Food for Thought: How Our Diet Affects Our Mental Health

We all know that the food we eat affects our physical health. Too much calorie intake can lead to weight gain, and obesity can cause life-threatening diseases. 

But what about our mental health? Can our diet help or hinder us mentally? The answer is an emphatic yes. 

Our brains are incredible “computer systems” that operate our entire bodies. They can store information for years to come, just like the computers we use today. With that storage comes patterns and “default settings.” We train our brains to function in the ways that we fuel it.

Our brains also love to feel happy, comforted, and rewarded. When we are younger, we begin to adapt to what those rewards look like. In a perfect world, it should be love, affirmation, stability, a healthy diet, and exercise that makes us feel good, but unfortunately, that is not the case for many people who have lived in environments that may not have fostered that. Food often becomes the void-filler, and that can lead to many problems later in life.

Any kind of eating disorder that includes binging isn’t just about the act of overeating, but it’s diagnosed when it causes distress after the fact. Our brains can turn on us in a very twisted way. There is a toxic cycle of food being our comfort and source of joy, and then suddenly, it’s our biggest creator of shame and self-loathing. We crave the food, eat the food, hate the food, and repeat the cycle over and over again. You may feel powerless against this, but it’s because your brain has been hard-wired through your diet.

Maybe you aren’t a binge eater. Could your diet still affect your mental health? The answer is yes. Eating a balanced diet allows us to get all the nutrients that we need and many that our body can’t produce on its own. That includes amino acids that help with brain activity. Hormones also play a crucial part in our mood control. Healthy foods and supplements that aren’t full of preservatives can aid in hormone production and regulation, helping us to have more energy, stable moods, and all-around better health. The opposite can be said about unhealthy food.

Malnutrition can wreak havoc on the serotonin levels in your brain. This can come from eating an unbalanced diet, depriving your body of calories through yo-yo dieting, restricting too many carbohydrates, etc. Many who have eating disorders, including binge-eating disorder, have a comorbid condition of depression. Depression also occurs when there is a low level of serotonin in the brain. As you can see, the two feed off each other, meaning many who are depressed look to food for comfort, and binge eating leads to guilt that increases the depression. The cycle must be broken to heal. (Selhub, 2020)

Another way that food can affect mental health is through inflammation. Anything that our bodies or digestive systems may be allergic to can result in this reaction. Animal products such as meat and dairy also tend to inflame our systems even if we aren’t allergic. Many of the food products in today’s diets are highly processed, so we are no longer living off the foods that are naturally grown. In fact, even those foods are layered with chemicals. People tend to think that inflammation means bloating of the stomach, but did you know that our brains can be inflamed as well? Conditions such as PTSD have ties to inflammation. When our diets cause this, it can add to the symptoms and triggers of major mental health issues. (Raison, 2018)

We must start to look at what we put in our bodies as more than just a physical issue. We feed our brains just as much as we do our hearts or bellies. If you have eaten a healthy meal and feel happier afterward, chances are that your brain was happy as well. Your mental health is vital to your wellbeing and success. Along with exercise, there’s no greater anti-depressant or anti-anxiety medication than a healthy diet. You may need those medications as well, but what you eat should also complement those instead of fight against them. 

Nurture your body and your brain to live the life that you so greatly deserve. 

References:

Raison, C. (2018). Introduction: The inflammation connection. Psychiatric Times. https://www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/introduction-inflammation-connection

Selhub, E. (2020). Nutritional psychiatry: Your brain on food. Harverd Health Blog. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-201511168626