Connecting Nutrition + Mental Health
Mental Health & Nutrition
Did you know that mental health can be impacted by the foods and nutrients you are consuming? Your brain functions best when you’re eating high-quality foods that contain vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that nourish the brain and protects it from oxidative stress.
Nutrient deficiencies can intensify mental health symptoms and mental health can be improved through diet modifications.[1]
Here are some tips around improving mood and mental health. The benefits to regulating nutrient deficiencies are mood regulation, less irritability and stabilization and decreased stress and anxiety.
The Basics:
What is the role of nutrients in the brain?
Regulating Metabolism
Improving Mitochondrial function. Mitochondria break down glucose into an energy molecule known as ATP that is used to fuel cellular processes. [2] Working on nutrition helps maximize ATP.
Minerals and vitamins are necessary for health and wellness and we are getting fewer of them. To have optimal brain function, you need optimal synthesis of all neurotransmitters. The way to do that is through a consistent supply of vitamins and minerals.[1]
What to do:
Eat Real Foods. As Michael Pollan discusses in his book Food Rules:
“Don't eat anything your great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food.
Don't eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can't pronounce.
Stay out of the middle of the supermarket; shop on the perimeter of the store. ...
Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot.[3]
Add these key nutrients:
Omega 3s: salmon, flax seed & walnuts
B Complex: grass fed beef, yogurt, poultry & egg yolks
Vitamin D: mushrooms & the sun
Magnesium: pumpkin seeds, cashews & spinach
Gut friendly bacteria: yogurt, sauerkraut kimchi or a high-quality probiotic
If you are on medication, please consult with your provider before making any changes. While not a cure or substitute for psychotropic medications, emerging research suggests hopeful outcomes on helping to regulate brain and body functions linked to mood symptoms through diet.
[1] https://www.bonniejkaplan.com
[2] https://www.britannica.com/science/mitochondrion
[3] Pollan, M. (2009). Food rules: An eater's manual. New York: Penguin Books.