Food & Mood

Blog post written by Registered Dietitian Ellie Farabad.

With the current pandemic and our limited social life, our mental health requires more attention than ever. New regulations are set daily to save our lives. Stay home messages are everywhere, but sometimes it is easier said than done. We are in this constant battle with ourselves; we are feeling down, and can’t even see or hug loved ones because we don’t want to put them at risk. We are in our most vulnerable state and there is not much we can do about it!   Wait…what if I told you there are ways to control mood and depression with food?

It has been long known that our mental health affects our eating patterns. Emotional eating is when our appetite is controlled by our feelings.  Some people eat more when faced with stressors; for others, anxiety can reduce the appetite. Now the question is, can the food we eat affect our mood? Despite enough evidence making it easy to show the connection between eating habits and physical health, the effect of different food on mood is more difficult to determine. Although there is an emerging need for more research on the impact of the food we eat on our phycological health, we decided to review our current knowledge and put what we know in practice.

What do we know?

Vitamin D levels and mood disorders:

Low vitamin D levels are associated with mood changes in adults. This understanding and has led psychologists around the world to recommend exposure to early morning sun when fighting depression or anxiety. Vitamin D is also found in oily foods such as grape seed oil, sunflower oil, and fish. Although we always try to adopt a real food approach, depending on lab results one might need Vitamin D supplementation to correct any insufficiencies or deficiencies. You can always ask our dietitians for their advice if you need help with your Vitamin D intake.

Blood sugar instabilities and mood:

When blood sugar levels are high, people are known to get hyperactive, irritable, and moody. On the other hand, because sugar is the main source of energy for our body, low blood sugar levels lead to tiredness, low energy, and low mood. Blood sugar management can help with mood changes in adults. This effect is more noticeable in people with diabetes.

When you eat a food containing refined carbohydrates, your blood sugar levels spike up very quickly. In response, your body produces a lot of insulin to reduce the elevated sugar levels. Because it takes time for insulin to clear up the excess sugar, sometimes body produces too much insulin hoping for a quick reduction in blood sugar. This will cause a drop in Blood sugar levels. As a result of low blood sugar levels, the person
feels down and craves more sugar to remedy the situation. This blood sugar up and down sometimes happen in less than 2 hours and causes people to experience hyperactivity and irritability related to the sugar rush, followed by low energy, and feeling down related to the insulin rush.

Do you have questions about how to stabilise your sugar levels? Book a free consultation with our dietitian to see how she can help!

Omega 3 fatty acids and depression:

Omega 3 fatty acids are found in fish oil and some nuts. For our mental health, it is not only important to ensure
adequate intake of Omega 3 fatty acids, but also the proportion of Omega3 fatty acids to other fatty acids in our diet is of great value.

Studies have shown Omega 3 fatty acids can help relieve symptoms of depression. It has been prescribed as a natural supplement to remedy the depression phase in bipolar disorder and postpartum depression.

Vitamin B12 and Folate:

These two vitamins are vital to formation of a healthy nervous system. Whether they can have an affect on mood or not is still unclear.

Conclusion and future direction:

To conclude, food can affect our mood in several ways. A healthy balanced diet that is rich in micronutrients such as vitamin D, Omega 3, and limits the intake of refined sugar, can positively affect our mood. In our future blog posts we will review the correlation between healthy eating, weight management, and mental health.