Food & Mood

WE all know about food’s effect on our physical health, but can it also be used to manage our mental health? Liz Flynn, below, a therapist living in Exmouth, looks at Amanda Geary’s Food and Mood theory and reveals plans for a special project in Exeter.


NUTRITIONAL therapist Amanda Geary was diagnosed with ME in 1992 following a period of travel in India, and used her nutritional knowledge to help treat and manage her condition. In 1998, she set up the Food and Mood Project with a Millennium Award from MIND, the UK’s leading mental health charity.

Working with MIND, Amanda devised a practitioner-guided self-help programme for small groups of women who wanted to explore the relationship between the food they ate, and the way they felt. The initial project lasted for 18 months.

Since then Amanda has toured the country giving talks, running workshops and generally spreading the word about her findings and theories. It was at an Exeter workshop, organised by Mandy Williamson, co-ordinator of Exeter and East Devon MIND, that I first encountered the Food and Mood theory.

Amanda talked about the concept of ‘biochemical individuality’, meaning that there is no one magical dietary ‘prescription’ to treat our mood disorders (or physical disorders), but that we all need to explore what works for us.

Amanda also explained that the ‘wrong’ foods for each of us were an additional ‘stressor’ in our general environment. She used the Total Load Theory to explain that if our ability to adapt to stress were represented as a bath, it needs a balance between input and output to ensure there would be no overflow. If our own personal ‘bath’ does begin to overflow, then this means we have exceeded our personal coping mechanisms for stress, and the resulting aches and pains (physical, emotional, mental or spiritual) are ‘early warning signs’. If left untreated, these can develop into chronic illness.

Foods, Amanda says, generally fall into two categories - ‘stressors’ and ‘supporters’. There are general food stressors, such as sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and hidden additives, including herbicides, pesticides, colourings, flavourings, preservatives, etc. But people are individual in their responses to these general stressors. Certain specific foods can also act as stressors to some individuals causing food allergies and intolerances which, in turn, cause all sorts of other problems both physical and mental. Amanda encourages everyone to discover and explore their own food stressors and our sensitivities to them.

Food ‘supporters’ can help us to avoid fluctuation of blood sugar levels, among other things. It is not a great idea to skip meals or to eat too many foods that are high up on the Glycaemic Index, a table that compares the effects of various carbohydrates on blood sugar levels to that of pure glucose. Glucose is counted as 100, and other carbohydrates are numbered according to how quickly or slowly they release their energy for use by the body. The Index is continually being added to as other carbohydrates are put to the test, and is also proving to be a useful tool for diabetics.

Some time later, I caught up with Mandy Williamson again. Having worked with MIND for 15 years, Mandy is always open to new ways of managing mental health problems. She enthusiastically told me about MIND’s Food and Mood stall at the Food Fiesta, which was part of last summer’s Exeter Festival. She had heard about Amanda’s project through the National MIND and used Amanda’s ‘Mind Meal’ to prepare dishes for people to try.

“I couldn’t believe how much toddlers enjoyed Amanda’s pasta, pesto and mackerel dish,” she said. “They just loved it. I didn’t think toddlers would go for that sort of thing.”

Amanda devised the Mind Meal as a way of incorporating some of the foods that nutritional therapists recommend for good mental health. Full details of this can be found at the Food and Mood Project website, or in Amanda’s Handbook.

Mandy is now applying for a grant from the National Lottery’s Quality of Life Fund to help set up a Mind, Body, Soul project.

“Initially, people would be referred to it from our local Springboard project, a seven-day-a-week drop-in service for people with long-term mental health problems,” said Mandy.

“I see it being based in Exeter with a café and rooms where therapists can offer complementary health care and advice. Clients would get referred there rather like a GP can refer patients to ‘Heartfit’, where people get a course at a gym instead of, or as well as, medication.

“The Food and Mood café would have all the foods labelled to show the ingredients so people could make informed choices about what to eat to help improve their mental health. Initially, I see the café as specifically geared to the Mind, Body, Soul project, but eventually the idea could be extended into larger premises in the city - open to all. I am really very excited about it!” she said.

“There is a proposal that the University’s St Luke’s Sport Science Department in Exeter would do an evaluation of the Mind, Body, Soul project so there would also be a research element. Amanda Geary (currently researching for an MSc) may be asked to devise the evaluation system for the Food and Mood element.”

Mandy said that recently a member of the Springboard staff has started setting up Food and Mood groups, where members can discuss and explore foods and recipes together in a sympathetic and supportive environment.

If Mandy’s ideas are funded, there may be real hope of an alternative for self-management of mental health, not just in the Exeter and East Devon community, but for us all.



For enquiries about Springboard, Exeter & East Devon MIND or the Mind, Body, Soul project, contact Mandy on 01392 204499.

For more information about the Food & Mood Project contact The Food and Mood Project, PO Box 2737, LEWES, East Sussex, BN7 2GN, or check out their web site at www.foodandmood.org

The Food and Mood Handbook, by Amanda Geary, is published by Thorsons, ISBN 0007114230.

Liz Flynn is an ITEC-qualified and a registered complementary therapist specialising in precision reflexology, nutrition and massage. She has had an interest in nutrition for over 20 years and two family members suffer with chronic mental health problems.

Call her on 01395 266761 or email: lizf@mirasol.co.uk.