Change your Mood and Get Natural Stress Relief with a Serotonin Diet

With a serotonin diet, you can change your mood and decrease, stress, anxiety, depression, and anger. There are many serotonin foods that one can have to bring about natural stress relief. Before we get to the core of serotonin and stress we need to know what serotonin is.

What is Serotonin?

Serotonin is a chemical used by the brain and nervous system cells to help them communicate with each other.   It is a chemical that is responsible for mood changes. Otherwise, known as a mood stabilizer. So, with that being said, low serotonin levels can cause disorders such as bipolar disorder, anxiety, stress and depression.

How to Increase Serotonin?

There are many foods that can help to increase the levels of serotonin in the brain. Although foods don’t supply serotonin directly to your body, certain foods provide the necessary chemicals to your body for your brain to make serotonin. The chemical contained in these foods is called tryptophan, which is usually found in carbohydrates and protein-based foods such as:

• Milk, yogurt, and cheese
• Oats, sesame seeds, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and peanuts
• Red meat, poultry, and fish
• Fresh fruits and fresh vegetables
• Potatoes,
• Foot vegetables,
• Non-wheat grains like rice and oatmeal
• Green Tea
• Dark Chocolate

Carbohydrates Increase Serotonin Levels

Now that you have established which foods are best to boost your serotonin, you want to know all about carb-filled foods.  Just because you are eating healthy, by no means does that make it necessary to cut out life’s joy foods.  You just have to be selective on what carbohydrates you need to eat in order to increase serotonin in the brain.

Keep in mind, that the amino acid and tryptophan within theses carbohydrates help make serotonin in your brain. When food is processed, it is tryptophan, that becomes available for serotonin production in your brain. Thus, carbohydrates play an important role in increasing serotonin in the body and most importantly it helps to decrease stress, anxiety and depression as well. 

The Serotonin Power Diet 

Dr. Judith J. Wurtman, co-author of “The Serotonin Power Diet.”  helped to prove that point. During her research, she found out why people want to indulge in sweets or starchy carbohydrates in order to relieve stress and depression.  They do so because these carbohydrates tend to raise their brain serotonin levels, hence making them feel much happier.

In addition, she also discovered that eating carbohydrates on their own — without protein truly helped to avoid the problem of protein blocking serotonin synthesis.  If you eat carbohydrates alone without the proteins it will increase serotonin in the brain.  As a result, Dr. Wurtman recommends that people need to consume more serotonin boosting foods like cold-water fatty fish, fermented foods, and turmeric. These foods will help improve your moods and reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and anger.  To learn more, you can find her book on  Amazon.com.

Do note that it is extremely important that you reduce serotonin inhibitors like refined carbohydrates such as caffeine, soda, wheat, and alcohol. To do so, will definitely aid in your success when implementing your serotonin diet.

Serotonin Diet

These are the many serotonin foods which you can easily implement in your diet.  Some have already been mentioned above. Yet, it is recommended that you seek a balance serotonin diet that will effectively help toward relieving your stress naturally. Doing so will help to cancel out the need for any medication that can cause side effects.

If you are looking for a serotonin diet that deals with carbohydrate eating you can get you started on a book by Carol Hart.  It is called the  Secrets of Serotonin, The Natural Hormone That Curbs Food and Alcohol Cravings, Reduces Pain, and Elevates Your Mood.  She will provide you with a diet plan with specific foods to help increase serotonin in your daily diet.  Keep in mind, that this does not mean that you can indulge in every carbohydrate you can get your hands on, but rather you choose the right diet regimen that she recommends.

After trying her diet a week or two, you should notice an improvement in your mood and hopefully your health. The key to boosting your serotonin and relieving yourself of stress is to eat healthily, exercise and self-control!

While changing your diet can help a lot, some people prefer a more direct approach to getting more tryptophan or increasing serotonin in their diet. There are other natural supplements that can be used to increase serotonin levels.

Serotonin Boosting Supplements See Amazon.com for best selection and value