Are you struggling with constantly irritable, argumentative, and defiant behaviors in your school-age children or teens? Do you worry about their anxious or depressive moods? Are you trying strategies that seem to just keep failing? Your child’s diet can be affecting those behaviors and moods much more than you realize.

Before adulthood up to 50% of children and teens in the US will meet the diagnostic standards for a mental illness. Mental health is considered the most common health concern for children and adolescents. One area you can focus on to help your child is their diet, as we know that one’s diet can affect their mental health. Whether you are seeing mild behavioral and mood changes or more moderate to severe ones, addressing what your family is eating can be a major step to seeing improvement.

It is generally accepted in the mental health and medical field that the current western diet poses numerous negative impacts for overall mental and physical health. The Standard American Diet (SAD) generally consists of highly processed foods, foods with high sugar content, high-fat dairy content, and refined carbohydrates. It is considered to lack many of the nutritional needs for our body and brain, which can be very impactful on the developing brains of children. Many of these vitamin and nutrient insufficiencies can also be related to unwanted behaviors.

Now this is not to say that diet is the sole factor in unwanted behaviors, mood, or mental health symptoms, but it can be an important area to focus on for long-term improvement. A lot of research also looks into the impact that modern reductions in our daily activity levels, reduced time in nature, increased use of screens and social media, poverty, COVID, and sports/social pressures at a young age has had on changes in the behaviors and mental health of America’s youth in the past decade. I have touched on some of those areas in some of my other blogs that you can check out here.

Diet, though, is foundational to how our bodies and brains function. We now know that our diet can directly impact our psychological responses. Diet can impact our moods, thoughts, instincts, psychiatric health, and physical health. It is linked to depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders. Looking broadly at what your family typically consumes in a day or week can help you make more realistic adjustments to your overall diet. It isn’t so much about restricting, but adding in what you may be lacking.

Step 1- Awareness

I often recommend a parent takes 3 days and without intentionally changing anything, writes down what your child eats throughout those days. After the 3 days, you can go through it without judging yourself! You are going to ask yourself what the nutritional value of some of the meals may be. How much is processed or has added sugar? Educate yourself on hidden sugars in your common go-to foods so you have a better idea of overall consumption. Are your meats and snacks highly processed? Does your child possibly have any food sensitivities which can also be causing internal inflammation?

Now don’t go throwing everything out, but if there are some key factors that your child may be missing throughout the day, like protein, fiber, vitamins A, D, C, the various B complexes, magnesium, methylfolate, natural probiotics, or omega’s, then look at what you can build into their daily meals. It’s about finding balance, not another thing to stress about! I do understand that can seem easier said than done, but take diet changes one step at a time. Focus first on one area to add in or one area to reduce. It’s about life long impacts, not instant successes, so be patient with yourself and celebrate each small change!

Many parents are surprised to find how much of an impact adding in these elements can be on their child’s mood, energy, concentration, sleep, and/or ability to regulate their emotions. Look at natural ways to add these in or you can also use supplements if needed. Most dentists recommend using non-gummy supplements when able, as they often have a lot of added sugars and can get stuck on teeth, causing decay. If your child struggles to swallow pills, look for a dissolvable alternative or watch for one of my upcoming blogs on common sensory anxieties (like swallowing) in kids and teens.

Working with a Functional or Integrative Medical Doctor or Pediatrician, along with an integrative therapist, can be a great way to address your child’s nutritional and mental health needs. This blog explains more about what Integrative Medicine and Mental Health is.

Why Does Diet Matter?

So you may have noticed “leaky gut” on the earlier images. Leaky gut is a term for an increased permeability in our gut, meaning the gut is not able to keep toxins and bacteria out of your blood system as easily as it is supposed to and it can also lead to the passing of inflammation information from our gut to our brain. This can mean impacts in the brain in terms of mood and mental illness. Diet and stress are just two factors that can impact the prevalence of a “leaky gut” and inflammation within our bodies. Addressing both of these can have a profound impact on the behavior, mood, and mental health of our families.

You can learn more about how our gut impacts our brain here:

As you approach dietary changes, start first with what you can ADD IN instead of stressing about what you need to take out, unless of course if you are dealing with an actual allergy. This can increase the likelihood of acquiring a taste for these new items because they don’t come at the loss of others. Then it’s about balance. Decrease the amount of unhealthy options in favor of healthier ones, but still allow for occasional inclusion of your favorite treats. Sugary or highly processed foods should not be the norm, but they don’t need to be completely avoided either. So when you are having them, make sure it is something that you can be mindful of and enjoy while you have it. Mindless eating of something that can work against your body is not fulfilling any needs. If you or your child have a favorite sweet treat, make sure you can be mentally present when you enjoy it, instead of being distracted by screens or other things. The traditional practice of desserts as a special occasion has now given way to desserts as daily (or even multiple times daily) treats. Being able to focus on returning sweets to special moments as a family can go a long way in reducing sugar intake, especially when you consider how sugar is often hidden in more items we consume than we think.

If you are reading this and feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, or guilty- pause- and give yourself some credit. It is called the Standard American Diet for a reason. We are surrounded with choices that are more likely to fall into those categories of highly processed and added refined sugars instead of providing us affordable options outside of it. Over 73% of the US food supply now includes processed foods- just look at ratios of fresh vs processed foods in your local grocery store. 68% of processed foods also include added sugars. So it can feel like an uphill battle to eliminate these products from your home. Again, focus on balance instead and on making healthier habits that can become lifestyle changes. This may look like focusing on water instead of juice or pop, choosing an apple over applesauce, making vegetables or lean meats the largest portion of a meal, choosing unflavored yogurts and adding fresh fruit, making your own sweets and treats at home instead of store-bought, or not eating right before bed to allow for proper digestion.

The main point is to use this information as a stepping stone. What is your first step in eating better? Focus on that instead of trying to rework your whole world at once. You can move onto the next step when your family is ready. When it comes to kids though, just like going to the doctor and the dentist, we have to lead as parents/caregivers and make the important choices about their health.

The scientific community has learned just how critical our food choices can be to our long-term physical and mental health and it is an area that needs to be positively parent-led from a young age.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by the idea of dietary changes or struggle with implementing new habits, you are not alone. You can check out this blog on making new habits stick for yourself and your children or check out pinterest for some healthy recipes and visual motivation.

When it comes to changing dietary habits, what do you think is your biggest challenge? Let me know in the comments below.