Food & Mood – The Crazy Gut Brain Connection
I remember when I first heard that our gut is like our second brain! It was a bit of an “Aha” moment for me, because depending on how I’m feeling I crave different foods, and depending on what I eat I land up feeling a certain way physiologically, and that food affects my mood. So this concept made complete sense to me as logical, and also as incredibly interesting! If we could become self aware about how our emotions affect our eating patterns, we could also then reverse engineer that and eat so that our food positively affects our mood. This “brain in your gut” is revolutionizing medicine’s understanding of the links between digestion, mood, health and even the way you think.
Scientists call this little brain the enteric nervous system (ENS), mind you it’s not even that little. The ENS is more than 100 million nerve cells lining your gastrointestinal tract from your esophagus to your (yes you guessed it)….rectum. Researchers are finding evidence that irritation in the gut may send signals to the central nervous system (CNS) that trigger mood changes.
Here’s how it works: Your GI tract is home to billions of bacteria that influence the production chemical substances that constantly carry messages from the gut to the brain. Two common examples of this are dopamine and serotonin. Eating nutritionally dense food promotes the growth of “good” bacteria, which in turn positively affects the production of these chemicals. When production is optimal, your brain receives these positive messages loud and clear, and this changes your mental state. On the other hand, when production goes awry so might your mood.
Sugar, in particular, is considered a major culprit of inflammation. It feeds “bad” bacteria in the GI tract. When you stick to a diet of nutrient-rich foods, you’re setting yourself up for fewer mood swings and an improved ability to focus. It’s no wonder mental health experts are now recommending nutrition and healthy diet plans as one of the major contributors to healthy mood changes. It can feel overwhelming to start a whole new way of eating and the exciting part is that you don’t have to do it all overnight, small incremental changes make a huge difference especially because when you change 1 or 2 things at a time, it’s much easier to create new habits that last and become lifestyle changes rather than jumping 100% in and losing momentum along the way because it’s too much too soon!!
Some of the easiest changes to make that can start you on the road are things like only having a sugary treat after a meal, not between meals. This alone prevents your blood glucose from having a major spike because you’ve got some food in your system to absorb the glucose, and it still allows you to derive the pleasure from that sweet treat. Try having sugary treats after lunch, not at breakfast and not later on in the day. Adding more vegetables to your plate at night is another easy and simple way to feed healthy bacteria that will positively affect your mood. Have you ever tried cutting sugar from your coffee or tea? i thought it would be near impossible for me, but I have surprised even myself and gone cold turkey (eventually!!) and I haven’t looked back. I can actually really taste my coffee beans now too (extra surprise!!). There’s always a silver lining! Staying hydrated is another super important way to elevate your mood and support your brain and ability to focus – if you’re a struggling water-drinker, firstly welcome to being part of 80% of the world’s population who fit into this category, secondly there are some easy solutions. Add 20ml of your favourite fruit juice or a mint leaf to your water to give it a slight sweet taste and to trick your tastebuds, or try a variety of herbal tea bags until you find your fave! That way you’re adding healthy herbal nutrients to your diet and enjoying the taste of your water (don’t add sugar or milk, drink it black for it to qualify as water).
Whatever you decide to do, any change starts and ends in the mind – mindset is key to doing anything in life – so deciding to see food as a key contributor to your mood will help you to see food differently, and to make exciting new choices. Try adding some new Superfoods into your diet for extra functional benefits that will affect your mood. Foods like maca, moringa, lions mane mushroom and ashwagandha – these four in particular are part of my daily functional foods that radically change my mood and my ability to think clearly too.
What new foods are you keen to try….?