Using Food to Improve Mood
Health Is More Than Not Being Sick
In 1946, the World Health Organization described health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing, not simply the absence of disease or infirmity. I return to this definition often because it gently but firmly questions how we judge health. It is entirely possible to have ideal blood tests, a stable weight, and good physical fitness, yet still feel anxious, low, or emotionally disconnected. Mental health is not an optional extra. It sits at the very core of wellbeing.
Sadness visits everyone from time to time. That is part of being human. Depression is different. It can stretch over weeks or months and may include persistent low mood, loss of pleasure, disrupted sleep or appetite, fatigue, guilt, poor concentration, and recurring thoughts about death. It is common, serious, and at times life threatening.
Happiness, Health, and the Immune System
Mental wellbeing is not simply the absence of depression. Not feeling depressed does not necessarily mean feeling well. For many years, scientific research focused almost entirely on illness rather than happiness. The field of positive psychology shifted this focus by asking an important question. Do happier people become healthier, or are healthier people simply happier?
Long term studies suggest that people who start life with higher psychological wellbeing tend to live longer and experience less disease. To explore this more directly, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University conducted a remarkable experiment. Volunteers were paid to be exposed to cold and flu viruses under carefully controlled conditions.
Not everyone exposed to a virus becomes ill. Often, the immune system successfully prevents infection. What stood out was that individuals who were anxious, hostile, or depressed were far more likely to get sick than those with a more positive emotional state, even after accounting for sleep, stress, and exercise. Mood, quite literally, influenced immune function.
Why Food Matters for Mental Health
This is where food becomes highly relevant. What we eat shapes inflammation, neurotransmitter activity, immune responses, and brain chemistry. Food can either support emotional resilience or gradually undermine it.
Some foods appear to raise the risk of low mood by encouraging inflammation, particularly within the brain. One compound attracting increasing attention is arachidonic acid.
Inflammation and Mood: Arachidonic Acid
Arachidonic acid is found mainly in animal based foods and is converted in the body into inflammatory compounds. Inflammation is useful in short bursts, such as during infection, but long term inflammation is increasingly associated with depression and mood disorders.
Major dietary sources include:
• Chicken and eggs
• Beef and pork
• Some fish
People following plant based diets consume much lower amounts of arachidonic acid and consistently report reduced levels of depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion. These findings are not merely observational. When habitual meat eaters removed meat and eggs from their diets, noticeable improvements in mood appeared within just two weeks.
What Happens When Diets Change
Workplace interventions offer further insight. Employees encouraged to adopt whole food plant based diets reported better energy, sleep, digestion, physical functioning, and mental health. Despite giving up familiar foods, many participants described greater satisfaction with their eating habits and measurable improvements in work performance.
Fighting the Blues with Greens
Higher consumption of fruits and vegetables is strongly linked to lower rates of depression. These foods provide antioxidants and phytonutrients that protect the brain from oxidative stress. They also affect an enzyme called monoamine oxidase, which breaks down mood related neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine.
Many plant foods gently inhibit this enzyme in a natural way, helping to explain their mood supporting effects.
Foods associated with improved emotional wellbeing include:
• Leafy green vegetables
• Berries, apples, and grapes
• Onions and tomatoes
• Green tea and culinary spices such as cinnamon and cloves
Tomatoes deserve special mention. Lycopene, the pigment that gives them their red colour, is one of the most powerful antioxidants found in food. People who eat tomatoes daily appear to have around half the risk of depression compared with those who eat them infrequently.
Seeds, Carbohydrates, and Serotonin
Serotonin is often described as the happiness hormone, yet eating foods that contain serotonin does not directly raise serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin itself cannot cross into the brain. Its precursor, an amino acid called tryptophan, can.
Tryptophan enters the brain more easily when meals are higher in carbohydrates and lower in protein. This helps explain why carbohydrate rich meals can feel calming and why many women experience carbohydrate cravings during PMS.
Seeds such as sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, and squash provide tryptophan in a supportive balance. In clinical trials, squash seeds have even shown rapid reductions in anxiety.
Saffron: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Evidence
Saffron has a long history of medicinal use. Modern clinical trials show it can be as effective as antidepressant medications in reducing depressive symptoms, with fewer side effects. Perhaps most intriguing is research demonstrating that simply smelling saffron can lower stress hormones and anxiety, even when people cannot consciously identify its scent.
At times, the nervous system responds before the thinking mind catches up.
Coffee, Sweeteners, and Hidden Mood Disruptors
Moderate coffee intake has been linked with a lower risk of suicide, yet what is added to coffee matters. Sugar and artificial sweeteners appear to cancel out many of coffee’s benefits. Aspartame, in particular, has been associated with increased irritability and depressive symptoms, even in people with no prior mental health diagnosis.
Artificial sweeteners are now present in thousands of processed foods, which is reason enough to spend most of your shopping time where the vegetables live.
Exercise Versus Antidepressants
Exercise is often treated as an afterthought in mental health conversations, yet controlled studies show it can be as effective as antidepressant medication for many individuals. Whether done alone or in groups, regular movement has been shown to bring depression into remission, without the side effects linked to pharmaceutical treatments.
Even if part of the benefit comes from expectation or belief, exercise offers gains rather than risks.
Food as a Foundation for Emotional Wellbeing
Food is not a replacement for therapy, meaningful relationships, purpose, or medical care when required. But it is a foundation. What we eat daily communicates directly with the brain, the immune system, and the emotional centres of the body.
Sometimes the journey toward feeling better begins not with a prescription, but with a conscious choice about what we place on our plate.
Camilla Clare is a naturopath and holistic health practitioner specialising in plant based nutrition, emotional wellbeing, and mind body healing. Through her work, she integrates science, philosophy, and lived experience to support clients in restoring balance and vitality.