Can Diet Effect Behaviour?
Diet can have an effect on behaviour
at least this is my observation. First of all anecdotally in myself and second of all through observing people recognising their own resilience and irritability threshold being affected due to hunger, this is now recognised as being ‘hangry’.
I have also observed whilst working in gyms with body building competitors, the 12-week build up to the cut leads to mood swings and changes in responses to day to day interactions. In short body builders look forward to the cake they can have after the competition is over!
Dieting is big part of western culture, more than that, being on a diet, or part of a community diet program can help people feel like they are not struggling alone. As social animals this is important for us all, community matters. For this reason diet or the routine around diet can affect our behaviour sometimes in ways we are not aware of, and sometimes in ways we definitely are aware of. We know there are cultural behavioural trends around food, nutrition, and diet that effect our behaviour- But does nutrition day to day effect the way we behave also?
Understanding food as building blocks to support health and well-being throughout our life cycles is important. It can sound complicated, but the fundamental understanding of nutrition is more straight forward that than you think. And it’s all most of us will ever need to gain the clarity we look for in diet. As we age other variables that effect the way we respond to food may come into play, we may feel we don’t digest things so well anymore which will affect our choices and nutritional balance- but will it affect our day to day behaviour and interactions with our loved ones?
To answer this let’s look at a couple of vitamins (micronutrients found in all major food groups) that are well known for having effects on our thinking and emotional well-being.
Vitamin D- Used to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is a disorder recognised in the UK which effects many of the population most commonly on a day now known as Blue-Monday, this is the third Monday in January which denotes the middle of winter. As we struggle with sunlight in the UK anyway the extra darkness leading to vitamin d deficiency leaves many feeling depressed. Depression effects the way we interact and our motivations.
B Vitamins- Key for our neurological responses and brain health. Vitamin b deficiency (amongst other factors) can lead to behavioural anomalies such as low mood, irritability, and changes in memory that can lead to further issues including Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and other neurological diseases. Any of these issues will change our thought processes and behavioural patterns over sustained periods. These are all cognitive example of the effects of nutrition on behaviour.
We also know nutritional deficiencies in children can lead to learning and developmental struggles as well as behavioural issues.
These latter examples are much more complex than nutrition alone and will involve genetic or medical considerations. We are not able to comment further here as we are not doctors. If you need further assistance speaking to your doctor would be a good next step.
We can surmise here that diet or nutrition can and probably will affect our behaviour. But this is not a black and white road as other considerations can play a major part in this like community, genetics, social factors. The benefits of gaining a fundamental understanding of nutrition can add to the benefits of joining diet and lifestyle communities as well as keep you safe from misconceptions, misinformation, and sales tactics used to promote supplements or dieting fads that have no efficacy that you probably don’t need. Do note here that supplements are not a good substitute for food- see our referenced article on supplements to learn more.
Food, nutrition, diet, and culture, we believe is something to be celebrated, shared, and nurtured. Gaining an understanding of nutrition fundamentals can be helpful if we feel we are in a position where we may need to make nutritional changes to support health, well-being, and fitness aspirations.
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We hope you enjoyed this article and took some useable knowledge from it to help you understand your biology and meet your needs in relation to your goals. Please leave a comment, press the heart button and share it to help more people take control of their health, well-being and fitness.
Samantha
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