Mood Food - What to eat to affect your mood

"You are what you eat."  This is a line that you may have heard multiple times before.  The reason for being so is because it is true.  Science has made a connection on how food affects our body.  You may have noticed that children now are always taller than their parents.  The reason behind that is because children are now getting the right nutrients, allowing them to grow taller.  Well, that's just one of the effects.

The food we eat changes our body chemistry, our physical appearance and even our mood.  Our mood is affected by hormones, which are chemical in nature.  Here are some of the hormones that make us happy:

endorphines - you get them from running, induces the so-called "runners high"
seratonin- happy hormones you get when eating.  It is also produced when eating chocolates
dopamine - a happy hormone responsible for making smokers addicted to cigarettes
oxytocin - brought about the feeling of bliss when in love.  Mothers produce this when they are with their children

On the other hand, stress hormones include the infamous cortisol  which is the primary cause of any type of cancer.  Protaglandin is hormone that produces that pain sensation.

Given this extensive list of chemically-based emotion-affecting hormones, we can now identify how food can affect our mood. Here are some of the food I recommend to eat:

Increased Vigor- Exploding Energy

When you want to feel an explosion of energy, caffeine is not the solutioin - Beans are.  The reason for this is because kidney beans break down into natural sugar.  This provide energy to your body.  Think of it as injecting nitro on your car.  Kidney beans contain B1 vitamins to aid in brain cell production, which can help improve your memory.  Additionally, you can try eating sunflower and pumpkin seed.  They are rich in B vitamins.  They also contain iron and magnesium for relaxing your tense muscles.

Mental Food - Efficient Thinking

You'd be surprised with the benefits of eating liver pate. Chicken liver in this form is a power food, targeting the brain.  It is iron-rich, thus helping the blood deliver more oxygen to your thinker.  Liver from lamb, calf and again, chicken gives you all the vitamins you need to produce acetylchorine (Ach), which is a neurotransmitter responsible for storing information in the brain.

Relaxants - the Zen Food

Who would've though that eating bread can relax you?  Well it does.  Eat wholemeal bread and you'll feel more relaxed.  This is all due to the production of calm-inducing trytophan, which also prevents migraine.  It also contains B vitamins.  Additionally, chewing gum (although not real food) can also produce an effect beneficial for the brain if done after meals.  This act stimulates the memory centres in the brain.  The possible reason behind this is because the act of chewing boosts the heart-rate and consequently provides more blood flow to the brain.

So that's it.  Those are just a few examples how food affect us.  When downing that alcohol or munching on that greasy burger, you may want to think twice. I mean you are what you eat after all.

Photo credit goes to: http://notitievanlien.blogspot.com

You should follow us on twitter and subscribe to this blog's rss feed.