Wellness From Within: Fueling Your Body For Mental Clarity

What is the relevance of a healthy gut when it comes to maintaining a healthy mind?

Keeping your gut healthy is important for your mental health because of the gut-brain connection, which is the way your gut and brain communicate with each other. Even though the serotonin made in your gut doesn’t directly affect your brain, the bacteria in your gut play a big role in how your body handles stress, inflammation, and brain chemicals that can impact mood.

About 90% of your body’s serotonin is made in your gut, but this serotonin mainly helps with digestion and doesn’t go to your brain. However, the bacteria in your gut can affect how your brain makes its own serotonin by influencing things like inflammation and the production of tryptophan, a key ingredient for serotonin in the brain. If the bacteria in your gut get out of balance, it can cause inflammation and mess with these important processes, which can lead to mental health problems like anxiety or depression.

So, while gut serotonin doesn’t directly control your mood, a healthy gut is still important for mental health because it helps keep everything in balance, supporting how your brain functions and how you feel.

What are your top tips for busy individuals to maintain a diet that supports both mental and physical health?

For busy individuals, maintaining a diet that supports both mental and physical health starts with planning and simplicity. Meal prepping on your days off can be a game changer, ensuring you have balanced, nutritious meals ready to eat. Prepping lean proteins, cutting veggies, and having healthy snacks like fruits, nuts, and yogurt readily available also makes it easy to stay on track even when time is tight. Focus on nutrient-dense foods such as whole grains, lean proteins, an healthy fats to keep energy levels stable and support mental clarity throughout the day.

In addition to meal prep, hydration is essential but often overlooked. Keeping a water bottle with you and staying hydrated ensures both your mind and body are functioning at their best.

Finally, make time for regular meals, even if they’re quick. Skipping meals can lead to energy crashes and poor food choices later, so it’s important to prioritise eating well balanced meals that provide sustained energy to fuel your day.

What are some habits or rituals you practice daily to maintain your mental health? How does food play into these routines?

To maintain my mental health, I focus on establishing daily habits that keep me grounded and balanced. One of the key rituals is planning ahead with my meals, ensuring I always have protein sources prepared in the fridge, such as chicken or lean meats, along with carbs like wraps or mashed potatoes and frozen vegetables. This allows me to quickly assemble nutritious meals, which keeps my body fuelled and helps prevent stress around eating. Knowing that I have these foods ready to go saves time and energy, making it easier to stick to my nutrition goals even on busy days.

Additionally, I strength train three times a week, which is not only vital for my physical fitness but also plays a big role in supporting my mental health. The combination of regular exercise and balanced meals helps me manage stress and maintain mental clarity, keeping me energised and focused throughout the week.

If you had to pick one habit or practice that has had the biggest impact on your mental health, what would it be? And why?

If I had to pick one habit that has had the biggest impact on my mental health, it would definitely be strength training. Training three times a week has been a consistent practice that not only helps me stay physically fit but also significantly improves my mental well-being. The physical exertion releases stress, boosts my mood, and gives me a sense of accomplishment. Strength training also helps me stay focused, grounded, and more resilient in handling challenges, making it an essential part of my routine for both body and mind.

What are some common mental health barriers that people face when trying to follow a nutritious diet, and what are some tips to overcome these?

Two common mental health barriers that often disrupt a nutritious diet are all-or-nothing thinking and stress.

All-or-nothing thinking leads people to believe that if they can’t follow a perfect diet, it’s not worth trying at all. This mindset often results in giving up entirely after a small slip-up. To overcome this, it’s important to embrace flexibility and focus on consistency rather than perfection. Allowing for occasional indulgences without guilt helps create a balanced approach to eating that is more sustainable in the long term.

Stress is another major barrier, often triggering emotional eating where people seek comfort in sugary or high-fat foods. Managing stress with non-food outlets like exercise, meditation, or simply taking a break can help.

As a powerlifter, how do you personally balance the demands of physical performance through nutrition?
As a powerlifter, balancing nutrition to meet the demands of physical performance is essential. I prioritise protein intake to support muscle repair and growth, ensuring I get high-quality sources like lean meats, eggs and dairy throughout the day.

I incorporate a mix of simple and complex carbs to optimise energy levels. Simple carbs, such as fruits or fast-digesting snacks, like rice cakes or pikelets with jam, are ideal before or immediately after training for quick energy and rapid refuelling. Complex carbs, like whole grains, oats, and vegetables, provide sustained energy throughout the day and ensure I have enough fuel for intense training sessions.

Healthy fats and proper hydration round out my strategy, supporting long-term recovery, hormone regulation, and overall performance.

Eating yummy food makes people happy, do you think it’s worth restricting this in order to maintain a healthy diet on paper? Or is it important to reward yourself?

It’s important to find a balance between eating a healthy diet and enjoying food. Restricting yourself too much can sometimes lead to frustration and even a negative relationship with food, which can impact both your mental and physical health. Eating foods that make you happy, or indulging occasionally in your favourite treats, can be an important part of maintaining overall well-being.

A healthy diet doesn’t have to mean constant restriction. By incorporating mostly nutritious foods while allowing yourself the flexibility to enjoy what you love in moderation, you create a sustainable approach to eating. This balance not only supports your physical health but also your mental well-being, making it easier to stick with healthy habits long-term.

What services are you currently offering and how can people get in touch?

I offer a range of services tailored to help individuals achieve their fitness and nutrition goals. As a personal trainer and nutritionist, I provide customised strength and conditioning programs for general fitness or sport-specific performance. My nutrition coaching includes personalised strategies designed to optimise performance, support recovery, and improve overall health. For those unable to train in person, I also offer online coaching, providing plans, nutrition guidance, and regular check-ins to track progress.