We get it — wintertime can be a real downer, with the constant layering of clothes, the shorter daylight hours and the often frigid temperatures. For many, winter blues are a real thing (see SAD), which can lead to all varieties of unpleasantness.
But what if we said that you could literally eat your way to a happy, sunshiney, all-is-awesome kind of mood right in the middle of the frostiest of seasons? It’s true: wild salmon, besides being rich in flavor, easy to cook and one of the cleanest proteins you can eat, can also be an incredibly effective mood-lifting food.
Wild Salmon contains vitamin D (not coincidentally known as the sunshine vitamin), a crucial neurotransmitter known to influence our mood. Since this vitamin is produced naturally in our bodies when our skin is exposed to the sun’s UVB rays, during the winter some people are more prone to vitamin D deficiencies. Enter wild-caught Alaskan salmon, or as we like to call it: the happy-maker.
Wild salmon is also loaded with an omega-3 fatty acid called DHA, an essential fatty acid in our bodies that naturally declines as we age. This degradation has been linked to mood disorders, attention deficit, loss of memory, and even Alzheimer’s disease. So, we like to think of the DHA found in wild salmon as a warm down jacket for your brain’s neurons.
To set the tone of your day, why not start with one of these awesome breakfast ideas. And if you already eat a lot of salmon and want to keep things interesting, have a peek at some of the less conventional ways to enjoy it. Finally, if you’re a carnivore but want to reap the benefits of salmon’s mood lifting tendencies during winter, check out our tips on how to replace red meat with red fish.
Live wild,
Monica
