Your mood and your mental health affect every aspect of your life, from how you feel about yourself to your relationships with others and your physical health. It can also lead to unhealthy food relationships, preoccupation with body image and distorted eating paterns. With depression and other mental health issues can contribute to digestive disorders, trouble sleeping, lack of energy, physical pain, heart disease, and other health issues.
Nutrition is an often ignored, yet incredibly effective in manage mood disorders and mental conditions. There often can be a nutritional deficiency or underlying condition contributing to the mental health concern. For example, take inflammation, it may cause heart disease in one person, but in another it could be what is behind the depression. The best approach is not just treating the symptoms such as the depressed mood, but looking at the root cause as well.
Elizabeth can help find any underlying causes, as well as optimising both your diet, lifestyle and sometimes supplements to help your condition so that you feel whole again. Elizabeth may investigate through a thorough case history and tests such as blood tests, cortisol testing and neurotransmitter testing. Together with the nutritionist you’ll work through a treatment plan that is achievable for you.
Mental Health Tips For Everyone
- Eat more healthy fats: Good sources of omega-3 fatty acids are salmon, herring, sardines, anchovies and walnuts.
- Get more protein: The basic building blocks for neurotransmitters (serotonin, melatonin, etc) are amino acids that come from the protein in our diets. A healthy brain needs steady creation of these neurotransmitters. Good sources include fish, lean chicken, legumes (chickpeas, beans) and eggs.
- Include more fruit and vegetables: Fruit and vegetable consumption may be associated with reduced psychological distress (1). Eat lots of variety to ensure you pick up an array of nutrients. A nourished body will love you back.
- Buffer stress with B and C vitamins: Stress can cause havoc in our lives inside and out leading to illness as well as depleting our vitamins. Cortisol and other stress hormones can weaken neurotransmitters. Protect them with vitamins C and B.
For specialised advice contact Elizabeth for a consultation.
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