#19 | Food For Thought – An Episode About Mental Health

For episode 19 of With Relish: Food for Thought, Harry and Aoife talk about an issue that is extremely important to themselves and others within the food industry, yet often gets left behind in open discussion. This week’s show aims to look at the relationship between food and mental health in two different ways;

  • Our diet and mental health
  • Mental health in the cooking industry

In our first interview we are joined in studio by Eleanor Sutton, a senior dietitian at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services. Eleanor tells the guys about simple ways your diet and food choices can help you when suffering from depression, anxiety and other illnesses. In the chat, she also discusses the harm that food shaming can do to someone who is trying to recover from these illnesses.

Finally we are joined by James Sheridan who is the Chef/Owner of Canteen in Celbridge to chat about mental illness within the cooking industry. In what was an incredibly honest and informative interview, James shares his own story about dealing with mental illness while running his own restaurant. The discussion looks at macho culture, stress in kitchens, unfair pay and whether there is something inherent about professional cooking that is bad for your mental health?

About St Patrick’s Mental Health Services:

St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services are an independently governed, not-for-profit mental health service catering for service users from all over Ireland. St. Patrick’s comprises of two inpatient campuses, an adolescent unit and seven community Dean Clinics. The organisation provides speciality programmes for young adults, depression management, bipolar disorder, psychiatry of old age, alcohol dependence, dual mood and addiction disorders, memory clinic and anxiety management.

Their website is www.stpatricks.ie and our support and information line is 01 2493333.