According to the Franklin Institute, serotonin is a brain chemical that assists in keeping your mood elevated. This protein helps you feel happy, helps control your food intake and allows you to sleep better at night. People with low levels of serotonin, or whose bodies don't use it efficiently, are at increased risk for depression, aggressive behavior, compulsive eating disorders and suicide.
Background
Your body makes serotonin from a type of protein called tryptophan, which can be found in most protein-rich foods like meat and eggs. Simply having some tryptophan swimming around in your blood doesn't guarantee a rise in serotonin: That protein has to cross into the brain, and there is only so much room for proteins to enter. So your body also needs an adequate supply of B vitamins and folic acid to facilitate this process.
Chemistry
Tryptophan is the least-plentiful variety of protein in food, and it has to compete for access to the brain with all the other types of protein in your turkey sandwich. Since the brain isn't too particular about which kind of protein it accepts, the odds of a single tryptophan molecule crossing over into the brain are only a little better than your chance of winning the lottery. This is where carbs play an important role: When you eat carbohydrates, your body produces insulin, which moves the other kinds of protein except tryptophan into your muscles. That gives tryptophan a much better chance of moving into the brain, where the cells can use it to make serotonin.
Foods
Most protein-rich foods contain some tryptophan, including turkey, oysters, clams, cottage cheese and meat. Bananas, pineapple, plums, milk, spinach, brown rice, peanuts and sesame seeds are also good sources of tryptophan. Flax seeds and flax seed oil contain both typtophan and mood-enhancing omega-3 fatty acids. And the B vitamins you need to make serotonin are plentiful in fish, poultry, meat, eggs, dairy products, leafy green vegetables, beans, and peas.
Conclusion
Foods that elevate serotonin levels tend to be whole foods. If you're looking for a serotonin boost, strive for a balance of minimally processed foods. Be sure you're eating a reasonable amount of carbs along with your protein-rich foods. Too few carbs will inhibit the brain's ability to access the tryptophan it needs to make serotonin. Too many carbs --- especially the refined types like sugar and white rice --- will give you too many calories and can also make you crash after the simple carbs burn away, leaving you feeling worse after a few hours.
