How to Boost Warm, Happy and Optimistic Feelings Through Food
Teasing out the more subtle nature of your depressed moods can give you important insight to what may be happening biochemically.
Some of us have feelings of depression laced with deep fatigue and a flat, lethargic undertone. Others experience their depressed moods with an edginess to them- depression paired with anxiety or irritability as well.
If you tend toward an “edgier” depression, low serotonin may be the culprit.
Now, of course, there are many factors that go into proper diagnosis of our mental and emotional health. What I’d like to share this week, though, is a nutritional perspective if you suspect your serotonin levels (the neurotransmitters that help us feel happy, optimistic and warm feelings) are low.
The thing is, regardless of many other excellent strategies for bolstering your mental health, if your body simply does not have the raw materials it needs to produce the proper neurochemicals, not much else can really help.
In order for your body to produce serotonin it needs to have adequate amounts of tryptophan, an amino acid. But not all high protein foods have the same amount of tryptophan. Knowing which foods are high in tryptophan is essential to be sure you are providing your body and mind what it needs to feel well.
To make it super easy, I’ve put together a list of high tryptophan foods.
Best Sources
Foods that contain the highest amounts of tryptophan are turkey, beef, pork, dairy products and eggs. Yup- animal sources.
The fascinating thing is that as we have shifted from wild game and animals raised in their natural setting to factory farming…the amount of tryptophan in the meat of these animals has gone significantly down. There is now 3 times more of all the other amino acids in meat than there is of tryptophan. The difference in actual nutrition of organically, naturally raised animals is staggering.
Good Sources
If you are a vegetarian, it will be a bit harder for you to get adequate amounts of tryptophan without taking a supplement, but these sources do provide this amino acid: nutritional yeast, milk products, nuts and seeds, bananas and pumpkin.
As always in nutrition, nothing happens in isolation, so it’s imperative that you have enough calcium, magnesium, vitamin D and B Vitamins available in order for your body to synthesize the tryptophan into serotonin.
If you experience any level of depression, do you tend toward the flat/lethargic side or the edgy/irritable/anxious side?
This is good to know! I just found out I’m low in D3 and B12, so maybe that’s why the raw milk/egg/banana smoothie I have every morning hasn’t been helping me “feel” better! I start supplementation this week.
We’re also close to butchering our grass fed, grain free steer and shortly after that, the pig we raised, so that should boost serotonin levels too!
Thanks!
Hi Kelly…Absolutely! If you don’t have the cofactors around, your body can’t complete the synthesis– even with the raw materials! Would love to hear if you feel any different after taking those supplements for a stretch!
Lisa,
Thanks for the list. I have been on a mostly vegan diet, but often struggle with to above described emotions- the edgy, irritable anxious side. I love the benefits and sustainablity of the vegan diet, but often contemplate if my biochemistry can be rewired with limited amounts of animal products. I do consume eggs and occasional salmon, tuna and goat’s milk dairy. Just curious, in your work have you seen clients overcome these moods on a vegan diet?
Hi Tracey,
Of course, every body is literally unique and different diets work better for different people…there does tend to be a correlation between vegan diets and issues around low serotonin. Simply because the majority of vegan foods don’t have high tryptophan amounts. But a really simple solution would be to try and incorporate nutritional yeast into your diet (either sprinkled on something – air popped pop corn is great or as a supplement)– or even taking tryptophan as a supplement itself. An excellent book to explore these issues further is The Mood Cure by Julia Ross.
Hi Again! I was just reading your about page…I am currently enrolled at IIN! 🙂
Hi Tracey- That is fantastic! Would love to hear how you are finding the school?
I’m reading The Mood Cure right now! Well, not while I type this, haha, but it’s on my night stand.
🙂
thanks for this post Lisa – I am a vegetarian so I seem to fall in the edgier side of depression 3 or 4 times a year. It only lasts about a week and I try to talk myself down since I “know” whats happening but it doesn’t always work. You mentioned maybe a supplement would help – would that just be a regular multivitamin or something else?
Hi Sammi,
Thanks so much for sharing here. Of course, there are many correlating factors around our moods…and in particular depression and anxiety. One angle is the nutrition, of course- but there are others to explore as well. Have you been able to identify when this happens more specifically- like what season, where you are in your cycle, any related issues in your life- high stress, transitions, ect? That may be useful information too!
Also in terms of supplements you could always take a whole-foods multivitamin to help be sure you get all the cofactors in but I was also indicating that supplementing with tryptophan itself is an option. Like I mentioned in the above comment, an excellent book to explore this more fully is The Mood Cure by Julia Ross!
Hi Lisa,
I listened to your podcast with Tsh on Simple Mom. I was challenged and inspired! The above post made me think about why I feel depressed with a definite edgy side to it for no particular reason. I am going to try to have eggs for breakfast for awhile and see if that is helpful. We have our own chickens, so that should be an easy addition. I am 46, with 6 “children” age 26, 25, 24, 10, 7, and 4. I am dealing with weird hormonal changes which make me into a monster at least a week of the month. Which of your three classes should I start with? I am ready to deal with this so that I can be a warm, loving mom to my three children still at home. I am so excited that I found your site!