05/31/2025
As Mental Health Awareness month comes to an end, I’m sharing the 5 biggest lessons I’ve learned as a mind-body dietitian and with my own mental health.
1. To struggle is to be human. So much suffering is created by judging ourselves for struggling. Self-compassion can be hard work to develop but it can also be the ultimate healer.
2. Avoidance creates anxiety. Often we avoid the hard stuff: difficult conversations, uncomfortable truths, unpleasant feelings. It may feel more acutely painful to address instead of avoid. But in the end it can save you from so much mental and emotional turmoil.
3. Happiness isn’t the end game. Expecting to feel happy all the time is a recipe for dissatisfaction. One of my favorite books, Atlas of the Heart, by breaks down 87 different emotions. Finding greater acceptance and appreciation for a wide-range of emotional experiences helps us feel more mentally healthy and less critical of ourselves for not always feeling positive.
4. Humans are animals. Seeing yourself this way can remind you to care for core needs: water, sunlight, exercise, sleep, healthy food, and community with members of your species. If any core needs are ignored you will not feel mentally healthy.
5. Everything is temporary. Getting comfortable with this simple and inescapable truth is a personal battle for me and many. Good times, bad times, ourselves, our loved ones, our youth, successes, failures, heartbreak, happiness, sadness… e v e r y t h i n g. All temporary. We can grip too tight to the good times and things we love. Or make bad times worse by feeling like they’ll last forever. The very thought of “happily ever after” sells an impossible promise. Accepting the temporary and uncertain nature of life itself can free us from so much pain.
I created Food & Mood to address the intersection between nutrition and mental health. If you are struggling or just looking to care for your mental health through nutrition and lifestyle, I’d love to work with you. I am fortunate to see remarkable transformations everyday in my patients and myself and that is a dream come true.
