If you know me personally, you are aware that I completely geek out about biology. The human body is FASCINATING to me!! When I was trying to get pregnant I gained a ludicrous amount of knowledge about fertility. During pregnancy, I studied up on every biological facet of gestation, birth, and lactation. (But, trust me when I say that, sometimes, ignorance is bliss.)
Biology is fun for me! So when I got my hands on The Mood Cure (I promise I am not selling this book), I was totally taken in by the user friendly information about human biochemistry. There is a ton of information about hormones, neurotransmitters, and amino acids and how they function within the body to keep it healthy AND happy. What made this knowledge more interesting was that the author of the book tied most of the information to diet. For MY brain issue, this was particularly pertinent.
There is a neurotransmitter called serotonin that is thought to be responsible for mood regulation. I have a serotonin deficiency, which is a biochemical cause for depression. Some studies suggest that 80-90% of serotonin lives in the GI tract. This happy neurotransmitter doesn't live in your brain...it lives in your GUTS my friends! It, therefore, makes sense that a change in diet would mean a change in mental health.
There are a TON of factors in our diets that can possibly influence our serotonin production...I'll get to those a different day. Until that day comes, here are some links so YOU too can geek out about the biochemistry of serotonin!
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3272651/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120612115812.htm
Life Less Sweet: Documentation of my struggle with depression and anxiety.
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