*disclaimer: I am not a medically licensed psychologist or medical practitioner. These blog posts are not meant to replace getting real help and guidance from a trained medical professional. If you are in crisis and need immediate support, contact 911 or call the suicide prevention hotline at 988.*

In the blog post “Overcome Exercise Barriers for Better Wellbeing,” I discussed the barriers that prevent people from exercising andwhy exercise is important for mental health. It is one of the tools we have to help us manage stress and make our lives happier and more fulfilling. On the other side of that is the need for good nutrition, also to support mental health. 

People in the field of nutrition and mental health are realizing more and more that our nutrition does, in fact, have a significant role to play in our mental health and our ability to manage stress outside of simply being good for you and being a way you take care of your body so it is performing at its best. A literary review by Grajek et al. (2022) notes that changes in nutritional standards in our nation have led to changes and correlations in mental health, and that promising mental health interventions are being examined that are largely based on what we eat. Our brains need good nutrition and hydration to work at their most effective levels, and when they are not working at their best, we can sometimes find that it affects our mood, our ability to process information quickly, and our decision-making skills; all things needed to help us manage stress. 

Mental Health and Nutrition

One thing related to nutrition and mental health that significantly affects our stress levels and our ability to combat other stresses in life is eating disorders. Things like Bulimia, Anorexia, Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), and Binge Eating Disorders. According to NIH (2024), all of these conditions can have serious health risks as well as serious mental health risks. Anorexia in particular can be fatal, and it is encouraged that immediate help be sought if you or a loved one is experiencing it. People with these disorders are at significantly higher risk of experiencing other mental health concerns and physical weight-related health concerns as well, making stress management that much harder in a world where stress is a fact of life. 

Hipp (2019) discusses good nutrition from the standpoint of stress management. When our bodies are fueled well by good, nutritious foods, we, in general, feel better and more capable of taking on what life has to offer us. We also have a sense of accomplishment from choosing healthier foods when easier, unhealthy options may be available. When we are fueling our bodies well and exercising regularly, we are preventing stress in the form of preventable weight and nutrition-based illnesses and preparing ourselves to take on stresses we can’t avoid. 

One thing Hipp (2019) discusses in relation to nutrition is the use of substances found in foods like caffeine and sugar. People drink caffeine and sugar-rich beverages often, and while these items are not always bad in moderation dependent on one’s general health and individual body needs, overindulgence can give our bodies fight, flight, and freeze-like responses and contribute to cortisol levels in the body raising. They can also be addictive and form dependencies that can cause issues down the line, such as caffeine headaches when you don’t get enough coffee or mood instability and crankiness in the morning before that hit of caffeine and sugar. They are also only temporary fixes, and when you come down off the sugar high or the caffeine-dependent high, your mood and energy levels once again drop. 

Barriers to Good Nutrition

Cost of Food

While we can clearly see that good nutrition is important for stress management because it gives us the fuel needed to combat stress, makes us feel better from moment to moment, and gives us the energy needed for proper brain and body function, there are many barriers in the modern world preventing people from eating healthy. 

The first and probably most significant barrier is the cost of healthy food. Low-income Americans are in the hurt locker right now with the cost of living due to inflation, and the fact that wages have not kept up with the cost of living in our nation. According to Howerton (2025), Low-income Americans are paying 40% more for fruits and vegetables than others and these costs of healthy foods are driving people in these tax brackets towards more processed, sugary foods with less nutritional value because that is what they can afford and those foods are more durable and last longer with all the preservitives and chemicals in them meant to help them keep. The costs of whole foods are also highly elevated, preventing access to those and driving people towards calorie-dense options filled with sugar and empty carbs that once again last longer.  Even with subsidised programs and food banks, access to healthy foods for lower-income people is significantly restricted, causing a population of people who arguably need good nutrition the most to combat stress and keep their bodies healthy to have some of the poorest nutritional health in the nation. People have to eat to live, and if they have to get unhealthy food to do so, that is what they are going to do. As a result, however, people in the lower tax brackets often have some of the most significant health risks and preventable diseases related to nutrition and weight, causing more stress in their lives in the long run due to limited access to healthy food. 

