How Food & Diet Affects Mood 

Whilst most people know that the foods they eat can affect their health, what is lesser known is your diet is intimately linked with the way you think, feel and act.

If you eat a bad unhealthy diet filled with lots of sugary carbohydrates, you are more likely to suffer from memory loss, a depressed mood and accelerated weight gain.

If however you are able to eat a healthy diet filled with complex carbohydrates and adequate protein, you are likely to experience an improved mood, be able to focus better and loose weight quickly.

So it is important to see the food you eat as part of your diet not only in terms of nutrition, but also in terms of the way that food will enable you to function on your diet and the way that diet will make you feel.

Here are some examples of how food and your diet can affect your mood.

Foods That Increase Sexual Arousal

Certain foods called aphrodisiacs can increase your sexual appetite, so to speak. Adding foods such as bananas, oysters, ginseng and caviar to your diet can all help to get you in the mood for sex or improve sexual performance.

Foods That Make You Sleepy

Milk contains tryptophan which can make you feel sleepy after drinking it. Certain carbohydratessuch as pasta contain exorphins (a type of sedative) which can also make you feel sleepy after eating them.

If your diet contains lots of carbohydrates you will also gain weight quickly, and experienced reduced energy levels.

Foods That Increase Alertness

Including protein foods in your diet such as fish, chicken and eggs contain tyrosine, an amino acid that increases the production of dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine. These are neurotransmitters that can increase alertness and energy levels.

In adding to this protein can help to accelerate weight loss.

Caffeine found in tea and coffee can also help to keep you alert, or prevent you falling asleep.

Foods That Improve Memory   

Eating or drinking sugar when you are trying to remember something is not a good idea, as sugar can disrupt the formation of memory forming proteins in the brain.

Other foods like blueberries, avocados, oranges, spinach, bell peppers, brewers yeast, broccoli, ginseng and oily fish eaten as part of your diet can all help to improve memory and concentration.

These effects occur largely due to vitamin c which helps protect blood vessels from oxidative damage, and B vitamins and fatty acids that help protect the nerves.

Foods That Make You Depressed

If your diet includes excitotoxinssuch as aspartame and monosodium glutamate (msg), they can over stimulate the neurons in your brain causing many different symptoms, one of which is depression.

Excitotoxins are often found in “junk food” especially soft drinks, potato chips, and diet products.

Foods That Make You Happy

Some foods are said to work just as well as prescription antidepressants. These include Salmon, Herring, Walnuts, Sugar Beets and Sugar Molasses. All of which are rich in omega 3 and uridine.

A healthy diet should include some amount of omega 3 as not only is this good for your brain, but it will help you to loose weight.