When you want a feel-good snack or meal, what foods do you reach for?
Pizza? Frosted Flakes? Hot dogs?
Mine used to be a McDonald’s fish sandwich and a vanilla milkshake.
It felt great going down, but about an hour later, I was cranky and ready to go to sleep. Didn’t matter if it was 12 noon… I wanted to curl up under the covers.
Now I know why…
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Fake foods that bust your good mood
Dr. Kara Margolis is a pediatric gastroenterologist at New York University.
For the past 15 years, she has pioneered the field of nutritional psychiatry, or how various foods affect people’s moods and mental health.
She’s had an experience like mine with the fish sandwich.
“For example,” she says, “some weekend mornings, I go to a diner and have a waffle. By 10 o’clock, I feel terrible.”
Dr. Margolis and her colleagues have found that some foods are uplifting and protect us from depression, while others ruin our mood and increase our risk of depression.
I’m sure you’re not surprised to hear that ultra-processed foods are linked to depression. According to Dr. Margolis, a diet of ultra-processed foods raises your risk of depression by as much as 30%!
You may feel happy while you’re eating them… but the actual “happy food” winner is anything that involves whole grains.
Whole grains contain fermentable fiber that’s easily digested. It feeds “good” bacteria in your gut, which then produce small molecules linked to decreased inflammation, improved insulin sensitivity and better communication between the gut and the brain.
According to Margolis, all of these effects have been associated with improved mood and a decreased risk of mood disorders.
She says, “Making the environment in your gut right for good bacteria not only can affect mood, but it can protect you from nearly every medical condition that’s been studied.”
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Eating to improve your mood
So if you’re looking to boost your holiday mood, here are a few things to try:
Make it yourself. When you are in charge of what goes into your cake or casserole, you eat fewer of the ingredients commonly found in ultra-processed foods, especially pre-packaged baked goods, which are among the worst. Who needs preservatives, artificial sweeteners, refined carbohydrates and white flours, natural and artificial flavors, and emulsifiers, such as soy lecithin, xanthan gum and guar gum?
Eat less white food. By avoiding “white,” you’re avoiding refined grains, which are the complete opposite of whole grains in terms of health. When you’re baking pies (even pizza pies), cookies, and cakes, substitute white flour in the recipe for whole-grain flours, such as oat, barley or whole wheat.
Eat more beans and lentils. Eating beans and lentils helps supply mood-boosting fiber. According to a dietary expert, unlike many leafy greens or other vegetables, you don’t have to eat many beans to get a hefty dose of fiber. A quarter cup of cooked black beans contains about five to seven grams of fiber. But ifyou’re not used to eating much fiber, add these to your diet slowly to avoid bloating, cramping, and gas.
Stay hydrated. Being just mildly dehydrated can raise your cortisol levels substantially. That leads to stress you don’t need, and nothing brings your good mood down like stress.
Sources:
From anxiety to cancer, the evidence against ultra-processed food piles up — NPR
What foods make you happiest? It’s not what you think — NPR
Consumption of Ultraprocessed Food and Risk of Depression — JAMA Network Open
Depression sufferers at risk of multiple chronic diseases — Science Daily
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