Food for thought? How our meals and minds are deeply, delicately connected

From a bag of chips to a handful of chocolates, calorie-rich junk food has come to the rescue of many a stressed-out individual having a bad day. Food—whether junk, homemade or nostalgic—soothes our anger, anxiety, or sadness. The taste distracts us, and the familiarity comforts us. It allows a sense of calm to take over. What’s not to like? 

This familiar behaviour of consuming something as a quick fix for a bad mood is called ‘emotional eating’. If you are an emotional eater, you are in good company: a 2023 study among North Indian adults showed that over 70% of those surveyed engaged in emotional eating.

Interestingly, this eating habit was observed to occur at a higher frequency (~82%) among healthcare professionals in Mysuru in a 2025 study, perhaps linked to the high-stress nature of their roles. 

Mood drives cravings

It is a bit unfortunate, really, that these foods we reach out for are energy-dense, sugary, fatty, and largely devoid of nutrients. But there is a hidden logic to this misfortune—both biological and psychological. Eating, something that our body associates with nutrition, releases dopamine—a hormone linked to our brain’s reward centre.

However, modern junk food combines sugars and fats in a way that results in a far more powerful reward than any whole food gives us.

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Over a period of time, eating fatty foods and feeling good creates a positive feedback loop. When we are stressed, our brain tends to fall back on habits that it associates with feeling good. “Stress hormones disrupt metabolism, and our body ends up utilising a lot of mental energy. At this time, the mind is looking for reward, and one of the most common things to turn to is sugar and fat-loaded food that uplift your mood due to dopamine release,” explains Bhavisha Sancheti, a nutritionist who teaches clinical nutrition as Assistant Professor at Dr. BMN College of Home Science. 

Also read: Antibiotic overuse is turning your gut against you 

When we crave junk food, there is an anticipatory release of dopamine in our body, as well as the production of ghrelin, the hunger hormone. When we give in to the craving, a second round of dopamine is released; the habit is reinforced. Psychologically, these incidents are categorised together as memories of eating fatty foods and feeling better. 

“Boredom and loneliness create emotional existential voids,” Mumbai-based psychologist Dr Anureet Sethi explains, “that increase junk food intake. These foods serve as a coping mechanism to self-soothe and provide quick relief to anxiety and low moods.”

This forms the foundation of why eating fatty foods feels rewarding. At a deeper level, as we keep eating foods that release high amounts of dopamine, our brain tries to restore balance and reduces the amount of dopamine receptors in our body. With fewer receptors to pick up on dopamine, more dopamine needs to be released to reach the same effect. This built-up tolerance leads to overeating, increasing the risk of obesity. It is exacerbated by the fact that most ultra-processed food also interferes with leptin, the hormone responsible for telling us when to stop eating. This is what makes processed food addictive. 

The convenience of packaged food also enables opting for it, especially when one is mentally exhausted, Dr. Sethi explains, “Depression or anxiety can reduce the capacity to look after oneself. This disrupts daily routines, including meal planning and cooking, and leads to a reliance on processed food.” 

Breaking the cycle

Our food choices are also products of our overarching relationship with food. Happiness does not necessarily guarantee that people eat healthy; however, calmness does. Positive and calm emotions enable us to think about long-term benefit and resisting temptations rather than getting swept away by excitement. 

At some level, most of us are aware that processed foods are not good for us. Awareness just fuels guilt and shame if we continue to participate in the same vicious cycle. Dr. Kersi Chavda, a psychiatrist at Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital, offers an alternative: “Eating more and more sweets and junk food is not sustainable. Rather, you can eat naturally sweet foods like raisins, melons and other fruits. They will give you the same dopamine, and they are much safer as they are natural.”

Sakina Godhrawala, consultation dietitian and clinical nutritionist, suggests consuming food that will calm down your body, like foods rich in antioxidants. “For example, herbal teas like chamomile provide a significant amount of magnesium and also relax the brain and body.” 

