Growing up, we all learned to take care of our physical health. Our schools taught us about balanced diets and their importance in helping us grow taller and stronger.
We barely might have taken those lessons seriously as kids. But today , as adults, we have learned to prioritize not just our physical state but also our mental health and well-being (some of us the hard way). And so we wonder, “ Is my diet affecting my mind?”.
Let’s Give It a Thought
Your brain is the MVP. It is what keeps you going. A nap may be an option for you and me, but there’s no siesta for our brains. So what keeps the brain going non-stop? The food! Your daily food powers the brain. It acts as a fuel to directly impact your brain’s structure and function and, hence, your mood.
Like any other machine that’d start acting up without its select fuel, your brain starts giving you a hard time. It’s not demanding a lot if you ask me to be honest. All it needs is a healthy diet plan!
Are We Really What We Eat?
Yes! Both physically and mentally. Up for a few facts?
The human nervous system is what transmits information throughout the body in the form of electrical and chemical signals by highly complex cells called neurons. Like any other part of your body, your gastrointestinal tract is also lined with a hundred million neurons.
Here’s also where Serotonin, one of the happy hormones, comes into the picture. Serotonin is a chemical in your body that acts as a neurotransmitter, which is known to regulate your happiness, anxiety, and mood. And about 95% of serotonin is produced in your gastrointestinal tract.
So what helps you digest the food, i.e., the inner working of your digestive system is also what controls your emotions to a huge extent. Strange how science took so long to acknowledge the relationship between food and mental health. Isn’t it?
Science Of The Food & Mood – Nutritional Psychiatry
An emerging discipline called “Nutritional Psychiatry” has been researching the effects of our eating habits on how we feel emotionally. It associates having a well-balanced diet that is rich in nutrients with the feeling of well being. Studies have also shown that a poor diet, including with high levels of saturated fat, refined carbohydrates, and processed food products, is linked to poorer mental health in humans.
So What Can You Do?
To understand how your mind and body reacts to the food you consume, keep track of what you eat every day. Remember, what you eat today can still have its effect on how you feel tomorrow.
Start by cutting down all the processed foods and carbs from your diet for a couple of weeks at a stretch. This cut down will have you following a clean diet. You will be amazed by how much better you start feeling already.
Thereafter, you can begin introducing different foods into your diet to see how you feel. So the next time you feel cranky, you might have a better idea of the possible reasons.