Blood Sugar and Mood
Blood sugar balance can wreak havoc on your mood. Blood sugar crashes, low blood sugar, and high blood sugar all have unique expressions within mood and depression. Additionally, protein balance in your diet may affect how your body processes blood sugar. Whether it’s a dietary imbalance, poor eating habits, low protein, too much sugar, hypoglycemia, or diabetes, depression can manifest when the blood sugar reaching the brain and fueling the body is out of balance.
What's Causing Your Depression?
When I say lifestyle, what I mean is the basic requirements of life—food, exercise, sleep, stress, and substance use. In short, it means the way you live—too much excitement or stress, too little sleep, forcing your body to deal with constant alcohol, tobacco, drugs, or poor diet. These contributors are the foundation of the chemistry of your body and mind, and will influence how your brain chemistry operates; and they may contribute to episodes of depression along the way if they are out of balance.
Most of us thrive when we keep our pace of life in the slow to medium range. Unfortunately the modern lifestyle doesn’t make this easy for us, because we are often saturated with responsibilities, work, tasks, information, commutes, and expectations to keep up with the pace of others. Depression can develop when dealing with difficult life situations, especially when the situation is long term.
Neurotransmitters are the main chemical messengers of mood, and they include "uppers", which lift your mood and stimulate excitement and activity, and "downers" which calm and relax. Neurotransmitter imbalances are pivotal treatment areas for mood disorders, and they can be tested and treated individually. Imbalances in neurotransmitters can result from many areas, included genetics, gut health issues, and hormone imbalances in the adrenals, thyroid, and sex hormones.
Depression can be a result of several different neurotransmitter imbalances, including serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. The two main branches of depression are serotonin dependent, which presents as a weepy, sad, melancholic 'blues' type of depression; and dopamine/norepinephrine dependent depression, which presents as a tired, lethargic, brain-fogged, and unmotivated type of depression.
Mood Nutrition Mini-Course
Did You Know?
Low blood sugar deprives your brain of fuel and can make you feel tired, foggy, and depressed
Low blood sugar sets off an adrenaline response when your body thinks its starving, and that adrenaline can make you feel shaky and anxious
Protein helps stabilize blood sugar. If you don’t eat enough protein during the day, your blood sugar will be on a roller coaster all day long.