Skip to content
Be You home
Log in Register for free
  • Home
  • About

    What is Be You?

    Be You provides educators with professional development, tools and resources to support mental health and wellbeing in early learning services and schools.
    • Organisations involved
    • Evidence base
    • History of Be You
    • Education Voices
    • News and updates
    • Research and evaluation

    Be You Stories

    Discover how educators from early learning services and schools across Australia are implementing Be You.

    Be You became the missing piece in our wellbeing strategy

    Supporting authentic engagement with First Nations communities

    Immediate support Help

    If you are concerned about someone at risk of immediate harm, call 000 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
    • Support helplines
    • Be You suicide response

    Be You implementation support

    Explore how Be You can support you and registered Be You Learning Communities.
    • Be You Consultants
    • Frequently asked questions
    • Contact us
  • Get started

    How to get started

    Not sure where to start? Our tailored handbooks have essential information for starting your Be You journey.
    • Educators
    • Wellbeing teams and Action Teams
    • Leadership teams
    • Pre-service educators
    • Tertiary professionals

    Register yourself

    Access free accredited professional learning modules and other resources.

    Register your community

    Is your early learning service or school registered with Be You? Be You Learning Communities can access Be You Consultants, tools and resources to support a whole-setting approach to mental health and wellbeing.
  • Courses

    Track your Professional Learning

    • Access our free learning modules.
    • Track and log your professional learning hours.
    • Discover tools and resources to put your learning into action.
    Log in Register for free

    Professional Learning

    Explore our accredited learning modules to build your skills, knowledge and confidence in mental health and wellbeing.

    • Mentally Healthy Communities

      Learn about mental health and how to create thriving learning communities.

    • Family Partnerships

      Build relationships with families to support mental health and wellbeing.

    • Learning Resilience

      Explore social and emotional learning and how to embed it in your practice.

    • Early Support

      Notice early signs, have sensitive conversations and provide support.

    • Responding Together

      Plan for critical incidents, learn about trauma and support recovery.

    Evidence and accreditation

    Explore the evidence behind Be You Professional Learning and how it aligns with national education standards.
    • National standards
    • Accreditation
    • Supporting evidence

    Planning for Implementation

    Five short modules exploring the Be You Implementation Cycle and how it can support you to create a mentally healthy learning community.
    • Planning for Implementation modules
  • Resources

    Immediate support Help

    If you are concerned about someone at risk of immediate harm, call 000 or go to your nearest hospital emergency department.
    • Support helplines
    • Be You suicide response

    Wellbeing toolkits

    Wellbeing tools for children and young people

    Wellbeing tools for educators

    Wellbeing tools for leaders

    Resource topics

    • Educator wellbeing

    • Cultural responsiveness and First Nations perspectives

    • Suicide prevention and response

    • Disability inclusion

    • Natural disaster response

    Wellbeing toolkits

    Wellbeing tools for children and young people

    Wellbeing tools for educators

    Wellbeing tools for leaders

    Implementation tools

    • Tools for Action Teams
    • BETLS Observation Tool
    • Mental Health Continuum
    • Programs Directory

    Fact Sheets

    • Child and adolescent development
    • Grief, trauma and critical incidents
    • Mental health issues and conditions
    • Mental health support
    • Communication and relationships
    • Social and emotional learning
    • Wellbeing and stress management
  • Events

    Explore Be You events

    Join our online events to learn about mental health and wellbeing topics, enhance your practice and support your engagement with Be You.

    Upcoming events

    Hear from Be You Consultants and subject matter experts talking about a range of topics.
    • Early learning
    • Primary
    • Secondary

    Event recordings

    Have you missed an event? Would you like to learn more about a particular topic? Check out our recorded events.
    • Be You Virtual Conference
Log in Register for free Immediate support Help
  1. Wellbeing and stress management

Nutrition and mental health

Nutrition affects mental health and wellbeing, and promotes and maintains healthy brain development in children and young people.
An adult in working in a school kitchen

How are nutrition and mental health linked?

Healthy eating helps children and young people cope more effectively with stress, better manage their emotions and get a good sleep – all of which assist learning.

Most research about nutrition and mental health has focused on adults. We know that good nutrition is associated with better mental health outcomes, whereas a poor diet is associated with a greater risk of depression and anxiety. However, emerging research that focuses on children and young people has also found a relationship between unhealthy diets and poorer mental health outcomes. 

Poor nutrition has been associated with:

  • externalising behaviour (such as hyperactivity, aggression, disobedience)
  • symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder 
  • poor concentration and tiredness, which interfere with learning
  • immune system function, which is also linked to mental health
  • delayed brain development – high-fat, high-sugar diets can affect proteins in the body that are important for brain development
  • iron deficiency, which has been linked to cognitive function impairments associated with learning and memory
  • nutrient deficiencies, which have been associated with mental health conditions including depression and anxiety (we know that fruits and vegetables, grains, fish, lean red meats and olive oils are rich in important nutrients such as folate, magnesium, vitamins and zinc which all impact on body and brain functions, including mood regulation). 

