them as healthy fuel.

And remember - the rule of thumb is 90% for a reason. Creating a ton of restrictions around food that cause more stress and anxiety than you might have been experiencing in the first place won’t help anyone. So be kind to yourself and do the best you can ❤️

2. Adding in more plants into the diet & eliminating fear of fruit.

Did you know that blueberries can sharpen your memory and concentration, spinach can increase your dopamine levels and improve your mood, sweet potatoes help drive tryptophan into the brain to calm the nervous system, and magnesium-rich Swiss chard can reduce anxiety? These are just a few of the endless mental health benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Fresh fruits and vegetables not only provide us with the glucose our brains and bodies need to operate properly, but with hundreds of vitamins, minerals that support our overall well being.

If you’re looking for a list of good fruits & veggies to add your shopping cart the next time you go to the store, you can start here:

Broccoli
Spinach
Sweet potatoes
Bananas
Oranges
Collard greens
Brussels sprouts
Acai
Raspberries
Wild blueberries
Artichokes
Cranberries

Pomegranates
Blackberries
Dandelion greens
Summer squash
Asparagus
Cabbage
Bell peppers
Cauliflower
Beets

Carrots
Apples

3. Consider adding in supplements that support mental health

Herbs and supplements have the power to transform the way you feel when used correctly for your specific body. What’s even better is that they are very easy to incorporate into your daily routine. In most cases it’s as simple as taking a daily tablet or liquid tincture once per day. What’s really great about supplements is that they help address our symptoms by getting to the root cause and helping our bodies find it’s ideal state of homeostasis.

Here are some amazing supplements that might support your mental health (in no particular order):

*Disclaimer: We are not doctors, and the statements below should not be regarded as medical advice. These recommendations are not meant to be a replacement for any medications that you may be on nor are the supplements in this article intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, breast feeding, on a medication or have a known medical condition, please consult your physician before starting a new supplementation regimen.

1. Vitamin B12

Sufficient levels of Vitamin B12 are highly instrumental for keeping a healthy and balanced mental state. B vitamins are necessary for the basic upkeep of nerve and blood cells, the production and proper functioning of several neurotransmitters including dopamine and they are needed to help convert carbohydrates to energy for the brain.

2. Probiotics

Thanks to the discovery of the gut-brain axis or the “second brain” as many scientists now call it, we now know how important it is to keep your gut microbiome in balance in order to promote good mental health. Taking probiotics (= good bacteria) is a great holistic approach to mental health that works on many levels — your gut, your immune system, your brain — and on the trillions of bacterial cells within. It's a very low risk, high reward way to address health concerns naturally before resorting to prescription medications, or just a fantastic complement to those therapies.

3. CBD Oil

Cannabidiol (CBD) oil has recently surged in popularity, and for good reason. Cannabidiol is extracted from the flowers and buds of hemp plants, and does not contain the chemical THC which is responsible for the “high” someone gets from marijuana.

CBD interacts with receptors in your brain and immune system. Many studies have also shown CBD to be beneficial in reducing anxiety & depression, reducing inflammation, improving skin conditions, and more. Basically, as your body finds a state of balance, many health conditions often begin to improve. So you may start taking CBD for its mental health benefits, and then end up noticing an improvement in your immunity, digestion, or blood sugar levels as well. A balanced body is a happy body!

*Important note: Though CBD oil on its own is very safe, it may interact with medications, particularly opioids. Speak with your doctor if you’re concerned about interactions or are unsure about using hemp oil for your conditions.

Adaptogens

While you have probably heard of the other supplements before, adaptogens may be new to you, although they have been used with great success for many centuries. Adaptogenic herbs are essentially holistic medicine. They work naturally to influence your nervous system to create the result you are looking for, whether it be relaxation or increased focus. They are especially useful in times of great physical, mental, or emotional stress.

Adaptogens help you do exactly what their name implies – adapt to your external environment in a healthy way. Adaptogenic herbs have the ability to improve our ability to focus in high-stress environments, produce antidepressant effects in the brain, increase concentration and stimulate neuron synapse activity. Some of our favorites are Ashwagandha, Reishi and Maca.