Medically CitedIn This Article
Overview
Experts agree that what we eat has a significant impact on not only our physical health but also our mental health. Embarking on a commercial diet can provide many health benefits, such as weight loss and an overall healthier body. However, for some, commercial diets produce side effects that are detrimental to their mental health.
Although they are now gaining some momentum, dieting and mental health are surprisingly underdeveloped fields of study. Despite the consensus that certain foods can promote our mental wellbeing, GPs are far from prescribing particular diets to treat patients with mental health issues.
Let’s consider some of the effects diets can have on mental health based on the evidence available.
The Correlation Between Food and Mental Health
The Mental Health Foundation argues there is a strong link between what an individual eats and how they feel.
When it comes to “feel-good” foods or “foods to combat depression,” the internet is littered with examples. The most popular “feel-good foods” include oily fish, avocado, leafy greens, berries, and walnuts. These foods are said to increase brain power and provide the brain with much-needed energy.
Getting the right nutrients to the brain is essential for mental wellbeing. A lack of proper nutrients, such as the correct amount of amino acids, vitamins, minerals, and water, as well as complex carbohydrates, can have a severe impact on a person’s mood and ultimately their mental health.
So, we know that food can have a significant effect on our mental wellbeing. So, what if we embark on a commercial diet. What effects can this have on an individual’s mental health?
Commercial Diets and Food Restriction
Food restrictions are part of any commercial diet. Many diets sell their product on the basis that “you can eat anything” and “nothing is off limits.” Although this might be true, limitations are placed on particular foods. So, in effect, certain foods are off-limits.[1]
One big restriction in most commercial diets is sugar. A recent study found that when an individual consumes large amounts of sugar, the result is the production of dopamine in the brain[2]. Dopamine is a chemical reaction in the brain that occurs when something positive happens. This chemical reaction is associated with pleasure and high spirits. Indeed, dopamine occurs during drug abuse and is thus associated with addiction.
Foods That Affect Mental Health
So, our bodies can become addicted to sugar, and once this removed from the diet, an individual can experience withdrawal symptoms. These can include (but are not limited to) headaches, dizziness, confusion, fatigue, migraines, irritability, anxiety, and low mood. Many people are unable to cope with the symptoms of sugar withdrawal and thus fail at the first stage of their diet.
For those with existing mental health conditions, such as depression, these symptoms can make a person even more depressed and low.
Another common food restriction in commercial diets is carbohydrates. High volumes of carbs can be found in many staple foods, such as bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice. Once an individual reduces their carb intake, similar effects to those experienced from sugar withdrawal can occur.
Although withdrawal symptoms are usually only short-term, they can be too much to bear for some people who give up their diet. Rather than radically reduce or completely exclude sugars and carbs from the diet, a better alternative would be to gradually decrease your daily intake of these food types.
Cutting Out Healthy Foods
Some commercial diets ban or significantly reduce certain foods we deem healthy. For instance, a carb reduced diet seeks to remove fruits from the individual’s diet (except for berries in small quantities).
Eating a variety of colourful fruits and vegetables has long been recommended by experts for our overall physical health. The fruit has many health benefits and is a staple snack for many wishing to lose weight. Removing these from the diet can constitute something or difficulty for those on a low-carb diet as they struggle to find alternative, satisfying, healthy snacks.
Furthermore, a recent study has demonstrated that higher consumption of fruits and vegetables (uncooked) have links to better mental health.Fruits and vegetables are good for the body and the brain. They contain nutrients and minerals that are essential for the body and, importantly, for the brain.
So, as noted above, the brain requires specific nutrients, and if those are not provided, they can have a negative impact on a person’s mental health. And so, removing key nutrients from one’s diet can result in low moods and even depression.
Diet Failure
Negative Effects of Dieting on Mental Health
There are many reasons why individuals abandon commercial diets, and I have outlined food restrictions as merely one example above. When someone “fails” in their diet, e.g., they eat something that is off limits, take a weekend off, or abandon the diet altogether, this can lead to a sense of guilt.
This guilt can have a detrimental effect on our mental health. The sense of failure can be very real.[3] This quite often leads to a person returning to their formerly unhealthy lifestyle and piling on the pounds.
This can then become a cycle. Dieters begin the diet, fall off the wagon, return to their former ways, gain more pounds, and then begin the diet again. Indeed, this is a cycle many dieters are familiar with.
When Dieting Becomes the Sole Focus
Dieting can become a fixation, as a dieter counts every single calorie, a gram of fat, and carb they consume. Food consumption becomes the focal point rather than the end goal. Dieters’ attention can be drawn to the numbers on the scales rather than their overall health and well-being. This obsessive behaviour can lead to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.
Dieting and Pre-Existing Mental Health Conditions
Studies have indicated that those with mental health conditions before the start of their diet can exacerbate those conditions once the diet begins. [ S.A. French and R.W. Jeffrey, Consequences of Dieting to Lose Weight: Effects on mental health and physical health, Health Psychol, (May 1994), p. 205.] For instance, those with anxiety may experience an increase in symptoms.
Also, the low mood that can result from food restrictions can increase symptoms of depression. However, the introduction of certain foods into a particular diet may, on the other hand, improve mental health (e.g., fruits and vegetables).
Impact of Healthy Eating on Mental Health
Lifestyle Changes
Rather than embarking on a commercial diet, or a succession of diets, to lose weight and improve overall fitness, lifestyle changes are the key. Diets are often quick fixes rather than long term solutions. Quite often, a dieter loses a significant amount of weight in the initial stages of a diet. Diets, however, are hard to maintain in the long term, and thus the individual is at high risk of putting weight back on when they leave the diet. or yo-yo dieting!
If you want to lose weight and improve your health, get back to the basics! To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. It’s that simple! According to advice from the NHS, this often means making changes to the way we eat and getting more exercise.
Exercise is greatly beneficial to overall health and mental wellbeing. Rather than perceiving weight loss as a sprint, we ought to consider it a marathon.
By making lifestyle changes, we can shed the pounds and keep them off. By staying away from consumer “quick fix” diets that restrict the intake of certain types of foods or remove them from the diet altogether, we reduce the risk of side effects. Side effects can have a negative impact not only on our physical wellbeing but also on our mental health.
3 Sources
We review published medical research in respected scientific journals to arrive at our conclusions about a product or health topic. This ensures the highest standard of scientific accuracy.
[2] Sugar Intake : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4814119/
[3] Effect on our mental health : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7468813/
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