Affect Your Mood With Your Food

Have you ever felt that your mind is racing, your mood is off and you’re annoyed for no reason? You want to control these feelings, but you can’t?  I’ve felt that helpless feeling too. If my tooth is hurting, the dentist can fix it! If my skin has a rash, I can use an ice pack and relieve myself of the inflamed feeling. Sometimes just scratching that itch can provide relief. But when it comes to your mind, there’s a bit of a problem - it’s tough to directly access it.  But the good news is that your gut can influence your brain, your mood and your emotions! Studies show that serotonin and dopamine release may all be affected by disturbances in the gut microbiota. (1) There's been very sound research in the last few years pointing to the gut-brain axis. And here’s the thing, while you can’t directly access your brain, you absolutely can access your gut. How, you ask? Through your food and herbs!  Your gut affects your brain and how?  Did you know we have a second brain? Yes, it exists and it’s the Vagus Nerve! The vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve, plays a crucial role in bidirectional communication between the gut and the brain.  The digestive system is remarkably complex. The ENS is composed of millions of neurons in the wall of the gastrointestinal tract. These neurons are arranged as intricate layers of nervous tissue that receive messages from the vagus nerve and are responsible for promoting the secretion of digestive juices, permitting food to pass from one area of the digestive system to another, and controlling peristalsis.  While we always knew that the brain affects the gut, research has found that approximately 95% of nerve fibre in the vagus nerve carry information from the gut to the brain rather than the other way around! (2) Though not responsible for complicated thought processes (that's the brain's job), the ENS plays a key role in emotions and gut feelings. Thus, keeping the digestive system healthy is a great way to avoid imbalance of the body and the mind. This happy hormone is produced in the gut  One of the key players in the gut-brain connection is serotonin, a neurotransmitter often associated with mood regulation. While many associate serotonin with the brain, did you know that 95% of this “feel good hormone” supply is found in the gut? (3) When your gut is healthy, it produces and releases serotonin, which helps regulate your mood and promote feelings of happiness and well-being. Conversely, an imbalanced gut can impact serotonin levels and contribute to mood disorders such as anxiety and depression. Basically, take care of your gut!  Food: One of the generally agreed-upon criteria for a healthy gut microbiome and gut-brain connection has been its diversity and the abundance of microbial species present in it. (4)  However, today having antibiotics for every small concern has become the way of life. Unfortunately, this depletes a lot of the good bacteria as well. You can always resolve this imbalance by incorporating probiotics in your diet! Probiotics are fermented foods that have a high population of beneficial bacteria. Kimchi, sauerkraut and non-spicy pickles are great examples. You can also incorporate traditional foods idli and dosa which are fermented overnight.  While probiotics are important, what is even more essential are prebiotics, which are food for the good bacteria that help them thrive. These are commonly found in your pantry staples such as garlic, onion, banana and whole grains.  Herbs: As a herbalist, studying these guys is what I’m obsessed with doing. Let’s deep dive into classifications of herbs that can help -  Herbs that can help  While probiotics, prebiotics, astringents, carminatives and demulcents can have a big impact on the gut and therefore the brain, here we’ll study the 3 classifications that can have an even larger impact on the gut-brain axis since they have a direct connection with both the nervous system and the digestive system - Bitters, Nervines and Adaptogens. Bitters - Bitter tasting herbs have a very direct relationship with the nervous system and the gut. When bitter taste receptors on our tongue detect the bitter taste, a signal is sent via the gustatory and vagus nerves to the brain to prepare the body for digestion. Thus, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated and digestive secretions are released. In this way, bitters not only improve the digestibility of food, but also have a calming effect on the nervous system, putting us in a more emotionally relaxed state, which has an added bonus: we can slow down enough to enjoy our food! A strong and powerful bitter is Bhumi Amalaki or Gale of the Wind (Phyllanthus niruri). I’ve implemented this herb into our Love Your Liver due to the strong liver-gut connection.  Nervines - Nervines nourish and support the nervous system. Calamus is a great herb in this category!  Adaptogens -  Licorice or Mulethi root is known to provide protection and relief to inflamed tissue along the digestive tract. It can also increase mucus production in the stomach which soothes the stomach lining and increases blood supply to the stomach.  Disclaimer: This blog is intended for educational purposes and while it does contain two product recommendations, they are relevant to the information provided. Thank you for reading along! In case you’re not based out of India and would like to try our mixes, apologies we have not started international shipping as of yet. Feel free to use the other recommendations mentioned in the article. Citations:  (1) -  Kumar, A., Pramanik, J., Goyal, N., Chauhan, D., Sivamaruthi, B. S., Prajapati, B. G., & Chaiyasut, C. (2023). Gut Microbiota in Anxiety and Depression: Unveiling the Relationships and Management Options. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland), 16(4), 565. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16040565 (2) -  Forsythe, P., Bienenstock, J., & Kunze, W. A. (2014). Vagal pathways for microbiome-brain-gut axis communication. Advances in experimental medicine and biology, 817, 115–133. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0897-4_5 (3) -  Browning, K. N., Verheijden, S., & Boeckxstaens, G. E. (2017). The Vagus Nerve in Appetite Regulation, Mood, and Intestinal Inflammation. Gastroenterology, 152(4), 730–744. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2016.10.046 (4) -   Lozupone CA, Stombaugh JI, Gordon JI, Jansson JK, Knight R. Diversity, stability and resilience of the human gut microbiota. Nature. 2012 Sep 13;489(7415):220-30. doi: 10.1038/nature11550. PMID: 22972295; PMCID: PMC3577372.

