Is Your Tummy Ruling Your Mood This Season?

Will your tummy rule your mood? Or would you like to take better control over your tummy and your mood? What happens with the seasonal change?

Some of us are affected more than others. Some of us have more tummy aches. Some of us are feeling more blue and need mood support. 

There are some combination herbal formulas used to boost the mood as well as nutraceuticals. Before that, let’s look for possible root causes of the mood changes during the seasonal changes:

1. We are short of daylight hours, and less exposure to natural sunlight. As a result, the body produces less serotonin, the happy hormone.

2. We start having less outdoor activities and that means less physical activity. We are typically less active during the cooler season; cooler weather, and then we start feeling lethargic. 

3. Also, you have nutritional gaps as you change from season to season, often you get more salads, berries, and fruit in the summer. During the fall, you start reaching for comfort foods, which are often less nutrition-dense and lack mood-boosting nutrients. Consider warming herbs to improve your gut microbiome for mood-boosting activity. And of course, there are always nutraceuticals to help you boost your mood if it’s needed and you can’t reach the goal with diet alone.

4. Stressful transitions can be another root cause like full-time transition with “back to school” and changing of the routine. These changes can bring more stress and impact the mood so let’s look for the answers in your cases. I often have my initial consultations just to dig for possible root causes. If you ever considered scheduling an in-depth consultation, now is a good time, schedule here!                           

5. Depleted gut microbiota can be another possible root cause. What can be done if the keystore bacteria is depleted? You can consider probiotics to modulate it. Probiotics that are known to boost mood include L.Helveticus R0052 and B. Longum R0175. Also adding ashwagandha to this probiotic blend can help the mood as well. Ask me for my recommendations by just replying to this email.

6. It’s crucial to figure out what’s going on with the tummy if it’s not helping with the production of enough serotonin. How can you boost that serotonin activity? There are changes that you could make right away. Start getting some sunlight in the morning, I highly recommend going through a routine where you wake up, get outside to get some direct sunlight on you, or do some kind of mood-boosting activity, like meditation or affirmations and then you grab an alkaline drink to start your day.