HEALTH Eat to beat the blues

MOOD FOOD Try cottage cheese, which contains tyrosine, with a comforting baked potato.  

Eat to beat the blues


Nutrition advice
Judith McElhinney

What you eat can have a profound effect on your brain chemistry, with the potential to not only improve your mood, but also help you sleep better, reduce anxiety, and give you the energy and motivation to make positive changes in your life.
Glucose is the main fuel for the brain and a steady supply is vital for mood and mental performance. Balancing blood sugar helps provide this steady supply. Eat three meals a day (no skipping breakfast!) with snacks in between if needed. Focus on whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, fresh fruits and vegetables. Avoid processed, sugary foods, refined flour, white rice and stimulants like coffee, tea and fizzy drinks.

Natural anti-depressants
Neurotransmitters – chemical messengers like GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid), serotonin and adrenalin – are needed to motivate you and make you feel happy and well. Most of the major anti-depressant drugs are designed to correct imbalances in these neurotransmitters. However, they are also directly influenced by nutrition.
Foods rich in complex carbohydrates, like brown rice, couscous and oats, increase GABA, the brain’s natural anti-anxiety chemical. GABA induces relaxation, reduces stress and anxiety and increases focus.
Essential fats regulate the release and performance of serotonin, our ‘happy hormone’, and low levels are linked to depression. Essential fats are found in abundance in nuts and seeds (flax, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, walnuts) and oily fish (wild salmon, mackerel, herring). Minimise your intake of fried food, saturated fat from meat and dairy, and alcohol, all of which disrupt the brain’s ability to utilise essential fats.
Stress, blood sugar imbalance, insufficient sunlight and lack of building-block vitamins can all lead to low serotonin. The amino acid tryptophan, used to make serotonin, is found in many high protein foods, including chicken, turkey, fish, beans and tofu. Enjoy a nice poached salmon fillet with quinoa and lentil pilaf, to increase your intake and boost your mood.
The amino acid tyrosine is essential for making dopamine and noradrenalin, chemicals which influence your motivation. Tyrosine is also found in many protein-rich foods, so cottage cheese on a baked potato, or some grilled chicken with a side of brown rice and steamed vegetables, are good tyrosine-boosting choices.
The B vitamins help produce and balance the brain’s neurotransmitters. Increase your intake of B vitamins by eating more whole grains or dark green leafy vegetables, like spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, mustard greens and swiss chard.
Lastly, get daily exercise to relieve stress. Exercise causes endorphins to be produced in the brain, which creates a sense of mental wellbeing and calm. Researchers have found that doing yoga increases levels of the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain, so this may be particularly useful if anxiety is a problem.

Judith McElhinney is a nutritional therapist based in Westport. She can be contacted at 087 2615150 or at living@mayonews.ie. For more details, visit www.thefoodcoachonline.com.