Food to Elevate Your Mood
Sep 24, 2021
{Written by Jason}
I’ll start this blog post by sharing one of my favorite Abraham-Hicks quotes: “There is no desire that anyone holds for any other reason than that they believe they will feel better in the achievement of it. Whether it is a material object, a physical state of being, a relationship, a condition, or a circumstance—at the heart of every desire is the desire to feel good.”
The pursuit of happiness will take you down many roads, through many relationships, jobs, and life situations. However, we all know the feeling of being surrounded by material objects, people, and experiences that we at one time desired—only to feel isolation, disconnection, and a deep sense of longing. I know this feeling firsthand, and I can tell you that my struggle with clinical depression and daily mood swings were directly related to my lack of self-love, my inability to deal with negative emotions, and, most significantly, a few key nutritional deficiencies that threw my brain chemistry out of balance. In addition to learning new emotional healing tools, a gentle shift in my diet and optimizing my nutrition had tangible benefits for my mood and overall level of contentment.
Before I made these changes, I could feel that something was definitely “off,” but I was too ashamed to ask for support. I thought I had to struggle with it alone and didn’t want to burden anyone with my pain. As I dove into the research to look at the scope of depression in the U.S., I found I was definitely not alone in my struggle:
- 14.8 million American adults (about 6.7 percent of the U.S. population) ages 18 and older suffer from depression
- One in ten U.S. adults takes a pharmaceutical antidepressant medication
- Depression affects one in four American women in their 40s and 50s
Now, looking at those statistics, you may be thinking, Wow, I didn’t know it was THAT big of a problem! But, if we’re honest about it, mood swings and depressive states can strike us all . . . and for some of us, quite often. All it takes is one more domino to send the whole stack crashing down: your paycheck was late, the line at the DMV was way too long, or the distracted barista at Starbucks accidentally made your triple latte with whole milk when you specifically told her you wanted coconut milk. And then what happens? You fly off the handle like a frothing junkyard dog and act like it’s the end of the freakin’ world. Can you relate? I sure can. I’ve had plenty of those little irritating moments that feel like apocalyptic crises when in reality, they are just mirrors for something deeper inside of us that wants to be understood and healed.
Good Foods for Good Moods
If you’ve been feeling crappy, it’s time to take a good look at your food choices to see how they are affecting your state of being. Are you craving a lot of sweets or starches? If your blood sugar is on a roller-coaster ride from eating too much processed sugar, refined carbohydrates, and artificial ingredients, you are more likely to feel imbalanced and cranky. You’ll also feel off balance if you’ve started a super-restrictive crash diet; your GI tract will be in distress with intense hunger pangs.
Keeping your blood sugar steady and your GI tract running smoothly will do wonders for your overall health and moods. Plus, the key nutrients you get in certain foods can influence your brain’s levels of feel-good neurotransmitters such as serotonin, GABA, and dopamine. Other critical nutrients can help prevent inflammation in your body so that your blood circulates well to all of your organs.
Here are my basic tips for how to improve your moods with foods, starting now:
Consume foods rich in vitamin B12 and folic acid. These two vitamins help to prevent mood disorders, central nervous system disorders, and dementias. The link between higher intakes of folate and a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms crosses cultures, too. A cross-sectional research study by the National Center for Global Health and Medicine in Tokyo confirmed this positive association in both Japanese men and women. Folic acid is usually found in beans, greens, and legumes. There are trace amounts of vitamin B12 in fortified nutritional yeast, spirulina, tempeh, blue-green algae, and chlorella as well.
Vitamin B12 is a by-product of bacteria and was once found in our water supply as well as on the plant foods we eat. Because we now chlorinate our water in municipal areas and because we don’t pick our vegetables from the wild without washing them, it’s much harder to obtain optimal levels of B12 strictly from plant-based food sources. In my opinion, just consume a high-quality methylcobalamin vitamin B12 supplement and call it a day!
