I’ve always said there isn’t a diet that treats bipolar disorder. This is still true. Nonetheless, there is a diet that may be best for mental illness and cognitive decline; it’s called the MIND diet. Few people have heard of the Mediterranean-DASH diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay (MIND) diet, and it is a work in progress, but the MIND diet outlines a broad eating plan that, according to research, can help your brain function at its best and slow cognitive decline. This diet has been the object of various studies, including in people with mental illness, those who have had a stroke, and those at risk of Alzheimer’s.

What Is the MIND Diet?

The MIND diet is basically a mashup of the dietary approach designed to stop hypertension (DASH) and the Mediterranean diet — two of the healthiest diets you can have.

The MIND diet is really simple. I think that’s a major benefit. People are more likely to stick to and understand something simple rather than some restrictive and complex. Plus, no foods are off-limits, per se; they just aren’t encouraged. Simply, the MIND diet tells you to eat more of some foods and less of others.

What to Eat on the MIND Diet

If you have mental illnesses and are trying the MIND diet, eat more of:

  • Green leafy vegetables like kale, collards, spinach, lettuce — ideally, six or more servings per week
  • Other vegetables like green/red peppers, squash, cooked carrots, raw carrots, broccoli, celery, potatoes, peas or lima beans, potatoes, tomatoes, tomato sauce, string beans, beets, corn, zucchini/summer squash/eggplant, coleslaw, potato salad — ideally, one serving or more per day
  • Berries like strawberries — ideally, two or more servings per week
  • Nuts — ideally, five or more servings per week
  • Olive oil — ideally, the primary oil used
  • Whole grains — ideally, three or more servings per day
  • Fish (not fried) like a tuna sandwich, fresh fish as main dish; not fried fish cakes, sticks, or sandwiches — ideally, one or more meals per week
  • Beans (including lentils and soybeans) — ideally, more than three meals per week
  • Poultry (not fried) like chicken or turkey sandwich, chicken or turkey as main — ideally, two or more meals per week
  • Wine — ideally, one glass per day

The examples above have been explicitly studied, but other foods that fall into each group really count too.

What Not to Eat on the MIND Diet

There are only five things the MIND diet encourages people not to eat. If you have a mental illness and are trying the MIND diet, eat less of:

  • Butter or margerine — ideally less than one tablespoon per day
  • Cheese — ideally less than one serving per week
  • Red meat and red meat products like cheeseburgers, hamburgers, beef tacos/burritos, hot dogs/sausages, roast beef or ham sandwiches, salami, bologna, or other deli meat sandwich, beef (steak, roast) or lamb as main dish, pork or ham as main dish, meatballs or meatloaf — ideally, less than four meals per week
  • Fast fried foods like French fried and chicken nuggets — ideally, less than one per week
  • Pastries and sweets like biscuits/rolls, poptarts, cakes, snack cakes/twinkies, Danish/sweetrolls/pastries, donuts, cookies, brownies, pie, candy bars, other candy, ice cream, pudding, milkshakes/frappes — ideally, less than five servings per week

Again, just because a food isn’t explicitly mentioned above doesn’t mean it doesn’t fall into the given category.

Evidence Behind the MIND Diet — for Mental Illness and Other Illnesses

The MIND diet hasn’t been around very long, with the first paper being published on it in 2015. It’s understandable, then, that the evidence around all the possible uses of the diet is scant.

As the name would suggest, the Mediterranean-DASH diet intervention for neurodegenerative delay, the MIND diet was created specifically for brain health. And, yes, initially, researchers were designing the diet for cognitive degradation found in aging and in illnesses like Alzheimer’s; however, this work does appear to increase brain health overall, and this leads to positive effects in things like depression.

Why Is the MIND Diet Best for Mental Illness?

First off, it’s important to acknowledge that people with severe mental illnesses often have a “lower diet quality and adverse eating behaviours [sic] contributing towards physical health disparities.” People with serious mental illnesses tend to intake more calories and more sodium — likely indicating a greater intake of junk food. And what we know is that while a diet may not treat mental illness, per se, a poor diet can worsen mental illness, not to mention cause weight gain and other serious conditions like diabetes. Adopting a more healthy diet can possibly improve your mental illness symptoms if you’re starting from a place of an unhealthy diet — which many of us are. A healthy diet can also improve other physical illnesses and help a person lose weight.

When it comes to the MIND diet, it’s likely the best diet for mental illness (or, at least, the best one we know of so far) because it’s been shown to:

  • Substantially slow cognitive decline with aging
  • Reduce the incidence of Alzhiemer’s disease (dementia being linked to bipolar disorder)
  • Reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in the body (both thought to be partial causes of serious mental illness)

Of course, none of that evidence is directly for the MIND diet and mental illness, but I think the evidence we do have is suggestive of its usefulness.

Final Things to Know About the MIND Diet and Mental Illness

One of the most encouraging things about this diet is that the more you stick to it, the better your results, but only sticking to it partially still yields benefits. This means you can slowly switch over to this diet in a way that makes sense for you and still have the possibility of cognitive benefits. I think the MIND diet is a great place to start with a diet that has easy rules to follow and is broad enough to work with many lifestyles.

Now, will the MIND diet fix a mental illness? No, I’m afraid not, but it is what I would call a cognitively healthy way to eat. It’s a way to eat that won’t worsen your mental illness and may preserve and aid in cognitive function. All of that is very important if you have a mental illness like bipolar, depression, schizophrenia, or another illness.

NB: I should mention, you should check with your doctor before any major dietary changes. A doctor or a dietician is always going to give you better, more personalized, information, and people tend to stick to their advice better.

Sources

  1. Diniz, B. S., Teixeira, A. L., Cao, F., Gildengers, A., Soares, J. C., Butters, M. A., & Reynolds, C. F. (2017). History of Bipolar Disorder and the Risk of Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25(4), 357–362. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2016.11.014
  2. Firth, J., Marx, W., Dash, S., Carney, R., Teasdale, S. B., Solmi, M., Stubbs, B., Schuch, F. B., Carvalho, A. F., Jacka, F., & Sarris, J. (2019). The Effects of Dietary Improvement on Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Psychosomatic Medicine, 81(3), 265–280. https://doi.org/10.1097/psy.0000000000000673
  3. Morris, M. C., Tangney, C. C., Wang, Y., Sacks, F. M., Barnes, L. L., Bennett, D. A., & Aggarwal, N. T. (2015). MIND diet slows cognitive decline with aging. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 11(9), 1015–1022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2015.04.011
  4. Morris, M. C., Tangney, C. C., Wang, Y., Sacks, F. M., Bennett, D. A., & Aggarwal, N. T. (2015). MIND diet associated with reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia, 11(9), 1007–1014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jalz.2014.11.009
  5. Newman, K. (2019, September 19). What Is the Best Diet for Mental Health? Greater Good. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_is_the_best_diet_for_mental_health
  6. Pearson, K., PhD. (2017, July 30). The MIND Diet: A Detailed Guide for Beginners. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mind-diet
  7. Teasdale, S. B., Ward, P. B., Samaras, K., Firth, J., Stubbs, B., Tripodi, E., & Burrows, T. L. (2019). Dietary intake of people with severe mental illness: systematic review and meta-analysis. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 214(5), 251–259. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2019.20