7 Wonderful Nutrients to Ironclad Your Mental Health

I hear you, I hear you…All this advice on what’s best for your health is too much! Overwhelming, confusing, contradictory…But there is a simple formula to follow. Simply consume the seven most important nutrients for better mental and physical health.

If you want to protect your mental health without getting tangled in information overload and analysis paralysis, incorporate the seven most important basic nutrients in your daily intake.

The best way is to consume these magnificent seven as food. But this is not always possible, so make sure to stock up on quality supplements that will stand you in good stead in times of need.

The Most Important Nutrients For Your Mental Health And Where You’ll Find Them

Not only can food help with your physical health, but your mental health as well!

This is really important to remember, as you can change your diet in order to get more medicinal benefits from the foods you eat.

Here are some foods that are excellent choices when it comes to your mood and mental health.

Vitamin C Makes You Feel Happier

Vitamin C is sometimes also referred to as ascorbic acid. It helps with many different physical ailments, and it can even help to improve your mood.

How Vitamin C Helps

Vitamin C is an essential element that your body needs to make these neurotransmitters.

So, when you consume more Vitamin C from the foods you eat, your body will make more of the mood-stabilizing neurotransmitters, which will make you feel better and happier.

Foods with Vitamin C

Vitamin C can be found in a wide variety of foods. If you are looking to consume more Vitamin C, oranges, lemons, broccoli, bell peppers, and strawberries would be an excellent choice.

Vitamin B6 Boosts Your Mood

Vitamin B6 is in the B Vitamin family. This vitamin is often recommended to promote overall health.

Some think that Vitamin B6 may be able to help treat chronic diseases too. Foods rich in Vitamin B6 can also help boost your mood.

How Vitamin B6 Helps

Vitamin B6 can help your body increase its uptake of serotonin, which is what many anti-depressant drugs work to do.

When you eat plenty of foods with Vitamin B6, it helps your body make neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, which makes you feel better.

Conversely, if you don’t consume enough Vitamin B6-rich foods, it can lead to depression.

Foods with Vitamin B6

Vegetables such as spinach, carrots, and sweet potatoes are all great sources of Vitamin B6.

You can also get good amounts of Vitamin B6 when you eat bananas, green peas, and lentils.

Keeping Young Mind with Vitamin D

Vitamin D is another component that wards off anxiety and depression. It also helps absorb calcium and phosphate in the body.

It’s a very good friend to have if you want to manage age-related changes. The body creates Vitamin D when in direct interaction with sunlight. In the winter months, the lack of sunlight can cause deficiency.

How Vitamin D Helps

Calcium and phosphates are important nutrients for maintaining healthy and strong bones, teeth, and muscles.

Severe deficiency of Vitamin D can increase the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and even some types of cancer.

Foods with Vitamin D

To ensure you’re not lacking in this important vitamin, eat oily fish (salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines), egg yolks, liver, and red meat (in small amounts).

Vitamin D is also in some breakfast cereals. So if you do eat cereals, make sure this vitamin is on the list of ingredients. It’s a good idea to have a dietary supplement at hand too.

Staying Positive with Zinc

Zinc is a nutrient that our bodies need to perform many vital tasks.

Our bodies do not produce our own zinc, so we need to consume food that has it to provide a supply to our body.

How Zinc Helps

Studies about depression find that people who are depressed often have very low levels of zinc in their systems.

When your body doesn’t have enough zinc, it can also cause you to display symptoms related to ADHD, learning or memory issues, as well as violence or aggression.

So, it is pretty clear that you will want to consume foods that have higher levels of zinc in order to avoid these negative issues and help yourself develop a positive mood.

Foods with Zinc

You can find high levels of zinc in foods such as whole grains, seeds, nuts, and legumes.

If you are looking to improve your mood or your outlook on life, there are numerous foods you can choose from.

These mood-boosting foods contain essential vitamins and minerals that are linked with lower levels of depression, higher levels of mental functioning, and a general sense of well-being.

Calcium For Stress-Relief

Calcium is crucial for your body as you age.

As you grow older, calcium reserves start depleting.

If you don’t supply your body with enough calcium, it starts taking the nutrient from your bones, rendering them fragile and prone to fractures.

How Calcium Helps

Calcium supports many important functions in your body, such as proper muscle contractions, which is vital for keeping that big heart of yours pumping as it should. It prevents blood clotting.

Your bones and teeth also depend heavily on the calcium supply. But it may surprise to learn that calcium is also important in regulating your mood. As a natural sedative, it promotes relaxation, stress relief, and pain relief.

Foods with Calcium

To prevent osteoporosis, avoid unnecessary injuries and keep your heart healthy, eat dairy foods milk, cheese, yogurt), green leafy vegetables (broccoli, kale, collard), fish with bones (sardines, salmon), soybeans or baked beans, oranges, and any healthy foods with added calcium (fortified bread, yogurt drinks, oatmeal, nut milk).

Magnesium For Relaxation

Magnesium is another important mineral that supports multiple vital functions in your body.

Again, as with other minerals, if you do not get enough of it through the diet, you are can face a range of health complications.

How Magnesium Helps

Magnesium is one of your greatest allies in preventing and treating chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or diabetes, as well as heart conditions and migraines.

Along with calcium, it has an important role in maintaining your bone strength. Significantly for you, research shows that magnesium lowers the risk of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

One study also suggested that low magnesium levels may be linked to anxiety and depression, loss of IQ, addiction, and mood disorders.

Foods with Magnesium

If you want to keep your bones strong and any chronic ailments at bay, you’ll want to increase your magnesium intake.

The best sources are whole wheat bread, nuts and nut butter (almonds, peanuts, cashews), spinach, beans (black, edamame, kidney), avocado, potatoes with skin, brown rice, soy milk, yogurt, bananas, oatmeal, and fortified cereals.

Omega 3 To Ease Depression

Omega 3 fatty acids have many great health benefits for your body and brain. Their capacity to protect and maintain the cells means that they are very powerful in helping to prevent both physical illnesses and mental disorders.

But they are not something your body can produce on its own. It needs a little help in the form of diet and dietary supplements.

How Omega 3 Helps

Omega 3s can prevent age-related cognitive decline and heart disease, alleviate depression and anxiety, fight inflammation, promote eye health, and improve skin, just to name a few. They can also combat obesity.

Foods with Omega 3

The best source of Omega 3s is fish (mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines, anchovies) but also more fancy oysters and caviar.

You can get your daily serving of omega goodness in the form of chia seeds and flaxseed, as well as walnuts and soybeans.

And, of course, the classic cod liver oil which also contains Vitamin D and Vitamin A.

Nutrients Impact Your Mental Health But Aim For Balance

At the end of the day, what you choose to fuel your body with is entirely up to you. Nobody is perfect and going to get all the best nutrients to nourish their body 100% of the time. What you want to aim for is balance.

Balance in the vitamins and minerals you consume, and balance with the maybe not-so-healthy foods that make you happy and that you enjoy eating.

If you can enrich your diet throughout the week with these essential nutrients, your body and mind will notice a difference. To maintain optimal mental health make sure that you incorporate some of these nutrients in your daily or at least weekly diet plan.

@Feature Photo by Motoki Tonn on Unsplash

Disclaimer:

This article was written by Zuzana Halliwell. I am not a doctor or health professional and cannot be held liable for the information written here. This article is meant to provide information about benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The content is based on my own personal experience and on information provided by medical professionals that is available to public. It is not intended to provide medical advice. Do not use it as an alternative to seeking help from a medical professional.