If I am being honest, this barrier is one I have come up against often in this last year for myself, and there is just no great solution. I had a good job before this last year and was able to afford healthier groceries, but when I got sick with multiple sclerosis, a disease that can get a lot worse with poor lifestyle choices and poor nutrition, I was unable to work and dropped into the low-income tax bracket. The prices of the foods I have needed for my own mental health and physical health have been shocking, and I have often found myself struggling with deciding between the health of my body and being able to eat. Some weeks, I have had to allow myself to hurt more, have more pseudo-seizures, and experience more cognitive deficits and symptoms related to my disability just so my family can eat, and there are only two of us in my household right now. I couldn’t imagine having to feed a family with kids right now due to the cost of nutritious foods. Howerton (2025) states that many low-income families are forced to significantly restrict their food intake and even miss whole meals just to make ends meet. There are food banks, and the quality of the food at food banks isn’t always great, but it is something if your family is in dire need. There are also government programs like SNAP to help if you qualify. One thing I have discussed frequently with my nutritionist is using frozen fruits and vegetables or canned fruits and vegetables, and just rinsing off the salt as best as you can. They aren’t great options either, but it is better than nothing to get in those vitally important nutrients from those foods. 

Because I live in a two-person household and my partner makes just enough for us to have a set food budget every week, we were able to get a grocery subscription that fits our budget and that has been meeting my personal nutritional needs. I personally use Hungryroot, but I understand that this is not a feasible option for everyone. In Alaska, where access to grocery subscriptions is limited due to shipping and where food costs more in general because it is Alaska, this would not have been an option. 

Nutritional Education and Food Literacy

Another barrier to good nutrition is a lack of education and a lack of food literacy. There are many programs out there striving to educate people on what good nutrition looks like and on food literacy, but there is more misinformation out there that is easier to access, and it is hard to know what is credible and what is just a fad diet that can hurt you more than it helps you. According to the CDC (2024), students only get about 8 hours of nutrition education and food literacy education a year. Not enough to make any kind of a difference as they reach adulthood and are making nutrition choices for themselves. Without education, people can think they are making good choices for their families and themselves on what they are putting in their bodies, while really, they are not. One way to combat this is seek out information from reputable sources. Myplate.gov is one such website where you can get information on healthy eating and food literacy. 

Addictive Properties of Caffeine and Sugar

The last barrier to good nutrition I will discuss is the previously mentioned addictive properties of sugar and caffeine in our diets and the easy access we have to these products. If your diet relies on calorie-dense sugary foods, then you are exposing yourself to sugar every day, and when you try to switch over to eating healthy, those sugar cravings are real and can be very hard to combat. Same thing with caffeine that appears in coffee and Monster Energy drinks. Withdrawal symptoms are no fun and can make it hard to give up these unhealthy habits. I personally struggle with a monster energy drink addiction and have been trying to get away from monster energy drinks for a long time. If you have state insurance or private insurance that covers access to a nutritionist and therapist, I would use it. They can be helpful when it comes to overcoming food addictions to sugars and caffeine. Limiting access to these items is also beneficial. Choose water wherever possible. If you are craving sugar, sometimes you can redirect the craving with fruits if you have access to them. If ice cream is what you want, then frozen bananas (take them out of the peel before freezing) or frozen grapes can sometimes be a good substitute. Honey is sweet and also a cheaper, healthier alternative to sugar. While coffee still has a bunch of caffeine in it and sugar, depending on how you doctor it to make it drinkable, it is still better than energy drinks and is a decent option if you’re trying to quit energy drinks but cannot handle the caffeine headache anymore. 

Conclusion

The nitty-gritty of it is that there are real barriers to nutritional eating in the modern world right now for families that may need it the most, but if you can afford it, good nutrition is as important, if not more important, than exercise for mental health and stress management. 

-Dare

Citations: 

CDC. (2024). Nutrition education. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/school-nutrition/education/index.html 

Hipp, E. (2019). Fighting invisible tigers: Stress management for teens. Free Spirit Publishing. 

Howerton, M. (2025). How inflation is hurting the diets of low-income Americans. Northwell Health. https://www.northwell.edu/news/the-latest/inflation-and-american-diets 

Grajek, M., Krupa-Kotara, K., Białek-Dratwa, A., Sobczyk, K., Grot, M., Kowalski, O., & Staśkiewicz, W. (2022). Nutrition and mental health: A review of current knowledge about the impact of Diet on Mental Health. Frontiers in Nutrition, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.943998 

NIH. (2024). Eating disorders: What you need to know. National Institute of Mental Health. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders#:~:text=People%20with%20eating%20disorders%20are,part%20of%20the%20treatment%20plan.