How Food Affects Our mood
Just as I began writing this, my son crashed through the door, with the biggest box of KFC I’ve seen in a long time. He’s used to me downloading my latest research facts but on this occasion, I resisted the temptation of saying anything that might induce major eye rolling. It did seem ironic though, given what I was about to write. I’m not averse to the occasional take-out and treat but I wondered, if we can become ‘hangry’ when our bodies need food what other effects could nutrition, or lack of it, have on our mental health? As part of my coaching work, I find myself fascinated with the mind/body link and often undertake extensive research to help my clients. This is especially true when people report feeling burned out, stressed, fatigued and suffering ‘brain fog’. It’s not that I consider myself an expert, but I like looking at the whole story and what might be relevant to others, instead of purely relying on my own events and NLP (neuro linguistic programming) training that have carved my path to this point.
During one such research session, I was shocked to discover that 90% of serotonin receptors (a chemical that is, amongst other things a natural mood stabiliser) are located in the gut; I’d previously thought it was something primarily produced in my brain! Even when I had previously taken SSRI’s, I imagined it magically making its way straight to my cerebral area, where it was needed. In fact, where did it go first? My stomach!! The discovery and research of the importance of our gut microbiome (made up of around 100 trillion of micro-organisms, mainly bacteria) has exploded onto the scene in recent years. Scientific evidence suggests that the gut microbiota affects some aspects of brain function and behaviour, including emotional behaviour and related brain systems. The “gut-brain axis” appears to be a two-way communication network linking, via the nervous system, the brain with the gastrointestinal tract. This allows the brain to influence intestinal activities, and the gut to influence mood, cognition, and mental health.
It was once thought that physical issues such as irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, diarrhoea, bloating pain and stomach upset were being caused or at the very least, made worse, by anxiety and depression, however, it could actually be the other way around. Of course, there is nuance; it’s a two-way street. Just as gut bacteria can affect the brain, the brain can also exert profound influences on the gut microbiome. Numerous studies have also shown that psychological stress suppresses beneficial bacteria. Mental health issues have risen exponentially over the last few years and it is unsurprising when we consider the stresses we might experience; caring for or worrying about our loved ones, toxic relationships, high pressure work environments, money worries or the pandemic, to name but a few. This is all despite great advice about ways we can physically and mentally reduce stress, taking regular exercise and practising mindfulness. But with our propensity for refined carbohydrate foods in our western diets, we might well find ourselves snaffling a snickers bar right before mindful meditation. So, is it the gut or the brain that is the issue?
We might think that we are predisposed to certain mental health conditions just through our genes, but studies on twins, for example, have shown that whilst there are some hereditary factors, environmental factors related to diet, and drugs can also determine our microbiota composition. Twins, identical and non-identical, share the same genes but can have staggeringly different microbiomes, sharing only around 50% of the same bacteria, purely due to their diet lifestyle. Dietary changes can dramatically change the make-up of the microbiome for better and worse and often within days and what affects one person, won’t necessarily affect another. We are all unique.
Over the years I’ve noticed an increasing number of people at work, under stress to achieve their deadlines or just out of habit, eat lunch, or munch on crisps, chocolate, cookies etc. at their desk. I’ve also seen that increase over the last 18 months, where people have felt duty bound to attend back-to-back meetings in their homes. What happened to the good old lunch-break? How did we go from switching ourselves off from work and sitting down to concentrate on our food, to mindlessly stuffing our faces whilst staring at the screen? So, I found myself wondering, if stress can adversely affect our microbiome and so can what we eat, isn’t it possible that we could eat to make ourselves feel better? I’m not telling you what and what not to eat. Each person is different and what affects one person won’t necessarily affect another. If I listened to all the advice out there at the moment, I’d struggle to eat anything at all, so, it’s about finding what is right for us and perhaps finding an expert rather than trying to guess.
Even if we just focused on one thing, such as serotonin, it’s not that simple. Tryptophan is an amino acid that is important for the production of serotonin in the body. It is also key to brain function and has a role in healthy sleep, but we can’t make tryptophan in our bodies; we must obtain it from our diet. Fortunately, tryptophan can be found in food whereas serotonin cannot, however, it needs carbohydrates to be able to reach the brain and create serotonin and not necessarily the ones you’d automatically turn to.
So, the next time you sit at your desk and reach for the bag of crisps or chocolate bar and think ‘I’ll feel better after this’, perhaps it’s time to rethink that strategy. If you do feel stressed, fatigued, burnt out and you’ve tried other ways to reduce stress, take a look at what you are eating. If a lot of it is made from refined carbs with 3 of your 5 a day, lurking within a starburst/opal fruit wrapper and vegetables are a dirty word, it might be worth considering if it could be a contributory factor. The microbiome likes diversity. Keeping a food diary and making small incremental changes are much more sustainable for long term change and will alert you to any changes you might notice.
NLP Tip: Be curious – use the internet to discover the world of the microbiome and what it can do for you. In case you are interested here is a link to one such article:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7213601/