Have you ever noticed how you feel after eating certain foods? Maybe a warm bowl of soup feels comforting on a stressful day, or a sugary snack gives you a quick boost before a mid-afternoon slump. The truth is, the connection between what you eat and how you feel goes deeper than fleeting moments of satisfaction. Nutrition plays a significant role in your mental health, influencing everything from your energy levels to your mood and even your ability to cope with stress.

While psychiatry definitely utilizes some medications to help patients deal with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and OCD, there are other options that can be used instead of or in addition to medication. Things like nutrition, exercise, sleep, social connections, and stress reduction are the five pillars of lifestyle medicine which we apply in our practice to help patients get the best outcome.