Eat your way to happiness

Feeling stressed? Low? Anxious? You’re not alone! Statistics show that a whopping 74% of UK adults have reported feeling stressed, ‘overwhelmed or unable to cope’ at some point in the past year,¹ 1 in 6 adults suffer with depression² and approximately 8 million people suffer with some form of anxiety disorder.³

With antidepressant and SSRI medication carrying their own health risks, including negatively impacting the intestinal microbiota,⁴ here at Chuckling Goat, we’re looking at natural ways you can support your mental – and gut! – health.

So, what’s one all-natural thing you can do, right now, to help boost your mood? Eat tryptophan-rich foods!

Why Tryptophan?

Serotonin, known as the ‘happy hormone’, is a natural mood stabiliser that can help reduce depression and regulate anxiety.⁵ When serotonin levels are normal, you may feel happier, less anxious and more focused⁶. Lower levels are connected to increased anxiety, insomnia and feelings of depression.⁷

Put simply, if you don’t have the right amount of serotonin in your system, it’s biochemically impossible for you to feel happy!

In order to make serotonin, your body needs an essential amino acid called tryptophan.⁸ The body cannot synthesise its own tryptophan – you have to get it from what you eat. So, the connection here is your gut bugs! Your diet can directly affect the bacteria in your gut and influence your brain activity via the gut-brain axis.

What kind of foods contain tryptophan?