How Is Diet Impacting Your Mental Health?

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When we think about our diet, we often only consider how it’s impacted our weight. However, the reality is that our diet can have numerous impacts beyond what we weigh and you need to be aware of this. You need to know how what you eat changes you and why. You might be surprised by just how significantly your diet can change who you are and that’s particularly true when considering your mental health. It’s true to say that the wrong diet can severely change how you feel and how you think according to certain research. 

Starting The Day The Right Way 

It’s fair to say that you can use food to make sure that you are getting on the right track at the beginning of the day. This will be the case if you have the right breakfast. There are numerous breakfast choices that you can consider, but a great smoothie or juice drink is often the best choice. With a juice drink, you can get everything you need to detox your body from the previous day in just a few gulps. You can find some fantastic recipes for these types of drinks on sites like goodnature.com. Alternatively, you can experiment with your own weird and wonderful mixtures. 

Of course, you can also use food to end the day right as well. It’s important that you don’t consume food late at night that is going to stop you from sleeping. There are numerous examples of this, but it is best to avoid anything that is particularly high in sugar. 

Brain Food

Is there such a thing as brain food? Studies certainly suggest that certain foods could be beneficial for cognitive abilities and help you keep your brain healthy, particularly as you age. Examples include antioxidants. Antioxidants are found in a wide range of natural foods and will help beat the process of oxygenation in the body. This process has been linked to various health conditions including elderly conditions such as dementia. You can find lots of research on antioxidants online. You’ll probably find that there are already quite a few in your diet, particularly if you regularly eat fruit and veg. However, it’s always worth exploring squeezing in a few more. 

Binge Eating 

Sometimes, food can be used as a coping mechanism for a mental health issue. This can be the case if you are depressed or suffering from anxiety because you might start binge eating. Binge eating can be dangerous because as well as causing you to put on weight, it might actually lead to a condition like a bulimia, where you throw up a lot of the food that you consume. 

The first sign of binge eating is when you start consuming food because you are bored or have nothing to do rather than because you are hungry. If you find that you are eating because you are bored, then it’s important to find another way to occupy your time. You might want to think about exercising more or starting a new hobby. This should stop you from eating for no reason. 

Are You Addicted?

Of course, you could find that you are addicted to a certain food or a certain type of food. People can get addicted to anything and this does include foods. For instance, you could have a sugar addiction which is quite serious because it can lead to health issues like diabetes. If you have a sugar addiction, then you’ll need to think about what this is going to mean for your mental health. You could be more irritable when you don’t feed your addiction and more moody. You might even get depressed when you can’t access the food you want. 

Don’t forget that a sugar addiction will provide both a high and a nasty low. That low could leave you feeling depressed with low levels of energy until you get your next sweet snack. This is why you need to be careful about relying too much on certain food. It can be just like smoking or drinking. You can learn more about food addictions on healthline.com. 

We hope this helps you understand some of the key ways that your mental health can be impacted by your diet and the foods that you consume on a daily basis. By getting your diet right, you will also be able to easily improve your mental health at the same time. This is going to provide a huge benefit for your general well being and ensure that you don’t have to worry about any issues slowly building beneath the surface.