What you eat can have a huge effect on your mind.
Even though we don’t always act like it in the US, we all know that what you eat hugely affects the way your body functions. This is especially true of your brain, since food is your body’s number one source of nutrients. It has been hammered into our heads that fruits and vegetables are good for us, but new research shows that there are benefits to eating raw fruits and veggies over their canned counterparts, when it comes to mental health.
The study, conducted by the University of Otago in New Zealand aimed to see if how you consume your fruits and vegetables is as important as what you actually consume. 422 participants between the ages of 18-25 were surveyed based on their consumption of fruits and vegetables (raw, cooked, and canned). Lifestyle factors that could affect mental health, such as exercise, sleep, diet, health conditions, ethnic history and gender were also taken into account.
The study found that people who ate raw fruit and vegetables had fewer symptoms of depression, a more positive mood, and more life satisfaction than those who consumed canned foods. The thought process behind this is that cooking and processing fruit and vegetables diminishes the nutrient levels.
Frozen fruits and vegetables are flash frozen at the peak of freshness, so the nutrient levels are maintained.
READ MORE: How Much Vitamin C Do You Really Need?
If you’re looking to add more raw fruits and veggies to your diet, these eight choices are well known to promote mental health, so work them into your diet ASAP!
Spinach
Carrots
Bananas
Apples
Grapefruit
Lettuce
Citrus fruit
Fresh Berries
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Thanks for sharing… I really believe in the importance of food in fighting illness, and I have personally added quinoa to my diet when I needed a natural supplement to boost my steroid levels (it was for a disease called menier’s) it actually helped a lot … I also used flax seeds and banana shakes at the time which helped with my depression 🙂