God’s Medicine
God wants us to live abundant lives. However, there are many factors that affect our ability to live life abundantly and according to His will, and a major one is the state of our mental health.
It’s not always about a diagnosis
Let’s lay the basic foundation on the table. What do we mean by mental health? The broad clinical definition of mental health is our psychological, emotional, and social well being. It is simply how we think, feel, and act. The state of our mental health determines how we live our lives behind closed doors, seen or unseen, and how we present ourselves to the world around us. It determines how we treat ourselves, how we handle stress, conflict, adversity, joy, love, success, and ultimately how we choose to communicate with and treat other people. Ideally, most of us would like to be in good mental health, all of the time, right? Right. Well, unfortunately, that is not the case for many people. However, it doesn’t mean there is no hope and that it is out of our hands, except of course for those with extenuating circumstances. We sometimes have more control over our mental health than we think. How so, you ask? Well, the answer is food.
What does food have to do with it?
When we think about poor mental health and its underlying causes, we tend to immediately think of abuse, trauma, addiction, or genetics. Yes, those are all big contributors, but there is another heavy hitter that is often forgotten about or neglected – nutrition. What we put into our body plays a very significant role when it comes to our mental health. Nutrition as a factor is often overlooked either because we are not educated on how much of an impact it has or because we simply refuse to hold ourselves accountable for what we are consuming. Let’s take this time as an opportunity to open our eyes, learn something new, and make better choices that will positively affect our mental health. We’ll start with the big picture and then dig into the nitty gritty.
Let’s first observe the contributing factors that lead to our consumption habits. The majority of us don’t actually put much thought into what we eat. We shop, cook, and order the same food, day in and day out, out of habit. Many of our thoughts, feelings, and actions regarding our food choices are often dictated by our family history and social interactions. How and what we eat growing up is often carried on to how we feed ourselves and our families. Our food history influences how large or small our meals are, what our comfort foods are, how we season our food, etc. This history often gets in the way of seeking knowledge and change in our dietary habits. So, let’s ask ourselves another question. How will it benefit our mental health to shift from highly processed foods to God grown, natural foods? Well, by acquiring the knowledge and making the change!
“You are what you eat” is so cliche!
Our physical, mental, and emotional health are all very strongly impacted by what we eat and drink. Let’s start with a little science. Our “gut” as we like to call our intestines, is made up of billions of bacteria. To keep the science easily digestible, we’ll split these bacteria into two categories: "good" and “bad”. The “good” bacteria help promote a healthy immune system and make sure that we absorb nutrients from our food. The “bad” bacteria promote disease and cause inflammation and oxidative stress in our bodies.
When we consume nutrient rich foods, containing the micronutrients that the “good” bacteria need to flourish, we help keep the “bad” bacteria in check and limit their ability to proliferate and cause inflammation. This also allows our bodies to properly regulate our hormones and to continue activating healthy neural pathways traveling directly between the gut and the brain.
When we are bloated, gassy, constipated, nauseous, cramping, or tired, we are displaying symptoms of inflammation and or acidosis in our intestines. These symptoms are oftentimes effects of consuming food that our bodies disagree with (i.e. allergies, intolerances, toxicities). In other cases, they are underlying causes or effects of disordered eating (i.e. overeating or undereating).
We’re just being hormonal! Everyone eats their feelings sometimes, right?
The production and release of most of our hormones is dependent on what, when, and how much we eat. For example: Mood influencing hormones like serotonin are highly influenced by the “good bacteria” and level of inflammation in our gut. Additionally, cortisol, the “stress” hormone, is an appetite stimulant that is also influenced by the level of inflammation in our bodies. Many of our hormones work together and are interdependent of each other. How much we produce can change drastically by eating something we are allergic to, highly processed foods, eating too much or not enough.
When we are moody, anxious, stressed, or irritated, we can recognize that our hormones are dysfunctional or imbalanced increasing our susceptibility to mood disorders. Additionally, when our hormones are not properly regulated, it can contribute to symptoms like unwanted weight gain or loss, excessive hair production or loss, and preventable, lifestyle-based chronic diseases (i.e. heart disease, type 2 diabetes).
What’s going on in our heads?
Our brain needs vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to function properly. These are obtained from high-quality, low-processed foods. They protect our brain from oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, which are caused by refined sugars, saturated fats, artificial flavors, gmo’s, and pesticides/insecticides, found in low-quality, highly-processed foods. When we feel groggy, forgetful, and confused we may be experiencing symptoms of inflammation. Our brains are telling us that the food we are consuming is not providing us with the nutrients that we need to function at our best. Compromised brain function due to nutrient deficiencies can lead to general symptoms like self doubt and lack of confidence or more specific symptoms found in those with anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer’s. This is why a healthy diet is so important.
Let’s bring it back full circle.
Food choices that negatively affect our gut health, can lead to symptoms and eating habits that disrupt our hormonal and brain function. As a result, we experience physiological symptoms that can have an acute or chronic impact on our physical and mental health.
The better quality food we eat and drink, the greater our intestinal health. Our gut health aids in protecting us from harmful toxins and inflammation, promoting healthy cellular growth and proper hormonal function. This allows for healthy neural pathways between the gut and the brain, positively affecting our nervous system and facilitating healthy brain function. Moreover, it overall decreases the opportunity for declining cognitive function and mental health, thus allowing us to continue making better choices.
Why would it benefit you to make a change?
You always have a choice. The best one for you may not be the easiest or the most socially accepted - and that is okay. Make the hard choice anyway —one meal at a time. Your mental and overall health depends on it.
What steps can you take today?
Properly fuel your brain. Choose more whole and nutrient dense foods over those that are processed and calorically dense. Feed your hormones, not your feelings. Comfort food may taste good and make you feel better in the moment, but if it’s harming your body it’s probably harming your mental health.
You are what you eat, so eat what you want to be. While shopping, fill your cart 80% from the perimeter of the store, 20% from the aisles. A good rule of thumb: fewer ingredients on the label is better.
Lastly, choose God’s medicine first —He made food medicinal and healing for a reason. Processed man-made ingredients are slowly killing us, one mental disorder and chronic disease at a time. But we are not powerless. Every time we put something in our mouths we have the opportunity to hurt or heal ourselves.
Shakira Carter is a yoga teacher and holistic health and wellness coach as well as owner of Aligned in Light in Chicago, IL. She utilizes an integrative and somatic-based approach to educate her clients and facilitate sustainable change for improved physical, mental, and emotional health. https://alignedinlight.com/
