Changing your diet to support your mental health can be difficult to get right. If you are considering making changes to your diet to manage your own mental health issues you should seek the advice of someone trained in this area. There are number of ways you can access support and advice from people who may be able to help you.
GP or other health professional – Many local services are available for help in maintaining health and wellbeing. There may be self help groups in your area or more information at your GP surgery. A medical professional involved in your care will also be able to refer you to someone who is trained in managing mental health through diet.
Dietitian – The title Dietitian can be used only by people with appropriate training who are registered with the British Dietetic Association; they are statutorily regulated by the Health Professions Council. This means that if you have any concerns about the professionalism of the person you are seeing, you can contact the Association and can check the online register to see that they are registered and meeting national standards.
Dietitians can have various roles. Often they are involved with treatment of medical problems working in hospitals and freelance; they may also work in management, public health or the food industry. Most people can see a dietician within the NHS by being referred by another health professional such as a GP or health visitor or by self referral. There are also freelance dieticians who work outside the NHS. Dietitians Unilimited lists freelance dietitians so you can find one in your area.
Nutritionist or Nutritional therapist – Nutritionists do not have any form of statutory regulation, but they may be members of The British association for Applied nutrition and Nutritional Therapists (BANT) and/or registered with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council. Like dieticians, they work one to one with patients although their work tends to be more holistic, focusing on the overall health of the patient as opposed to individual problems. BANT has a search page to find local nutritional therapists.
For more information you can also try the following organisations.
Food and Mental health campaign: Campaign launched by the Mental Health Foundation and Sustain to increase awareness and understanding of the links between food and mental health, and to press for shifts in policy and practice as a result.
Food Standards Agency: This site has a large amount of information on food standards and regulations in the UK. From the home page, click on the 'nutrition' button on the menu to navigate further to information on policy and research around nutrition.
Food for the brain: Promote awareness of the link between learning, behaviour, mental health and nutrition. They provide educational material and aim to develop 'models' of how society can act to promote mental health through nutrition.
Royal College of Psychiatrists: This page has information on why nutrition is beneficial to mental health and tips on how to eat well.
Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, advocates food and agriculture policies and practices.