What we choose to eat everyday has a huge impact on our mental health and feelings of stress, anxiety or calm.
Foods create changes in your body through their effect on neurotransmitters, hormones and your nervous system. They also influence your gut bacteria and digestive health which is the BASIS of health and has a huge influence on your mental health. Your digestive tract is known as your second brain and there’s much research on the gut-brain link.
If you experience any mental health concerns or feel more stressed or anxious - take a good look at your diet and daily food choices. Of course there are other factors to consider but our diets are our DAILY companion and provide our body with the nutrients it needs for optimal mental and physical health. Without the right nutrition your body is unable to produce the hormones and neurotransmitters that orchestrate your mood and influence how calm you feel.
If your diet is high in refined carbohydrates, flours, sugars and caffeine this will have a stimulating effect but not in a sustained way - you’ll experience highs and lows as your body tries to deal with these short term stimulants. These foods can cause stress in your body as it tries to balance your blood sugar and cortisol. These foods are also more inflammatory as we are not designed to consume a lot of these foods or stimulants.
While some carbohydrates are great, focus on getting them from fresh vegetables and some whole grains depending on what you feel best on. Reducing carbohydrates too low, such as on a keto diet, may not be ideal for everyone especially long term and for womens hormone balance - so always take notice of how you feel and work out the best amount for you. Most people following a standard western diet are commonly eating too many refined carbohydrates and not enough quality fats.
Including adequate quality protein and fat has a more grounding and calming effect - and doesn’t cause spikes in blood sugar or cortisol. These foods help to produce hormones and neurotransmitters and help keep your energy and mood more stable. They also keep you full for longer and help in weight loss and weight management.
Most women do best on 50-100g protein per day but experiment to find out what you feel best on. Choose the best quality protein and fat you can - see this handy food guide for more info.
While fats have received bad press they are essential for mood and every cell in your body! The right fats can support optimal mental health, energy and weight regulation. You can find a 1 page guide here.
Focus on including some fat, protein and vegetables at each meal to help keep you calm and support your mood and nervous system.
Another way food can increase stress is by contributing to eating disorders. Food should be nourishing and enjoyable - practice changing your mindset toward food and removing guilt around food choices - just do the best you can with where you’re at. It’s what you do most of the time that counts so don’t beat yourself up for not being ‘perfect’ all the time! Focus on quality over quantity. Choose 1 thing to improve at a time rather than overwhelming yourself - make it simple, enjoyable and achievable! Practice self kindness.
I have been through a lot of different ways of eating but am learning to listen to what makes me feel good and not worry about sticking to a ‘label’ or ‘diet’ that doesn’t make me feel great! We all have individual biochemistry that determines what we feel best on - so what works for your friend may not be the best thing for you! And our needs can change over our lifetime - so just keep listening to the clues your body gives you. Practicing self-kindness has also made a huge difference to my relationship and enjoyment of food. Any change can take time to become a habit - so give yourself time to make improvements and different food choices.
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