October 2022
EAT YOUR FEELINGS
For better mental health, get out of your head and go with your gut.
You are what you eat! We’ve heard it all our lives, a pithy reminder that a good diet is crucial to physical health. But emerging evidence shows just how intertwined food is with mental health as well. So, a more accurate line might be: You feel what you eat. There is no question that the gut and brain share a special connection. Your brain strongly responds to what you put into your belly, in part because your brain needs energy to function, and your gut helps turn food into energy. But the connection goes beyond that, because like the brain, they human gut (aka the gastrointestinal tract, comprising the esophagus, stomach, and intestines) contains an entire nervous system of its own, with nerves, neurons and neurotransmitters. The two systems are linked by hormones and nerves, especially the vagus nerve, a kind of communication superhighway. So, they’re on a constant feedback loop, sharing information and triggering chemicals that can influence emotions. Your gut health can affect how anxious or depressed you are, how you handle stress, even how mentally sharp you feel in the afternoon.
A key player in the gut? The microbiome: billions of bacteria that reside there. These bacteria produce neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, which may impact brain and body function. What you eat feeds them, and your diet can determine which type of bacteria thrive. Healthy foods tend to support good bacteria, while unhealthy foods fuel bad bacteria. Genetic and immunological factors affect the makeup of your microbiome as well. A gut that is populated with more bad than good bacteria, or that is less diverse in bacterial species, can create inflammation, which may influence how you think and behave, and could be linked to stress levels and mood conditions. There is very compelling work in the field of nutritional psychiatry showing that changing the diet is very effective in decreasing depression and anxiety symptoms. Even if your mood issues lean more toward brain fog at 4 PM or irritability after lunch, changing your diet can make a difference. In fact, your microbiome can start to adjust within one day, helping to put you on a path to better mental health. Small and steady habit changes will move your gut health in the right direction. Here is how to support your emotional well-being through your belly.
Pack in the Produce. Start with this simple step: Eat more plants. The goal is to follow a more traditional diet based on whole, real foods and to avoid processed ones. Mediterranean diets, rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, fish, olive oil, occasional dairy and lower in meat, sugar and fast and processed foods, appear to have strong mood-boosting benefits. Some of the early studies show significant differences in symptom improvement with Mediterranean diet changes. For those who aren’t clinically depressed, a Mediterranean-type diet may still boost mood by improving the microbiome and reducing inflammation. Plus, cooking can be associated with positive feelings. And in our unscientific opinion, so can not eating in your car!
Veer Toward Variety. Diversity makes it more difficult for pathogens to gain a foothold, proliferate and cause disease. Eating more vegetables, as well as fish and fruit, may help promote microbiome diversity. Unfortunately, trying all 31 flavors at your local scoop shop won’t cut it: Ice cream and sugary drinks are associated with less microbiome diversity.
Replace Missing Nutrients. Eating a variety of foods also helps your brain get the nutrients it needs to optimally function. Running low on B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids and minerals like iron and zinc can create cognitive sluggishness, and these are often the nutrients we’re missing. Unless directed by a physician, you should aim to get these nutrients through food rather than taking supplements. Supplements have not been shown to prevent illness or improve health outcomes. Clams, fortified nutritional yeast and salmon are all excellent sources of B12. Baked beans, nuts and whole grains deliver zinc. Iron is in meat, white beans, dark chocolate and fortified breakfast cereal. And omega-3s can be found in salmon and mackerel, as well as flax and chia seeds.
Embrace Fermented Foods. You can pop a probiotic pill to boost good bacteria, but even better: eat more fermented foods, where these bacteria naturally occur. People are spending money on supplements when they have a concentrated, sophisticated and superior source of probiotics in fermented foods. People who eat more fermented foods may be less likely to have symptoms of social anxiety, apparently because the probiotics are changing their gut environment, which in turn can influence this type of anxiety. And as a bonus, certain probiotics have been shown to promote heart health as well. There are easy ways to add more probiotics to your day. Drink kombucha (fermented tea), as a mocktail or a swap for soda. Use kefir in your smoothie or as a base for a creamy salad dressing. Spread miso paste on fish or toss it with vegetables as a seasoning. Top salads and grain bowls with tangy sauerkraut, pickles or kimchi. And don’t forget your prebiotics, food for your gut’s good bacteria. Feeding them right will help boost their numbers. Eat more leeks, onions, lentils, and chickpeas. Roasted, salted chickpeas are a smart swap for processed carbohydrates like chips and crackers
Break Bread with Others. It’s not just about what you eat, it’s also about with whom you eat. People with larger social networks are more likely to have a diverse gut microbiome, suggesting that social interactions may change your microbiome for the better. Having a joyful relationship with food and using food to connect with others is another way diet can support mental health. As many of us learned during lockdown, social disconnection can be linked to sadness, low self-esteem and depression. So, plan a get-together, indoors or out, and chow down with family and friends.
Talk with Your Doctor. If you’re spending a lot of time in the bathroom or in pain after you eat, there may be more going on than a salad can fix. People who have digestive upsets and inflammatory bowel diseases (ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease), or chronic indigestion (also called functional dyspepsia) are more likely to experience anxiety and depression. Chronic pain and inflammation can play a role in how you feel emotionally, and many people who have gastrointestinal disorders develop mood problems. But when people GI issues are treated, their digestion and depression symptoms both improve. So, helping one can benefit the other. Talk to your doctor about the proper treatment.
Jessica Migala