4 mood-boosting foods to beat the stay-home blues

If you’ve ever felt happier with every scoop of ice-cream after a long day of working from home, then you’ll know that mood and food are sometimes linked.

However, these simple carbohydrates are proven to provide a sugar rush followed by a crash in energy levels that’ll leave you feeling more lethargic than before. With the exception of fruit, most of them contain little to no nutrients that are crucial for maintaining both your physical and mental health.

Instead, continue reading on to find out how you can eat to beat low moods with the nutrients in these 4 foods!

1. Chocolate

Unlike ice-cream, a few squares of high-quality dark chocolate has sweeter health benefits. This is because dark chocolate has higher levels of magnesium, an important mineral that can affect your mood. Magnesium is associated with testosterone, a hormone that affects the moods of both men and women. Choose a block packed with at least 70% cacao solids or higher to fully reap its health benefits!

Shop for dark chocolate online here.

2. Nuts

In particular, walnuts are one of the richest plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids. In fact, roughly 65% of its weight is attributed to omega-3 fatty acids and alpha-linoleic
acid (ALA) alone! You’ll be happy to know that a serving of baked walnuts is also naturally cholesterol-free and lower in sodium too.

3. Natto

A sticky and slimy superfood? You won’t be strung along by the super mood-boosting benefits of natto! Natto is a traditional Japanese dish consisting of fermented soybeans with a unique texture and nutty flavour. Commonly found in such fermented foods, Vitamin K2 is a menaquinone (MK) of bacterial origin from your
gut microbiome. Up to 90% of serotonin — a neurotransmitter that can greatly affect moods — in the body is produced by your gut microbiome. That’s impressive, and so is our range of fermented food including natto online here!

4. Bananas

A banana is easily one of the richest fruit sources of vitamin B6. Unlike vitamin K2, B6 plays a more indirect role in mood regulation by shoring up the serotonin your brain is able to produce. It also helps to metabolise carbohydrates and fats, turning them into natural energy, which explains why you might see people having a banana before exercising. Regular workouts also help to stimulate the production of endorphins, another feel-good hormone — so there’s every reason to go bananas over bananas!

Shop for bananas and other tropical fruits online here.

Eat everything in moderation even if your moods are indeed what you eat. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and that includes these mood-boosting foods!

Browse Useful Tips

Did You Know?

Breastfeeding is ideal, but well-nourished toddlers who were bottle-fed will also grow to about 50 percent of their adult height at three years old!