5 Minute Therapies #2: Diet & Nutrition

Welcome to the second article in our series of 5 Minute Therapies, designed to give you a starting point in managing your mental health through 2022.

Now, we have to be clear from the start, we are not nutritionists so you will not find specific dietary advice here. It would be completely unethical for us to offer you this kind of advice & guidance so if that’s what you feel you need, I would encourage you to find a local accredited nutritionist who can offer you professional advice or consult your Doctor.

You can search for registered and accredited nutritionists at http://www.indi.ie in Ireland or http://www.associationfornutrition.org in the UK. If you’re elsewhere in the world, a little research online should point you in the right direction.

Neither will this be a lecture on weight & shape. We are simply focusing on the link between diet & nutrition, & mental health.

Remember from our first article that we are using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to model some of our mental functioning. The model suggests that we need to fulfil our more basic needs before our higher order needs can really be met. In other words, and as far as this episode is concerned, if we are not attending to our nutritional needs well then how can we seriously expect our overall functioning to be as good as it can be?

So what can we offer in terms of diet & nutritional advice with respect to our mental health?

Well, the first thing I often ask clients to do is to keep a food diary. Simply because recording information about what you eat & drink, how much, when & where can provide some really great insights into how our diet & mental health influence each other.

Another potential bonus is that should you ever decide to consult your Doctor or a Nutritionist on your diet then you have a body of information to present them with which will be a great head start.

You don’t have to laboriously record everything but if you get the basics right a lot can be learned. So what could you record?

Once we have some data recorded in our food diary we can start exploring that information for to gain insights into why we eat & drink the way we do & when do. If you are not sure where to start with scrutinising your information, keep it simple. Start with the What, Where, When, Why & How:

What: What patterns or common themes you can identify in your diary? For example, maybe you notice that if you skip breakfast, those are the days you find yourself reaching for more snacks; Or maybe you notice that on certain days you find yourself reaching for snacks or a glass of wine late in the evening. Do you drink alcohol & if so how much alcohol are you consuming?

Where: How does the environment you are in effect your eating habits? For example, how does eating during the working day differ from days when you don’t work?

When: When are you eating & drinking? This is about the timing and the events & circumstances you find yourself in around times of consumption.

Why: When you start to notice patterns or common themes, like the late night snacking on certain days, ask why then? For example, maybe you are feeling bored or lonely at certain times which could be influencing your dietary habits.

How: Finally, how are you eating. Are you eating mindlessly, wolfing down your food as quickly as possible; Perhaps you stop to savour every bite.. Perhaps you find it hard to eat a meal without a glass of wine. Do you eat in front of the TV are at a table? Again, ask why is that?

What Next? Well, there are some surprisingly simple strategies to help here: I like to use the PASS model..

Plan: Develop a meal plan that includes regular meal times and a well balanced diet. There is room for flexibility but try to stick to the plan as much as possible. As a bonus, your meal plan will not only help you manage your diet but should also help you plan your shopping, saving you money & generating less waste.

Analysis: Analyse the information you have recorded and see if you can notice any problem areas, commonly occurring issues and then..

Strategise: Consider what you can do to mitigate the problem areas. For example, if you find yourself reaching for the snacks late at night, you might look at what those snacks are and look for healthier alternatives; You might also look at what is it about those times and consider what can be done to change those circumstances.

Succeed: It might sound like a silly suggestion but think about what effects a successful diet & nutritional plan will create. These are goals to work towards and you can use your vision to develop a set of SMART goals: Goals which are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Timebound – You can find more on using SMART goals here: https://broadmindstherapy.org/2020/12/28/delivering-hopes-dreams/ but there will also be more on goal setting later in the series. This will also help you break the overall goal down into steps & milestones which signpost your way to succeeding. But also consider what happens once you’ve succeeded – What can you do to make sure you don’t slip back into old bad habits?

If you would like to talk about mental health issues, whether it be for yourself or someone you know feel free to contact BroadMinds Therapy for help & advice. Call (+353) 0899420568, email help@broadmindstherapy.org , message us via this website, or visit our facebook page http://www.facebook,com/jpbroad for more information.

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Thanks for taking the time to read this article.