Foods to Help You Feel Better
Are you feeling down in the dumps? Are you irritated at how often
you’ve been irritable?
Perhaps it’s time to look at the foods and drinks you consume to
see if they are trashing your mood. Nutrition experts say that the foods you
eat can help you feel better -- or feel worse -- in the short-term and the
long-term.
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Meal-to-meal and day-to-day, keeping your blood sugars steady and
your gastrointestinal (GI) tract running smoothly will help you feel good and
energetic. If your blood sugars are on a roller-coaster ride -- hitting highs
and lows from too much sugar and refined flour – you are more likely to feel
out of sorts. This is also true if your gastrointestinal system is distressed
due to intense hunger from a fad diet or constipation because you aren’t
getting enough fiber and water.
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Week-to-week and month-to-month, keeping your body healthy and
disease-free makes good moods more likely. For example, key nutrients you get
in certain foods can influence the levels of feel-good hormones such as
serotonin. Other nutrients can help prevent inflammation so blood circulates
well to all of your organs.
“Eating a heart healthy diet -- high in fiber and low in saturated
fat -- is a great place to start to boost your mood. There isn’t any question
about it, says Diane M. Becker MPH, ScD, director of the Center for Health
Promotion at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Conversely, “a high-fat, high-glycemic load meal can make you
physically feel dysfunction in your body. People who eat this type of meal tend
to feel bad and sleepy afterwards,” she says.
6 Tips for Foods and Beverages
That Help You Feel Good
1. Seek out foods rich in
vitamin B12 and folic acid (folate).
What’s special about chili made with kidney beans and lean beef?
Or a light chicken Caesar salad made with skinless chicken breast and romaine
lettuce? Or grilled salmon with a side of broccoli?
All these dishes feature one food that is rich in folic acid
(folate) and another that is rich in vitamin B12. These two vitamins appear to
help prevent disorders of the central nervous system, mood disorders, and
dementias, says Edward Reynolds, MD, at the Institute of Epileptology, King’s
College, London.
The link between higher food intakes of folate and a lower
prevalence of depressive symptoms crosses cultures, too. A recent study
confirmed this association in Japanese men.
Folic acid is usually found in beans and greens. Vitamin B12 is
found in meats, fish, poultry, and dairy.
Other dishes that feature B-12 and folic acid-rich foods include:
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A burrito or enchilada made with black beans plus beef, chicken,
or pork
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A spinach salad topped with crab or salmon
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An egg white or egg substitute omelet filled with sauteed spinach
and reduced-fat cheese
2. Enjoy fruits and vegetables
in a big way.
Fruits and vegetables are packed with key nutrients and
antioxidant phytochemicals, which directly contribute to your health and
health-related quality of life.
In a one study, eating two more servings of fruits and vegetables
a day was associated with an 11% higher likelihood of good functional health.
People who ate the highest amount of fruits and vegetables felt better about
their health.
3. Eat selenium-rich foods
every day.
Selenium is a mineral that acts like an antioxidant in the body.
What do antioxidants have to do with feeling better and minimizing bad moods?
Research suggests that the presence of oxidative stress in the brain is
associated with some cases of mild to moderate depression in the elderly
population.
One study evaluated the depression scores of elderly people whose
daily diet was either supplemented with 200 micrograms of selenium a day or a
placebo. Although more research is needed to confirm the findings, the group
taking selenium had higher amounts of selenium circulating in their blood and
significant decreases in their depression symptoms.
Try to get at least the recommended daily allowance for selenium:
55 micrograms a day for men and women.
Whole grains are an excellent source of selenium. By eating
several servings a day of whole grains such as oatmeal, whole-grain bread, and
brown rice, you can easily get 70 micrograms of selenium. Other foods rich in
selenium include:
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Beans and legumes
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Lean meat (lean pork or beef, skinless chicken or turkey)
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Low-fat dairy foods
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Nuts and seeds (especially Brazil nuts)
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Seafood (oysters, clams, crab, sardines, and fish)
4. Eat fish several times a
week.
Several recent studies have suggested that men and women have a lower
risk of having symptoms of depression if they eat a lot of fish, particularly
fatty fish like salmon, which is high in omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3s from fish seem to have positive effects on clinically
defined mood swings such as postpartum depression, says Jay Whelan, PhD, head
of the department of nutrition at the University of Tennessee.
Good sources of omega-3 fatty acids include:
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Herring
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Rainbow trout
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Salmon
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Sardines
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Tuna
5. Get a daily dose of vitamin
D.
Does a little time in the sun seem to make you feel better? The
sun’s rays allow our bodies to synthesize and regulate vitamin D.
Four recent studies showed an association between low serum levels
of vitamin D and higher incidences of four mood disorders: PMS, seasonal
affective disorder, nonspecified mood disorder, and major depressive disorder.
Researcher Pamela K. Murphy, PhD, at the Medical University of
South Carolina says people can help manage their moods by getting at least
1,000 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D a day.
That’s significantly more than the RDA for vitamin D, which is 200
IU for adults under 50, 400 IU for ages 51 to 70, and 600 IU for people over
70.
Very few foods naturally contain vitamin D. So she recommends we
get vitamin D from a variety of sources: short periods of sun exposure, vitamin
D supplements, and foods.
Vitamin D can be found in:
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Fatty fish such as salmon, tuna, and mackerel
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Beef liver
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Cheese
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Egg yolks
But our primary source of dietary vitamin D is fortified foods,
such as breakfast cereals, breads, juices, and milk.
6. Treat Yourself to 1 oz of
Chocolate
“Small amounts of dark chocolate can be a physical upper,” says
Becker at Johns Hopkins. “Dark chocolate has an effect on the levels of brain
endorphins,” those feel-good chemicals that our bodies produce. Not only that,
but dark chocolate also seems to have a heart-healthy anti-clogging effect in
our blood vessels.
In one study from the Netherlands, Dutch men who ate 1/3 of a
chocolate bar each day had lower levels of blood pressure and lower rates of
heart disease. The chocolate also boosted their general sense of well-being.
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