How Does Diet affect Mental Health

“Emotional Eating does not solve emotional issues.”

Your mental health relates to your emotional wellbeing ‒ the way you think and feel and how you handle stress on a daily basis. Mental health and physical health are like two sides of a coin, and physical wellbeing is very much dependant on your mental wellbeing. Crossing the threshold into middle age is a loud wake-up call for every one of us. This is the period when we start questioning our mortality and gradually begin to take stock of the sedentary and desk-bound lives that we live. At this stage in life, we quickly put on weight, experience painful hangovers and recover more slowly to injury.

Indeed, the most challenging stage of our lives is when we attain the midpoint of the 40s; at this point, we juggle parenting, careers, and ageing parents. We often sit at a desk in the office staring at a screen which leads to stress and inflammation and lowers the quality and length of our lives. But, this is the perfect time for us to start listening to our bodies and stay away from the things we know are harmful to us.

Most of the memory challenges we face as we age is a reflection of the regular changes that we experience in our brain’s structure and function. Such changes often lower some of our cognitive processes which make it a bit difficult for us to overcome distractions that tend to hinder memory and learning.

Within the research communities, there has been an increasing connection between diet and mental health. The primary treatment for several years has been medication and to a lesser extent, psychotherapy. Most mental health promotion strategies have focused on information and education. However, the treatment implications of research into the relationship between nutrition and mental health have not been adequately acknowledged by mainstream medicine in spite of its enormous potential returns.

The Connection between Food Production and Mental Health | Diet affect Mental Health

Over the years, we have witnessed significant changes to the things we eat, the way we process our food, and various food additives that we use. Most foods we eat are now refined, and our farming styles have impacted our food. The changes that we have experienced over the years in our diet also implies that the kind of food we eat presently differs significantly in its nutritional content from that of our closest ancestors.

When we consider the effect of our nutrition along with the busy and stressful lifestyle that we live, then the possibility for older adults to experience mental illness will increase.

Did you know that folks that consume fresh fruit or fresh juice daily don’t usually report any cases of mental health problems? Others that said having mental health issues didn’t eat as many fresh fruits and juice daily. So, you should consider eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. You can maintain a balanced mood and feeling of wellbeing by merely making sure that your diet has a right amount of complex carbohydrates, amino acids, water, essential fats, vitamins, and minerals.

The Best Diet for Mental Health | Diet affect Mental Health

So, what should you eat to enhance your mental health now that you’ve crossed the threshold into the 40s? First, you should avoid eating high sugar foods because they’re quickly absorbed into the bloodstream leading to an initial surge of energy which wears off while the body increases its production of insulin and this makes your body tired and low.

Taking foods such as fruits, wholegrain cereals, pulses, as well as vegetables are more filling since the sugar content of these foods gets absorbed slowly, and they don’t lead to mood swings. Some of the foods that assist in fostering your mental health include:

• Chia seeds
• Salmon
• Spinach
• Broccoli
• Eggs
• Liver
• Yoghurt

Onwards & Upwards

Diet affect Mental Health

FOOD is for the  Body &  the Brain.  Here are few motivational quotes to keep you in the best of mental and physical health through eating the right Food!

The pause, even simply a breath, taken between hunger and eating, is the first step toward taking control. – Melissa McCreery

We overeat, not because we enjoy food too much – it is because we don’t enjoy it enough.  – Charles Eisenstein

Fast food is popular because it’s convenient, it’s cheap, and it tastes good. But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu. – Eric Schlosser

Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food  – Hippocrates

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