Welcome dear reader to my little corner of the internet - today I want to share with you the alchemy of joy.
Sweet sweet joy.
The sunshine in the corner of our eyes.
The first bite of our favorite meal.
The trepidatious rumblings of your heart bursting at the sight of someone you've been missing.
How can we lay the foundations for these beautiful moments? And what exactly do I mean when I say "Alchemy"
When described in the dictionary alchemy is the process of changing matter, from one thing to another. Combining a little bit of this, a little bit of that to create something new. So how, exactly, does our body create feelings of joy?
Our key hitting hormones when it comes to feelings of joy include, but are not limited to,
Dopamine
Serotonin
Oxytocin
& GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid)
Within our body extraordinary feats of alchemy are happening every moment. Mechanical processing, chewing, happening first in the mouth. Changing the fats, carbohydrates, and proteins we eat into something new with the help of the enzymes in our saliva. The taste receptors on our tongue sending pinging signals to our brains to release enzymes within our stomach, pancreas and liver to support the breaking down of your breakfast, lunch, or dinner into alchemical ingredients for later use.
Like making use of the fats that we consume to feed our brain. Rebuilding. Repairing. Utilizing these fats to charge our synapses and preserve our neurons, which in turn protects our mood and memory. These juicy brain preserving fats also transport the ingredients we need to create important hormones like oxytocin, GABA, serotonin and dopamine. A key physiological step towards our feeling of joy.
These hormones that drive happiness begin their journey from a breakdown of dietary proteins. Beginning as amino acids, l-tyrosine, l-tryptophan, and l-glutamate, along with the minerals needed to support their conversion; magnesium, iron, and zinc are broken down in our stomach and absorbed within the walls of our intestinal tract towards their next alchemical destination. Hopping into the bloodstream and taking the superhighway that is our gut/brain axis to land softly into our brains where our neurons fire and do their work with B vitamins and the mineral co-factors to produce the feelings of connection, joy, drive, and motivation that come from dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin vollyballing between neurons and the expansive calm that comes from GABA settling in to make room for more joy by calming your nervous system.
Three things can happen to support this alchemy:
1) We offer with gratitude protein rich meals to this beautiful body that houses us. Supporting the calm of our nervous system by eating a protein rich breakfast within 60 minutes of waking and continuing that trend throughout the day. This can look like 3 eggs, 1 cup of cooked beans or lentils, or 1/2 cup of animal based proteins (Read until the end for my quick protein reference guide)
2) We focus on incorporating more fermented and prebiotic rich foods to support the growth of a healthy microbiome. The supportive buggies in our digestive system will naturally produce GABA and serotonin as a byproduct of their existence. A prebiotic is simply an indigestible fiber to feed these little helpers - think apples, bananas, oatmeal, peas, chickpeas, and all manner of nuts and seeds.
3) We make mineral rich swaps that support a joyous being. Opting for iron and magnesium rich dark chocolate, sweetening with coconut sugar, molasses, or maple syrup for their natural multi-mineral content (one of my favorite fun facts is 1 TBSP of molasses contains 25% of the RDI for iron!) We add sea salt to our waters, we top our salads with seeds, add walnuts and cashews to our muffins. The list goes on!
Our bodies happily produce joy for us, given the right ingredients. This beautiful vessel you live in is primed and hardwired for healing if we can give it the proper fuel to do so.
As much as joy is a feeling that comes from a healthy balance of hormones in the brain, from a healthy balance of proteins, fats, and vitamins in the body. It is also something we choose to give to ourselves. Permission to feel good. We are born, therefore we are worthy. We do not have to act or be a certain way in order to allow joy to be. It just is. You are primed and ready to start producing more joy just as you are. Just for being alive. Can you give yourself permission today to feel joy?
With Love,
Nikki
P.S. Would love for you to keep in touch;
Feeling this at a very deep level-spirit chills as I was reading along-resonates and is a reminder that everything is connected, nourishing the body, mind and the soul -caring for self-in turn caring for others-the collective-is how we cultivate JOY (many layers lighting up🤩) thank you!!