Who doesn’t look for reasons to treat oneself to a little snack now and again? It’s Friday evening and you’re trying to decide between your favorite fast food and your favorite sweet treat. Most times, you always find a reason why you deserve something tasty. Either you’ve had a good week and you deserve something tasty - or your week didn’t go so well, which is the best excuse for a delicious chocolate fix. The idea that food picks up our mood is generally accepted. But is it true? Do certain foods have an influence over our emotions?
Do certain foods have an influence over our emotions?
Soul food really does hit the spot, even when we know that it contains lots of sugar or fat. Cake, sweets and fast food are popular for very good reasons. In fact, these things do give us a quick boost of energy and an immediate feeling of satisfaction. Generally, though, your mood changes quickly after eating that junk because you feel more drained and less satisfied than before. Why is that?
What could you snack on besides typical fast food or sweet treats and still feel good?
The following three nutrition suggestions can help lift your mood:
1.Try a fruit and vegetable snack instead of sweets. Fruits, especially oranges and strawberries, contain a lot of vitamin C. Red pepper is also a great source of vitamin C and competes favorably with citrus fruits in this regard. Vitamin C combats drowsiness and eases the mind. It is considered a mood stabilizer.
- Eat more nuts and seeds. They contain tryptophan, an essential building block in serotonin – the ”happiness“ hormone, which regulates our mood. When serotonin levels in our brain are low, we become prone to downward mood swings.
- Leave out refined sugar. Refined sugar has a high glycemic index (GI for short), which describes how quickly and to what extent blood sugar levels increase after a certain food has been ingested. Foods with a high GI value provide a quick burst of sugar to our system, which makes sense immediately after completing an intense workout. In the normal course of a day, however, eating sugary, processed foods leads to a blood sugar rollercoaster ride. The resulting hunger pangs and drop in energy levels can cause unpleasant mood swings.
You probably won’t jump for joy after snacking on nuts instead of chocolate, but you’ll feel more balanced and less frantic about ”needing“ sweets. In the long run you’ll probably be more focused and able to concentrate better on tasks. We don’t say that you should switch out your entire diet, but if you try to follow the three suggestions given here, you’ll be well on your way toward a more balanced lifestyle.
Pure Taste. Pure Joy.
