As I continue to research the food-mood connection, a few glaring topics keep coming to the forefront. One biggie is the notion that, just as there are foods that help your mood, there are also foods that are total whammies, emotionally. When it comes to the latter, most of our food-related mood issues can be linked to either blood sugar or food sensitivities/intolerance.
Things that screw with your blood sugar…
Blood sugar instability is undeniably linked to mood issues, including depression, anxiety, irritability, and other not-so-great stuff. This should come as no surprise to you if, like me, you get hangry (hungry/angry) if it’s been too long since your last meal. There are a lot of things we can do to help stabilize our blood sugar, including timing of meals, supplements, and types of food. The big ones here are (drumroll)… no big surprise.
Sugar. Alcohol. Caffeine. These three offenders can really mess us up. All three interfere with our body’s absorption of vitamins and minerals (including some reallllly important ones for mood stability, like magnesium and B vitamins). Both caffeine and sugar stimulate our adrenal glands to release adrenaline (a stress hormone great for getting us out of immediate danger, but not great when we’re just living our daily lives). You know that rush and crash associated with ’em (actually, all three?)? Yeah. Turns out, not so good for our happiness. Alcohol messes with our seratonin levels (one of our feel-good neurotransmitters), which is why we already know it as a “depressant.” And all three contribute to crappy sleep (which, duh, can lead to feeling sad, irritable, and tired).
Things to which you are allergic, sensitive, or intolerant…
This is another big one, and I certainly can’t do it justice in this e-mail. Suffice it to say that food sensitivities, allergies, and intolerances greatly impact our emotions. For instance, Celiac Disease (a severe intolerance to gluten) is associated with an 80% increased risk for depression. 80%! And you don’t need to have CD for gluten to mess with you. Highly allergenic foods like gluten and dairy wreak havoc on our digestive systems, which are so completely intertwined with your brain it’s scary. They interfere with nutrient absorption and activate our body’s immune response, causing crazy changes with our hormones and neurotransmitters. (PSA: If you suspect you have a food sensitivity, get that shiz checked out or find a cool food pro like me to help you go on an elimination diet, stat!)
Lastly, it’s no coincidence that all of these reactions also lead to inflammation in the body (inflammation being responsible for nearly every serious and chronic illness “out there”). It’s also no coincidence that alcohol, sugar, caffeine, gluten, and dairy are pretty much THE most difficult things to stop drinking and eating. Kinda, pretty much exactly, like addictive drugs. (Which, BTW, is just how your brain treats them.)
