Mood Changing Foods to live with Happiness

Posted in Health on 02/22/2012 02:12 am by admin

Heard the saying “You Are What You Eat”??? This proverb specifies that the foods of your diet reflect your look and your well-being. But have you ever noticed that foods can even alter the Mood of person? Have you ever experienced that in the starting of the day you felt down and not good, but after lunch, you suddenly felt great? This is a fundamental fact that consumption of certain foods can elevate your mood, supply fortifying energy and make you feel fresh. It’s not all; there are certain foods as well which provides opposite effects. Do you want to know the reason behind this fact? Emotions are merely chemical reactions and therefore the things which can affect these reactions have directly an effect on your mood.

Foods can alter your brain chemistry by altering the levels of specific brain chemicals called neurotransmitters – serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine – and as a result they can affect your emotions. A steady brain serotonin level is related with positive moods, whereas an unsteady level of serotonin – caused by alcohol, hormones, drugs or stress – can produce extensive mood swings. Change your mood from anger, anxiety and depression to pleasurable, aware and active, just by changing your food. Continue reading to find out how!

Foods to feel pleasure

The feeling of pleasure comes from heart and small intestine. Serotonin is a feel good medicine for our body. Walnuts, cashews, unprocessed peanut butter, almonds, long grain brown rice, pinto beans, black eyed peas, baked potatoes, lentils and spinach are very good food-sources that produces serotonin.

Bananas are loaded with vitamin B6 that is known to build serotonin levels and thus they are helpful to get the feeling of pleasure.

Salmon supplies good amount of vitamin D to our body, which helps to increase serotonin levels and thus give the feeling of pleasure.

Dark chocolate is a great foodstuff as it liberates pleasure-enhancing endorphins into the brain and even a source of phenyl ethylamine, a stimulant related with love. Therefore, it makes you feel pleasurable.

Consumption of sprouted pulses, whole grain and soybeans is advantageous for getting this feel. Radish, mustard, onions & garlic are also helpful. Cooked veggie of cabbage, broccoli, green vegetables and cornflakes is even advantageous.

Foods which make you feel active

The foods having low-glycemic carbohydrates are valuable to make you feel active for a longer time as they have low glycemic index. Sweet potato, brown rice, oats, millet and finger millet are some foods that contain low-glycemic carbohydrates.

Other foods are apples, oranges and yogurt that contain slow digesting carbohydrates and can provide a steady source of fuel for our body.

The other valuable foods for liveliness are Prunes. Prunes are low in glycematic index and so they bring in energy for a longer time, they are loaded with double antioxidants than most other fruits which are helpful in preventing mood swings, they are even rich in fiber which prevents constipation, they contain high amount of potassium to maintain blood pressure levels, as well as they are an excellent source of iron which alleviates the fatigue.

Avoid the foods containing high-glycemic carbohydrates such as rice cakes, white bread, sugar, bagel, wheat crackers, pasta, rice and instant rice.

Foods to suppress the feel of anger

The feeling of happiness and anger are directly related to lever. Foods like oats, barley, sprouted pulses, green vegetables, yam, green onions and mint are very beneficial to alleviate the mood of anger.

If you are feeling anger, avoiding certain foods is more beneficial. Spicy peppers explode your body and if you are already tempered, then spicy peppers will fuel the flame. Moreover, the main allergic response to casein in milk products and wheat can be brain inflammation that causes aggression.

Foods to overcome the feel of sadness

Your diet stuff has a power to make you sad or just the opposite of it. Magnesium is a mineral, which produces serotonin that is known as a feel good medicine of our body. Spinach, cashews, almonds, unprocessed peanut butter, halibut, lentils, baked potatoes, black eyed peas, long grain brown rice and pinto beans are some of the good sources of magnesium. Bananas help the release of serotonin too.

Foods to relieve restlessness

The lungs are responsible for blue feeling & restlessness. In this situation, include sprouted pulses and grated vegetables in your diet. The cooked mustard is very useful as it clears out the mucus from the lungs. You can even include the juices of orange and lemon.

Include cottage cheese in your diet, which contains a sleep inducing amino acid tryptophan that relaxes the mind and entire body. Soy milk, lentils, hummus and tofu are some other valuable sources of tryptophan. Sesame seeds are even good source of tryptophan and rich in carbohydrates with an average protein content that is ideal for before bedtime.

Foods to avoid anxiety

The spleen and the pancreas are actually responsible for anxiety. Vegetables loaded with starch such as beets, red pumpkin, onion, carrot, cabbage and chocolates are proven good to calm the anxiety.

Foods to relieve stress of work

Blueberries can aid to relieve the work related stress. Blueberries are abundant source of vitamin C that is a stress reducer. Consumption of almonds is very useful to reduce stress as they contain vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B2, vitamin E, zinc and magnesium.

Foods to alleviate exhaustion

If you are feeling really exhausted and fatigue, you may not be getting adequate vitamin B12. A deficiency in B12 is very common in vegetarians as vitamin B12 is most commonly found in animal products. Foods rich in vitamin B12 are wild salmon, shellfish, eggs, lean beef, etc. Vegans can get B12 from organic milk or raw milk of cow, cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt and fortified whole-grain breakfast cereal. Spirulina is a whole food source of B12 for vegetarians.

Many times exhaustion is associated with thirst and not hunger. So take at least eight glasses of water per day.

Avoid high-fat meals as they stay in the stomach for a long period and divert the blood away from muscles, brain and other tissues, which sequentially can make you feel exhausted for up to 6 hours.

Stay away from salty foods as they can dehydrate your body and thereby cause fatigue.

Feel too much bloated

If you have eaten too much and feel too much bloated and put on some pounds, then dark leafy greens are best option which will help you to deflate. Dark leafy greens have a power to fuel our liver that is a fat burning machine of our body. So try to eat more organic greens as they are loaded with fibers and antioxidants.

Foods that make you feel aware

The best way of eating for awareness is taking meals which are low in fat, and contain adequate proteins and carbohydrates. The tyrosine of the protein helps to make your brain more alert by activating the alertness of neurotransmitters, while the carbohydrates are main source of energy that will not drag you down. Hence, prefer the meals with combination of complex carbohydrate, protein and fiber. Some healthy foods include sprouts, fish, pulses, nuts, low-fat cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt and low-fat milk. You can add lemon to all your foodstuffs because the smell of lemons can stimulate the feeling of awareness.