Your Gut is talking to your Brain — Is anyone listening?
There's something we don't talk about nearly enough in counselling. We explore your childhood, your relationships, your thought patterns and beliefs. We look at how your nervous system responds to stress and how your brain learned to protect you from perceived harm. Yet a fundamental part of our foundation is missing in the therapy room; what does your environment look like? And more importantly: “What have you been eating?”
Not out of judgement. Not as a diet plan. But as a genuine question, as research shows us now more than ever; that what we consume has far more to do with how we feel emotionally than most realise.
Your Gut Is your second brain
You've probably heard the phrase "gut feeling" before, or “listening to your gut”. This is not just a metaphor: Deep in your digestive system a vast network of around 100 million nerve cells are lining your gut and every day your gut and brain communicate via the vagus nerve. This isn't a one-way conversation, in what researchers now refer to as the gut-brain axis. Your gut sends signals upward to your brain just as much as your brain sends them down.Your digestive issues aren’t a coincidence or the feeling of your stomach turning when you are anxious.
Have you heard of serotonin? It is a hormone that directly influences our mood, sleep and more. Did you know that approximately 90% of your body's serotonin is produced in the gut, not the brain. So when the gut is inflamed, imbalanced, or running on poor fuel it has a significant effect on our mood. Your gut is shaping how you feel.
The blind spot nobody talks about
When I was completing my degree in Integrative Counselling and Psychotherapy, I became quietly obsessed with a question that kept nagging at me: why isn't nutrition part of the conversation in therapy?
I wrestled with this question so much that I wanted to write my dissertation on it. My proposal was initially rejected — the topic was considered too far outside the boundaries of traditional counselling and I was told that “limited” research available would hinder my academic success. Basically I was told that I was setting myself up for failure. I pushed back, argued the case, and eventually got the green light. A few months later, I graduated with first class honours, and the research was praised. But the resistance I experienced at the proposal stage confirmed my suspicion: nutrition was still a blind spot in mental health care. Something known, but not discussed. Acknowledged, but not acted on. And yet the research tells a very different story about what's possible and highlights the importance of including this topic in therapeutic conversations.
What the research actually shows
Here are a few snippets from some of the studies that I used in my research: One Study found that people experiencing depression consistently report poorer dietary quality than the general population. A large Finnish study following 2,000 men found that non-depressed individuals tended to favour whole foods, while those experiencing depression more often gravitated toward processed foods, fried food, and high sugar intake.
The SMILES trial, one of the most compelling studies in this area, ran a 12-week dietary intervention alongside standard treatment for people meeting the criteria for major depressive disorder. The results were striking: improving dietary quality produced meaningful reductions in depressive symptoms, and participant feedback on their physical and emotional wellbeing was overwhelmingly positive.
Another layer I discovered in the research were vitamin deficiencies. Research has found links between low levels of Vitamin D, Omega-3, B12, folate, and zinc and increased rates of depression and anxiety. Countries with high fish intake, and therefore higher Omega-3 levels, consistently show lower rates of depression in the population.
The relationship between diet and mood is thought to work in both directions: a poor diet can contribute to depressive symptoms, and depression can make it harder to eat well. It's a cycle that can work both directions.
Maslow had a point
Most people who've dipped into psychology will have come across Maslow's hierarchy of needs. At the very base, before safety, belonging, or any sense of self, sit our physiological foundation: food, water, shelter, sleep. Maslow's argument was that these foundations must be in place before any of the higher needs can truly be met, and eventually, self actualisation, or self fulfillment can be reached. Taking this into consideration: If the body isn't adequately fuelled, the whole system struggles. And yet those basic needs so rarely make it into the therapy room. We head straight to the upper floors without always checking whether the foundations are solid. There is a gap that I believe is worth closing.
So what does it mean for you?
I do want to be clear: better nutrition is not a substitute for therapy, and therapy is not a substitute for looking after your body. They aren't competing, they're connected and should be seen as two parallels running alongside each other.
What I do believe is that you deserve a space where the whole you is welcome. Not just your thoughts, your past, your relationships; but the body you live in every day. The coffee you drink instead of lunch. The way your energy crashes mid-afternoon. The nights you can't sleep and reach for something sweet. These things aren't separate from your mental health. They're part of the picture.
Sometimes the most unexpected place to start is with something simple: a curious question about how you've been eating, how you've been sleeping or what a typical day actually looks like, because nothing exists in isolation, and the body should always be part of the story.
A different kind of whole
Your gut is talking to your brain. Your diet is shaping your mood. And you deserve a space where all of that is welcome. Change doesn't happen all at once. But sometimes it starts somewhere unexpected; like a conversation about what you had for breakfast.
Sources
Mörkl, S. et al. (2018; 2021). Nutritional psychiatry and gut-brain axis research. Neuropsychobiology.
Horn, J. et al. (2022). Nutrition as a blind spot in psychiatry. Frontiers in Psychiatry.
Opie, R. et al. (2018). SMILES trial: dietary intervention for depression. BMC Medicine.
Ruusunen, A. (2013). Diet and depression — Finnish cohort study. University of Eastern Finland.
Harbottle, L. & Schonfelder, N. (2008). Nutrition and mental health. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.
Parker, G. & Brotchie, H. (2011). Vitamin D and depression. Journal of Affective Disorders.
Saeed, S. et al. (2015). Complementary and alternative therapies for mental health. American Family Physician.
Jacka, F. (2017). Brain Changer. Yellow Kite.
