What can we do to thrive on blue Monday? Eat.
Dark, cold and wet – how can we fail to be miserable in winter! The Festival of Lights, Xmas parties and winter solstice ceremonies all exist because the shortest day of the year is quite traumatic for us.
Worst of all is when the party’s over, the ‘no man’s land’ after New Year’s celebrations and before a noticeable increase in day light; that time in January we decide to fill with unsustainable resolutions while the cold sets in and we’ve spent all our money on gifts and chocolate boxes that are now empty.
It is now well known that the most miserable day of the year for all these reasons is the third Monday in January, just before snowdrops start to bloom and the first pay check comes in.
Yes, today is Blue Monday, but Nature provides an ideal antidote during this dark period: the seeds inside our winter squashes. We often just throw them out or compost them, but when you hear what they can do, you’ll be treasuring them!
It turns out these seeds are the richest non-meat source of tryptophan.
What-o-fan?
Tryptophan is a super-food for our gut microbiome as well as being transformed into serotonin, most well-known for its antidepressant effects. In fact, pharmacological antidepressants are designed mainly to increase the levels of serotonin in our neurons, so it’s worth trying to naturally boost them by taking on board more of the principal ingredient.
But that is not all! There’s a newly discovered role for tryptophan in our microbiome – it acts as an on-off switch to fine-tune the production of serotonin according to what’s going on around us. This natural process means that the levels are strictly linked to what we need minute by minute. This is particularly important in winter when low light levels can have a very negative effect on mood. The secret lies not only in the levels of tryptophan, but also in having the right bacteria and fibre in the microbiome that all interact to make sure we’re producing as much serotonin as we need in the harsh times of winter. And there’s not much our microbiome likes more than a healthy dose of fibre, which our squash seeds can also help us with!
Give your body the right tools to make sure your brain can cope with the lack of light in winter.
Want a fun way to include more seeds in your diet, why not try my recipe for Mixed Seed Crackers:
Ingredients:
250g mixed seeds (I use pre-mixed pumpkin, sunflower, hemp and linseed)
50g chia seeds
3 egg whites
3g salt
1 tsp cumin powder
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Separate the egg whites from the yolk (freeze the yolks to use in other recipes).
In a large bowl, add the egg whites, oil, salt and cumin powder then whisk until foamy.
Add the seeds to the egg mix, stir to combine and leave to sit for 10 minutes. This will allow the chia seeds to absorb some of the water.
Pour the mixture onto a lined baking sheet, spread it out as thinly as possible with a spatula, then bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Leave to cool on a wire rack then break up into smaller crackers.
Enjoy them on their own or with a dip, bon appétit!
For more content like this, check out my substack: Spoonful of Felicity.
Source : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043276024001954?dgcid=raven_sd_via_email
Article by Lucy Kukstas Vincent and Felicity Vincent
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