Feeling low

Feeling Low

 

Balance the highs and lows

If you aren’t doing energy demanding physical activities and you eat certain foods, you can cause a spike in your blood sugar levels. The spike tells your body to release insulin to store the sugar in cells so that you don’t pass out from too much glucose whizzing around your body. When the sugar is packed into cells you can have a major dip in your blood sugar causing you to feel a bit emotional i.e. irrational, moody and sad.

 

Common causes of blood sugar spikes and dips: • Chocolate, crisps, sugar, refined carbohydrates • Caffeinated and fizzy drinks • Large portions • Longer than 4 hours without eating • Smoking • Alcohol • Sweeteners • Carb loading • Stress

 

Solutions: • Eat protein or fat with everything you have i.e. beans, meat, fish, eggs, pulses, avocado, nuts and seeds. • Eat chromium rich foods like broccoli, mushrooms, green beans, eggs, and meat. • Eat foods rich in vitamin B such as rice, meat, avocado and green leafy vegetables to encourage the production of positive brain chemicals to be produced.  • De-stress with breathing exercises.  • Drink herbal teas.

 

The happy vitamin

Most people in the modern world don’t get enough sunshine as they tend to spend most of their time indoors whether it be working or socialising and one of the reasons for this is unfortunately we don’t have great weather all year round in the UK.

Solution: 

Sunshine exposure for at least 20 minutes per day helps you produce the happy vitamin, vitamin D. Due to the lack of sunshine in the UK it may be a good option to take a supplement to help improve mood especially during the winter. 

 

Essential fats are essential for the mind

Low-fat diets and the choice of poor fats in the diet like saturated fats from biscuits and pastries mean that people are not fuelling their brain. Think about it this way; the brain is made up from between 60-70% fat.

Solution:  It’s all about the fats you choose to eat so aim for omega 3 and 6 fatty acids from oily fish and nuts to help your mind function. Include these foods daily as both fats have been used together to improve symptoms of most mental health problems.