Foods that Boost Serotonin

Serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins are famously happy hormones that promote positive feelings like pleasure, happiness, and even love.

Hormones and neurotransmitters are responsible for regulating and maintaining lots of essential processes in our bodies, such as autonomic functions, things like heart rate, breathing, pupil dilation as well as non-autonomic functions such as our digestion, more importantly, they also regulate your mood and feelings. They are the body’s chemical messengers (signalling molecules), and some of them are known for their ability to help people bond, feel joy, and experience pleasure.

A lack of these healthy hormones can sometimes lead to serious mental health issues.

Life is busy, stressful and can often leave us run down and burnt out. Self-care is of great importance and should be more than just an occasional luxury.

Since 2013, there has been a 47% increase in major depression diagnoses among Millennials - the overall rate increasing from 3% to 4.4% with 18-34-year-olds. The most prominent symptom of major depression is "a severe and persistent low mood, profound sadness, or a sense of despair," according to Harvard Medical School.[1]

Forming Healthy Eating Habits

So how can we form healthy habits in our diet to boost our mood and feel good?

By increasing serotonin of course! It is the ultimate hormone for stabilising mood, and it promotes a state of well-being and happiness. Serotonin can impact your entire body, contributing to a healthy sleeping pattern, digestion and eating.

The truth is, you can’t directly consume serotonin from foods (if you could they would be as in demand as pumpkin spiced lattes at Christmas!). You can however consume tryptophan – an amino acid that converts into serotonin. We can source this predominantly from high protein animal and plant-based foods.

From a nutritionist’s standpoint, you will always be advised to consume whole foods containing these benefits in their truest form, rather than as a tablet. So where possible, ensure you have a balanced diet as opposed to additional vitamin supplementation.

CBD

As we know, CBD is a naturally derived plant extract that demonstrates great results for improving mood and reducing the symptoms of depression.

Over 260 million people worldwide suffer from anxiety and mood disorders, affecting an estimated 25% of the European population. [2] CBD positively reacts with more than 65 key targets[tg1], including the serotonin receptor.

CBD is naturally derived from the cannabis plant and is a non-psychoactive compound with healing, anti-inflammatory and neurotransmitting properties. It is notably superior in many ways compared with antidepressant medications, which can be addictive and carry the risk of permanent damage to our bodies.

A balanced diet enriched in tryptophan accompanied by your daily dose of CBD has great potential to target the receptors on the surface of cells found in your immune system (CB2) and the nervous system (CB1) that will enhance those good, positive vibrations.

CBD is a lipid (naturally non-water-soluble) which means it dissolves in your system better with fat. It will therefore produce greater results when consumed with a meal.

Please contact our resident Nutrition Advisor, Harriet, if you have any questions.

harriet@eresos.co.uk

References:

Foods that Boost Serotonin

Read more