Mental health is a topic that is being spoken about more and more as of late because it is something that affects us all. Our mental health is affected by a huge variety of things and there is a lot we can do to improve it.
Nutrition being one of the things. But how does nutrition fit into all of it? You might think not much, but that could not be further from the truth.
What we do know is that gut health affects our mood what we eat can significantly affect our mood and overall mental well being.
Have you ever heard of the brain-gut axis? This is a connection between our gut and brain and they both affect one another. Unhappy mind = unhappy gut and vice versa. This means that we want to try to support both, to ensure that we are doing the most to be both healthier and happier people!
If our overall gut environment is not thriving, it will negatively affect our brain and mood and the same goes the other way around: If we find ourselves in a constantly heightened emotional state, it is very likely to affect our gut and digestion in a negative way.
As we can see, one does not exist without the other. This means we want to take care of both our minds and gut, to ensure that we are giving ourselves the best chance at being our best selves.
But let’s look at some practical tips of what we can do, from a nutritional point of view, to help our gut environment thrive:
- Eat more High fiber foods which are great fuel for our gut bacteria such as wholegrains, nuts, seeds and legumes
- Eat more Colourful foods (think your fruit and vegetables)
- Eat more Fermented foods that contain probiotics ie healthy bacteria for our gut such as yoghurt, sauerkraut, kimchi
- Try to choose lean sources of protein
- Limit highly processed foods that contain a lot of additives and saturated fats and added sugar
- Limit alcohol and other sugary drinks
A big part in putting the above into practice is being both intentional and prepared in how you approach your week and your eating.
Planning your weekly meals and actively trying to include the foods listed above is a big step in the right direction and will help you make positive changes. It will help you to know what to eat when, and you won’t be caught off guard at 18h00 after work, not knowing what to make for dinner, resulting in yet another fast food, take out run. And not only will you feel a lot better for it, preparing your own food and planning your weekly meals will help your budget too!
In summary, food and what we eat play an instrumental role in affecting our mood and mental state. We want to try and support our gut to be at its happiest, so that we too, can be at our happiest. However what we need to remember is that balance is key and it is what we do consistently that brings about the biggest changes in our lives.
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