How Your Diet Affects Your Mood
The phrase Comfort Food has become part of our national vocabulary for one very simple reason – food can, and does, affect the mood of the person eating it.
Whether it’s hot apple pie, juicy burgers or a fresh green salad, what you eat can directly affect your health, mood and even your outlook on life in general.
Although most people understand the link between what they eat and their physical health, the cause and effect relationship it has with mood is a new area of study and research and one which many Americans know very little about.
The Good, the Bad and the Boosting
Sad eye Like anything else we ingest, food has an affect on our bodies as well as our overall well being.
Many people know that, although that morning cup of coffee with an extra shot of sugar may help us get moving, the combination of caffeine and sugar isn’t actually good for us and does, in fact, lead to a crash a few hours later.
Conversely, many people enjoy fruit at breakfast not only for its delicious flavor but for the sustained, long-lasting boost of energy it delivers all morning long.
Understanding which foods lie at each end of the spectrum can help you make better decisions about what healthy alternatives there are to foods and drinks which have become bad habits.
The top four foods which deplete the body and offer very little return are called Stressors.
The top Stressors people regularly consume are sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and chocolate. On the complete other end of the spectrum are Supporters.
These foods deliver much needed vitamins and energy to the body without sapping its reserves. The top Supportive foods people should include are water, vegetables, fruit, and oil-rich fish.
Fresh fruit juice, for example, can offer a bigger boost in the morning than any cup of coffee, cappuccino, espresso or other caffeinated beverage and, as a bonus, the fresh juice won’t leave you feeling jittery or crash and send you searching for another dose of caffeine and sugar a few hours later.
Dealing With Psychological Effects
Perhaps the most complicated component of a person’s relationship to food is the psychological one.
After all, traditional Comfort Food brings us those good feelings not only because of the fat and carbohydrate content, but because people often associate certain dishes with certain memories.
While the best cure to cut psychological craving is to deal with the underlying issue, sometime people need a more immediate solution as they work on their own mental health.
For example, the traditional comfort food of mashed potatoes can be substituted with mashed cauliflower and apple pie can be swapped out for a more healthy apple crumble made with oats and pumpkin butter.
Tackling both the physical and mental effects food has on us is one way to ensure we control our eating instead of our eating controlling us.
It can also give dieters a way to have the dishes they crave without sliding back into old, unhealthy eating habits.
Above all, understanding this connection allows all of us to make smarter and healthier decisions about everything we eat.
