Diet and Nutrition

Nutrition is Important!

It is a common debate amongst athletes and nutritionists alike about the importance of nutrition when it comes to training. When deciding the importance of diet versus the importance of exercise, what is the proper split? 50/50? 60/40? 70/30? The exact answer is not as cut and dry, but the underlying message is clear: proper diet and nutrition is just as or even more important than exercise at maintaining a healthy body and healthy mind. In fact, recent research conducted in 2020 provided insight to the 3 biggest factors that can alter our mental well-being, that being sleep, diet, and exercise (Wickham, Amarasekara, Bartonicek, Conner, 2020).

Sleep,
Diet,
Exercise

Sleep

Research indicated that sleep quality was the strongest determining factor in an individuals overall physical and mental well-being across all participants. Sleep supports proper brain functioning, and low quality sleep is directly linked to the chemical imbalances that cease mental illness.

Diet

Diet is just as efficient at maintaining quality well-being as exercise and sleep. An adherence to a healthy, high-quality diet is associated with a reduced risk of depression and improved mood. In composition, adherence to low-quality diets are associated with the presence of depressive symptoms and chemical imbalances.

Exercise

Exercise is directly linked with reduced levels of cortisol and increased levels of dopamine, making it a direct combatant against stress and anxiety. It was found that adherence to moderate exercise proved to have the most significant effects on participants with mental illnesses.

Good Food, Good Mood

With all the information about different diet regimens and nutrition pseudoscience, it is really difficult to know who or what to trust. Many articles will say different things about different diets and foods that affect your health, both mentally and physically, leaving us confused about what affects nutrition can have on our brain. A study done in 2021 by McCabe, Ketcham, and Hall, highlighted the connection between mental health and the choices made within our diet.

The "Western Diet" is a conceptual term created to describe the trend of Western American foods and highlight its dangers to your well-being. It is a high fat diet, low in fruits and vegetables, high in red meat proteins, and trademarked by high levels of saturated fats in calorie dense foods. These foods are highly processed, high in artificial sugars, sweeteners, and preservatives with refined grains and conventionally-raised animal products. These high fat have been reported to develop the greatest levels of depressive disorders in comparison to any other diet across all cultures.

The Western Diet

Performance Plates

Bringing awareness to the Western Diet is not enough to combat its effects, we need solutions. Researchers at the University of Colorado has developed "performance plates" for everyday individuals and athletes alike to manage their diet and build a more well rounded nutritional behavior. It includes 3 levels of training: Light training / Weight management, Moderate training, and Heavy Training. Definitions, visual aids, food recommendations, and meal frequency can all be found at their website here. For those just starting, it is highly recommended to follow the light to moderate plates for nutritional information. Similar studies indicate that light to moderate exercise is best for reducing symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depressive disorders. The exercise intensity when combined with the paired diets will foster benefits to your physical and mental health.

Food for the Brain

Are there foods that work best for managing our mental health? Recent research done in 2022 by the Frontiers in Nutrition conducted studies to find the extent by which diet lifestyle and nutrient intake would affect our brains. Their goal was to determine if there are any psycho-protective food ingredients, correlations between nutrition and mental health , and if there are nutritional interventions with proven preventive potential for mental disorders. Here is what they found.

Vitamin B with Folic Acid

Aids in the energy utilization of macromolecules, helps with psychiatric disorders. Includes peanuts, beans, sunflower seeds, whole grains, seafood,
beans, and dark green leafy vegetables like spinach,
asparagus, romaine lettuce, broccoli.

Vitamin D

Crucial for building strong bones as it aids in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus. Beneficial for mental health and mood. Includes orange juice and
dairy products fortified with vitamin D, salmon, tuna,
mackerel, beef liver, and even sunlight.

Zinc

Aids in immune system functioning and beneficial for psychiatric disorders. Includes red meat, poultry,
beans, nuts, and whole grains

High Inflamatory Foods

Eating too much high inflammatory foods is linked to the increase of common anxiety and depressive disorders. These include added
sugars, processed meats, refined carbohydrates, and
trans fats.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Aids in the general functioning of the body and metabolic processes, beneficial for mental health. Includes sardines, salmon, mackerel, tuna and other seafood, vegetable oils, nuts, and leafy vegetables.

Diet Quality

Higher dietary quality for adults can reduce the risk of cognitive decline, maintain proper chemical balance as we age, and aid in anti-inflammatory responses. Diets such as the Mediterranean diet are linked with improvements in mood and reduction in anxiety.