What you eat changes how you feel. These foods are the best for your brain.
Active people tend to overthink what food is
doing for their body—Is keto good for endurance? What’s the perfect
post-training macro spread? Butter or no butter in my coffee?—but
underthink what it’s doing for their mind. Yet you’ve probably noticed
that what you eat impacts what’s going on upstairs. We’ve all devoured a
cheat meal and afterward felt off, not just physically but also
mentally and emotionally. And new research suggests that the connection
between diet and mental well-being is a little more nuanced than
scientists once thought.
Earlier studies
suggest what you might expect: eating junk isn’t great for your brain.
People who consume plenty of fruit, vegetables, and fish seem to be less
at risk of depression compared to those who favor fatty meats,
processed carbs, and sweets. But emerging research shows that even among
healthy diets, some might be better for mental health than others. In a
recent review published in Molecular Psychology,
researchers analyzed 41 studies that sought to quantify the impact of
various diets on clinical depression. The analysis accounted for a
variety of eating plans including the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet, and the Healthy Eating Index.