In this excellent article on the Harvard Health Blog, Dr. Eva Selhub discusses the burgeoning field of nutritional psychiatry, where new studies are constantly finding links between diet and mental wellness. She encourages her patients to try the following technique:
Start paying attention to how eating different foods makes you feel — not just in the moment, but the next day. Try eating a “clean” diet for two to three weeks — that means cutting out all processed foods and sugar. Add fermented foods like kimchi, miso, sauerkraut, pickles, or kombucha. You also might want to try going dairy-free — and some people even feel that they feel better when their diets are grain-free. See how you feel. Then slowly introduce foods back into your diet, one by one, and see how you feel.
Have you made any changes to your diet to support your self-care strategy? What did you try? How well did it work for you?