How to Support Your Mental Health Through Nutrition (Backed By Science)
You’ve felt firsthand the positive effects of exercise on your mood. You’ve experienced the clarity, support, and breakthroughs that mental health therapy provides. Perhaps you’re even journaling, practicing gratitude, and prioritizing connection with loved ones.
You find yourself wondering, ‘Am I doing what I can to support my mental health through nutrition? How can I take my mental health to the next step?’ If you’re feeling motivated and ready to tackle your diet and nutrition to improve your mental health, join me while we dig in to learn how.
Let’s start by taking a look at how the mind and the body are connected. Oftentimes, understanding how things work helps us to make the changes we need in our lives.
The Connection Between the Mind and Body
To understand the mind-body connection, we must take a look at the gut-brain axis. This is the network of nerves that connects your gut and your brain. Using this network, the gut and brain send signals back and forth to each other. Studies show that these messages between the gut and brain influence your hunger, digestion, mood, behavior, stress levels, cognitive function, and even immunity. That’s a lot of influence that the gut has on us!
In addition to these nerves, the gut microbiome, or the bacteria that live in your intestines, is also a part of the gut-brain connection. In fact, according to scientific studies, certain probiotics, prebiotics, spices, and fruits and vegetables have been shown to have a positive effect on certain mental health disorders by regulating the gut microbiome. Amazing, right?
Given that the gut communicates with the brain and affects our mental health in big ways, it makes sense that improving our nutrition can help improve mental health. So let’s look at how we can do just that!
Supporting the Gut Microbiome
One major factor in improving mental health through nutrition is the gut microbiome. By regulating the gut microbiome (increasing beneficial organisms and decreasing harmful organisms), you can potentially improve your mood, stress, and overall mental health.
Ways to maintain or improve the gut microbiome through nutrition include: eating a diet rich in whole foods, including whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, as well as consuming probiotics and prebiotics. Try to limit or reduce processed foods. Processed foods are the ones that contain lots of ingredients you might not recognize. (The more natural ingredients listed, the better!)
Probiotics, which contain the active, live organisms that support your gut, are available over the counter or via prescription from your primary care provider. You can also increase your probiotic intake through foods, including:
Yogurt
Kefir
Kimchi
Sauerkraut
Kombucha
Tempeh
Miso
Prebiotics, which support the environment for healthy gut microorganisms, are available over the counter as a supplement and are also contained in many different foods. Foods you can consume to increase your prebiotic intake include:
Garlic
Oats
Onions
Asparagus
Flaxseed
Legumes
Seaweed
Cocoa
Berries
Apples
What a wide variety of foods to support your gut!
Antibiotics are medications that, while effective when taken appropriately, are known to disrupt the gut microbiome. For this reason, only take antibiotics when prescribed by a healthcare provider. It may be helpful to take a probiotic (or consume more probiotics through food) during the time you are taking a prescribed antibiotic, to protect the gut microbiome from disruption.
Now let’s look at another way to support your mental health through nutrition: eating for brain health.
Supporting the Brain with Nutrition
Another consideration in nutrition for mental health is focusing on nutrition that supports brain health. A brain that is operating at optimal levels is a more mentally healthy brain. So how can we support our brain’s function through our nutrition?
According to Harvard Health, a handful of foods are known to support brain health and function. Try including leafy green vegetables, walnuts, berries, fatty fish, and tea or coffee in your balanced diet containing mostly whole foods.
Leafy green vegetables such as spinach, kale, collards, and broccoli have appeared to slow cognitive decline in studies, wow! And walnuts were shown to potentially improve memory in studies that showed their effect on subjects taking cognitive tests. (And bonus- walnuts are also good for your heart.) Berries contain pigments called flavonoids that have also been shown to improve memory. Fatty fish are high in omega-3s, which have been linked to lower levels of a protein that clumps in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. Lastly, tea and coffee have been linked to better scores on mental function tests. The recommended daily limit of caffeine is 200 milligrams, so pay attention to how much you are consuming, as consuming more than that amount regularly can be harmful to your heart.
While there is not one specific diet that is recommended for mental health, following these guidelines regarding the gut microbiome, eating brain-healthy foods, and consuming a diet consisting mostly of whole foods, and low in processed foods, saturated fat, and added sugars, will help set you up for success with nutrition for mental health. And don’t forget to prioritize hydration here, too, as staying hydrated helps all our organs function better.
Now that we’ve looked at diet and nutrition, let’s chat a bit about supplements, too.
Supplements for Mental Health
We reviewed probiotics and prebiotics for gut health. Now, let’s look at a few other supplements that can support your mental health. St. John’s Wort is occasionally used as depression treatment, typically for mild to moderate levels of depression. It does have multiple side effects and drug interactions, so it is not recommended for everyone.
Another supplement that can be useful for mental health is melatonin. The way melatonin improves mental health is by helping to regulate sleep. Did you know that when someone is dealing with poor sleep, they may experience symptoms of mental health disorders as a result? So, focusing on getting a good sleep routine is very beneficial for mental health.
And lastly, omega-3 fatty acids, otherwise known as fish oil, are another supplement used for mental health. They can improve mood by helping with brain function.
Disclaimer: It is always best to discuss supplements with your primary care provider to evaluate the best options, as well as review the supplements against your current medications. Supplements are regulated as a category of food, not drug, by the FDA. Keep this in mind, as supplements are not required to be approved by the FDA before they are sold.
Now that you’ve learned about nutrition and mental health, it’s time to take an inventory of your current nutrition status. What does your diet typically look like? Is there some room for improvement?
Progress Over Perfection
Be patient with yourself on this journey. It takes time to get used to new routines, oftentimes a few weeks or more, and that includes getting used to eating different flavor profiles of food. And remind yourself: This isn’t about perfection; it’s about progress. Take time to notice how different foods make you feel, both physically and emotionally. Small changes, made consistently, can have lasting effects on your energy, clarity, and mood.
If you’re curious about exploring this further, consider meeting with a nutritionist or working with a therapist who takes a holistic approach to wellness. Meeting with a nutritionist can be helpful for specialized guidance and recommendations on nutrition. Sometimes insurance plans even cover nutritionist appointments.
At Nona Women’s Wellness and Therapy, we believe that healing happens when the mind and body work together. Our mission is to help women heal, grow, and reconnect with themselves, from the inside out. If you’re ready to explore your own mental health journey, reach out today. We’re here to support you with individualized, compassionate care.
Sources:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10384867/ - “The Role of Gut Microbiota in Anxiety, Depression, and Other Mental Disorders as Well as the Protective Effects of Dietary Components”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9441951/ - “Nutrition and mental health: A review of current knowledge about the impact of diet on mental health”
https://aapp.org/resource/patients/dietary-herbal - “Dietary and Herbal Supplements In Mental Health”
https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/foods-linked-to-better-brainpower - “Foods linked to better brainpower”
