Why do healthy foods improve your mood?

Mood and state of mind are affected by many factors, external and internal: the weather, a bad meeting or lack of sleep, hormones, physical activity levels, and even what you ate for breakfast. Even scientific studies show that eating the right healthy foods can reduce the risk of mental illnesses such as depression.

Psychologist

The most important thing is to define a healthy diet for yourself. There are foods that stimulate the emergence of emotions. This is because food correlates with different body systems.

How does nutrition affect mental health?

In 2014, Felice Giaca, a professor at Deakin University in Australia, along with colleagues, conducted work combining research from different countries.

According to the professor, almost all Australians fail to adhere to basic nutritional guidelines, especially those related to vegetable consumption. This undeniably has a huge impact on physical health. But this study shows that nutrition is just as important for brain function and mental well-being.

Prof. Jaque’s team studied MRI scan data from about 250 older Australians. And then analyzed their nutrition to see if diet was linked to the size of the hippocampus. This area of the brain is thought to be responsible for learning, memory and mood.

It turned out that those whose menus included more fresh vegetables, fruit and fish had larger hippocampi compared to those who preferred processed foods and often took takeaways.
Moreover, dietary habits were found to be linked to the development of depression. Participants who chose healthier food choices were less likely to do so. “We are increasingly convinced that the stomach is the center of health, including mental health,” says the professor.

Nadezhda Pozharova

psychologist

In general, eating behavior for us is the very first way of interacting with the world, including through contact with the mother. And in principle, food is very important in culture, so the connection with mood is direct. From a psychological point of view, food plays a huge role in a person’s life because the relationship with it shows how a person feels about their body.

Food is really very important. Through the relationship with it, one can trace how one can basically fill oneself up, nourish oneself, give oneself resources. This is a pretty broad topic for both conversation and research.

Who should pay special attention to nutrition?

Nutrition plays a key role in brain function throughout life, and becomes even more important as we age, according to the study authors. A healthy diet is especially necessary for children and adolescents, according to Prof. Jaque.

In addition, the way pregnant women eat can affect the mental health of their future children. “We studied more than 23,000 cases in Norway and found that children whose mothers ate more unhealthy foods during pregnancy were more prone to mentally unhealthy behavior in the first years of life,” the paper says.

Which foods have a positive effect on mood?

Through research, Prof. Jaque’s team found that the following foods have a positive effect on mood:

• fruits;
• vegetables;
• legumes;
• whole-grain cereals;
• nuts and seeds;
• fish and other foods with polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids.

According to the professor, a whole foods diet high in plant-based foods, healthy sources of protein and fats reduces the risk of mental illness. Because a good whole food diet provides the body with nutrients and vitamins that are essential for the proper functioning of all organs and, in particular, the brain.