As the adage goes, you are what you eat. Your food choices every single day have significant effects not only on your body but also on your mind.
How is it possible, you ask?
In biology, serotonin is the neurotransmitter responsible for sleep, mood, and appetite regulation. Your gastrointestinal tract produces serotonin. The good bacteria and good food in your digestive tract influence the production not only of serotonin but also other neurotransmitters.
Good bacteria improve nutrient absorption, block toxins, and enhance communication with your brain, just to mention a few.
Unfortunately, you don’t always get a lot of good bacteria. Studies even revealed that Western diets are associated with higher risks of depression compared to Mediterranean diets.
What do people eat that makes them so depressed these days? Bad food, of course!
The human body is similar to a machine that is constantly running with every sense, breathing, and heartbeat. All this running and functioning needs fuel, which is food in this case. How and what you use to fuel your body is important.
If you want to have not only a healthier body but also a healthier mind, the first and most important thing you can do is to know the best foods to eat and those that you should avoid at all costs.
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Healthy Foods for a Healthy Mind
Here are some of the top foods you should add to your cart the next time you go grocery shopping if you want to stay on top of your mental health:
- Leafy Greens
Pile up your plate with mustard greens, romaine, broccoli, kale, and spinach. Leafy greens are rich in folic acid which can keep fatigue and depression at bay.
- Foods Rich in Omega
Foods such as sardines, salmon, walnuts, and flax seeds all have high omega-3 content and are found to help with better production of important neurotransmitters like serotonin.
- Probiotics
Probiotics are friendly gut bacteria that are similar to those that occur in your digestive tract by nature. You can get your dose of probiotics from foods with active cultures such as pickled vegetables, yogurt, tempeh, and kefir. These can help lower stress and anxiety levels.
- Whole Grains
Your brain requires glucose sourced from carbohydrates. Your best choices are complex carbs such as brown rice, whole wheat, beans, oats, and soy.
Foods to Avoid for Better Mental Health
The following foods are a big no-no if you want to nurture and protect your mental health:
- Fried Foods
Almost all fried foods have high amounts of saturated fat that can be difficult for the body to digest. Saturated fat is also found to weaken your gut’s good bacteria.
- Processed Foods
Ready-made food items such as meals in frozen food aisles, fast food, or deli meat contain a lot of artificial ingredients, saturated and trans fats, nitrates, and sodium, all of which are not good for your brain.
- Simple Carbohydrates
White bread, crackers, bagels, and cereal are simple carbs that contain glucose that can increase your blood sugar levels and make you feel tired.
- Sugary foods and drinks
Sweets, candy, soda, and coffee may give your mood a boost but it is often followed by a big crash that can leave you feeling tired, low, and empty.
