By Margaret Artist, Accredited Practising Dietitian
Today I am enjoying a warm pumpkin soup, a bit of cracked pepper. The soup mug warms my cold hands and the smell brings back cheerful memories of my mum who passed away over 13 years ago.
Components of our food play an active role in areas that affect our mood. You may recall a good feeling from eating a piece of chocolate, cake, or hot chips. The good feeling may come from joy in the taste, texture, crunch, a happy memory triggered by the food, or from satisfying your craving or desire. Enjoying food is a solo or a social experience. Almost all social gatherings are elevated with sharing in the joy of food and drink.
Good feelings can also come because you were genuinely hungry and you satisfied the hunger by eating.
Many of us reach for something soothing to eat or drink when we feel low or anxious, or stressed. Soothing with food or drink that is readily available in the kitchen cupboard or fridge, via drive–through or home delivery, is a very common form of self–soothing. After all, no appointment is required and nobody else knows if you are self–soothing with food or drink and it seems affordable.
However, food and drink can affect our mood by inducing bad feelings too. Humans have been brewing and consuming alcohol as early as 7000 years BC. The drug, alcohol, affects every cell in our body and crosses the blood – brain barrier easily. Alcohol can make us feel happy, but excess can disinhibit feelings of rage, help us to block–out feelings and is a mood depressant. Reaching for food or drink can be so automatic we don’t even realise the moment it becomes a habit or worse, an addiction.
When we overload our brain with the intensely rich tasting foods or foods loaded with highly processed sugar – fat – salt combinations we get a dopamine release that is higher than in natural, unprocessed foods or drinks. Australian neuroscientist Dr Selena Bartlett and her team researched the effect of highly processed sugar and alcohol on our brain and findings suggest that sugar is addictive, along the lines of alcohol and nicotine. Research has focused on one of the more prominent pleasure – reward chemicals released in our brain, dopamine.
Psychiatrist Dr Anna Lembke writes in her book, Dopamine Nation, that in our modern, busy society we are all trying to buffer or distract ourselves from pain. Food, alcohol, shopping, sex, drugs, binge watching TV are all efforts to soothe ourselves by seeking pleasure. It becomes a problem when the pleasure seeking is too much, too often and the behaviour, food or drug stimulates a release of dopamine that is too strong, aka, addiction. Dopamine and pain are basically sitting on a see–saw in the same location in our brain. On the nasty flip side of an excessive dopamine hit is an excessive experience of pain.
So, what might throw our pain and pleasure see–saw out of whack?
The Australian Dietary Guidelines describes foods that are high in processed sugar, saturated fats and or salty foods and alcohol, even soft drinks as “discretionary foods”. An interesting term considering the potential effects some of these have on our brain and adverse effects to our health! The Australian Dietary Guidelines refer to them as “discretionary” because they do not meet any nutritional requirement, but when consumed occasionally or in small amounts they contribute to the overall enjoyment of eating. Australians are advised to limit intake. So, there is nothing good in these foods and drinks for our body other than the joy released in our brain when we eat or drink them. Australians often consuming discretionary foods without much discretion. Perhaps this term “discretionary” requires a re–think and we should replace these foods with a warning label!
The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommends between zero and a limit of three serves per day for adults, even less for kids, at ½ a serve for kids under 8 years of age. Yet Australians of all ages consume more than three serves of discretionary food and drinks daily, 30% of our energy requirements!
How to return to normal moods through food
Great news. To return to normal food and mood responses, you don’t need to jump on a fancy diet.
- Double the amount of vegetables and choose a rainbow of colours in your vegies.
- Weed out foods high in processed sugar, saturated fats, and salt from the shopping trolley.
- Challenge yourself with the question, “do I need this food or drink or just want it?”
- If you need help with any of this see your dietitian for support to guide you through the food side of changes. Making changes is harder than you think, and most people need help to put their good intentions into action and keep them going long enough to form new habits.
Margaret Artist is one of the brilliant Accredited Practising Dietitians at Bright Diets. She genuinely cares about her patient’s health in the context of everything going on in their life. Reach out at 0413 77 44 11, or visit www.brightdiets.com.au or on the socials.
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