May is National Mental Health month. Much emphasis in the media will be on ways to improve your mental health and happiness. You’ll find literature on many valuable techniques for supporting your mental well-being such as stress management techniques like meditation, prayer, yoga, time in Nature and cognitive behavioral therapy. But there is another very powerful technique that can improve your mental health that is rarely discussed: consistent quality nutrition.
Today I want to talk about two things - how quality nutrition can improve your mental health and why understanding the role of behavior modification has in the process of enacting lasting change. Improving your mental health requires biological well being through incorporating healthy eating into your lifestyle. Often it means giving up crash diets that focus on weight loss and to instead eat healthy foods on an ongoing basis.
Quality Nutrition’s Link with Mental Health
Researchers studying the gut/brain axis have found the microbiome, or bacterial colony, in a person’s gut produces neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine, both of which regulate our mood and emotions. So the question is, how do you develop a microbiome that will produce these vital chemicals that support our mental well-being along with an overall healthy body? You do it through choosing the foods we know to be healthy, like fruits and vegetables, lean meat and wild seafood, nuts, seeds, beans, fermented foods and clean water.
It’s ironic that when we are stressed the urge is to go for a stimulants or depressants like coffee of alcohol, or something fatty like ice cream, or a sweet treat, or a salty processed food. Unfortunately, none of these will supply your microbiome with beneficial bacteria; sadly, they will interfere of the good bacteria that produce serotonin and dopamine, both of which you need for mental well-being.
Learning to eat well is far more beneficial than weight loss diets because diets focus on calorie counting, not nutrition quality. Careful calorie counting may result in weight loss, but it often is not sustainable or desirable to stay on a restrictive diet. When you instead focus on eating high nutrient foods, your body will feel more satisfied and your brain will be happier because you are supplying it with useful nutrients.
Lasting Change Means Behavioral Change
So now that we know the role of the gut in relation to mental as well as physical health we can appreciate the importance of regularly eating high nutrient foods. But adapting to changes in eating habits is not easy. In fact, I’ve learned through coursework in Health Behavior that changing behaviors is very difficult. This is true in many areas: quitting smoking, drinking, excessive shopping, compulsive eating, limiting low nutrient fast foods and mental health areas like negativity, over-reacting, etc.
Final Thoughts on Gut/Brain Axis
Understanding the gut/brain axis makes it easier to understand how integrated the effect of nutrition is on both the body and mental health. Understanding this leads one to appreciate that isolating nutrition or weight loss into a narrow category like calorie counting will only bring temporary change to the physical body. Without a permanent change in habits and behaviors as well as food choices not only will the weight loss not last but there will be no healthy gut/brain axis created.
Even those who are not needing to lose weight must identify and consume the foods that build a healthy microbiome to create a health gut/brain axis.
In summary, look at what you are eating and evaluate the value of those foods in relation to your physical and mental health. If they don’t measure up to what you believe you need, look at your habits and lifestyle to see where you might begin to make changes for the better.
My Nutrition Coaching and Weight Loss Programs
In my programs the primary purpose is to address habits and knowledge that focus on healthy eating, whether one is looking for weight loss or simply wanting a higher nutrient and improved gut/brain axis. I invite you to contact me to see which of my programs (in person/online one on one multisession coaching or 6 week online program). Each have a focus on Health Behavior as well as specific dietary/nutritional guidance and support.
Contact me with any questions.
Experiences of previous Clients
In this link you’ll read about experiences former clients have had in working with my approach.