5 mood-boosting foods to add to your diet

Comfort food may be the easiest choice when feeling worried or anxious. Salty, sugary and fatty foods can immediately ease our sense of stress during our quarantine normal, but it can also cause more fatigue, inflammation and sugar crashes.

In the video above, immune support and wellness physician Dr. Taz Bhatia shares with Yahoo Life five mood-boosting foods that deliver nutrients and make us feel good.

1. Eggs

Eggs have two key ingredients that are essential for lifting our spirits: protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Protein helps keep our blood sugar stable. Omega-3s, a key nutrient that our bodies don't produce on their own, aid in decreasing depression. It pumps up “dopamine levels which make you feel happy,” says Bhatia.

2. Salmon

Salmon also contains omega-3s and vitamin D — essential in keeping our bones, teeth and muscles healthy. “We know from numerous studies that if you don’t have enough vitamin D in your system you’re going to have a tendency to have more depression,” she explains.

3. Spinach

Dark, leafy greens like spinach contain folates (a B vitamin), which are essential for the body’s production of serotonin, our happy neurotransmitter. “It literally manages every mood booster that our body has.” Bhatia says. “It actually makes us feel good.”

4. Almonds

Almonds are a superfood that boost brain health, and are filled with omega-3s and fiber. “Fiber is important in the gut-brain connection that is critical to all of us feeling happy.” Our gut produces neurotransmitters and chemicals that affect our brains.

5. Berries

Strawberries, blueberries and blackberries regulate mood, improve memory and reduce inflammation. They’re also high in antioxidants. “Antioxidants increase your overall oxygen level,” Bhatia explains. “They literally feed your brain.”

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