The diet you eat can have a significant impact on your mood. If you’re struggling with mental health issues, it may be due to what you’re putting in your mouth. By adding some foods to your diet and eating more of certain nutrients, you can help maintain a healthy mind. The team at New Horizon Counseling Center has some recommendations to help you improve your mental health by keeping up with the following nutrition tips.
- Be mindful of how much sugar, fat, and salt you’re consuming. It’s key to eat healthy fats from less processed foods, raw nuts, and seeds as well as avocado. These foods help to maintain blood sugar levels and keep energy levels steady.
- Don’t skimp on saturated fats and polyphenols. Eating lots of polyphenols from nuts like almonds and pumpkin seeds is an excellent nutritional way to reduce mood swings.
- Take a multivitamin to make sure you’re getting enough B vitamins, vitamin C, magnesium, zinc, and iron, as well as omega-3 fatty acids. These nutrients help to maintain energy levels and brain function.
- Get enough calcium to lower cortisol levels. You can get calcium from low-fat dairy, nuts, seeds, and legumes.
- Limit alcohol consumption for at least a few hours before bedtime to sleep better.
- Eat veggies and fruit to improve your mood. Research has shown that people who eat higher amounts of vegetables and fruits have lower stress, depression, and anxiety.
- Keep emotional eating in check by having a plan for dealing with difficult emotions when they arise. Instead of reaching for a pint of ice cream or a candy bar to relieve stress, consider other ways like talking with friends and family members, writing in a journal, or exercising. Even taking a walk can help ease high levels of stress.
- Help your body repair itself by taking advantage of seasonal fruits like blueberry and pomegranate! They contain the antioxidant astaxanthin, which has been shown to help reduce stress and improve brain functioning.
- Take your daily vitamin D supplement, which helps lower anxiety levels and improves sleep quality in children. It’s also essential during the winter months when you’re indoors more.
- Eat foods high in fiber, like whole grains and vegetables. Research has shown that diets high in fiber help to reduce stress, depression, and anxiety.
- If you’re concerned about your mood swings, talk to your physician about taking a low dose of an antidepressant. Notice I didn’t say “an SSRI,” as there are herbal SSRI antidepressants. These can have mood-elevating side effects like increased anxiety and others that can cause sleepiness or sexual dysfunction, so always check with your physician first.
- If all else fails and you can’t shake your moods, try taking in more vitamin D, magnesium, calcium, and omega-3 fatty acids. A teaspoon of flax or chia seed a day is a great way to go.
- Mindfulness can help. Feeling aware of your breathing calms the nervous system and improves mood.
- Avoid caffeine. Too much caffeine can cause irritability, anxiety, and sleep problems. It’s best to drink coffee or tea in the morning instead of late at night, so you’re not working on this as well when the sleepy time comes around. (One exception: green tea packs a double punch for protecting brain function with two dashes of antioxidant catechins. Drink up!)
In conclusion, if you want to take steps towards being healthy and happy, follow our nutrition tips for better mental health. These include eating a balanced. nutritious diet high in vegetables, omega-3’s, low in saturated fat and sugar, along with omega-6 fatty acids and the right amount of natural products like B vitamins, can only help. New Horizon Counseling Center provides counseling and insight on mental illness, and we have an excellent reputation and thirty-year experience in delivering needs to the community. Please feel free to contact us at any time at one of our various offices.
