On a plate of rice, a nation’s mental health is quietly being served and falling apart.
“Many Nigerians are no longer eating to live well. They are eating to survive.”
Picture yourself in the market on Saturday at 7 am. Everywhere is hustling and buzzing, and tomatoes are stacked high, but priced as if they grew on another planet. A woman ahead of you squeezes every option, puts two things back, and settles for less than what she came for. She is doing arithmetic that has nothing to do with taste and everything to do with what the weekly food budget allows.
This is happening in markets across Nigeria every day, and while we discuss the food crisis in terms of inflation and naira figures, we rarely ask what it does to a person on the inside.
Food is beyond fuel; It is jollof at a naming ceremony, pepper soup after heartbreak, or egusi soup on a Sunday your mother made without being asked. Food is how Nigerians say: I see you, you belong, you matter. When affording it becomes a daily negotiation, the loss is cultural, psychological, and nutritional, and it is happening quietly.
HOW IT SHOWS UP
I surveyed 231 Nigerians about their mental health and the economy. The food responses alone were enough to pause everything.
| 40%
Say the economy severely or moderately affected their ability to afford nutritious food |
67
Respondents skip meals often or always, not as a diet, but as a daily reality |
74
People describe their current relationship with food as simply: survival |
Another 40% say they now eat whatever is available, compared to more intentional diets in 2023. One respondent put their feelings plainly: “Going out and coming back safely, having food to stop hunger when it comes, just staying alive.”
“I think I view food as a source of escapism. I use it to quiet down the noise in my head. Sometimes I just eat mindlessly, and food becomes a tool.”
And then someone else, in four words: “Eating anything to live”. The distance between those two sentences is where many Nigerians are quietly living right now.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE DOING
Despite all of this, 82 respondents said they are still trying to eat intentionally for their health. In this economy, that is not a small thing; it is a deliberate act of self-preservation. 30 others said food is their primary comfort. Both responses are honest and show people reaching for something to hold on to.
WHAT CAN ACTUALLY HELP
The World Health Organisation is clear that the relationship between food and mental health runs in both directions. How you feel shapes what you reach for, what you eat shapes how your body reacts, and when both are under pressure at once, small intentional choices carry weight.
As a mental health nutritionist, these are the shifts that are both evidence-based and genuinely doable:
- Eat something before anything else. Even groundnuts, leftover beans, or an egg in the morning can help stabilise blood sugar and reduce cortisol (the stress hormone).
- Keep fermented foods in the picture. Ogi, fura, yoghurt, even slightly fermented zobo. Research on the gut-brain axis, supported by WHO nutrition frameworks, shows that fermented foods support serotonin (feel-good hormone) production.
- Bring routines back to eating. Choose one meal time without a screen. Making eating an experience rather than a transaction has been documented to have psychological benefits and costs nothing extra.
Thriving does not always have to be dramatic. Sometimes it looks like choosing tomatoes, even the small ones, and making something from them.
82 people in my “Surviving and Thriving: Mental Health in Present-Day Nigeria” survey are still choosing to thrive regardless.
Tips:
Affordable foods that still nourish
Beans for protein and fullness
Rich in protein and fibre, beans keep you fuller for longer and provide lasting energy.
Eggs when available
A simple source of high-quality protein and essential nutrients that support brain and body health.
Groundnuts as a cheap snack
Affordable, filling and packed with healthy fats, protein and magnesium.
Seasonal vegetables
Buying vegetables in season is often cheaper while providing important vitamins and minerals.
Pap or oats for a simple breakfast
A warm, easy breakfast that helps start the day with steady energy and keeps hunger at bay.
Jane Ibude is a mental health nutritionist, researcher, author, and founder of Thrive and Heal Hub. She writes on The Unpack Nigeria, a weekly column on practical mental and physical well-being for Nigerians. She is also the author of Unpack to Clarity: A Pause for Mental Strength.
