How Foods Affect Your Emotions

Nutrition for weight loss, performance, or longevity, is a hot topic these days, as it is highly confusing. Some experts say calories/macros/quantity of food is the most important factor in weight loss, performance, or health. On the other side of the nutritional aisle, other experts argue that the quality of the food that you eat is the most important factor of nutrition, and some even go so far as to say calories don't matter at all. 

From my experience, I say why not value both? Be sensible with your portions of food, and eat high-quality foods. If tracking your calories and macros helps, so be it. I’ve had success in the past tracking my calories and macros, as it can be super helpful for a time being to learn portion sizes. However, I also believe that the types of foods you eat are important as well, so I prefer to get the majority of my diet from a good quality whole foods diet, like meats and proteins, high-quality fats, fruits, and veggies. (Today, I no longer track my macros or calories)

That being said, I want to touch on the quality side of the nutrition argument today, because it turns out the quality and types of foods and nutrients you consume can have a big impact on how you feel and think. Stay tuned, because at the bottom I will share 4 top foods to eat for an improved mood- backed by science.

I’ve always intuitively known that high-quality foods make me feel better physically and mentally, but it wasn’t until this week that I came across some science that explains this connection. Doctor Andrew Huberman, a Stanford researcher, and professor, explains that the mood to food link is tied to something called the vagus nerve. This nerve in our body is the reason our feelings are directly associated with the foods and substances we eat and digest. Let’s dive in.

The vagus nerve runs from the brain to the gut, stomach, intestine, heart, and immune system. The vagus nerve is spectacular because it can sense what is going on in our gut, lungs, heart, and immune system – after which it sends info to the brain, and the brain follows accordingly. The brain then decides what actions to direct the body in taking, depending on the info it has received. This is called the brain-body connection.

Today is about nutrition, however, so we will stick to the gut. 

The vagus nerve has sensors in the gut (stomach and intestines) that sense 

-how full or empty the gut is

-how acidic the gut is

-if fats, sugars, or amino acids are present from the food you ate

-if there are contaminants in your food 

With that info, the nerve then sends signals to the brain to tell the body how to feel (by creating dopamine or serotonin) and subsequently, what to do. Should you eat more? Should you feel happy, satisfied, or satiated? 

Let’s take sugar for example. Sweet things generally tend to taste good, and most people are generally attracted to them. For 100’s of years, scientists believed this attraction to sweet foods was solely because sweet foods just taste good. Today, however, scientists know it goes beyond the taste. When you eat something sweet, there are neurons in the stomach (independent of whether you can taste the sweetness or not) that actually signal to the brain to release dopamine (the molecule that makes you want more of what you have ingested, experienced, etc.). Studies have been conducted with sugary foods, with people who cannot taste and those that can taste – and what they found was independent of the taste, sensors in the gut literally make us crave sugar. This means when sugar is snuck into food without us knowing or it is indiscernible to taste, we typically want even more of that food.

Bottom line: sometimes the way we feel and are attracted to certain foods isn’t always coming from our thoughts or feelings, but actually based on the sensors and info coming from our gut. (This is helpful in explaining why sugary foods can be so hard to stay away from, despite our best intentions)

So…. knowing that the quality of food we eat has an impact on how we feel and what happens in our brain, we can eat certain foods not just to fuel our body’s metabolic needs, but also to improve our daily mood! 

Four Types of Foods that (Should) Make you Feel Better!

1. Foods that are high in l-tyrosine, like beef, pork, chicken, salmon, tofu

-In order for dopamine to be created in the brain, it needs an amino acid called l-tyrosine. Getting foods that are high in l-tyrosine generally gives us an elevated mood as a by-product of dopamine creation.

-While meat has the highest concentration of l-tyrosine, for our vegetarians and vegans, you can find it in some plant-based foods :)

2. Carbohydrate-rich foods

 -Carb-rich foods increase serotonin, the molecule responsible for making us feel comfy, satiated, happy, calm, etc.

 Note: Keep an eye on the types of carbohydrates you eat. Most of the time, I prefer carbohydrates that are not highly processed and full of sugar but rather those that come from whole unprocessed foods, like veggies and fruits, which contain tons of micronutrients and fiber.

3. Omega 3 fatty acids from fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, anchovies), flax, hemp, chia seeds

 -Omega 3 fatty acids have a profound effect on mood and depression by creating serotonin; talk to a doctor to make sure that is right for you.

4. Probiotics: fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles

-Fermented foods help keep your gut microbiome healthy and can help your mood

-2 servings/day is recommended

So What Next?

The point of providing you with this info is to add a dimension of knowledge to your nutrition understanding. While we did not dive into the importance of quantity/calories, it cannot be understated that the quality of food has some pretty spectacular connections with your gut, your brain, and your emotions. 

If you haven't already tried some of these foods, start incorporating them into your diet if they make sense to you, and see how you feel. I personally have been eating ferment foods, high-quality meats, omega 3s (sardines, salmon), and carbs (who hasn't) for years - but it is cool to understand another dimension of what they are doing upon digestion.

Until Next Time,

Cam at Whealth