Foodhappy ✋ (#3: nutrient deficiencies, sleep, relationships)
1. This essential micronutrient could be an overlooked source of depression.
When we think about iron deficiency, anemia is the first thing that comes to mind, but new research shows that iron also plays an important role in mental health. We need iron to produce our happy hormones, serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. It’s also crucial for delivering oxygen to our cells for energy production. According to the research, women with iron-deficient anemia are more at risk for fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep, and mental health problems. And it’s not just women — kids, vegans, and vegetarians are also at risk. What’s the best way to combat deficiency? Eat iron-rich foods! Red meat, poultry, and fish contain heme iron, which has a higher absorption rate than the non-heme iron found in beans, nuts, seeds, and leafy green vegetables. This is one reason why plant-based dieters are more susceptible to iron deficiency and would greatly benefit from supplementation for their overall mental and physical health.
2. Want to live longer? Invest in your relationships!
The longest study ever done on happiness has uncovered the key to longevity, and it's not your diet! Our happiness, vitality, and zest for life lie in the quality of our relationships. In the study, Harvard researchers followed 724 men for over 80 years. They found that those who aged the best were also the happiest, and it wasn't wealth or fame that brought them happiness, it was the support they felt from their spouse, friends, family, and community. Pretty cool, right? The secret to longevity isn’t some fad diet or miracle supplement. In fact, the study found that relationship satisfaction in midlife was a better predictor of physical health and life expectancy than cholesterol and genetics. Wowza! Seek out community, immerse yourself in environments where personal growth is uplifted, and connect with old friends with a call, text, or thoughtful gesture. Investing in our relationships can significantly, and may even be the secret, to optimal health, happiness, and well-being.
3. Here’s why you need to eat your broccoli!
If that headline gave you flashbacks to your childhood, I’m sorry. But maybe if our parents told us that broccoli was a source of the most powerful antioxidants EVER, we’d be more inclined to eat it…. just saying, Mom! ;) Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, and kale are a source of sulforaphane, an antioxidant with health benefits. Sulforaphane increases glutathione production (our immune system’s master antioxidant). Higher levels of glutathione are linked to lower levels of inflammation and risk of cancer, heart disease, autoimmunity, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Cruciferous vegetables contain a molecule known as glucoraphanin, the precursor to sulforaphane. Glucoraphanin can only be converted into sulforaphane when it is activated. This activation is powered by myrosinase, an enzyme that is turned on when the vegetable is chopped or crushed. Cooking cruciferous vegetables deactivated myrosinase, significantly lowering sulforaphane levels and producing glutathione. But there’s a hack to get around this! Adding ground mustard, a source of myrosinase, to your cooked cruciferous vegetables can increase their sulforaphane potential by approximately fourfold!
Boost your glutathione levels with my Super Simple Summer Slaw recipe. Get it here!
4. Junk food can make it harder to get a good night's sleep
What we eat not only affects how we feel during the day, it also affects how well we sleep at night. According to a new study, the quality of our diet also impacts the quality of our sleep. Fifteen participants with normal sleep habits, getting an average of seven to nine hours of sleep per night, were randomly assigned to one of two diets for one week.
Each diet consisted of isocaloric meals adjusted according to the individual’s energy needs. The “unhealthy” junk diet consisted of mostly ultra-processed food and twice the sugar content as the “healthy” diet, which consisted of whole foods, healthy fats, and vegetables. Sleep time and duration were comparable for each diet, but the junk food diet experienced significantly less restorative sleep (aka slow wave sleep) than the healthy diet. Because our immune system is super active during slow-wave sleep, cleaning up damaged DNA and cellular debris, not fully entering it, can cause inflammation. Over time this can lead to an increased risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.
5. Tips for better sleep
We know junk food is out, but what’s in? Here are a few simple tips that have made a world of difference for better sleep health:
☀️ Get morning sun. Step outside and let the morning sunlight hit your eyes within 10–15 minutes of waking up. This helps set your circadian rhythm and helps your body wake up. Even if it’s overcast outside, your body will still receive the signal that it's daytime.
☕ Set a caffeine curfew. Caffeine can disrupt your sleep, especially if you’re drinking it into the afternoon or evening. Give yourself a cut-off time to allow it to clear out from your system. My caffeine cut-off is around noon, but you might need to push yours up a little earlier.
💡Dim overhead lights. Turning down your overhead lights after the sun goes down will simulate a nighttime environment and trigger the production of melatonin to tell your body it’s time for sleep. Blue-light-blocking glasses are another great way to protect your sleep from junk light.
📺 Avoid stimulating TV or media before bed. Winding down for sleep with the TV is the norm for so many. While no TV would be optimal, it’s not realistic. If you are one to fall asleep to the TV, try and keep it lighthearted, avoid the news, and save the zombie apocalypse shows for another time!
✍️ Brain dump. So many of us lie in bed tossing and turning, unable to shut our brains off at night. (I’m one of those people! The other night I woke my partner up at midnight with a buzzing brain of everything I had to do before our upcoming wedding date. Let’s just say he wasn’t happy about it. 😆)
Whether it’s work stress, relationship troubles, or general feelings of overwhelm, writing down what’s on your mind can help to unload the thoughts keeping you awake. Don’t worry about making sense of it. Just get it out of your head and on paper so you can calm your mind and have a good night’s rest — you (and your partner) will thank me!
Shout out to my boss, Dhru Purohit, for helping me optimize my sleep game! He’s done a bunch of podcast episodes on the topic, and we’ve written a few newsletters about it.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Sending love and kindness,
Taylor 🫶🌱
