We’ve all had those days when we feel down and don’t know why. More often than you might think, it’s due to your diet. Eating well, especially with organic food, can help improve your mental wellness and overall well-being. Read on to learn how and why eating organic can improve your state of mind.
#1. Mindful Eating
Switching to organic food is a form of mindful eating. It forces you to think about what you’re putting into your body. And when you start thinking about what you’re eating, you naturally start eating better. Comfort food has a way of making you crave more of it, but when you’re deliberate about what you put into your body, it becomes easier to say no to unhealthy cravings.
Scientists have known about the link between diet and mental health for almost a century. Eating organic food not only nourishes your body but also gives your brain the tools it needs to help you feel better.
#2. Supporting Your Community
When it comes to healthy eating and mental wellness, consider two facts. First, when you help others, you also help yourself. And second, when you get organic food from your local farmers’ market (one of the best places for quality organic produce) you’re helping others by supporting your community.
Though there are many benefits to eating locally, knowing that you’re supporting farmers in your local community is one of the best. Shopping at a chain grocery store can be a soul-killing experience, but shopping for fresh foods from a small company that genuinely appreciates your business is wholesome and satisfying. There’s no comparison.
#3. Growing Your Own Food
A great way to support your mental wellness is to take care of something else that’s alive—like plants in your home. There’s no better way of knowing that the food you’re eating is organic than by growing it yourself!
It’s true that organic food can be more expensive when you buy it at the store. But there are ways to cut down on that cost. And with time, care, and a little love, you can grow some of your own from plants that will quickly pay for themselves in the form of beautiful, flavorful, organic food. There’s no better feeling than eating a meal you’ve made from scratch, in the fullest sense of the word!
#4. Being Present
When you can’t grow your own organic food or get it from farmers’ markets, it’s fair to admit that organic does cost more money at the grocery store. But it’s still a worthwhile investment—especially if you’re committed to your mental wellness. We tend to place a higher value on the things we spend more money on, and that includes food. By spending more on organic food, you are forced to be more mindful of what you eat.
Selecting, preparing, and consuming holistic food is all about paying attention to every aspect of it and maximizing how it smells, tastes, and feels. It is time spent enjoying your meal rather than thinking about the past or worrying about the future. Begin present is always better for mental wellness.
#5. Looking Better
Let’s call a spade a spade: when we feel better, we look better, and vice versa. Eating organic food helps you eliminate toxic chemicals even as it adds important nutrients that feed your skin and organs. Yes, you can minimize breakouts and get the nutrients you need to glow from the inside! (You can even use whole foods in beauty treatments. There are countless ways to take advantage of the link between organic food and beauty.)
On top of all of the other mental wellness benefits of eating organic food, you also feel better about yourself, which will inevitably shine through in your looks. The inner glow comes from both body and personality, so get those good foods into your diet.
There are so many benefits to eating organic food, but none have as much of an impact as the way it aids your mental well-being. Start by switching to all organic today, and you’ll see how quickly and intensely your outlook—along with your environment and physical health—will change for the better.
Images from Unsplash/@ellaolsson (main), @simonrae (post).