Dietary habits aren't always a choice

‘Food insecurity’ – where people don’t have enough food due to because of things such as unemployment and poverty – is also a problem for many families in Australia. 
Food insecurity can result in: 

  • psychological stress – high levels of ongoing stress have been related to depression and delayed brain development
  • poorer academic performance
  • time off from school
  • anxiety
  • aggression
  • difficulty getting along with others. 

The good news is that improving what you eat can lead to improvements in your mental health, so it’s never too late to encourage healthier eating patterns. 

  • Australian dietary guidelines

    The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend that we all increase our intake of fruit and vegetables and reduce foods high in sugar, salt and fat.

    However, changing lifestyles and increased access to processed foods mean many children and young people fail to meet these recommendations. Less than 1% of children and young people aged two to 18 years consume the recommended amount of vegetables each day.

  • What can services and schools do to encourage healthy eating?

    Children and young people need support to learn about nutrition and to establish lifelong healthy eating habits.

    While much of this work is done by families at home, early learning services and schools can also play a role in promoting healthy eating to help promote and support children and young people’s development and learning.

    Early learning services can:

    • make mealtimes as relaxed and comfortable as possible, and sit and eat with the children
    • talk positively about the healthy foods the children are eating
    • encourage children to drink water throughout the day
    • be a good role model with the foods you eat
    • teach children about healthy eating in group discussions and in games and activities
    • provide opportunities for cooking or food preparation (for example making a fruit salad)
    • plant a vegetable garden with greens children can pick and eat (such as herbs and lettuce).
    Schools can:
    • only offer healthy foods in the school canteen
    • create a school vegetable garden and incorporate cooking activities in class using the produce you’ve grown
    • incorporate breaks for students to eat fruit and vegetables in class
    • allow students to bring water bottles into the classroom
    • be a positive role model and pack your own healthy food
    • use non-food rewards (pencils, stickers) instead of sweet treats
    • create partnerships with the local community (such as local food growers or food markets) and utilise these partners in school projects and work experience opportunities
    • apply for funding to provide fresh fruit and vegetables in class at least once a week. 
  • References

    Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2017). Australian Health Survey: Consumption of Food Groups from the Australian Dietary Guidelines, 2011-12. Canberra: ABS. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/
    4364.0.55.012main+features12011-12.

    Jacka, F. N., Kremer, P. J., Berk, M., de Silva-Sanigorski, A. M., Moodie, M., Leslie, E. R., & Swinburn, B. A. (2011). A prospective study of diet quality and mental health in adolescents. PloS one, 6(9), e24805.

    Jyoti, D. F., Frongillo, E. A., & Jones, S. J. (2005). Food insecurity affects school children's academic performance, weight gain, and social skills. The Journal of Nutrition, 135(12), 2831-2839.

    National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). (2013) Australian Dietary Guidelines. Canberra: NHMRC. Retrieved from https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines-publications/n55.

    O'Neil, A., Quirk, S., Housden, S., Brennan, S., Williams, L., Pasco, J., & Jacka, F. (2014). Relationship between diet and mental health in children and adolescents: A systematic review. American Journal of Public Health, 104(10), E31-42.

    Tomlinson, D., Wilkinson, H., & Wilkinson, P. (2009). Diet and mental health in children. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 14(3), 148-155.

    Townsend, N., Murphy, S., & Moore, L. (2011). The more schools do to promote healthy eating, the healthier the dietary choices by students. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 65(10), 889-895.

  • External links

    Eat for Health – Eating well

    Food and Mood Centre 

    Better Health Channel – Kids and energy needs

    Orygen – Food and thought: the relationship between diet and outcomes for depression and anxiety
     

Resources

  • Nutrition and mental health (427 KB, PDF)

Mentally Healthy Communities

Create environments where children and young people thrive.

Last updated: November, 2024

    • What is Be You?
    • Be You Stories
    • Immediate support
    • Be You implementation support
    • How to get started
    • Register yourself
    • Register your community
    • Professional Learning
    • Track your Professional Learning
    • Evidence and accreditation
    • Planning for Implementation
    • Resource topics
    • Wellbeing toolkits
    • Implementation tools
    • Fact Sheets
    • Explore Be You events
    • Upcoming events
    • Event recordings
  • Delivered by
    • Beyond Blue home
  • In collaboration with
    • Early Childhood Australia home
    • Headspace home
  • Funded by
    • Logo - Department of Health and Aged Care
  • Follow us

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Youtube
    • Twitter
  • Contact us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy
  • Privacy collection statement

Copyright © 2025 Australian Government

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags

Be You acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and extend our respect to all Elders and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples across Australia.