Is Your Diet Affecting Your Mental Health?

One of my favorite questions for self-motivation is to ask myself some mornings. What are you feeding your mind today?

Making an effort to get rid of toxic, negative thoughts and keeping positive and good thoughts is the first step to begin for you to aspire for a good mental health.

It is a good mind control exercise no doubt. But what if the triggers are the foods and meals you consume?

Having said that, Mental Health Foundation, UK says ‘there is research to suggest that what we eat may affect not just our physical, but mental health as well’.

It is simply not a list of food that we can think of to keep our mental health in a good shape.

There are few conditions that we need to manage on a daily basis and most times these help us stay mentally fit and healthy.

1: Constipation can cause substantial troubles for the functioning of mind.

Imagine days where you were not regular with your bowel movements. Usually symptoms that follow on such days are irritation (major to minor), leading to snapping at people around you. Feeling low and weighed down (literally) and unable to focus.

And, getting depressed because most of the things you planned for the day are not going smoothly.

And what might have possibly triggered this whole rigmarole could be a slight detour from your usual diet. Or a new diet you are trying, and last but not least you were not aware a particular micro or macronutrient lead to constipation.

RELATED: How To Keep Fit And Healthy

Carbs, alcohol, processed foods, foods containing gluten, unripe fruits including banana, dairy products, processed foods and many others can lead to this condition.

A few meals loaded with fiber can help in cases where constipation is affecting optimum usage of your mental faculties and is killing your mood.

Staying hydrated and physically active helps a lot too. And these two are most peoples’ go-to mood boosters.

Yes, mood is considered as one of the important indicators of a good mental health.

2: Sleep disorder is not our friend when we have to focus on projects, managing stuff.

We are all aware of problems we face (might face) due to deprived sleep. Including negative thoughts, emotions and overall disturbing our mental wellness.

Multiple reasons can be listed here. But since we are talking about diet, it is good to eliminate the ones that stop us from resting our nerves.

RELATED: Sleep Deprivation Effects

Pizza, burgers, soda, sugar and many more work towards keeping you away from your bed. Limiting your caffeine intake, alcohol before bedtime helps you get a good night’s sleep. Also, less fatty and spicy food is recommended for a peaceful nights sleep.

If you are someone who likes a tiny snack before bedtime, have a few almonds, or try a fatty fish for dinner and some soothing teas are good beverage to have before hitting the sack.

3: Gaining more weight than what our natural frame can handle leads to physical and mental problems.

Again, diet plays a very major role here, unless it is a medical condition.

There are many reasons for weight gain, including sleep deprivation, constipation, over eating (emotional bingeing) and not having a balanced diet.

There are many meal plans to aid weight loss. It depends on what suits you. Ketogenic diet, low calorie plan, sugar free, no red meat, etc. these plans will help you to get into weight range desired by you.

But a well-balanced diet plays a very important role in our overall health and is considered to be the safest in maintaining a healthy weight on a long-term basis.

RELATED: 12 Strange Ways To Improve Your Health

A meal that has some carb, protein, fats, fiber (percentages vary depending on what diet you opt for) and focuses on nutrition is considered balanced and therefore healthy.

Include foods that are nutritious like whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, low or nonfat dairy products, etc.

You might also want to consider sugar in some fruits and avoid if you like.

Fruits like banana, apple, (yes, the fruit that is supposed to keep that doctor away contains roughly over 15 grams of sugar) pear, watermelon, lychees, figs, etc. are sugar friendly.

Here are a few meal suggestions you might want to use for different times of the day.

Breakfast:

• Upma
• Thepla
• Avocado toast with an egg
• Quinoa, Chia fruit salad
• Smoothies

Lunch:

• Grilled sandwich with vegetables and cheese
• Chicken salad
• A bowl (depending on your appetite) of chicken/vegetable noodle soup
• Khichadi (any one pot meal is fine, as long as they have fiber, carb, some fat, some seasoning)

Dinner:

This meal ideally has to be taken at least two or three hours before bed time.

• Stir-fry dinners are great and easy to rustle up after a hard day at work
• Kathi rolls are considered as complete meals with a side of salad or a soup perhaps
• Some stew (chicken, vegetable, meat) with some rice or rotis
• Barbeque or baked veggies/meat with some bread, rice, a side of small portion of pasta is another suggestion

All the above-mentioned suggestions about diet connected to mental health, should not be treated as an alternative for medical treatment. This is plain information, not medical advice.

Please bear in mind, these measures are everyday stuff we all do as and when one feels down and out, or facing routine troubles.

Source