Nutrition: The Impact of Food on Your Mental and Physical Health
The internet is crawling with tons of information about how to diet, what to cut out in order to lose weight, things not to eat to lose fat, and it can get very overwhelming to make food decisions based on what not to eat.
This article has a different angle on nutrition, it is going to explore the link between food and wellbeing, and its impact on your mental and physical health.
The Basics
Let’s start with the basics of nutrition. To understand nutrition better, we have to tackle what we call macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients, also known as macros, are your carbohydrates, fat, and protein, which are needed in large amounts daily. Getting enough macros everyday ensures proper cellular function for brain and physical activity. Carbs are the body’s main source of energy, and are broken down into glucose in order for the body to produce more energy. Fats also provide energy and support hormonal processes. Proteins are essential for building bodily tissues such as our muscles. All of these play a key part in keeping the body running.
Micronutrients, on the other hand, are vitamins and minerals that promote health and prevent disease. They are in charge of preventing disease and important players in the body’s metabolic processes. For example, the body needs iron to transport oxygen throughout the body, calcium supports healthy growth and development of bones, and B vitamins support healthy brain function and metabolism.
Our gut microbiome heavily depends on what we eat, and a healthy gut leads to healthy digestion, strong immunity, and can even affect a person’s mental health state.
Impact on mental health
Have you ever felt sluggish after eating an incredibly greasy meal? How about feeling energized after eating a nutrient packed one? It’s not just in your mind, the connection between food and mood is slowly being recognized by science. Imagine your brain like a machine, it needs various and certain parts to function properly. For example Omega 3’s from fish, nuts, and seeds can make you feel happy and focused. Eggs and leafy greens can also give you a mental boost because of the B vitamins it contains. Dark chocolate that contains more than 70% cacao contains flavonoids that contribute to a sense of pleasure, and the small amount of caffeine may also help you focus. These are only a few of the examples that show the link between gut and brain. On the contrary, there are also some foods that may negatively affect mental health such as refined sugars, alcohol, and saturated fats. These foods and drinks may cause inflammation in the body and gut which could potentially contribute to mood problems in some individuals. In essence, the food we choose not only affects the body, but also our emotional wellbeing.
Physical benefits
As mentioned earlier, having a varied and nutritious diet prevents disease and allows your body to function at its best. For active individuals, eating more nutrient dense food is actually essential in order to power your workouts and be able to recover faster.
Tips for everyday nutrition
A basic rule of thumb for those starting out with their nutrition from scratch: enjoy a varied diet. That means eating the rainbow! Carbohydrate sources such as fruit and vegetables should make up more than half of your diet. Healthy fat from fish like tuna, salmon, and nuts are recommended. Of course, we cannot forget protein, which can be chicken, fish, beef, pork, eggs, and dairy!
Some people tend to neglect their protein intake which is absolutely essential for muscular, hormonal, and brain function. Whey protein or vegan protein shakes are a popular choice for those looking to up their protein intake. There are various protein calculators online to see how much grams per day you may need depending on your body composition.
That’s about it for now! Just remember, food is fuel for the mind and body. Whatever we put into our bodies affects the energy that we are able to produce after. The things we eat can impact our mood as well as risk of disease. Eat the rainbow, avoid too much sugary sweets and alcohol.
Stay tuned for the next article as we will be discussing acne and anxiety, which surprisingly can also be affected by the food that we eat.
