Food can definitely turn your day around, it can leave you dejected or high. Looking forward to the stuffed turkey for thanksgiving or the chicken pasta at your favourite restaurant can uplift your mood. But what can also influence your mood is the food that you have already eaten. Now how is that possible, you ask?

How does food affect mood?

Your brain sends its messages across using chemicals called neurotransmitters which are made from the food you consume. Now neurotransmitters like, serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine are extremely sensitive to your diet.

Now, if you are wondering what they do..Dopamine and Norepinephrine help us react and think quickly. Production of these neurotransmitter leads us to become alert, attentive, focused and mentally energetic. On the other hand Serotonin acts as a moderator when we are stressed. On the bright side they help in calming us but also makes you feel sleepy and sluggish! Now they tell me! If i had known this earlier, I would have had a better excuse to use at the times I got caught nodding off at the office!!!

The Mood Food Chart

Mood food for Calmness

Have carbohydrate without protein on a day that you know its important to keep your cool. Try eating the following mood food: Brown rice, buckwheat, whole-grain rye bread, sourdough rye bread, pita bread, sweet potato, most wheat pastas.

Mood food to become Energetic

The trick is to consume food that will give the body continuous fuel as well as those mood foods that increase the production of neurotransmitters responsible for alertness:  Oranges, apples, soy milk, yogurt and tuna. This miight just help impress your son at the next fathers baseball games!:-)!Avoid fatty food as they can make you sluggish!

Mood food for a joyful day!:-)

Now this is something I need on those extremely bad days at work!! Salmon with its omega 3 acids and Vitamin B12, Banana with its Vitamin B6 and Chicken liver with its folic acid can all keep me and you happy! Try avoiding alcohol and birth control pills, as both can deplete chemicals needed for your well being. 

Mood food for the mentally slow!

This is the food you need to feed those slightly slow friends of yours! :-)! Eggs, milk, liver, beef, prunes, oatmeal

Mood food for your libido!
Last but not the least the mood food that adds to the nights of passion! Nuts, Chocolate, Eggs and meat.

Armed with info about mood food, the next time you get depressed or exhilarated for no reason; don’t blame it all on PMS or your self. Your mood fluctuation can probably be traced back to the type of mood food you consumed. Resolve now to eat right and stay bright!!

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