Better Mental Health Diets Make the Headlines

Fast Company reports on a review of hundreds of diet studies that focuses on how to keep our minds happy.

Here are the keys to the best mental health diets, perhaps the foundation for grocerant menus that will not only satisfy customers but make their post meal shopping trips more enjoyable and more profitable as we know a happy shopper shops slower and spends more.

A Mediterranean diet loaded with vegetables and olive oil provides some protection against depression, anxiety, and elderly cognitive decline. If you can’t swing Mediterranean Fast Company writes, aim for a diet full of fresh fruits, veggies, and grains, which is also associated with higher reported happiness and lower rates of depression. 

Poor diets are associated with worsening mood disorders. The brain is dependent on nutrients, including lipids, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals, as are gut hormones, neurotransmitters, and microbes—so, yes, evidence indicates that bathing your brain and gut in bad food, or too little food, can rock your troubled mood and stress levels into the abyss.

Low B12 causes fatigue, lethargy, depression, and poor memory, and is associated with mania and psychosis. Organ meats, especially liver and kidneys, especially from lamb, are extremely rich in Vitamin B12. Other foods to consider are clams, sardines, beef, fortified breakfast cereals (but read the labels to be sure), tuna, trout, salmon, eggs, milk and dairy products.