That gut-wrenching feeling in the pit of your stomach is all too real – your gut is sensitive to emotions like anger, anxiety, sadness, and joy – and your brain can react to signals from your stomach. All the more reason to eat a balanced and nutritious diet – so that your gut and brain can be healthy. This week you will learn more about why proper nutrition is so important for your mental wellbeing and continue to work on incorporating healthier choices into your diet each day.
Action Step:
Read the Gut-Brain Connection Fact Sheet
Review the Gut-Brain Connection fact sheet to learn more about how your gut is physically and chemically connected to your brain. Also, be sure to check out the Resources & Tools link at the top for more great resources to help you this week.
Action Step:
Take a look back
Remember the worksheet you did in Week 1? Take a few minutes to review your answers to the questions about why you wanted to change your eating habits and how you were going to work to overcome obstacles preventing you from doing so. How have you been doing on these goals? If you’ve been doing great, congratulations! If you need a little more help, re-focus on this again this week.
Action Step:
Eat for your gut
Revisit the Mental Health Grocery List from Week 1 and make sure you are eating foods that are going to help your gut-brain connection perform at its best. Focus on whole grains, lean meats, fish, fruits and veggies.
Hint: Don’t forget, this is also a great way to earn more Fuel points in the Core Points section. There are also some great tools in the Helpful Websites & Apps section for Fuel that can help you keep track of what you are eating.