Blood Sugar Management 101

Have you often heard from your parents, or grandparents or even your friend that they need to get their blood sugar in control? Growing up, I always thought only people who are at risk for diabetes need to be wary of their blood sugar. But when I started my own wellness journey I realised that it may not be the case. Blood sugar management is an essential for everyone (yes, not just for the middle aged) and it is connected to everything - weight, metabolism, acne, brain fog and more. In this article, I’ll explain the science behind blood sugar and why it is important to get it in balance.   Let’s start with blood sugar basics   Chapter 1: Glucose, our primary source of energy   We need energy to stay alive, and we get this from the food we eat - more specifically, glucose. Most of the food we eat is made up of glucose - broccoli, banana, bread, they all have it! When we eat food, our body starts to break down the carbs into glucose. The glucose travels through our bloodstream to cells where the glucose is further broken down (this process is called glycolysis) and releases energy in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), or simply “energy currency” of the cell.  Chapter 2: Insulin - the key to locking away glucose  Insulin is a hormone released by our pancreas when glucose enters our bloodstream. Insulin acts like a “key” that helps glucose enter our cells. Our cells have tiny doors, called receptors, and insulin binds to these receptors which signals the cells to open and allow glucose in.   When there is excess glucose that our cells do not need, insulin stashes it away as glycogen in our liver and muscles to keep it out of circulation and protect us from damage. Whenever our body needs glucose, during exercise or in between meals, our body releases glycogen stores by quickly converting it back to glucose.  When things start to become troublesome When we consume carbs too quickly our blood sugar tends to spike. And as we learnt above, when this happens insulin, the “key”, is released to “lock” away the glucose in our cells so that it is not floating free in our bloodstream. But what happens when on a regular basis we consume more glucose than insulin can stash away? Insulin starts storing the excess glucose in our liver and muscles and when these stores fill up, the glucose gets converted into fat. These frequent glucose spikes overwhelm our body’s insulin response over time, making our cells resist the insulin, a.k.a insulin resistance. Due to this, our body produces even more insulin for the increased glucose that is floating around in our bloodstream. This persistent elevation of insulin levels is identified as the underlying factor contributing to conditions like obesity, type 2 diabetes, PCOS, and other health issues in the long run. (1) Balancing, a delicate act   We should strive to avoid increasing our glucose levels by more than 30 mg/dL after eating.  The goal is to flatten the spikes, whatever your fasting level is, because it’s the variability caused by spikes that is most problematic. It’s years of repeated daily spikes that slowly increase our fasting glucose level, a pattern we discover only once that level is classified as pre-diabetic. By then, the damage has already started. Another way to describe flattening your glucose curves is reducing glycemic variability. The smaller the glycemic variability, the better your health will be. (2) Some simple methods to reduce the spike  Front-loading protein at breakfast - We've often heard of eating till you are 80% full and leave some space and while this stands true for other meals, what has helped me is eating breakfast till you're feeIing full and then a little more. Eating a big breakfast full of protein and fats, helps me power through the day and manage cravings. As protein and carbs do not break down so quickly, they help you feel full for longer and increase satiety.  Strength training - Strength training has been an absolute game changer in my road to balancing blood sugar spikes, take it from a girl who hated lifting weights. Our muscle is the most insulin-sensitive tissue in the body, so more strength training = more muscle = more insulin-sensitivity! (3) Herbs to regulate blood sugar -  Cinnamon is known to not only increase insulin sensitivity and help with PCOS, but also support glucose transportation and utilisation in our cell. (4)  Having more fibre rich meals - Unlike carbs, fibre isn’t broken down into glucose by our digestive system. It creates kind of a viscous mesh in the small intestine, making it harder for glucose to make it through to the bloodstream and thus delaying the glucose spike.    I’ll have a lot more blogs on this topic since it’s quite complex and vast. For now, I hope you enjoyed learning about the basics.   Disclaimer: This blog is intended for educational purposes only and does not include any product promotion. We strive to provide accurate and unbiased information and readers are encouraged to conduct further research or consult a professional before making any decisions based on the information provided in the blog.     Citations:  (1) Rojas J, Chávez M, Olivar L, Rojas M, Morillo J, Mejías J, Calvo M, Bermúdez V. Polycystic ovary syndrome, insulin resistance, and obesity: navigating the pathophysiologic labyrinth. Int J Reprod Med. 2014;2014:719050. doi: 10.1155/2014/719050. Epub 2014 Jan 28. PMID: 25763405; PMCID: PMC4334071. (2) Sparks JR, Kishman EE, Sarzynski MA, Davis JM, Grandjean PW, Durstine JL, Wang X. Glycemic variability: Importance, relationship with physical activity, and the influence of exercise. Sports Med Health Sci. 2021 Oct 11;3(4):183-193. doi: 10.1016/j.smhs.2021.09.004. PMID: 35783368; PMCID: PMC9219280. (3) Mads K. Holten, Morten Zacho, Michael Gaster, Carsten Juel, Jørgen F.P. Wojtaszewski, Flemming Dela; Strength Training Increases Insulin-Mediated Glucose Uptake, GLUT4 Content, and Insulin Signaling in Skeletal Muscle in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes 1 February 2004; 53 (2): 294–305.  (4) Alam Khan, Mahpara Safdar, Mohammad Muzaffar Ali Khan, Khan Nawaz Khattak, Richard A. Anderson; Cinnamon Improves Glucose and Lipids of People With Type 2 Diabetes . Diabetes Care 1 December 2003; 26 (12): 3215–3218.