The Food Mood Connection

This is about the relationship between what we eat and how we feel. AND (I know, I’m starting a sentence with “AND,” it’s really ok) the relationship between how we feel and what we eat. In essence, the food mood connection.

Your brain is constantly on and always taking care of you.

For example, it’s responsible for what you think, how you move, your breathing, your heartbeat, your senses. It does all of this, and more, every day, all day, AND all night.

To do this work, your brain needs to be regularly fueled up. Makes sense right?

So, where does that “brain fuel” come from? From the foods you eat. So, doesn’t it make sense that the TYPE of food you take in is important? It’s what’s in that “brain fuel” — that food — that can make all the difference.

To put it simply, WHAT you eat directly affects your brain and your mood.

For example, ever wonder why sugar can make us feel both a little on the excited side AND terrible? Or, why you feel sleepy after lunch? That’s because your blood-sugar levels, which rise after you eat, curb a certain brain chemical that’s responsible for feeling alert therefore, leaving you with that sleepy feeling.

Then, there’s the opposite, when you’re really hungry and now your blood sugar is low, you’re more likely to get impatient, irritable, angry; we’ve heard the term “hangry.”

Now, I mentioned earlier that WHAT you eat directly affects your brain and your mood. The converse is also true! How you feel — your mood — affects the food you eat! So yes, it IS cyclical. What you eat affects your mood AND your mood affects your food (that is, your food choices). If you’ve ever found yourself in front of the TV after a stressful day, mindlessly eating ice cream right out of the container, then you know what I mean right? Mood and food are sometimes very closely linked.

Why is this? Why are food and mood so closely connected?

I’m not going to get all “heady” but there is actually a science to this. You’ve no doubt heard that there’s a connection between our gut and our brain right? That our gut functions like our “second brain.”

Now, this is because more serotonin is produced in the gut than compared to the brain. What is serotonin? Serotonin is believed to help regulate mood, appetite, digestion, and sleep, among other things.

Our general health includes our mood right?

What’s interesting is that our health and our mood greatly depend on how well our digestive system is functioning. In other words, a well-balanced mind and body system, that gut-brain connection, can be achieved through a healthy digestive system. It’s safe to say then, that if you want a better mood, an easy first step might be to eat better food.

Eating whole, real foods rich in protein, complex carbs, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals, which are all things your body needs in order to keep making that serotonin, on a regular basis has proven to lower stress levels, increase and maintain energy, and helps us to feel calmer, and to be in a better, relaxed mood.

Whereas eating processed foods (such as burgers, fries, fried anything, and those packaged microwave lunches/dinners) on a regular basis, will give us the total opposite effect.

So, if you’ve had a tough, stressful day, yes, that brownie might LOOK really good, I’m going to encourage you to go for an orange or some bluebs instead. You may find that these choices might make you actually FEEL better.

If you need more help or guidance on how to incorporate more of these good foods for a good mood, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can do this by clicking here to send me a message.