Have you been forgetting to check in with yourself lately or noticed that your mood tends to take a dip as the seasons change?

We can all feel a bit flat heading into winter – it’s a real thing.

Impacts on mood can be influenced by many factors such as stress and genetics, and nutrient deficiencies are one of the major players in all this. Any Nutritionist or Naturopath will say ‘food is medicine’ and there are lots of simple ways to boost our mood by eating the right mix of foods daily:

  • Drink Little Wildling Co Hibernate and Chill and I Need A Moment:
    • Packed with herbs to calm the stress response and support the nervous system such as Skullcap, Licorice, Siberian ginseng, Chamomile, and Passionflower which increases GABA – our cool calm and collected neurotransmitter.
  • Get more Magnesium in your diet:
    • Magnesium is an essential mineral which helps calm your nervous system and increase melatonin for a restorative night sleep. Acute stress depletes magnesium which can have a cascade of adverse effects on our stress hormones and neurotransmitters. Magnesium moving through the cells initially plays a protective role in order to diminish the adverse effects of stress, Moreover, stress and magnesium deficiency potentiate each other’s negative effects in a pathogenic vicious circle.
    • Try adding more leafy greens, nuts and seeds, legumes, Wholegrains, dark chocolate, and tofu to your diet.
  • Eat your omegas:
    • Essential fatty acids such as omega 3s found in oily fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel are rich in two types of omega-3s — docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). These are linked to lower levels of depression as Omega-3scontribute to the fluidity of your brain’s cell membrane, and appear to play key roles in brain development and cell signalling. You can also obtain healthy fats from plant sources such as walnuts, olives, and flaxseeds.
  • Eat your probiotics:
    • Eating fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, and yoghurt improves your diversity of the friendly gut bacteria and therefore improves gut health. Up to 90% of your body’s serotonin is produced by your gut microbiome, so it’s a good idea to keep the balance of bacteria in check.
  • Try Oats for brekky:
    • They’re an excellent source of fibre, providing 8 grams in a single raw cup which helps slow your digestion of carbs, allowing for a gradual release of sugar into the bloodstream to keep your energy levels stable, which is important for controlling mood swings and irritability. Traditionally herbalists also use Oats as a tincture as a trophorestorative for the nervous system.
  • Tryptophan foods for serotonin:
    • Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that It’s also used to produce niacin, which is a precursor in creating the neurotransmitter serotonin.
    • Foods which contain Tryptophan are high protein foods such as Chicken, eggs, fish, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, turkey, and tofu.
  • B Vitamins food for neurotransmitter production:
    • B Vitamins improve mood by increasing levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), all of which are important for regulating mood.
    • Sources are mainly animal protein such as fish, organ meats, Chcken, Eggs, Beef, and some plant sources include Legumes, and leafy greens.
  • Sunbake your mushrooms:
    • Mushrooms are the only plant based source of Vitamin D and we can increase the levels of Vitamin D by leaving them in the sun for a while.
    • Other dietary sources of Vitamin D are oily fish and egg yolks. Why do we need Vitamin D? It is another essential nutrient we cannot make ourselves and affects the availability of Serotonin in the brain, hence low levels of Vitamin have been linked to depression.

 

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mood-food#5.-Oats

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507250/

 

This article has been reshared with permission from Little Wildling Co https://www.littlewildlingco.com/blogs/news/improving-your-mood-with-food