What you eat could make a difference to your mood, and help reduce depression and anxiety!How to support better mood, reduce depression and anxiety
Did you know you can support better mood, reduce depression and anxiety by making changes to your diet and lifestyle? Diet and lifestyle changes can also have a tremendous impact on ADHD and other mental health issue.
Mental health affects approximately one out of four people. Although it’s a hot topic, the link between diet, low mood, depression, and anxiety is rarely spoken about. Whilst diet may not change the factors that cause depression and anxiety, it can impact on how you cope with it. Diet affects the production of hormones and neurotransmitters which then affect your mood and ability to cope with stress.
How can you reduce depression and anxiety and improve your mood through food?
The neurotransmitter serotonin is critical to helping you balance your mood, cope with anxiety and stress. This is the neurotransmitter that most anti-depressants aim to increase. Serotonin is synthesized from tryptophan, an amino acid found in protein rich foods. Rich sources include fish, walnuts, oats, pumpkin seeds, legumes, and bananas. Tryptophan is then converted into 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) but before it can be converted certain nutrients are needed. These include iron, vitamin B3 and folate. Once 5-HTP is available the co-factors magnesium and B6 are then needed to ensure effective conversion to serotonin.
Not only is diet important in the provision of co-factors and enzymes, but it is also important in maintaining a healthy gut microflora. Your gut flora produces neurotransmitters, which can have either a negative or beneficial effect on mood and anxiety levels through the gut-brain axis.
Think about the expressions we use such as having butterflies in the tummy or a knot in the stomach when you feel anxious. This is a clear illustration of the communication between the gut and the brain. If you have gut flora dysbiosis, IBS or food intolerances this could be a cause in your mental health issues.
How gut inflammation can also make it hard for you to improve your mood and reduce depression and anxiety:
Research shows that if the integrity of your gut lining is compromised then the gut-brain barrier will also be compromised. This means that molecules that shouldn’t cross the brain-barrier do cross and trigger neuro-inflammation affecting how you feel and function.
What the research shows:
A fascinating new study has been carried out on mice and clearly shows that gluten for instance causes inflammatory markers in the brain. We are remarkably similar to these little rodents! If it happens in them you can be sure it can happen in you! If you’d like to read the study follow the link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jne.13326
There are plenty of other studies showing the correlation between the gut and the brain. Studies show faecal transplants can reduce anxiety and depression or create a state of depression and anxiety. They also show how specific strains of bacteria found in the microbiome can be correlated with predisposition to anxiety, depression, and low mood.
To read more follow the link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79538-x
What else can make it hard to reduce depression and anxiety and improve mood?
Other factors that contribute to poor mood include blood-sugar imbalance, hormonal imbalances including thyroid issues, nutritional deficiencies, such as essential fatty acids or B12, inflammation and food intolerances. Daylight and exercise have been shown to improve serotonin production, which may be why people tend to feel better when the sun shines!
Trauma, both physical and emotional, even when experienced during childhood, impacts gut integrity. If you have unresolved trauma, it may be a factor in your mental and physical health in adulthood. Likewise, chronic stress as that too can affect inflammation and gut integrity.
Research often shows that those diagnosed with clinical depression have a 30% to 50% increase in inflammatory markers caused by over activation of the immune system. Short-term inflammation is a protective factor in immunity – think of a bee sting or a swollen ankle. If the inflammation becomes chronic it will eventually cause havoc on the body and can lead to low levels of serotonin and or dopamine. Low levels of these neurotransmitters can lead you to feel unmotivated, anxious, and depressed.
Could there be a genetic factor to depression and anxiety?
Absolutely! Genetics can be a factor to the predisposition to a higher, and sometimes much higher, risk of depression and anxiety. A simple and inexpensive test can help establish if your anxiety is caused by a condition known as pyroluria, which indicates that you have higher requirements for certain ‘B’ vitamins and zinc. It may be easy to remedy with professional help.
Other genes have also been studies for their role in depression, anxiety, low mood, ADHD and other mental health issues. But you must remember that your genes are your predisposition not your destiny! What really matters is what turns these genes on or off.
Looking at diet, lifestyle and the underlying psychological causes can help you overcome mental health issues! Call me to see how we can work together to help you feel better!
Case Study
This is my daughters’ story. J went through a very stressful time for various reasons and came to me saying that the voices in her head were getting stronger. I was stunned – this was the first I heard of voices in her head!
She revealed that she had been experiencing voices from the age of about five and had assumed it was normal. Anyway, these voices weren’t bad but rather like a friend living in her head.
Now, with what was going on in her life, these auditory hallucinations had become intolerable. To make matters worse, these voices were becoming more menacing. She also started to experience visual hallucinations which at first were quite amusing. Seeing a mouse in the classroom that wasn’t there, jumping over a non-existent puddle and so on. However, it became worrying as they increased in frequency. Also, her anxiety levels increased to such a degree that she almost went from being a model student to a school refuser. Fortunately, I was halfway through my training, and I knew we could do something about this!
It was decided she should have a CD test through her GP. Whilst waiting for the results, we carried out some private testing including a gut-permeability test and a salivary cortisol test. The cortisol test clearly reflected the issue in her sleep pattern whilst the raised salivary IgA test in addition to the gut-permeability test both indicated a problem.
Testing time:
Although, as was strongly suspected, CD was not the issue, J went strictly gluten-free and followed a gut repair protocol for a few weeks. Within 6 weeks, all auditory and visual hallucination were gone. Anxiety levels went back to healthy levels and the low mood was gone. School was good again! The transformation was like having a black cloud lifted off the family and having our daughter back to her happy, bubbly self!
This is a slightly unusual case but by no means unique. It is interesting to note that as a young child, J had been seen by a gastroenterologist on a couple of occasions as we were concerned about her sudden acute stomach pains. She was given some Buscopan and that was the end of it. She hardly touched the Buscopan but the pains disappeared. We knew there was a psychological component to her gut issues that was to do with being bullied at school.
Update
Five years on no auditory or visual hallucinations and no anxiety except when gluten containing foods are eaten by mistake! During a gap year abroad, J had porridge on two consecutive mornings whilst out in Nepal and noticed a big change in her mood and anxiety levels. When she checked with the little restaurant where she had eaten what exactly was in the porridge, it turned out it was made with wheat flakes! Inadvertently this was a blind trial.
We now know she still has to avoid gluten for her wellbeing, but that is well worth the price!
