Putting nutrition last is hurting your mental health

Slowly, finally, mental health is starting to get the attention (and funding!) it deserves. Even with all that attention, missing is the one thing that might make a difference right now. Today. One thing that can improve your mood that doesn’t come in a pill is accessible to most people and is not expensive. Even better, it doesn’t interfere with other strategies or treatments to support mental health – it actually improves the likelihood of their success. 

What is this mystery addition?

Food.

What you eat impacts how you feel, your mood, and your mental health. And it’s acknowledged to a point where both food and diet are mentioned in the Australian Government’s National Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan. 

However, the way food and diet are addressed in the Pandemic Response Plan is an excellent example of the problem we face regarding food and mental health. 

Firstly, there is no use of the word nutrition. Food and diet are mentioned as follows;

‘Strategies include a healthy diet, exercising, mediation, and engaging in daily activity.’ p.22

‘Concerns related to anxiety, particularly around work, financial insecurity, fear of infection, food insecurity and loss of connection with others, both social relationship and support services.’ p.9

These are both excellent points. Their inclusion in the Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan speaks to the understanding in both the Australian Government, the Mental Health sector, and everyone else who consulted on this document that food is indeed relevant and vital for mental health. 

So what’s being done?

Here’s the problem. What are we doing about it? Why are we not educating people about how the food they eat could improve their mental health? Especially when we are globally facing the greatest threat to our mental health in a generation? 

‘Just eat healthily’ is bad nutrition advice for anyone, and it’s awful for individuals experiencing pressures to their mental health. Medical science has understood the importance of nutrition and nutrients for a century: every year, lack of nutrition cause 11 million deaths and 255 million disability cases globally. If just telling people to eat healthy for their physical health hasn’t worked for the past hundred years, it seems a bit bizarre to assume it will work now for mental health. 

Here is the message we need to get out there. Research right here, in Australia, has found that the food we eat can directly impact our mental health. While there are many determinants of what makes up our mental health, food is one of the most easily modifiable.  

Why, when it comes to mental health, is the approach we take to nutrition a throw-away recommendation of just eating well?

Because nutrition is still considered something that comes at the end. After everything else, we could or should be doing for our mental health. Then comes food at the end. 

Making simple dietary changes can improve mood for everyone. And the fact that both the mental health and nutrition sectors are not addressing this really sucks.

So what can you do? Here are;

3 simple things you can do to support your mental health with food

1. Increase your serves of vegetables. Every serving of vegetables up to 8 serves per day has been shown to improve mood.
2. Keep a food journal. This can be a written journal or take pictures of what you eat. After eating, take note of how you felt before eating and how you felt afterwards. After a few days, have a look and see if there is a pattern. Personalized nutrition is still a developing science, but what we do know is that not all food affects everyone the same way. A journal can help you figure out how specific foods make YOU feel. 
3. Ditch the restrictive diets. Most of these cause more harm than help to both your physical and mental health. Most of the long term positive outcomes associated with these diets are due to simple nutritional recommendations that can be found in virtually every nations dietary guides;

• • Consume vegetables, fruits, legumes as the bulk of the diet
  • Limit salt, sugar, and fat
  • Consume a diversity of types of food

You can check out more on the similarities and differences between different nations’ dietary guidelines here: Global Review of Food-Based Dietary Guidelines. 

Eating for your mental health is not a luxury, and it does not need to wait until you have the rest sorted out. The fact that we keep putting it last really does suck for your mental health. Using food to support your mood can start today.