How Nutrition Supports Mental Health (More Than Most People Realise)

From neurotransmitters to the gut-brain axis, mental health relies on nutritional support too. 

Why is no one talking about how nutrition supports your mental health?

We talk more openly than ever about stress, anxiety, burnout and emotional wellbeing.

But very few conversations explore whether the brain and nervous system have the nutritional building blocks they need to cope in the first place.

The NHS website lists 5 steps to mental wellness:

1. Connect with other people

2. Be physically active 

3. Learn new skills 

4. Give to others 

5. Pay attention to the present moment (Mindfulness)

Yes, these are all helpful, but NONE of these mention the importance of good nutrition to support your emotional and mental health.

What you eat and drink has a HUGE impact on your mental wellbeing, I see this time after time in my client work.

Here are my 3 nutrition steps for good mental health:

Protein :

Protein gets broken down into amino acids, some of which are needed to make neurotransmitters - our happy hormones and cognitive chemicals.

Tyrosine is needed to make dopamine, and tryptophan to make serotonin. And the richest sources of these amino acids are animal products.

That’s not to say you need to start eating meat if you’re currently excluding it from your diet, but you do need to be mindful of getting sufficient levels from a plant-based diet.

And if you are eating animal products, good digestion is key to stimulate the digestive juices and enzymes to break down the protein into amino acids.

Key Nutrients for Neurotransmitter Production

The big three are magnesium, Vitamin B6 and Zinc all of which are needed to make serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, our “off switch”.

Getting sufficient magnesium from the diet may be difficult as soil levels have been reduced from decades of over-farming.

What’s more, both magnesium and B vitamins are quickly depleted during chronic stress which also impacts mental health. 

Supplementation might be helpful here - magnesium glycinate is my go-to form.

Supporting your gut-brain axis

Your gut and your brain are constantly communicating via the gut-brain axis, and your gut microbes are running the show - 80% of the communication is from gut to the brain.

So it’s crucial to support your friendly gut bacteria, and fortunately it's relatively straightforward.

It's all about plants and eating the rainbow -  not just fruit and vegetables but also nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, beans, pulses and legumes - anything that grows out of the ground.

These provide your gut microbes with lots of lovely fibre and polyphenols (plant chemicals) that help them produce: 

• 90% of your serotonin

• 50% of your dopamine

• Up to 30% of your GABA

Blood sugar balance and optimal thyroid function are also vital for good mental health. You can read more About these areas here and here.

Are you getting enough?

Organic acid testing can be useful to understand which nutrients you might be low or deficient in, if you’re getting enough protein, and what amino acids might be sub-optimal.

And Nutrigenomics testing that looks at the serotonin, dopamine and GABA pathways can provide truly personalised insight into how your genetic blueprint may be impacting your neurotransmitter production, transport and clearance - all of which can impact your mental health.

If you'd like some help supporting your mental health and/or are interested in functional test, book a discovery call and let's have an informal, no-obligation chat.

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The content on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.