Now operating inside of Back Bone Wellness Center is a Family and Pediatric Chiropractic Care Wellness Center in Cedar Park, Texas
Food and Your Mood
We all know that the food we eat is the fuel our body uses to get through the day but what many don’t know is that the quality of that food may actually affect our mood. Caffeine jitters or a sugar rush are fairly well known and the grouchiness that results from the inevitable crash that follows isn’t a secret. However, understanding why these things happen and how to avoid them is the key to understanding that certain foods can cause depression and a healthy diet can have a positive effect on our emotions.
How Blood Sugar Works The first step to making better dietary choices for improved mood is to understand how blood sugar works with the adrenals. Since the adrenals will release the hormones adrenaline and cortisol as part of the fight-or flight response, they will greatly affect the mood. Matt Reddy, a naturopathic doctor in Denver, simplifies the process as follows: When you eat a sugary or carb-heavy food, your blood sugar spikes. Insulin then spikes to compensate for that blood sugar spike, which in turn creates a blood sugar drop. The adrenals then secrete adrenaline and cortisol which cause the jitters or an anxious feeling that some may call an uncomfortable “high”. The only way to avoid these reactions is to increase protein to try to stabilize blood sugar levels. Caffeine can also cause the same reaction from the adrenals so consider consuming something high in protein prior to drinking coffee in an attempt to avoid the blood sugar spikes and resultant moods.
