Food and Your Mood. What is the connection?
Everybody knows the importance of eating a well-balanced nutritious diet for your physical health and wellbeing. However, not everyone understands how the food you eat can affect your mood and your mental health.
Eating a well-rounded diet with all the required nutrients can play a huge part in the moods and feelings you experience. #mentalhealth Click To Tweet
Consequently, understanding what to eat and why is imperative. Of course, there may be times where simply changing your diet cannot alter your mood and you may need further professional intervention be it by talk therapy, ketamine therapy, or prescription medication, all of which are best discussed with the professionals.
In the first instance, however, here are some pointers on how food can affect your mood.
Energy levels
Regular feelings of low energy and lethargy are bound to have an adverse consequence on your mood and these feelings can commonly be bought about by the foods you eat. If your blood sugar drops you might start to feel tired, irritable, and even depressed. You can avoid this by eating regularly and choosing foods that release energy slowly throughout the day. This will help regulate your sugar levels. Foods such as rice, oats, pasta, and cereals are great examples. Avoid high sugary food and drinks as these will cause your sugar levels to spike and crash leaving you feeling the slump.
Concentration levels
If you notice a dip in your ability to concentrate throughout the day, ask yourself if you may need more water. If you haven’t had enough water it can affect your concentration levels, cause headaches and even constipation. It is recommended that you drink 6 – 8 glasses of water every day.
As well, be mindful to limit your caffeine intake as this will be counterproductive. Caffeine is a stimulant so it will give you a quick burst of energy but the after effects can leave you feeling anxious or depressed. Consuming caffeine too close to bedtime can also have an adverse affect the quality of sleep you are getting.
Thoughts and feelings
In foods that are high in protein you will find a supplement called amino acids. Amino acids make up a chemical in the brain that help to regulate thoughts and feelings so consuming protein rich food can do wonders to help keep you feeling balanced. They also leave you feeling fuller for longer, so don’t be tempted to cut out on proteins. Proteins can be found in meats, fish, legumes, and nuts and seeds.
Discomfort
There are lots of foods you can eat that leave you feeling better but there are also foods that can leave you feeling uncomfortable and sluggish. Foods with high levels of saturated fat or that are nutrient dense and calorie high may taste great but can often leave you feeling, uncomfortable, bloated and lethargic. You don’t need to avoid these foods completely but be mindful of the adverse feelings they might leave you with and impact they have on your mood and productivity.
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34 thoughts on “The Connection Between Food and Your Mood”
Thank you for calling attention to this topic. So many people don’t acknowledge the link between mood and diet.
The connection of food and mood is quite interesting.
I can totally tell that my food that I eat for the day affects my mood. I try to eat healthy to have healthy thoughts.
I love that. Thank you for sharing with us.
I don’t know a lot about foods eaten that can cause a lot of discomfort! Though, when I take anything milky in it, I get tummy problems almost immediately! Thanks for sharing about this, Dr. Ho!
Being aware of the fact that those dairy products are putting issues can offer a great deal of insight.
I totally agree with that yes, there is a connection between food and our mood. Will make sure to have 6-8 glasses of water for better concentration and focus. Thank you for sharing these tips.
The water biggest effect at all. That water intake is probably the most important.
What a great article. Food and mood definitely go hand in hand. Certain foods make me feel sluggish, but they are so delicious, lol.
It is at this point that you then need to look at rewards verse cost. This is a good time to ask yourself if some thing you are eating is worth it or if your energy is worth more.
I’ve only recently saw the connection between what I eat and how I feel. If I eat pasta and bread I get sleepy and have low energy. For the past month I’ve tried to eat a lot of protein and fewer carbs and it has really improved my energy levels. Also lots of veggies are good for your mind as well as your body!
You have it exactly right.I am so pleased to hear you share the experience of what you have learned.
I totally agree with your blog post, I love eating rice and it gives me more energy and a good mood. Good foods also help my motivation to be more creative.
Good food is nourishing you in many ways.
oof! after reading this i started questioning myself “have i been drinking enough water?” ive been feeling so low lately and my caffeine intake… is a little bit too much. thanks for this reminder. i think i need to stir my choice of food and drinks in a diff direction.
This is a wonderful thing that reading this post to help to you to start questioning if you were doing everything you need to do for your own health.
This is so true! When I eat healthy & clean I feel so much better overall
It makes a tremendous difference.
What an interesting perspective and now that I think about it, it really does connect the two of them.
When we look at things from different perspectives we can learn a great deal.
Great post. This is so true. Food and mood are so heavily connected which is usually why we eat rubbish we feel like rubbish too!
Exactly! When we eat like junk, we feel like junk. And we could clean fresh food, we feel energized.
What a great post! Sometimes when eating I don’t give much thought as to why I am reaching for a “certain” type. I also read somewhere the other day that when you are wanting to eat carbohydrates, it is because you are tired and low on energy. Pretty crazy how our moods or feelings are correlated to what we reach for!
Maureen
Isn’t it wonderful thing how our body can give us so many hints as to what is going on? All we need to do is listen with a keen ear.
Eating unhealthy snacks makes me sluggish. Our mood and the food we eat go hand in hand.
Unhealthy snacks are really bringing your energy down.
Our mood is what we eat. I always feel unproductive and have low energy when I don’t eat the right food
Happy foods make us feel heavy. Lighter foods give us more energy.
I also noticed problems in concentration when I forget to drink water. It really helps to overcome some problems and feel better during the day. Unfortunately, sometimes I really forget about it. Thanks for reminding me about it!
You are so very welcome. I say this as I left my bottle of water to drink more myself.
Food can make anything better, One must never share their food just like joey, Totally in agreement with you. Loved this article. Thanks for sharing!
When we delicious foods for nourishment we always feel better..
I have never know about the surprising connection between food and mood. Thanks for sharing this!
It is fascinating to think about. You’re welcome.