TL;DR: 90% of serotonin is produced in your gut, not your brain, meaning gut health directly affects mood, energy, and mental clarity. After a health crisis led me to discover this connection, I transformed my own wellbeing through clean eating. Organic Fix was born from that journey, creating a judgment-free community space where people can heal and feel supported, not alone.
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More Than Just Fuel
We've all heard the saying "you are what you eat"... but what if I told you it's also true for how you feel?
The food you eat doesn't just fuel your body. It shapes your mood, your energy levels, your ability to focus and think clearly, and even how you handle stress.
This isn't alternative health theory or wellness trends. It's biology.
Here's something most people don't realize: around 90% of your serotonin, your body's natural "feel-good" hormone, is actually made in your gut, not your brain.
Read that again. The vast majority of the chemical that regulates your mood, sleep, appetite, and sense of wellbeing is produced in your digestive system.
So when your gut is healthy and balanced, your mood, focus, and energy naturally improve. But when your gut is inflamed or out of balance, from processed foods, refined sugars, artificial additives, or chemical exposure, it doesn't just affect your digestion.
It can impact your sleep. Your stress levels. How calm or anxious you feel. How positive or low your baseline mood is day to day.
The gut-brain connection isn't metaphorical. It's a physical, biochemical reality.
Your Gut Is a Garden
Think of your gut as a garden.
If you feed it junk, processed foods, refined sugars, synthetic additives, chemical residues, the soil becomes weak and depleted. The beneficial plants wilt. Weeds take over. The entire ecosystem struggles.
But when you nourish it with high-quality, whole, organic food… rich in fiber, nutrients, and natural probiotics, it flourishes.
Foods that actively support gut health and serotonin production include:
- Leafy greens (spinach, kale, silverbeet)
- Oats and wholegrains (quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat)
- Legumes (lentils, chickpeas, beans)
- Fresh fruits (especially berries and bananas)
- Fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, miso)
- Healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds)
These aren't random "healthy foods." They're specifically gut-nourishing, feeding the beneficial bacteria that produce neurotransmitters, reduce inflammation, and keep your entire system balanced.
When your gut microbiome is thriving, you feel the effects everywhere: better digestion, yes, but also clearer thinking, more stable moods, deeper sleep, and greater emotional resilience.
My Story: How Gut Health Changed Everything
For me, this connection between food and mood is deeply, painfully personal.
About eight years ago, I ended up in hospital on morphine for a week with severe gut pain. The kind of pain that doubles you over and makes it impossible to function.
The Western medical system ran every test available. Blood work. Scans. Imaging. Specialists. And they found nothing "technically" wrong, so they discharged me with essentially no answers and no path forward.
But I knew something wasn't right. I could feel it in my body.
At that point, I was in my early thirties. But looking back, I realize I'd been struggling with interconnected health issues for over a decade, throughout my late teens and twenties, I had really battled with my mental health.
I was anxious constantly. My energy was perpetually low. I felt tired no matter how much I slept. My mood was unstable in ways I couldn't explain or control.
I didn't connect any of it to what I was eating. Food was just food, fuel to get through the day. I had no idea that what I was putting into my body was directly linked to how I was feeling mentally and emotionally.
Coming out of hospital with no medical answers was actually the turning point.
I started researching. Reading. Learning about clean eating, real whole foods, gut health, inflammation, and the gut-brain axis. I began removing processed foods, refined sugars, and chemical additives. I focused on organic produce, fermented foods, healthy fats, and fiber-rich meals.
Within months of cleaning up my diet, everything started to shift.
My energy came back, genuinely came back, not just surface-level but sustainable, steady energy. And my mood completely changed. The anxiety that had plagued me for years began to lift. The mental fog cleared. I felt like myself again, maybe for the first time in my adult life.
That experience didn't just change my health. It reignited something in me.
It inspired me to take everything I'd learned through that painful, lonely journey and pour it into what Organic Fix is today. This isn't just a store I own. It's a space I've shaped and grown as part of my own healing journey.
Why Community Matters So Much
But there's another layer to why Organic Fix exists, one that's even more important to me than the food itself.
During those years when I was struggling with my health and mental wellbeing, I felt incredibly isolated. Misunderstood. Alone in what I was experiencing.
When you're dealing with chronic health issues or mental health challenges, especially ones that don't show up on medical tests or fit into neat diagnostic boxes, it can feel impossibly lonely.
So one of the deepest drivers behind Organic Fix has always been to create a place where people can come together and feel safe, seen, and understood.
A space without judgment, no matter where you're at on your own journey. Where you can feel connected, supported, and reminded that you're not alone in what you're going through.
That's not just marketing language. It's the actual foundation of why I do this work.
Because healing shouldn't happen in isolation. And choosing better food shouldn't feel like a lonely, overwhelming task you're navigating by yourself.
What This Means for You
When you feed your gut well, you feed your happiness. When you eat clean, you think clearer, you sleep better, and you show up as your best self, not because you're trying harder, but because your body has what it needs to function properly.
So next time you're choosing your food, think about how it will make you feel, not just for the next hour, but for the rest of your week.
Choose food that energises, nourishes, and supports your mood from the inside out.
And remember: you don't have to do it alone. That's what our community at Organic Fix is here for.
We're here to help you find your footing, one real, nourishing meal at a time. To answer your questions. To share what we've learned. To create a space where you feel welcome exactly as you are.
Because you deserve to feel good, mentally, physically, emotionally. And sometimes that journey starts with something as simple (and profound) as changing what's on your plate.
Visit Organic Fix at 937 Main Road, Eltham VIC 3095 and discover a community that supports your wellbeing from the inside out, with food that truly nourishes and people who genuinely care.