Use food to boost your mood
Nutritionist and Hormone expert Nikki Hill shares her tips to balance your mood with two delicious recipes.
How to manage your blood sugar and improve your mood
A growing body of evidence suggests a relationship between mood and blood sugar highs and lows. Symptoms of poor blood sugar regulation have been shown to closely mirror mental health symptoms, such as irritability, anxiety, and depression. This should come as no surprise, as the brain runs primarily on glucose and requires a steady dose all the time. Problems arise when there is too much sugar in our blood stream or too little – this sets off a cascade of hormone production to protect us (survival) at the expense of our emotional, and physical health. Hello mood swings, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, brain fog, sugar cravings, insomnia, night sweats, hot flushes and unwanted weight gain just to name a few!
The key to supporting your hormones and your mood is to ensure your body is fuelled properly from the food you eat and not fuelled from your stress hormones.
Balance your meals
You want to make sure you are eating protein, carbs and fat at every meal. Protein and fat both help slow down the release of glucose into our blood stream. Eggs, grass-fed meat, poultry, fish, collagen and dairy products are great sources of protein + fat to include in each meal. Try not to eat carbs by itself. For instance, if you have fruit eat it with a slice of cheese or greek yoghurt; add an egg and avocado to your toast; hummus and oat cakes etc. I also recommend eating every 3-5 hours to keep your blood sugar levels stable.
Eat a savory breakfast, not sweet
Start your day right with a nourishing hormone balancing breakfast that will help manage blood sugar for the rest of the day. Make sure you eat within an hour of getting up. A savory (high-protein breakfast) also improves the levels of your appetite-regulating hormones, leading to reduced hunger and cravings.
My two favourite Hormone Balancing Breakfasts (that can also be enjoyed anytime of the day!)
These 2 recipes are super quick to make and are very filling. Each recipe uses exactly the same ingredients, just made a different way! Try both and see which you prefer.
Shopping List
Ripe bananas
Organic Eggs
Grass-fed Collagen powder – an amazing source of tasteless protein
Fresh or Frozen Berries (any mix)
Greek Yoghurt or Kefir
Cinnamon
Easy Banana Pancake
1 ripe banana
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ tsp cinnamon
coconut oil or butter (to fry in)
Method:
In a bowl, mash the banana with a fork. Add the beaten eggs and cinnamon and mix well.
Heat a spoonful of coconut oil in the frying pan. Add the mixture to the pan. When the pancake is firm on top, carefully flip them over and bake the other side for 1 minute.
Serve as is, or top with seasonal fruit and natural Greek yoghurt.
Berry Smoothie
Handful of fresh or frozen mixed berries
1 ripe banana
1 raw organic egg* and/or 2 Tbsp Grass fed Collagen
2 Tablespoon Natural live organic Yoghurt/ kefir
½ cup filtered water or milk (whole cow’s or coconut)
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Method:
Blend and Enjoy! Add more of less liquid depending on how thick you like your smoothies.
*You cannot taste the raw egg in this smoothie, however, if you’re not happy adding one, just use the collagen.
Find out more about Nikki Hill:
https://www.instagram.com/nikkihillapothecary/?hl=en
https://nikkihillapothecary.com/