Dietitian and Founder of Eatwell Sarah Keogh weighs in on how food can contribute to our stress levels, but not necessarily cause it.

We know that what we eat has a major impact on our physical health, but there is growing evidence that diet can also influence our mood, our ability to cope with stress and our overall mental well-being.

Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show with Ciara Doherty, dietitian and founder of Eatwell, Sarah Keogh, explained how the foods themselves don't actually cause stress, but by comfort eating certain foods, we're then lacking in nutrients that would help with stress.

She explained: "So, life happens, you're stressed. Often then we lean into comfort foods, which is Okay to do, but we might not eat the fruit and veg, we're not eating the fish, we're not getting the vitamin D, all of those things that [we] need.

"And then that makes the original situation worse. But also if you're just someone who never puts the nutrients in your body needs, we see that causing the anxiety and depression. So it comes from both angles with it."

So what exactly is happening in our bodies when we're only eating our comfort foods and ignoring the ones that might actually help our stress levels better?

Sarah continued: "There aren't foods that are causing you stress. Sometimes people jump on something like this and go, 'Oh my God, ultra processed foods'.

"They're not causing it. It's the absence of nutrients. So the big one is the fish oils, your omega-3s from fish very specifically.

"So your brain is about 60% fat. Most of that fat is fish omega-3s. We know that people who have, for example, anxiety and depression are more likely to have lower levels of these omega-3s in their blood compared to people who don't.

"But what's really interesting is that if you actually give people the fish omega-3s, particularly one called EPA, after about three months, you see significant improvements in symptoms of anxiety and depression just with those fish omega-3s, which makes sense.

"The brain is made out of them. If you haven't eaten, or if you've never eaten fish and a lot of people don't, where are you getting them? They're just not there.

"But there's other nutrients. You know, B vitamins are very important around mood, vitamin B12, vitamin B6. And don't necessarily rush out and start buying supplements. That's often the first thing we do. Food first, if you can."

However, she did add that if you are looking into the supplements options, she would suggest the fish oil supplements (but the first thing she would do is add in the "oily fish" like salmon or mackerel) and also looking into a B complex supplement or a general multivitamin that "gives you a little bit of everything."

Main image: Stressed woman looking at laptop, Picture by: Alamy Stock Photo