Eat regular meals throughout the day to maintain blood sugar levels.
Make sure you eat at least three meals each day. Missing meals, especially breakfast, leads to low blood sugar and this causes low mood, irritability and fatigue. If you feel hungry between meals you may need to include a healthy snack eg. fruit, nuts and cereals.
East fewer high sugar foods and more wholegrain cereals, nuts, beans, lentils, fruit and vegetables.
Sugary foods are absorbed quickly into the bloodstream. This may cause an initial ‘high’ or surge of energy that soon wears off as the body increases its insulin production, leaving you feeling tired and low.
Wholegrain cereals, pulses, fruit and vegetables are more filling and, because the sugar in these foods is absorbed more slowly, don’t cause mood swings.
These foods are more nutritious as they contain thiamin (B1), a vitamin that has been associated with control of mood, and folate and zinc (supplements of these nutrients have been shown to improve the mood of people with depression in a small number of studies).
Choose:
- bread – wholemeal and granary rather than white. Also try rye breads, pumpernickel, wholemeal pitta bread, wholemeal chapattis, oat cakes, rice cakes and corn cakes
- breakfast cereals – choose high fibre, low sugar types eg. wholegrain or bran cereals or porridge
- rice and pasta – go for Basmati and brown rice (this gives a nutty texture in salads) and wholemeal pasta
- potatoes – serve boiled new potatoes in their skins (with a little bit of butter) or mashed or jacket potatoes. Potato wedges (lightly brushed with olive oil) are a lower fat alternative to chips and roast potatoes if you are watching your weight. Try sweet potatoes or yams for a change – these are delicious baked.
NB: Green vegetables should be steamed or boiled in a little water and should not be overcooked or you will lose much of the vitamin content.
Avoid sugar and sugary drinks, cakes, sweets and puddings. These are loaded with calories but have little nutritional value and may trigger mood swings because of their sugar content.
Include protein at every meal to ensure a continuous supply of the amino acid tryptophan to the brain.
We all need to eat enough protein to maintain our skin, organ, muscle and immune function but recent research suggests that one particular component of protein, the amino acid tryptophan, can influence mood.
Supplements of tryptophan were tested in studies and in some were shown to improve the mood of people with depression. The supplements were not considered safe and were removed from the market. However, you can ensure your brain gets a regular supply of tryptophan by including at least one good sized portion of protein at each meal ie. meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, nuts, beans, lentils (dhal), or a meat substitute such as textured vegetable protein or mycoprotein.
NB: Peanuts are low in tryptophan so if you eat them at a meal-time include another source of protein (eg. other nuts) at the same time...
(To be continued next week)