Do you wake up on an installment plan? Do you really not surface until you have another coffee break? Are you out-of-sorts? Downright grumpy? You can improve your mood by changing the foods you eat. How?
Plant Foods to the Rescue
Enjoy a plant-based diet, including a wide variety of leafy greens, whole fruits, nuts, and whole grains. These complex carbs are loaded with fiber that enables your blood sugar to stay within healthy limits. A variety of veggies, legumes, and even healthy fats, such as nuts and seeds, can help to boost endorphins and/or serotonin, those feel-good chemicals which are so important in making you feel on top of the world. Legumes are a great food choice because they provide carbohydrates and protein, which helps us to keep alert and avoid blood sugar crashes. Low carbohydrates diets may reduce the brain’s ability to make serotonin. Without this neurotransmitter, a positive outlook and self-control are hard to achieve.
Proteins provide amino acids that make brain chemicals that help you to think clearly. However, eating animal protein can reduce your brain’s ability to make serotonin. Legumes, whole grains, and nuts are good sources of cholesterol-free protein. A well functioning brain is essential for good judgment, impulse control, and will power. But eating meat depresses the electrical activity in the front part of your brain. Then, when mixtures of animal protein and fats enter the stomach, like when you’re eating a pepperoni pizza, they can form toxins. One such example is the conversion of tyrosine to tyramine. Tyramine acts upon the nervous system so that it becomes overstimulated and you become more sensitive to stress. And that’s when irritability comes in.
Skip the Western
The typical western diet is high in fat and sugar (or high fructose corn syrup) and it promotes inflammation inside the brain and other places in the body. Depression has been linked to inflammation. And if you frequently eat this way, your ability to think and remember gradually decreases and frustration can go up. Go easy on the sugar and never eat it on an empty stomach. Rapid rise and fall of blood sugar decreases the ability of the brain to focus. Sugar is also bad news if you suffer from chronic pain. Sugar reduces your threshold to pain so you feel it much quicker. While it’s true that sugar temporarily increases pleasure-linked endorphins in the brain, walking will do the same thing and much more safely. You can also reap many cardio benefits as well.
Caffeine Is Not Your Friend
Caffeine is not your friend. That cup of coffee initially acts as a stimulant, but also as a depressant. Studies show that caffeine reduces the threshold for irritability and anger. It also magnifies the effect of stress on your body. Long-term use of caffeine lowers the serotonin level in the brain and interferes with metabolism of G.A.B.A., a brain chemical that helps us to keep calm and focus under stress.
Check Your Numbers
If you’re feeling low, you may want to check your numbers. For example, what are your vitamin D levels? Deficiency in vitamin D can result in depression. A vitamin D supplement can ease away wintertime blues. Depression can also set in when you don’t get enough omega-3 fats in your diet. Flaxseed, walnuts and spinach are good sources of this fatty acid. While solid animal fats and hydrogenated vegetable fats encourage inflammation in the brain, omega-3 fats protect it. Eat some olives, avocados, nuts and/or seeds to protect your brain. If you’re enjoying a whole food plant-based diet, you may also want to have your vitamin B-12 levels checked periodically. As we get older, some of us lose the ability to absorb this vitamin. Even low normal levels of vitam B-12 can produce a host of mental problems. Check your numbers to be sure you’re protecting your brain by the way you eat. Not only will you feel happier and more at peace, but you will continue to feel calm in your older years. If you protect your brain, not only will you be more pleasant and easier to work with now, but also in your elderly years.
Diet is only one link in the chain of health, but iit’s an important one. If you continue to feel down or depressed in spite of eating right, you may need to visit your doctor to explore other ways you can turn that around.
Written by Elizabeth Hall, writer for Wildwood Lifestyle Center
