What is
Nutritional Psychology?
Can the foods we eat affect both our physical and mental health?
Nutritional psychology is the area of research which aims to better understand the relationships between nutrients, dietary intakes and patterns, and our mental health
It is today becoming increasingly recognised that the foods we eat, our lifestyle and even how we think, affect not only our physical health but also our mental and emotional wellbeing. Nutritional psychology is a growing area of research where the aim is to better understand the relationship between nutrients, dietary intakes and patterns, and our mental health.
Because of the growing research in nutritional psychology, we today have a better understanding of how nutrient intakes and eating patterns can affect brain function, both directly and indirectly. Our body is wonderfully complex and although there is still a lot to learn and research, when you look at the bigger picture, a link between nutrition and mental health often seem natural. The nutrients from the foods we eat help build our bodies and affect bodily reactions and mechanisms. Therefore what we eat (or don’t eat), can impact functions which influence our brain and it's structure, and as a consequence, our thinking and emotional life. However, it is not only what we eat that play a role - how we eat, when, and in what environment, as well as our genetics, are all other important factors.
It is today widely known and accepted that eating nutritious food is beneficial for our overall health. However, eating habits and behaviours are often taught early on in life and in reality, changing how and what we eat can be very hard. Nutrition education, personalised evidence-based nutrition advice, lifestyle tools and coaching can be used to help support behaviour change and working together with a registered, qualified professional is important when looking to support long-lasting positive changes to both physical and mental health.
If you feel you want to improve your wellbeing, but don’t know where to start, then I would love to help you. Book your free call below to find out more about how we can work together.