The Importance of Mental Health & Tips for Improving | Emily Schromm

October 20, 2017

The importance of mental health often goes unsaid. At some point in our life, most of us have struggled with anxiety, depression, or just not feeling good about ourselves.

How Diet Affects Mental Health

It’s important to realize that what you eat directly impacts your mental health. Our brain operates off the nutrients we absorb from food. Proteins, fats, and good carbohydrates are the premise of our neurotransmitters (the building blocks of our brain). Eating the right nutrients is an important component of mental health. Certain foods can help improve mental health while others can make issues worse, so it’s important to make sure you know how your diet may affect your brain.

Tips for Improving Mental Health

Tip #1: Gut Health- Balancing Serotonin & Dopamine

Serotonin is responsible for our feelings of contentment, well-being, and peace. Dopamine helps regulate emotional responses and contributes to our motivation, pleasure seeking behavior, and attention span.  Balancing these two chemicals is critical for optimal mood and cognitive function. Both serotonin and dopamine are produced in the gut. Therefore, when our gut is in an unhealthy state, our bodies aren’t able to regulate and keep a healthy balance of serotonin and dopamine, which ultimately affects our mental health. Taking measures to heal your gut as well as seal any leaky gut potential can greatly improve mental health. Consuming certain foods and avoiding others contributes to a healthy gut.

Tip #2: Get Rid of Processed Foods

Did you know that processed foods, food dyes, food colors, and artificial flavors can all directly relate to anxiety? The additives, chemicals, and preservatives found in processed foods are shown to negatively affect gut health by throwing off the balance of bacteria and microbes within the gut. If you struggle with anxiety, eliminating processed food can greatly improve anxiety and mental health.

Emily Schromm’ s Transformation Story

Emily Schromm credits her self-transformation and confidence to the food that she eats. Growing up, Emily dealt with a lot of anxiety, self-doubt, and a lack of confidence. When she changed her diet and workouts, it all went away- which was huge for Emily. When you’re trying to perform and put the best version of yourself out there, there’s no room for self-doubt. Mental health is so important for being able to go out there and know that your brain is functioning properly, your memory is sharp, and you’re confident in your abilities.

If you’re dealing with any mental health issue, no matter how big or small, it may be time to start looking at your diet. There are so many benefits, especially when it comes to improving mental health, that follow when you start caring about the food you put into your body.