I love snacking. If a piece of chocolate or banana pancakes is your go-to lockdown snack, they could be helping with your mood too, like my favourite snacks do me.
With everyone under social distancing and lockdown protocols, more people are stuck with the blues, with stress and anxiety levels only increasing. If you're feeling upset or scared, food can feel like a major source of comfort. Good thing for me, there are snack delivery options in Singapore now, where I can get my favourite Mala Mala snacks.
In this article, I would be sharing how snacks make me happy and calm.
The gut has a huge role to play in how we exhibit our emotions and if our gut is happy, we feel balanced. Certain foods can trigger stress while some can help you stay calm. Foods that are rich in Vitamin B complex can trigger the release of anxiety-easing and pleasure-inducing neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA. Foods high in Omega-3 fatty acids can ease inflammation caused by chronic stress and help boost brain health.
According to my research, vitamin C-rich foods help boost the immune system while also reducing the impact of the stress hormone known as cortisol. On the other hand, if you are feeling restless, reach out for foods that are high in flavonoids, such as dark chocolate, citrus fruits apples, soy products, and legumes, to ease unwanted symptoms of stress. Even magnesium, which is a muscle relaxant, is key, and usually needs to be added to your diet through food or supplements.
Do you find yourself reaching for a bar of chocolate when you are done with a particularly stressful day? It turns out, it might not be the worst pick. Not only is raw cacao composed of substances great for our memory, cognition, and inflammation it’s full of tyrosine, L-phenylalanine and naturally occurring serotonin. So next time you go for a chocolate bar, aim for the darkest one you can find, add some fresh berries and a few nuts and you have yourself a mood-boosting super snack.
Dopamine plays a critical role in healthy brain biochemistry and Grandi shares how we can increase dopamine through food. It is essential to have adequate protein and amino acids to efficiently make dopamine. This handy little neurotransmitter is composed of three main components: tyrosine, L-phenylalanine, and vitamin-B6. This means if your protein levels are low, you cannot obtain sufficient quantities of vital amino acids resulting in dopamine depletion, which in turn makes you feel low and lethargic.
What I learned is that eating proteins is not enough—ensuring that the protein is adequately absorbed is critical. Our stomach must be acidic to start breaking your proteins down. You can boost your stomach acidity by adding bitter foods/drinks into your daily diet. Your neurons are coated with fat (myelination), which is how your brain conducts electrical pulses and communicates to the rest of your body. Omega-3 EFAs support cognition, inflammation, skin, cellular health and cardiovascular health. If you are not eating healthy fats like avocado, cold-pressed oils, wild-caught fish, nuts, and seeds—it’s time to increase their consumption.
Our brains are hardwired to desire calorically-dense foods; it’s a survival instinct that we still haven’t evolved out of yet (hopefully, we never will). You should never feel guilty for craving salt and fat: that’s just your brain being hit with a little shot of dopamine at the thought of an energy-rich meal. That’s why it feels good to even think about eating snacks.
The smell of snacks also triggers happiness in me. So, next time you open the lid of snacks, remember that, and smile! You could even forget about that factoid – you’ll be smiling no matter what. Carbohydrates are essential for serotonin production. So, opt for those snacks with carbs. My nutritionists also recommend targeting foods with tryptophan in my diet to make that serotonin production as efficient as possible.
What we eat, especially foods that contain chemical additives and ultra-processed foods affects our gut environment and increases our risk of diseases. Ultra-processed foods contain substances extracted from food (such as sugar and starch), added from food constituents (hydrogenated fats), or made in a laboratory (flavour enhancers, food colourings). It is important to know that ultra-processed foods such as fast foods are manufactured to be extra tasty by the use of such ingredients or additives, and are cost-effective to the consumer. That's why it's best to get your local snacks.
For more snacks reviews, visit Snacks Delivery SG, and book your favourite snacks today!
