Food is not just about nutrition and fuel.  It provides pleasure and enjoyment, balance, and also has social aspects such as eating out for celebrations and eating as a family.

We all know which foods are better choices from an overall nutrition perspective.  However, it is important to remember that some foods may not be the best choice nutritionally but are providing other benefits in our diet such as pleasure and enjoyment.  I believe that we should follow a diet that is balanced and in moderation.  Allowing ourselves to eat those foods that bring us enjoyment beyond any nutritional benefit is fine as long as it doesn’t become all we eat.  The 80:20 rule is a good way to look at your food choices i.e.  80% of the time you eat foods that are nutrient rich and balanced and 20% of the time you can have the food that you may class as ‘treats’ such as chocolate, cake.  It about eating those foods that are less nutritionally beneficially mindfully and in moderation.

Can what we eat affect our mood?

Yes – however, it’s not necessarily about labelling foods that are ‘good’ and foods that are ‘bad’, but more about understanding how our overall food intake may influence our mood.

Improving your diet may help to:

• Improve your mood
• Give you more energy
• Help you think more clearly

What is the best diet for food and mood?

There is not one set diet for food and mood but looking at the overall pattern of our food choices, eating pattern and the variety of food in the diet.

Here are some key points and tips to improve your diet to help give you more energy and improve your mood.

1. Eating regularly – eating regular meals throughout the day and choosing foods that release energy slowly and gradually which help to keep your blood sugar levels steady.  Keeping your blood sugar levels steady helps to prevent you from feeling tired, irritable and low in mood.  Choosing foods such as wholegrain breads and cereals, pasta, rice, oats and nuts and seeds.
2. Staying hydrated – It is advised that we aim for 6-8 glasses of fluid per day.  These don’t necessarily need to be water, but tea, coffee, juices and smoothies all count.  However, I would suggest you avoid sugary drinks to prevent them negatively impacting upon your blood sugar levels.
3. Manage your caffeine intake – caffeine is a stimulant which can make you feel anxious & disturb your sleep.  Caffeine is found in tea, coffee, chocolate and cola drinks.  It is important to watch the number of caffeinated drinks and potentially limit the number you have throughout the day or switch to decaffeinated drinks, particularly if this is the main source of your fluid intake.  Watch out for caffeine withdrawal if your stop suddenly.
4. Diet variety particularly fruit & veg, oily fish & nuts (source of omega 3 & 6 fatty acids for brain health).  Getting your 5 a day of fruits and vegetables helps to ensure you that you get mix of all vitamins, minerals and fibre that help to keep us healthy.    Oily fish and nuts are an excellent source of fatty acids, particularly, Omega 3 and Omega 6, which are important for brain health.  Sources of Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids are oily fish (examples includes salmon, mackerel and trout), nuts (particularly walnuts and almonds), avocados and eggs

Should I take a vitamin and mineral supplement?

If you are eating a variety of different nutrient rich foods, your body should be receiving adequate amounts of vitamins and minerals therefore you do not need to take a nutritional supplement unless you have been advised by a healthcare professional.  However, if you don’t eat enough nutrient rich foods, it is important to try to incorporate more of the foods into your diet so that you become deficient.  Nutritional deficiencies can impact on your energy, mood and brain function.  The following vitamins and minerals have been shown to have a relationship with our energy, mood and brain function.

1. Iron – low intake is associated with anaemia – low energy which can impact upon mood.  Iron food sources include red meat, beans and pulses and fortified cereals.
2. B vitamins – low intake is associated with tiredness and fatigue – food sources include wholegrain cereals and animal protein foods
3. Folate – important in older people – food sources include liver, green vegetables, beans and fortified foods
4. Selenium – low levels can increase feelings of depression or other negative mood states – foods include brazil nuts, meat, fish, seeds and wholemeal bread

Summary

The way food makes us feel isn’t purely about the nutrition content of the food but also the experience from eating that food such as for pleasure or comfort or for social reasons.  However, it is important that our diet contain a wide variety of different nutrient rich foods that support our bodies to keep us healthy.  Nutrient rich foods include fruits and vegetables, wholegrain cereals, oily fish and protein food sources.

