There are many physical benefits of eating healthily like having more energy, having a healthier body (including better skin, hair, and nails), and having a better immune system…
Yet did you know there are mental benefits of eating healthily that can also make a tremendous difference to your life? Knowing these mental benefits will add even more to your motivation to eat healthy!
Here are 10 ways you can feel fantastic mentally by eating healthily:
1. Improved brain function
To have a healthy diet you need to include a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, lean proteins, and healthy fats.
These foods provide your body and mind with essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are necessary for optimal brain function.
For example, omega 3 fatty acids found in fatty fish (like salmon) and nuts have been linked to improved cognitive function and reduced symptoms of depression.
How well you eat affects how well you think. Eat healthy to think better and feel better!
2. Better brain chemical balance
Some foods affect the production of neurotransmitters in your brain. These neurotransmitters are like your brain’s messengers, where they carry messages from one nerve cell across a space to the next cell.
As an example, foods rich in tryptophan, like chicken, tuna, and oats, promote the production of serotonin. This is a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of happiness and affects how good you feel.
By having a healthy and balanced diet you can maintain the delicate balance of these chemicals, which then helps to enhance your mood and provide mental stability.
3. Improved blood sugar regulation
When you consume sugary or processed foods, they increase the amount of sugar in your blood. Your blood sugar can then spike and crash which can lead to mood swings, irritability, and fatigue.
On the other hand, having a diet that includes complex carbohydrates (sugar molecules that are strung together in long, complex chains) and fiber helps you maintain stable blood sugar levels. This means you will have more sustained energy and find it easier to keep a more stable mood.
Examples of foods containing complex carbohydrates are wholegrains, vegetables, and legumes.
4. Healthier gut-brain connection
Your gut and brain are closely connected through what’s known as the gut-brain axis, which is a two-way communication network. In other words, what’s in your gut affects how your brain functions.
By having a healthy diet, you support a diverse and balanced gut microbiome (the community of microorganisms living in your gut). Your healthier gut microbiome communicates with your brain and helps to give you a better mood.
Consuming foods where microorganisms are encouraged, like fermented foods, prebiotics, and probiotics as part of a healthy diet, produces a thriving gut environment. This leads to you having improved mental well-being. Examples are yogurt and cheese.
5. Reduced inflammation
Chronic inflammation in the body has been linked to various mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety.
A benefit of having a healthy diet that contains anti-inflammatory foods, such as fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats, is that they all help to reduce inflammation. This means you are more likely to have a more stable and positive mental state.
6. Better cognitive function
Antioxidants and nutrients like vitamin E and B-vitamins have been associated with better cognitive performance and a reduced risk of age-related cognitive decline.
This highlights why having a healthy diet will benefit your cognitive function and memory. Eating healthily also helps to improve your focus, attention, and mental clarity.
7. Feeling less stressed
Having unhealthy eating habits can make your stress levels worse!
When feeling stressed, people often turn to foods like processed foods, sugary treats, and caffeine. While these foods may provide temporary comfort and a sense of relief, this is only a very short term feeling and can contribute to you having more stress over the long run.
Instead, when you have healthy foods which nourish your body, this will help to reduce physiological stress responses, and help you cope mentally with stress more effectively.
8. Better self-esteem and body image
When you follow a healthy diet, it can have a big, positive impact on your self-esteem and body image.
By making conscious choices to eat healthy foods that fuel your body and make you feel good, you feel more in control and confident about your overall well-being. You know you are looking after yourself and you feel great about it!
Your improved self-image means that you will also have better mental health.
9. Better social interactions
Sharing meals with loved ones, along with enjoying nutritious food together, helps to develop social connections and a sense of belonging.
By eating healthily, you will have better social interactions with your family and friends which helps you to keep looking after your mental health.
Plus, an important thing to remember is that it’s not just you who benefits, so does everyone who you love 😊
10. More mindful eating
Following a healthy diet often goes hand in hand with practicing mindful eating. For example, rather than someone just mindlessly eating anything they want, whether healthy or unhealthy, you can be very aware and conscious of what you eat.
You will then pay more attention to the taste, texture, and enjoyment of healthy foods. This helps to reduce emotional eating and promotes a more positive relationship with food.
You also then feel better about yourself and the fact that you are eating healthily, which gives you better mental health.
Feel fantastic mentally by eating healthily
You have now learned about the various ways having a healthy diet will help you feel better mentally. Your food affects your physical body AND also affects your brain.
If you eat unhealthy foods, you will be feeling well below your best and will suffer by having worse health, including being more likely to be overweight. You also suffer by having poorer brain function than what you could have, and feeling worse about yourself and your life.
However, if you eat healthy foods, you can feel physically good as well as feel fantastic mentally. You can be at your best, feel great about yourself, and live your best life.
For more help to develop a healthy diet, which leads to a better physical body and a happier and more positive mind, join the BoostMyLife Online Program. Don’t miss out on these life changing benefits that can so easily be yours!
James Porter
BoostMyLife Founder
P.S. Get your FREE copy of The Top Ten Mistakes You Must Avoid When Losing Weight
