“What separates scientism from science is the dogmatic certainty that science can provide all encompassing answers to every question that matters on every aspect of life and that there is only one answer to all of these questions.”
Huffington, A. Hunting Heretics: On my Mind. 2025. [LinkedIn].
6 January. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hunting-heretics-my-mind-arianna-huffington-t2yff/
One of the questions I’ve asked myself in treating mental health clients as a holistic practitioner and counsellor for nearly 20 years now, is how support on the physical or bodily level can help regulate highs, lows and mood swings in clients. Clients with issues for example, such as anxiety, depression, panic, anger and focus problems – and even full-on ADHD or bipolar disorder. Could working with the physical body itself be of value, to treat so-called ‘mental’ health problems? It’s not common practice!
Obviously, holistic support has to consider people’s physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual wellbeing, but for the purpose of this article I’m going to focus on the physical – and diet in particular. I’m going to share deductions I’ve made from years of observation, testing, and successfully using dietary tools to help clients improve their coping skills and stability.
Traditionally speaking, stability has been the jurisdiction of mainstream medication in the psychiatric field; and coping skills, clearing trauma and backed-up emotions down to various talk therapies in the psychological/psychotherapeutic fields.
But what if half the battle of stabilizing and coping better with life, mentally, could be won by monitoring what goes into the physical body, and when it goes in, on a daily basis? (I’m not talking the use of alcohol and drugs here as that’s another story altogether).
Could planning and reinforcing the correct diet for the relevant mental health makeup make that difference? I have asked, worked with and tested this question on many, many clients over the years, and found the answer to be an overwhelming “yes”, in terms of stability, coping and cognition. Whether a client’s on mainstream meds or not.
I’d say 40 to 50% of the instability battle can be won upfront, by changing an irregular or unhealthy diet before we even get to the talk/any other therapy. It’s certainly how I’ve approached my sessions – with great results.
Personal research over the years has also led me to understand that the intrinsic makeup of a person dealing with issues such as anxiety, depression, anger and even ADHD and Bipolar 1 or 2 for example, is one susceptible to blood sugar fluctuations, which if allowed to happen, cause symptoms such as highs, lows, mood swings, anxiety, depression, anger, panic and focus issues to trigger, or significantly worsen.
I’ve also understood that sufferers who’ve dealt with ailments that derail stability often misuse food and drink to keep instability going; it’s what the body and brain have become used to and the effects felt as ‘normality’. I’ll give examples of this shortly as short case studies, but in the meantime, just to say that although a bad diet is obviously not the cause of a mental health issue, it can be a provocateur in destabilization! And an enforcer of long-term instability if inadequate/bad eating and fluid intake is prolonged.
A quick summary of the types of ‘bad’ dietary habits we’re looking at? No breakfast, the wrong breakfast; lack of protein, too many refined carbs; overdoing sugar and caffeine, especially as snacks; not having enough fluids or overdoing on the wrong ones such as energy drinks, fizzy drinks, caffeinated drinks, even too much fruit juice. Fasting (it may not suit your body and affect blood sugar badly-one body ‘size’ does not fit all on the fasting track). And so forth.
In general, a) the types of food and drink consumed. And b), the regularity or irregularity of the consumption.
Most people with the makeup we’re talking about in this article do not benefit from an irregular intake of either food or drink.
Case study
Call her client A: a freelance artist diagnosed on the ADHD/Bipolar spectrum; massive anxiety, focus and freneticism issues. 24/7 seizures and frequently perceiving the environment around her as ‘morphing’. Couldn’t drive. Dropped into reactive, apathetic and depressive lows.
Scenario: weight training most days (which was good) but getting up at 4am to get to gym. Not eating until about 11am. Drinking double strength espressos (no water intake) from waking up. And pushing (mainly) refined carbs for her training with very little protein. Eating sugar at random times.
Solution: helping her halve her morning coffees with the intent of eventually drinking only ONE, AFTER a good amount of water; eating a protein-based snack before gym, and a breakfast with protein and unrefined carbs, plus regular meals and healthy snacks when needed. To sustain her blood sugar. A little sugar only after meals. Water on a regular basis. No fizzy, sugary drinks and only diluted fruit juices.
In a week, she stopped seizing. Her environment stopped morphing. She could quiet down, focus and complete a task. The ‘almost-mania’ died down. After some months, she was able to drive again. And all this time, there was no change in her mainstream meds for the disorder and the ‘epilepsy’.
We really worked to understand the impact of an unhealthy and irregular diet on blood sugar – and highs, lows, anxiety, and even seizures in her case. Also, how caffeine, drunk in excess in the morning with no water or food to buffer it, was helping her ‘push’ her high – leading to freneticism, anxiety, and the ‘almost-mania’. Her lows as a reactive and fatigued slump.
The research into this angle of treating mental health issues has been absolutely fascinating and so useful!
There are so many ways to promote stability, coping skills and their maintenance, other than talk therapy and medication. Diet is but one of so many tools available.
We need to be as open as possible to trying and testing new and holistic methods in the mental health field, because there are people depending on them for their very sanity, if not their lives.
Have you assessed YOUR diet today? In connection with the way you feel? Maybe you should!
