Nourishing Our Bodies To Help Our Minds.

Hi gang! 

Summer is upon us. The skies are finally blue, and the warmth in the air is drawing us out of our hibernations into a new season filled with long days and holidays. Like a flash, the May half term has just been and gone, and as I sit here with a fresh cup of tea to write to you, I am reflecting on a glorious week that started with a retreat down to Devon. My time away renewed my inspiration to study the relationship between our tummies and our minds, nutrition and our kitchens, and how this symbiotic approach to health calms our central nervous system. Today, I want to share some of those thoughts with you about how nourishing our bodies can help our minds. 

I remember the first time my daughter had an ice-cream; a sticky mess covered her face and her smile was big enough to light a room! Since then, as with so many other families, summer days are often enjoyed by regular trips to the freezer at home or the local ice-cream shop on holiday to recapture that moment of joy. But as with all the families we share a scoop with, we know that for some children (and adults!) half an hour after the treat has finished there may well be tears and tantrums thanks to a sugar crash. 

We inherently know the cause-and-affect of the choices we make when it comes to food. A friend of mine swears that her day can be completely transformed for the better with a glass of water and an apple; she knows hydration and the humble apple allows her mind and tummy to become happy once more. Equally she knows that if she wants to feel cranky for the rest of the day, mid-morning cookies are the ones to go for. Along with the ice-cream, these incidents can seem ‘simple’, ‘nothing to get excited about’, however the more I read about how our gut health and our mental health are linked, I think these stories are worth a lot more than a shrug of the shoulders. 

When I help my Mumma’s in the first year after birth, the first places I start to align for them are their fridge, freezer, and snack jar by filling them with wonderful meals and easy, nutritious options. This very practical way of caring for my clients is intentional; the goodness that we put into our bodies through what we eat helps our cells to heal. After giving birth to new life, we need as many nutrients as we can to not only heal, but also find within us a new point of strength and resilience in ourselves. If we are snacking on sugar dense cookies after a rough night with Bubs, we are going to be like my friend - irritable and grumpy. But if I can make snacks easy to find by loading up their jars with nutrient dense protein bombs, or make sure fruit is always prepared in grab-and-go boxes in the fridge, I know that my clients are going to not only heal quicker, but also feel better. 

There is a lot of research going on about the psycho-somatic (mind-body) relationship at the moment, but the one that is peaking my interest the most is the effect that food could have on mental health. Many scientists are writing brilliant in-depth books and papers (which sometimes go a bit over my head) about the idea that mental health could be holistically helped by improving our diet. Their ideas are about how poor gut microbiome health could be one of the causes of prolonged mental health crises. To be clear I am not a Nutritionalist, Dietitian, or Doctor! What I am reading seems to suggest that the healthier our gut microbiome is, the healthier our minds become, which makes sense if we go back to the ice-cream; what we eat affects our mood. I do not find it too difficult to reason that the more we fill our tummies with nutrient dense, colourful, varied food, our minds will also feel full, happy, colourful and healthy too! 

What is also interesting is how this all plays out with our Central Nervous System (CNS). If we are dehydrated, our blood pressure goes up, which can make us feel anxious and nervous. My friend with her apples finds that water helps her feel better; each time she chooses a glass of cool water, or a mug of herbal tea, she is helping her heart calm down so she can feel more together. When we are eating calming foods that are rich in anti-inflammatories, it is little wonder to me that we feel less anxious; we can hold our attention more when we are not crashing on a sugar low. 

None of this is any different for Bubs! Our children learn their relationship with food from us, and we shouldn’t expect their little bodies to react in any different way from our own. They need to have their tummies filled with food that will help their brain function, encourage their physical growth, as well as their emotional intelligence. Increasing their microbiomes is one of our responsibilities as adults, which  is why I am so passionate about weaning our children well. When I cook for Mumma’s and their partners, I cook for their kids as well. I believe that little ones should be filling themselves with great food from the very start of their journey through the kitchen. 

Over the past few months I have been gently keeping an eye on what makes me feel good (homemade, colourful food, filled with different flavours), and what makes me feel good at a moment in time and then a little flat; toast. I am not saying toast is bad, I actually love it, but I do know that I feel better eating it when it has a nut butter on top of it as the protein levels out the carbs; it’s a balance. 

As the summer looks as if it is set to stay with us now, it is an easy time refresh our kitchens. Salads are easier to eat when it is hot, and watermelon fits the bill when we are looking for a candy fix. If we help our tummies feel better by increasing the diversity of our microbiome during these sunny months, keeping our mental and physical health up in the winter won’t feel such a hard slog. 

I will be happily enjoying my ice-cream on the beaches this year, and I will be encouraging all my clients to do the same! But you may also find me tucking into a small bag of hazelnuts at the same time to help my body enjoy the fun even more. 

Until the next time! 

Remember, once your doula, always your doula. 

Love, Sam xx

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If you are wanting to read more about this subject, the books I have been delving in to are: 

1 Gut and Psychology by Dr Natasha Cambell-McBride

2 Food For Life by Dr Tim Spector

3 Gut Check: Transform your mental, emotional and physical health by Dr Steven R. Gundry

If you haven’t found the work of Tim Spector and his team at the Zoe research institute yet, you may want to check out their podcast, which is FULL of easy to access information.