If you have ever over-indulged in junk food and it made you feel sick or you felt better when you ate a hot cup of soup while recovering from a cold, then you already know firsthand, that nutrition can impact your physical health. It can do the same thing for your mental health. Not only can good foods nourish your body, but also your brain, and they can even help it to better handle mental illness. At Carolina Dunes Behavioral Health in Leland, North Carolina, we take a whole-person approach to treating mental illness, moving beyond just therapy and medications, to consider the full scope of needs and strengths of each person we serve.
Diets That Improve Mental Health
Our body and our brain require us to eat the right combinations of certain vitamins and minerals, in the right amounts, to function at their best. While eating healthily may not remove the need for medicine entirely, researchers have found that the foods we put into our bodies can help us maintain mental health:
- Eating more fruits and vegetables can reduce depression symptoms
- Diets heavy in fruits, vegetables, fish, whole grains, and healthy fats, like they eat in Japan, Norway, and the Mediterranean, are also linked to improved depression. A study of college students found that their risk for depression was 42 percent lower than their peers when they followed such a diet.
- Omega-3 fatty acids, which are common in fish, seafood, and grass-fed beef, can decrease symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Diets That Harm Mental Health
- On the other hand, having a diet that lacks necessary vitamins and minerals can put our brains in danger:
- Low mood, irritability, fatigue, impaired thinking, depression, and dementia have all been linked to deficiencies in zinc, Vitamin B12, and folic acid.
- Antidepressant medications don’t work as well in people who don’t have enough folic acid in their bodies.
- Depression and schizophrenia were both connected to low levels of Vitamin D. In teenagers with depression who took a Vitamin D supplement, there was a decrease in the severity of depression, moodiness, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and poor concentration.
- Eating too much-processed food has been found to increase the risk of depression, ADHD, and poor cognitive functioning.
- Many American diets contain a lot of highly processed foods, full of sugar, fats, and preservatives, which can be bad for mental and physical health. Common culprits include sugary and diet sodas, refined grains, margarine, red and processed meats like hot dogs, fish sticks, and chicken nuggets, as well as sweetened breakfast cereals, candy, chips, cookies, and canned or powdered soups.
Making Changes
When you’re not feeling your best, finding the capacity to prepare and eat food can be challenging. It can be tempting to turn to foods that are fast, easy, and familiar. Even if your current diet sounds more like the list of foods that make mental health worse, than the one that makes them better, this does mean you have to completely overhaul your entire diet all at once and spend hours preparing gourmet foods.
Starting small but being consistent is the best way to ensure that you can stick to any changes you do choose to make. By selecting one thing at a time to work on, you will make the process easier for yourself. Some suggestions might include:
- Drinking water instead of soft drinks
- Eating a healthy breakfast every day, such as yogurt, fruit, or a whole-grain granola bar
- Adding more “brain food” to your diet, such as fish, nuts, leafy greens, and olive or avocado oil
- Focusing on the perimeter of the grocery store when you are shopping, to avoid processed foods and get more fresh items into your cart
- Taking supplements to ensure you are getting adequate amounts of omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin D
- Reading labels to determine the ingredients of canned and frozen foods. These items may not be unhealthy if they provide substantial fiber, vitamins, and minerals, but if you see lots of sweeteners (sugar, maltodextrin, or high fructose corn syrup), salt, preservatives, or saturated fats, you can probably find healthier alternatives.
At Carolina Dunes Behavioral Health, we want our clients to have every possible tool, to nourish their health and well-being. This is why every patient we serve has an individualized care plan that addresses their unique needs and goals, from admission through discharge and beyond.