Eat more fresh, organic fruits and vegetables. Fresh, organic (and especially locally grown) fruits and vegetables are packed with key nutrients, trace minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals that directly contribute to your overall health and mental well-being. In a population-based, cross-sectional study from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, researchers found that the consumption of two or more servings of fresh fruits and vegetables a day was associated with an 11 percent higher likelihood of good overall functional health. People who ate the highest amount of fruits and vegetables felt much better about their state of health and well-being.
Choose selenium-rich foods. Selenium is a mineral that acts as an antioxidant in the body. What do antioxidants have to do with feeling better and minimizing bad moods? New research suggests that the presence of oxidative stress in the brain is associated with some cases of mild to moderate depression. One nested, case-controlled study by the organization Complimentary Therapies in Medicine evaluated the depression scores of elderly people whose daily diet was either supplemented with 200 micrograms of selenium a day or a placebo. The group taking selenium had significant decreases in their depression symptoms.
Where can you find great sources of selenium? Whole grains! By eating several servings a day of whole grains such as oatmeal, whole-grain bread, and brown rice, you can easily get your daily dose. Just be careful if you’re sugar sensitive, as these whole grains can be a hidden source. Other foods rich in selenium include beans, legumes, seeds, and nuts (especially Brazil nuts, which are also excellent for men’s reproductive health and testosterone levels).
Consume omega-3 fatty acid-rich foods or supplements. Several recent studies have suggested that both men and women are at a lower risk of depression symptoms if they eat foods high in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids seem to have positive effects on depressive conditions, including postpartum depression. Plant foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids include hemp seeds, chia seeds, flaxseed, and various forms of microalgae, including marine phytoplankton, ocean algae, spirulina, and chlorella.
Take a daily dose of vitamin D. Does a little time in the sun seem to make you feel better? I know I feel a LOT better emotionally when I get a few minutes of direct sun on my skin every day. The sun’s rays allow our bodies to synthesize and regulate vitamin D. Several correlated research studies from the Medical University of South Carolina showed an association between low serum levels of vitamin D and higher incidences of four mood disorders in women: PMS, seasonal affective disorder, nonspecified mood disorder, and major depressive disorder. Very few plant-based foods naturally contain high levels of assimilable vitamin D. I recommend you get your vitamin D from a variety of sources, including short periods of managed, direct sun exposure, natural vitamin D supplements, and fortified foods like whole-grain cereals, breads, organic fruit juices, and nondairy milks made from coconut, hemp, almond, or flax.
Eat dark chocolate for the win. Small amounts of dark chocolate can be a natural mood lifter, with raw cacao (unprocessed beans that are the primary component in chocolate) being the most potent option due to its high concentration of antioxidants and magnesium. Cacao has a powerful effect on your brain endorphins and helps you produce more phenylethylamine (PEA)—one of the brain chemicals that’s released when you’re in love! Not only that, cacao also seems to have a heart-healthy, anti-clogging effect in our blood vessels. In one study from the Netherlands, Dutch men who ate one-third of a dark chocolate bar each day had lower levels of blood pressure and lower rates of heart disease. The chocolate also boosted their general sense of emotional well-being.
Genetic Factors That May Influence Mood
While nutrition clearly plays a big role in determining your mood, you may also have inherited certain mood disorders. New research is strongly demonstrating how genes influence our moods and other key personality traits. Some genes may program our brains to produce specific amounts of mood-enhancing chemicals. But for some of us, genes can undersupply our neurotransmitters. This may be one reason why the same emotional traits seem to run in some families. If your mother always seemed anxious and worried and often poured herself a glass of wine, it should come as no surprise that you, too, might sometimes reach for a wine glass under intense emotional pressures. Parents who have low supplies of naturally stimulating and sedating brain chemicals can sometimes have depressed or anxious children who use food, alcohol, or drugs as substitutes for the healthy amounts of brain chemicals they so desperately need.
Prolonged states of chronic stress and anxiety can wholly deplete your neurotransmitters, which compromises your brain’s ability to calm your nerves. This is particularly true if you have inherited marginal amounts of healthy brain chemicals to begin with. The emergency stores of precious brain chemicals can get used up if you call on them to calm yourself over and over again. Eventually, your brain can’t keep up with the demand. That’s why you may start to intuitively “help” your brain by eating foods with druglike effects that mimic the behavior of the depleted chemicals.
