[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]Your food plays a role in your mood. It makes sense, when you realize that food fuels the brain’s processes and helps form its building blocks. Let’s look at what food does for your brain.
Your nervous system uses foods in many ways. The body breaks down foods into substances used as chemical messengers, including neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin, melatonin, and epinephrine. Food also provides amino acids–glutamate, tryptophan, GABA, tyrosine, taurine, and others–that are the precursors to neurotransmitters. Food also contributes to the development of stress hormones such as cortisol, and to natural opiates like endorphins.
Food is processed by the digestive system, and the gut’s health influences your mental state. The gut’s nervous system contains approximately 100 million nerve cells and uses more than thirty neurotransmitters. The gut holds 95 percent of the serotonin in the body. Lastly, the balance of bacteria in the gut plays a critical role in mood and behavior.
Food affects the processes of the nervous system, and contributes to gut health that helps impact mood. A typical Western diet, however, is often high in sugar, gluten, omega-6 fatty acids, and toxins, which contribute to the negative effect of inflammation.
Inflammation often results from high insulin levels, a consequence of consuming sugary foods and high carbs. Food allergies, gut bacteria imbalances, and consumption of trans fats and toxins also trigger inflammation. The brain responds to the stress of inflammation by releasing immune system messengers known as cytokines. When produced in excess, cytokines interfere with the brain’s ability to receive and process signals from the rest of the nervous system. This cycle of inflammatory stress can affect cognition, learning, memory, and mood.
Fortunately, there are ways to incorporate different types of food to help support your brain and bodily processes. Consume a balanced diet that provides the proper nutrients, alleviates and tries to avoid inflammation, and helps your gut bacteria stay in balance are all important to your body. Here are additional suggestions of how to “eat yourself happy”
• Include whole, nutrient-dense fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts.
• Eat frequent small meals to maintain adequate and steady blood sugar levels.
• Increase omega-3 fatty acids from foods like fish, walnuts, flaxseeds, and leafy greens.
• Help promote healthy gut function with prebiotic foods such as asparagus, dandelion greens, bananas, and garlic, and with probiotic supplements.
• Limit consumption of inflammatory foods such as gluten, sugar, and oils and omega-6 fatty acids (found in meat and corn, soybean, and canola oils).
• Consider food allergy testing.
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