Monday, April 28, 2014

Top 5 Foods that Effect your Mood


Here are the top five foods that can give you the blues.

ALCOHOL: The liquid depressant. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. The central nervous system is responsible for taking information from the five senses, motor function, thinking, reasoning and understanding. It also controls human emotions. Regular or excessive consumption of alcohol slows these processes down. This aggravates the symptoms of depression.

CAFFEINE: Caffeine affects your sleep and the ability to stay asleep. Too much caffeine in the system can cause serious sleep disorders. This affects moods, causes agitation and nervousness.

ARTIFICIAL SWEETNERS: Makes you crave for carbs. Aspartame is an ingredient in artificial sweeteners and diabetic products. This is bad news for people prone to depression. Aspartame does the job of blocking the production of neurotransmitter serotonin causing headaches, sudden mood dips and insomnia. In fact, artificial sweeteners make you crave for more carbohydrates and end up making you fat. They also affects your memory.

JUNK FOOD: According to a 2012 study carried out by Public Health Nutrition, people who consume fast foods are 51% more likely to develop depression than their counterparts who don’t. Foods cooked in hydrogenated oils contain trans fats which is a great recipe for depression.

SOFT DRINKS: According to Brain, Behaviour and Immunity, women who consume soft drinks as a regular part of their diet are likely to experience higher rates of depression. Drinks with high fructose content lead to fructose malabsorption. It corresponds to depression because fructose reacts chemically with tryptophan – the amino acid precursor to the ‘happiness chemical’ serotonin. The sugars degrade tryptophan so there’s barely any left to be absorbed into the body. The doorway to common depression is here.

How to Improve your Mood and Lessen the Damage of the foods above:

Include dark cocoa chocolate, nuts and seeds in your diet. They are known to improve your mood.

Increase Omega-3 fatty acids. Sources include fish and eggs are also great for reducing the symptoms of depression. This also reduces inflammation in the body, which increases pain and can lead to depression.

Increase Vitamins like B12. Found in egg yolk and fish improve neural function.

Add green tea to the diet. Green tea stimulates alpha brain waves and is known to have a calming effect on your body. 

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