Food and Mood: Top 3 Emotion and Eating Tips
Kristen Bunich MA RD LDN and Kimberleigh Hagar, LCSW discuss the relationship between nutrition and mood. Why is nutrition so important to our physical and mental health?
We’ve all experienced it: that irritable, cranky feeling that creeps in when we’re hungry, commonly known as being "hangry." This blend of hunger and anger can wreak havoc on our emotional well-being, making us more vulnerable to stress and less capable of handling daily challenges. It has become so common Merriam Webster has added “hangry” as a word. In our chat above, Kimberleigh Hagar, LCSW discusses how hard it can be to control our emotions when we aren’t in homeostasis.
What if there was a way to prevent these mood swings and maintain our emotions with our eating? In this blog, I’ll explore how adopting a balanced nutrition plan can help you avoid the pitfalls of hanger and keep your emotions in check. By understanding the connection between diet and mood, you can make informed choices that support both your physical health and emotional resilience. Let’s dive into the science of nutrition and discover practical tips to keep hanger at bay and promote a more balanced, harmonious life.
1. The Impact of Nutrition on Emotions
What Happens When You’re Hangry?
Hunger is a survival mechanism that keeps us alive. We are animals that need fuel to survive. However, we are pretty good at ignoring that signal. We move so fast and become so busy that we tune out that hunger alarm! Chronic dieters may view ignoring hunger as a great sign of ‘willpower’. Ignore the hunger sign for too long and the body responds by releasing hormones like cortisol (a stress hormone) and adrenaline (the fight-or-flight hormone). Elevated ghrelin levels tell your stomach to release more stomach acid. Churning stomach acid with no food to digest will leave you feeling pretty nauseous. This mix of low blood sugars, hormones and a sour stomach has you feeling really on edge and…hangry.
Brain Food:Our brains work on glucose. The body will find a way to convert nutrients to glucose but we work best with a steady blood glucose level.
Blood Glucose: Eating on a schedule of about every 3-4 hours helps to keep a steady supply of fuel to our tank.
Amount of Fuel: When we are fueling more frequently we don’t need to overfill the tank. Aim to eat just enough to be full until the next meal or snack.
2. Building a Nutrition Plan to Avoid Hanger
How to Do It: Practical Steps
It’s important to eat regularly but WHAT should you eat? Discussions on gentle nutrition may feel as though an intuitive eating dietitian is talking out of both sides of their mouth. We don’t label foods good or bad, but we still need to be conscious of our nutrients. Yes, building in some awareness about how the nutrients you eat and how they make you feel is important.
Try this experiment! Eat an apple for your afternoon snack and the next day try an apple with nut butter. I bet the second option gave you a little more sustained energy and helped prevent some grazing while you meal prepped dinner.
Food Pairing: When you have a snack or meal be sure to include some carbohydrate, protein and fat. Eating foods together taste better and gives you more sustained energy. Carbohydrates need a Friend!
Meal Plan: A well laid out weekly meal plan, a loose idea of meal ideas or food delivery kits are all great meal plan ideas. Find the plan that works best for your home. Having a plan helps to prevent decision paralysis from upsetting fueling your body.
Hydration: When we are dehydrated, we can't transport enough tryptophan into the brain to convert to serotonin, which can lead to low serotonin levels. Low serotonin levels can be linked to anxiety, depression, and emotional dysregulation. There isn’t a magical amount of fluids to drink per day. I like to have clients keep an eye on their urine has their own barometer, aim for light, straw colored urine.
Meal Planning
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3. Sustaining a Hanger-Free Diet
How to Sustain This Eating Pattern
You are all in! You want to eat with a framework or schedule, you are brainstorming meal plan ideas, you have thought about how to pair your nutrients and you want to work with an expert or accountability partner. How do you sustain these changes?
Start Small: The all or nothing approach doesn’t last very long with lifestyle and nutrition behavior. It feels exciting to clear the pantry when you learn new nutrition knowledge but picking 1-2 small changes to master is a more sustainable way to create lasting change.
Mindful Approach: Sustainable change is much more likely to happen when you FEEL the benefits vs an expert TELLS you the benefits. How do you feel when you are eating this way? Do you now have better energy? Better yet, if you have an off day do you feel a difference in your mood and energy?
Accountability: Research has shown that working with a friend, group or expert helps improve our chances of maintaining a lifestyle change. Ready to start your nutrition journey? Book a FREE Discovery Call Here.
Bottom Line
Adopting and sustaining a schedule of eating with paired foods and good hydration with someone that gives you accountability support is the self care that helps to maintain emotional stability. Set yourself up for energy to take advantage of more positive experiences.
What’s Next?
Kimberleigh Hagar, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker and owner of Mindfully Balanced Therapy, PLLC. Kimberleigh’s practice helps clients in NC, SC and IL via telehealth with a focus on women. “I help women who work really hard to make sure everything looks okay on the outside when it doesn’t feel that way on the inside.” Connect for a FREE discovery call with Kimberleigh today.
Kristen Bunich, MA RD, LDN is a registered dietitian and owner of The Intuitive Dietitian. As a certified intuitive eating counselor she brings a more holistic approach to her nutrition care. She helps clients in NC and SC rebuild their relationship with food, nutrition and self care. Book your FREE discovery call with Kristen today.