How to Build Your Nutrition for Mental Health and Physical Wellness

Choosing the right nutrition for mental health can help to support your overall wellness including the way you feel, and in your strategies to cope with mental illness.  In recent years, a rising body of evidence has shown that what you eat doesn’t just benefit your physical wellness but that certain dietary choices can also be advantageous to your mind.

What Can You Do to Improve Your Nutrition for Mental Health?

Eating a balanced diet overall is typically good for your wellness in general.  However, according to some experts such as nutritional psychiatrists, there are certain specific types of foods that are particularly good nutrition for mental health.  By consuming these foods in conjunction with other practices and lifestyle habits to promote mental wellness, it is possible to help support positive results.

Use the following tips to help choose the right foods for nutrition for mental health.

Focus on Nutrients the Brain Needs for Proper Function

It may sound obvious, but the first step to proper nutrition for mental health is to choose foods that contain the nutrients specifically required by the brain to function.  That said, it doesn’t just stop there. You must also choose the nutrients required to be sure the ones best for your brain will be absorbed by the body and indeed sent to the brain. 

This means that it is critical to focus not only on nutrition for mental health, but also on applicable bioavailability, so the body will be able to absorb what the brain needs.  This may sound complex – and it can be in certain circumstances – but it’s more a matter of being able to identify fat soluble vitamins (such as vitamins A, D, and K) and ensure they are consumed along with a source of healthy fat such as olive oil or avocado.

Avoid Foods Known to be Damaging to Brain Wellness and Function

Many experts specifically point to avoiding foods high in sugar, refined cereals and unhealthy fats to establish proper nutrition for mental health. Fruit juice, candy, soda, deep fried foods and white flour-based foods all fall into those categories. Instead, healthier alternatives are recommended, such as drinking water or citrus infused water, whole grains and healthy fats.

Improve Your Metabolism

To get the most out of your nutrition for mental health, work on improving your metabolism. This will help your body to digest, absorb and process nutrients the most effectively and efficiently.