Eat this, be happy: Dr Clare Bailey’s mood-boosting recipes

YOU’s GP Dr Clare Bailey has created these exclusive mood-boosting recipes that’ll banish the January blues 

For lots of us, January can be a little bleak. But if you’re feeling the winter blues, it’s possible to boost your mood just by choosing the right food. I don’t mean New Year fad diets or punishing juice cleanses. It’s really as easy as switching to a simple Mediterranean-style diet with lots of fresh vegetables and fruit, wholegrains and pulses, nuts, seeds, fish and olive oil.

So how does what you eat affect your mood? It’s all down to your gut microbiome, those trillions of microorganisms in your large intestine. The ‘good’ bacteria thrive on a fibre-rich Mediterranean diet. And when you feed them the right things – and avoid wiping them out with junk – they produce natural antidepressants. In fact, new research from the Food and Mood Centre in Australia has shown that a Mediterranean-style diet can reduce your risk of anxiety and depression, as well as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

The nourishing, no-faff recipes here will help your microbiome thrive – and in turn pep up your mood. Here’s to a happy, healthy year.

My four blues-busting rules

• Quit sugary and highly processed foods and drinks.

• Increase variety to improve nutrient intake. Aim for 30 different vegetables and fruit a week – include colourful foods.

• Constrain your eating time – this allows the body and gut to recover and repair; eat within a ten- to 12-hour window; practise intermittent fasting such as the 5:2 and avoid snacking between meals.

• Include fermented foods and drinks daily, as they introduce friendly bacteria (known as probiotics) to the gut microbiome to help it function better. They also make the food easier to digest, increasing availability of important nutrients such as B and C vitamins as well as proteins.

Portrait: Natasha Pszenicki. Food styling: Clare Lewis. Styling: Sue Radcliffe