Can Dieting Really Improve Your Mental Health?
Mental Health has become one of the most important topics to cover in recent years. Compared to the past, speaking out about mental health issues has become normalised. Mental health issues are something that everyone is susceptible to. Having a healthy diet and eating good foods can influence your moods. This means what you eat affects how you feel.
Nutrition for Mental Health
There have been many links shown between food and mood. This has been shown in studies showing a strong link between your brain and your gastrointestinal tract. The bacteria within are able to create substances such as dopamine and serotonin, both of which are able to a significant boost to get you out of a low mood. Eating healthier food helps to produce good bacteria by producing mood boosters. Whilst eating unhealthy and junk food creates substances to put you back into a low mood.
Foods That Help Mental Health
Fibre
Plant-based foods are rich in fibre and help to absorb glucose. This decreases the chance of sugar crashes. A sugar crash can make you feel fatigued, anxious and dizzy. Eating foods high in fibre can prevent this.
Protein
Amino acids are used to regulate your mood. Proteins are an excellent source of amino acids and can help to pull you out of that low mood. This means eating foods like chicken, fish, eggs and cheese.
Iron
Iron is needed to make you feel energised. Without it you’ll start to feel tired and lethargic. Feeling like this can have a huge toll on your mental wellbeing, which can lead to further issues. Therefore eating foods like red meat, fish or beans can help to alleviate this.
Folate
Folate is a natural producer of dopamine. Eating foods such as leafy greens, lentils or cantaloupes will increase the amount of folate you’re taking in. This will help boost your mood while avoiding a crash typically associated with sugars.
Fermented foods
Fermented foods help to promote healthy bacteria to grow within your gut. Things like kimchi or kombucha can help to encourage these bacteria to flourish and will increase your mood overall.
How We Can Help
Nutrition for mental health is an incredibly important thing to be mindful of. There are numerous ways food and mood are connected. By following a specific diet you can help to increase your mood overall. Dieting with foods that help mental health can make a big change in your life. Here at VitaProHealth, we can help you to improve your mood with a variety of products. From products to increase healthy gut bacteria, to supplements to assist in your dieting, we’re the best supplier of nutrition for mental health.