Cheese: The Ultimate Food Addiction
The steady use of druglike foods such as refined white sugars and flours, artificial ingredients, food additives (such as MSG), or alcohol or drugs can inhibit the production of your brain’s natural pleasure chemicals and nullify healthy neurotransmitter function. In fact, one of the reasons that dairy products are so damn addictive is that they contain naturally addicting protein fragments called casomorphins that derive from the digestion of a milk protein called casein. The distinguishing characteristic of casomorphins is their direct opiate effect in your brain. That’s right; drinking milk and eating dairy products has a similar effect on your brain as using opium or heroin!
Like any other drugs, the more dairy products you eat, the more you become dependent on them for a feel-good high in your brain, leading to potentially massive withdrawal symptoms when you eliminate those foods from your lifestyle. Opioids are well known for their ability to produce euphoria, motivating some people to use them recreationally. All of these opiate-like substances can plug into your brain and actually fill up the empty places called receptors where your neurotransmitters should be plugging in. Your brain senses that the receptors are already full, so it further reduces the amounts of neurotransmitters that it produces. As the amounts of these natural brain chemicals drop, more and more alcohol, drugs, or druglike foods are needed to fill newly emptied brain slots. This vicious circle ends when these substances you ingest are unable to do the trick any longer. Now your brain’s natural neurotransmitters, functioning suboptimally, are completely exhausted, and you’ll crave those mood-enhancing foods or drugs more voraciously than ever. So, you might want to think twice about that cheese and wine pairing. Recognizing that you may be self-medicating with food is the first step toward breaking your addiction and getting your brain back on a healthy track.
How to Deal with Bad Moods
When you experience frequent negative emotions like depression, your entire world becomes clouded. It doesn’t matter whether good things are happening in your life. It’s as if a dark veil is cast over everything and you no longer appreciate the blessings you have. Beyond eating nutrient-dense whole foods and supplements, understanding your genetic predispositions, and avoiding certain foods, is there more you can do to manage your moods?
Practices such as keeping a gratitude journal, meditation, exercise, and psychotherapy can have dramatic benefits on your mood and help to increase feelings of appreciation and optimism—the belief that all is well. These practices can help remind you how great your life actually is.
In my own experience, I’ve found that a combination of these strategies and dietary tweaks helped to create significant changes in my mood and allowed me to shift into a more balanced, calm, and content state of being. I strongly feel that mood swings and depression must be consciously and consistently addressed at all levels of our existence: physical, mental, and spiritual.
My top nutrients to boost your mood
Anthocyanins: Powerful antioxidants that may provide neuroprotective benefits such as bolstering short-term memory and reducing mood-killing inflammation.
Lycopene: Fat-soluble phytonutrient that helps protect vital brain fat. It actually stops the buildup of proinflammatory compounds linked to depression.
Omega-3 fatty acids: These help to form cell membranes, keep those membranes flexible, prevent “leakage” of neurotransmitters, and regulate the flow of hormones and other chemical messengers that affect our mood as well as our immune system.
Tryptophan: In addition to helping us sleep, tryptophan is needed to make serotonin, a neurotransmitter that regulates signals in the brain and therefore also our moods.
Vitamin B6: We already know that serotonin is important for fighting depression, but we need B6 to support its synthesis.
My top feel-good foods
- algae
- asparagus
- avocado
- beans
- blue or purple potatoes
- blueberries
- brown rice
- cacao
- celery
- chlorella
- citrus fruits
- coconuts
- coconut yogurt
- flaxseed
- fresh mint
- goji berries
- green tea
- kidney beans
- lemon
- mango
- marine phytoplankton
- pistachios
- probiotics
- pumpkin seeds
- rhodiola
- saffron
- spinach
- Swiss chard
- tomatoes
- valerian root
- walnuts
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We have a ton of actionable tips like the ones in this post to share with you, like how to:
- take charge of your life,
- feel good enough,
- improve your mental well-being, and
- elevate your wellness brand.
Enjoy and thank you for reading!