How do you feel while eating milk and cookies? Compare this to how you might feel one to two hours after eating too much milk and cookies.

Have you ever wondered how food choices impact blood sugar levels, gut health and mood? Sure, these feelings might vary quite a bit from person to person and depending on the situation. My point here is that how you feel while eating food often differs greatly to how you feel right after eating the food, thirty minutes after eating the food, three hours later, or maybe even at bedtime.

How does food affect your brain? More and more people are becoming aware of the link between food choices and physical health over recent years. Though, do you ever think much about how daily food choices also impact your mood, energy, and mental well-being?

If you haven’t thought much about it, it’s time to change that. I’m here to help you learn to start eating healthier for your body and your brain. More specifically, for your first and your “second brain”. We can no longer afford to overlook the link between gut health and mood.

Do unstable blood sugar levels lead to unstable moods?

One of the leading experts in the field of nutrition for mental health, Leslie Korn, puts it simply in her Complete Guide to the Food-Mood Connection, “mood follows food, and mood swings follow blood sugar swings.”¹

A study published in 2020 looked at the link between high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) and depressive symptoms.² Specifically, it investigated whether higher blood sugar levels increased the likelihood of the onset of depression over subsequent years. Long story short, and to spare you the scientific details, it did! 

This study measured blood sugar levels and depressive symptoms, annually, over the course of four years and included 2,848 people. Compared to the general population, it’s estimated that people with diabetes are twice as likely to deal with depression. This study also took a closer look at the temporality of this relationship. In other words, it aimed to develop further evidence that hyperglycemia – independent of other factors – may be a cause of depression for some.

Not all carbs are created equally.

One of the most common concepts I educate others on is how to promote more stable blood sugars. To summarize this blood sugar link with mood and food, and keep it simple, aim for consistent and controlled intake of carbohydrate foods.

Don’t avoid them! This will promote a more stable metabolism and blood sugar levels. Sure, there are some exceptions, such as for those following a structured and informed ketogenic diet (which I rarely support), or for those reducing their carbs for weight loss efforts.

Though for most of us, don’t avoid carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred source of energy. All too often, avoiding carbohydrates results in episodes of bingeing, less healthy choices of carbohydrate foods, just before bed! Or, maybe even you wake up in the middle of the night to eat whatever you can get your hands on. So, aim for consistent and controlled intake of carbohydrates rather than restriction.

Focus on fiber!

Although the quantity and portions of carbohydrates are important for managing blood sugars, for many, it’s the quality that matters more. Do you drink a lot of juice but rarely eat much fruit? Do you eat too much white bread, pastries, cookies, white rice, pasta, flour tortillas, etc.?

On the other hand, do you eat enough variety of whole grains and/or legumes? Do you eat oats, whole wheat, quinoa, beans, lentils, and sweet potatoes?

There’s nothing in particular you need about any of these individual foods. In fact, some people do better to avoid or limit certain of these otherwise healthy sources of fiber and complex carbohydrates. This need to restrict certain high fiber foods, for some, typically relates to more specific different gastrointestinal disorders.

However, these different foods with complex carbs are good sources of fiber and a variety of other important vitamins and minerals. Key nutrients for your gut- and brain health. Make sure you drink enough water if you’re not used to eating much of these and are increasing them.

All that the word “complex” means is that these carbohydrate foods are higher in fiber and they take longer time to digest. Generally speaking, that’s a good thing. Slow digesting carbohydrate foods help to promote more of a stable, longer-lasting, less elevated spikes of blood sugars after meals.

Besides keeping you full, digestion and blood sugar normal, fiber intake is also critical for the health of the friendly gut bugs we need for health. In other words, fiber is important for gut health and mood.

Respect the inseparable link between digestive health and brain health.

Such a strong link that many scientific experts are now referring to the gut as the “second brain”. By “the gut”, I’m referring to the small intestine and the large intestine. These are the largest components of your digestive tract where the majority of absorption of essential nutrients occurs.

With few exceptions, most nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine. When your gut health is not in a state of harmony, this is likely to, eventually impact mental health.

The term “second brain” refers to the complex system of nerve cells “hidden” within the wall of the intestines. This is also sometimes referred to as the “gut-brain axis”. Not just a few nerve cells, I’m talking 100’s of millions of neurons! Neurons that help communicate messages and send signals to the brain via hormones and neurotransmitters.

This complex arrangement of nerve cells helps regulate digestion and absorption of foods and normal waste elimination. It also plays a key role in regulating a normal stress response. So, a healthy, normal functioning, second brain might also play a key role in helping manage stress and anxiety.

That link again! It’s all about the gut health and mood.

Adequate intakes of essential nutrients in your diet are important for providing your brain and your “second brain” with the building blocks needed to do their job and contribute to a positive sense of mental well-being.

The brain weighs only approximately 2% of the human body weight.  However, it can burn an astounding 20% or more of your daily energy needs.³ A low nutrient diet might be impacting your brain health or mental well-being long before it’s taking its toll on other organs.

Are you fueling the good gut bugs? Or are you fueling the bad gut bugs? 

Remember the importance of fiber. Although we can’t digest fiber, some of our friendly gut bugs can. Good gut bugs need fiber to do their job of protecting you. The fibers that help fuel healthy bacteria are considered prebiotics.

Again, some people, with certain conditions, may need to strategize with how much and what types of fibrous foods are added. However, for most of us, we need a good variety of high-fiber foods for good health.

Although there are a lot of unanswered questions about different strains of bacteria in the gut and how different gut microbiome profiles might impact mental health, there are some things to keep in mind.

Besides all of the high fiber foods we need in the diet, let’s mind some of the offender foods. Though take this with a grain of salt. Or, a grain of sugar. 

Small amounts of sugar and alcohol are fine for most people. However, too much of either of these may impact the ratio of good to bad bacteria. That is, it may help fuel unhealthy strains of bacteria and fungi, whereas depriving other good strains of bacteria.

Besides food choices, many other lifestyle factors can also impact your gut microbiome. So, it’s not all about food. But, I’ll save all that other lifestyle stuff for another post.

Moral of the story, RESPECT YOUR GUT!

This post isn’t about finding some “perfect diet” for your gut-health. However, this post serves to demonstrate just how significant your daily food choices are for influencing gut health and mood.

Perhaps, it’s blood sugar levels and the role that the gut-brain axis play, that mostly explains this food-mood connection. What are some key areas for improvement you can work on to help improve the health of your gut, your second brain? Over time, perhaps these changes can lead to improvements in mental well-being.

Thanks for stopping by today!

– Jason

REFERENCES:

1. Korn L. Nutrition Essentials for Mental Health: A Complete Guide to the Food-Mood Connection. New York NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2016.
2. Gereats, AFJ, et al. The association of hyperglycaemia and insulin resistance with incident depressive symptoms over 4 years follow-up: The Maastricht Study. Diabetologia (2020) 63: 2315-2328. 
3. Maldonado KA, Alsayouri K. Physiology, Brain. StatPearls. Mayo Clinic, 2020. Accessed January 2021: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551718/