Also read: Mess on my plate: India’s students are fixing their college diets 

Full circle

The relationship between food and mental health is a two-way street: just like mood impacts our food choices, food choices impact our mental health. Clinical nutritionist Priyanka Chopra explains, “Depression and other mental health conditions are multifactorial disorders, not caused solely by poor diet. Clinical research highlights the interplay between genetic predisposition, environmental toxins, chronic stress, emotional trauma, and autonomic nervous system dysregulation.” 

However, it is a crucial facet of our mental health because processed food contributes to inflammation and an imbalance in neurotransmitters that, among other functions, regulate mood. For example, a low-protein diet could lead to deficiencies in essential amino acids like tryptophan and hinder serotonin production. Serotonin is our “happiness hormone”; any deficiency makes itself felt directly on our mood. 

A study published in 2023 linked deficiencies in Vitamin B, omega-3 fatty acids, and magnesium to depression. “The review highlighted that lacking these essential nutrients may increase the risk of depressive symptoms, emphasising the role of nutrition at a biochemical level,” asserted Dr. Anjali Chhabria, a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and author.

Not only does processed food deprive us of nutrients we need; it actively contributes to chronic inflammation, which has been associated with depression. “Pro-inflammatory diets (for example, fast food, fried foods, and sugary snacks) are associated with a 51% higher risk of the mental health disorder. High sugar and refined carb intake cause rapid blood sugar spikes and crashes, leading to mood swings, fatigue, and irritability—symptoms that mimic or exacerbate the disorder,” psychologist Dr. Sethi explains.

Also read: Detox teas: Slim claims, heavy consequences

Gut feeling

Our mental health also depends on us being good hosts. Confused? Well, our bodies host trillions of microorganisms—and their populations are most dense in the gut, reaching up to 100 billion cells per millimetre. The gut shares a direct cable with the brain called the Vagus nerve, which allows for quick bidirectional communication between the two. 

A poor diet affects the good microbes in our gut, while allowing the bad microbes to flourish. “The bad microbes release toxins that can disturb the communication between gut and brain,” Bhavisha Sancheti explains, “This damages the intricate network of the immune system and reduces the formation of chemicals like serotonin that elevate mood.” Given that the gut is home to over 95% of the serotonin produced in our body, this can be a damning turn of events. 

Many clinicians have used this knowledge to counter mental health illnesses by reintroducing good bacteria into the patients’ gut. “Patients with depression often have reduced populations of Bifido species, Lactobacillus species, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Coprococcus species, often involved in dopamine metabolism, are also reduced in numbers,” Priyanka Chopra shares.

Similarly, a 2022 study tried examining the influence of a Mediterranean diet on the depression symptoms of young men, and found significant improvement in their symptoms. A Mediterranean diet is a diet derived from the traditional diet of the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, and postulates a plant-based diet with moderate fish and dairy products, emphasising staying away from processed foods. While mental health outcomes were only tested for the Mediterranean diet specifically, one can extrapolate that regional traditional, balanced diets from across the world could have similar effects. 

In fact, a study in Australia over 2 years concluded that eating 8 portions of fruits and vegetables a day gave the same increase in happiness as going from unemployed to employed.

These studies offer fragments of knowledge—but a larger wisdom lies in reshaping our relationship with food. Small measures can go a long way.

Ask yourself why you are eating before you eat anything: is it hunger, boredom, or stress?

Prepare strategies in advance for high-stress events where you are likely to slip up. Try eating slowly, allowing your body to send you signals of satiety. Mindfulness goes a long way in combating emotionally-driven eating. Multiple studies have observed how mindfulness calms the amygdala—the part of the brain linked with emotional responses—and hence helps us regulate our emotions better. 

Ultimately, good food and good mental health enable each other. This can be a scary prospect for someone with a poor diet or with mental illnesses. However, it also means you have the opportunity to make your health, both physical and mental, better through good nutrition. This is an uphill battle, yes, but one that can be won with some patience, and a lot of compassion for yourself. 

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Additional inputs by Durga Sreenivasan

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