7 Food Habits To Ditch For Better Mental Health

Fortunately, we are gradually coming to realise the importance of mental health. This is owed to the numerous awareness campaigns, be it on social media or offline, cinema, and needless to mention, the Covid-19 pandemic and the concerns it gave rise to. Popular realisation now has it that physical and mental health are both interdependent. Biologically speaking, our body’s neurotransmitters carry signals from our gut to our brain, where they are processed further. We shall now discuss some food habits that adversely affect our mental health, how they do so, and some better, healthier substitutes for them.

Ready-To-Eat Foods

Instant or ready-to-eat food products hold no nutritional value because turning into instantly edible foods needs them to undergo high processing. Consuming food that is scarce in nutrition disrupts our body’s signals, thereby adversely affecting our mental health. It is common for students (especially those living away from home) to want to have something quick and easy-to-cook (for instance, instant noodles) while studying for long hours, or also when they are simply tired or fatigued. However, what they might sometimes forget is that the quicker it is, the unhealthier it will be.

Ready-to-eat foods contain high amounts of refined salt, several preservatives, sugar, and artificial flavours that harm our gut. These processed and artificial foods lead to inflammation in your body and brain, which may contribute to mood disorders and poor mental health.

Processed And Artificial Foods Lead To Inflammation In Your Body And Brain

Using Artificial Sweeteners

Many a time, people end up replacing regular sugar with artificial sugar, which they may not realise is a mistake. Big brands have a way of portraying their artificial food products as healthy, which is usually a facade. Scientifically, artificial sugars are more harmful than the white sugar we use normally. Why? Artificial sugar contains synthetic compounds that may cause inflammation and build-up of bad bacteria in the gut.

Aspartame, an artificial sweetener, acts as a chemical stressor by increasing the levels of cortisol hormone and free radicals. This further makes our brain more vulnerable to oxidative stress, which may further have adverse effects on neurobehavioral health. Thus, affected neurobehavioral health leads to poor mental health.

Excessive Caffeine

Excessive use of caffeine is linked to sleeplessness, anxiety, and worsening of symptoms of depression (if any are present). A lot of people, including students, have a habit of having tea or coffee first thing in the morning. Sportspersons also often consume caffeine through energy drinks, which further contain excessive sugar and artificial sweeteners. Students should ideally restrict themselves to one cup of coffee a day if at all they need it to stay alert and active (during study hours). Consuming caffeine at night causes imbalances in the sleep pattern, thereby leading to disturbed sleep, irritability that builds up gradually, and digestive issues (due to lack of sleep). Lack of sleep and resulting tiredness would also lead you to feel anxious and depressed, thus leading to poor mental health.

Crash Diets

In order to lose weight fast, people often tend to follow extreme diets which barely have any nutrition in them. These fad diets adversely affect mental health because the nutrients that nourish our body and mind are all absent in these kinds of diets. Nutrient deprivation leads to low energy in the body and slow functioning of the brain, and declining mental health. Even if an individual loses weight drastically, there is no feeling of happiness whatsoever. Nutrient-deficit diets have major side effects on our bodies, out of which hormonal imbalance is one. The ‘feel-good’ hormones in the body drop and cortisol, which is the stress hormone, rises. Hence, a person tends to develop irritability over time. So, in order to prevent your mental health from getting affected, you must ditch caffeine-rich beverages and food products.

Skipping Meals

Having long gaps between meals or skipping your main meals could be detrimental to your mental health. The cells of our body get nutrients from the food we eat and long gaps between meals deprive our brain of the nutrition it needs. This leads to brain fogging, a sense of forgetfulness, and feeling anxious.

Many a time, students tend to skip their breakfast and go to school/college empty stomach saying they don’t feel like eating anything in the morning. Two of many other ways to be able to have breakfast are to get up early in the morning and plan your meals ahead.

To keep our mental health in place, a good idea is to ensure adequate nourishment for our brain and body by setting up a biological clock, that is, feeding our body with quality nutrients at the same time on a daily basis. This way, our body would function systematically, thus keeping our mind active and healthy.

Skipping Meals Leads To Brain Fogging, A Sense Of Forgetfulness, And Feeling Anxious

Unhealthy Snacking

Packet and processed foods such as namkeens and dry snacks that children tend to munch on, especially during exams, are high in refined salt, sugar, and artificial flavours. These unhealthy additives create inflammation in the body and lead to an imbalance of hormones. The stress hormone, cortisol, especially witnesses an increase with regular consumption of such snacks, thereby adversely affecting our mental health. Unhealthy munching is so addictive in most cases that students tend to finish the whole pack at once. Consuming these snacks might be comforting for some time because of the flavours they contain, but having them regularly increases the likelihood of us feeling anxious or ‘low’. Therefore, we should try to snack more on nuts, fresh fruits, and vegetables rather than packet foods.

Consuming Less Water

Our brain is about 75% water, and hence, just like other parts of the body, it needs adequate hydration to work well. A dehydrated brain and body would frequently go through brain fog, lethargy, and stress.

Research has shown a direct link between dehydration and depression. The neurotransmitter, serotonin, increases the feeling of happiness and well-being. An amino acid named tryptophan travels across the blood-brain barrier and gets converted into serotonin, and this process requires a good amount of water. Hence, consuming adequate amounts of water is essential to our physical as well as mental health.

Chesha Kukkar is a Chandigarh-based dietitian with extensive experience in the field, and has helped 1600+ clients of varying age groups in achieving their health goals. She holds a postgraduate diploma in Nutrition and Dietetics from Govt. Home Science College, Chandigarh and an internship in Govt. Medical Super Specialty Hospital, sec-16, Chandigarh. She can be reached at http://www.dietitianchesha.com/ .