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Jewish World Review
5 foods to boost your mood naturally
By
Brierley Wright, M.S., R.D.
EatingWell.com
Try one--or a few--of these 5 breakfast foods that help you lose weight
JewishWorldReview.com |
If you're feeling blue--or want to fend off feeling that way--adding certain foods to your diet might help. Studies suggest the following foods may help reduce stress, ease anxiety and fight depression.
1. CHOCOLATE
This may not be news to you, but it's good to know there's some science behind the theory that chocolate makes us happy: A study done at the Nestle Research Center in Switzerland recently found that eating dark chocolate (1.4 ounces of it, to be exact) every day for two weeks reduced stress hormones, including cortisol, in people who were highly stressed. Experts believe this could be thanks to the antioxidants in chocolate.
When you do indulge, be sure to account for the 235 calories that 1.4 ounces of chocolate delivers--or you may be stressed to see extra pounds creeping on.
2. CARBS
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Despite persistent myths to the contrary, carbs don't make you fat and they can boost your mood. In a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, people who for a year followed a very-low-carbohydrate diet--which allowed only 20 to 40 grams of carbs daily, about the amount in just 1/2 cup of rice plus one piece of bread--experienced more depression, anxiety and anger than those assigned to a low-fat, high-carb diet that focused on low-fat dairy, whole grains, fruit and beans.
Researchers suspect that carbs promote the production of serotonin, a feel-good brain chemical. Also, the challenge of following such a restrictive low-carb diet for a full year may have negatively impacted mood.
3. FRUITS AND VEGETABLES (AND OTHER WHOLE FOODS)
In a recent study of close to 3,500 men and women published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, those who reported eating a diet rich in whole foods in the previous year were less likely to report feeling depressed than those who ate lots of desserts, fried foods, processed meats, refined grains and high-fat dairy products.
Previous studies have shown that antioxidants in fruits and vegetables and omega-3 fatty acids in fish are associated with lower risk of depression. Folate, a B vitamin found in beans, citrus and dark green vegetables like spinach, affects neurotransmitters that impact mood. It's possible that the protectiveness of the whole-food diet comes from a cumulative effect of these nutrients.
4. FISH
Eating oily, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, sardines, rainbow trout) will give you omega-3s--a key mood-boosting nutrient and one our bodies don't produce. Omega-3s alter brain chemicals linked with mood--specifically dopamine and serotonin. (Low levels of serotonin are linked with depression, aggression and suicidal tendencies, while dopamine is a "reward" chemical that the brain releases in response to pleasurable experiences, such as eating or having sex.)
5. SAFFRON
In one study, from Iran's Roozbeh Psychiatric Hospital at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 50 women with PMS were given two (15 mg) saffron capsules or placebo capsules daily over two menstrual cycles, keeping track of their symptoms in diaries. By the end of the study, over three-quarters of the women who'd taken the equivalent of a micropinch of saffron reported that their PMS symptoms (such as mood swings and depression) declined by at least half, compared with only 8 percent of women in the placebo group.
In earlier studies, saffron had antidepressant effects comparable to the antidepressants fluoxetine (Prozac) and imipramine (Tofranil). Researchers believe that the spice works by "the same mechanism as Prozac," helping to make the feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin more available to the brain.
(EatingWell is a magazine and website devoted to healthy eating as a way of life. Online at www.eatingwell.com.)
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