Looking for help with your diet?

If you want help or guidance on improving your diet and food choices to achieve a healthy diet, please feel free to contact me for a FREE 15 minute discovery call.

Have you ever wondered why you can’t make the dietary changes that you set yourself stick? Are you not able to create new habits that are long lasting? Do you find it difficult to make a long lasting change to your diet?

If you answered YES to all these questions and are thinking “this is me, why?”, I’m here to help explain why sometimes making changes to our diet can prove easier said than done.

Change comes about because we have chosen to make a change and are motivated to make it happen. More often that not, we believe we SHOULD make changes rather than WANTING too. This can lead to changes that are short lived or fail after a few weeks.

With regards to our diets, we are all aware of habits and food choices that are beneficial to health. Somehow though, implementing these habits and food choices into our diets can be difficult. One reason for this can be put down to behaviour change and where we are in the cycle of change.

What is behaviour change?

Behaviour change can be simply described as a 5 step cycle:

We can simply define each stage as the following:

Pre-contemplation: at the this stage there is no intention to change behaviour in the foreseeable future

Contemplation: aware that a problem exists but have not committed to taking action yet

Preparation: information gathering and planning stage

Action: modification of behaviour to overcome problems

Maintenance: prevention of relapse

Depending where you are on this cycle will determine the action you will or will not take to make change.

The action stage will arise when you are ready to commit to active modification of behaviour to achieve the desired change. In a weight loss example, the action stage may arise as a result of active engagement with a dietitian and setting clear, defined and agreed goals to deliver the change. The difference here to making changes when you are in the pre-contemplation stage are that you are MOTIVATED to make the change and are driving the change rather than being instructed by someone else.

Relapse can occur during any stage of the behaviour change cycle and it is important that the cause of the relapse is identified so that the commitment to change can be re-established.

Motivation to change arises when you know what problems are caused by a particular behaviour and you are concerned about these problems. In addition to this, self esteem and competence are also important to allow change to happen.

How do dietitians use behaviour change techniques in their practice?

The role of the dietitian is to translate scientific and medical knowledge relating to food and health into everyday language by educating and giving practical, personalised advice to clients, patients, carers and colleagues. Nutrition education does not focus purely on what change to make but how to help people make behavioural changes.

Dietitians use behaviour change techniques in their practice to support individuals under their care to make the necessary and desired changes beneficial to health. As healthcare professionals understanding the importance of behaviour change and being able to identify where a person is in the cycle of change is so beneficial to providing patient centred care and supporting dietary change. Success of dietary changes is the result of the dietitian and patient working together to identify the reason for change, the motivation for change and to agree realistic goals that can result in behaviour change. However, the behaviour change journey does not end here. Following the action stage it is important that the maintenance stage is not overlooked. The maintenance stage is taking into account how the behaviour change will be sustained.

Setting behavioural goals is key to achieving a successful outcome. This is where the dietitian and client will work in collaboration to set SMART goals. The acronym SMART is defined as:

Specific e.g. I will reduce the amount of sugar I take in my hot drinks

Measurable e.g. I will reduced the number of sugars in my hot drinks from 1 to none

Achievable. Setting realistic and achievable goals is key to success and this may mean a gradual approach e.g. reduce the number of sugars in hot drinks gradually to allow for the adjustment to taste

Relevant to the goal of treatment i.e. I want to reduce my sugar intake as I’m pre-diabetic

Time specific i.e. defining and agreeing a time frame for the goal

Several behaviour change goals may be set depending on the overall goal of nutritional treatment. These smaller, specific goals can help with motivation and personal sense of achievement.

What next?

If you have decided you want to make some dietary changes and want the support of a dietitian, I offer 1-1 online video consultations. Please contact me here to arrange a free 15 minute call to discuss how I could help you.