“Ah ha, let me get a photo of this!” exclaimed a friend, as she frantically focused her phone on the lavish piece of black forest cake I was shoveling into my mouth.
I’m not sure where her perception that I don’t normally devour cake came from, but it intrigued me. My main mantra around food is ‘I love it, all of it’ and this can be both good and bad. My husband often stares at me in awe (and disbelief) at the amount of food I consume. And, my family has a running joke, that my dad would especially love teasing me with, where food accidentally just ‘falls on my plate’.
So, while I claim that food often chooses me, the scales have made it clear – with my decreased training load and fondness for filling my gullet – that it’s time I started choosing my food a little more carefully. But, there is more to the story than a few extra kilo’s though…
Good mood foods for pure pleasure
Eating is a major pleasure in my life. While I’m far from a ‘foodie’, I do love tasting new foods, eating out, the nostalgia of my mum’s cooking, my hubby’s homegrown herbs, even watching Masterchef creations (although the crying over spilled milk style contestants give me the willies) and I generally get food envy whenever I see what other people have ordered! So I thought why not incorporate my base human needs with my pleasures and see how much ‘fun’ I can really get out of food? Sounds like a pretty clever idea to me… in theory!
Serotonin, the brains ‘happy chemical’ is a major factor in regulation of mood. You can’t get serotonin from foods, but you do get the amino acids to create serotonin from food. Hence, there are certain foods that are thought to boost the production of serotonin, through the good’ole supply and demand system. That is, the more available amino acids for the production of serotonin, the more possibility of pumping that happy chemical through your brain!
The other important thing about Serotonin
A whopping 93% of serotonin is produced in the gut! So, it stands to reason then I should focus on what precisely is going into my gut and how to most effectively get that natural high, or at least improve mood stability. So, I have been embarking on a little self experimentation of ‘good mood foods’. I’ve been consistently trying to incorporate more good mood foods for a little over a month (inconsistently for the last few months) and I’ve been tracking my progress, by way of writing a meal plan (available soon) and completing a simple mood questionnaire. It’s pretty basic Frankenstein science, with self experimentation roughly pieced together – with hopefully a lightening strike moment to bring it all to fruition!
I’m not a fan of diets, or any restriction really, but I am definitely a rule follower (most of the time). So a few rules that I tend to stick to include:
1. Crowd out the bad with the good (mood foods)
If I’m feeling full, in belly and mind, I’m generally content. I don’t go searching for the extra sugary (for me -chocolate/ cookies) or salty treats (chips – my late night downfall). If I’m bored, silly busy (you know, that running around like a headless chook but achieving nothing sort of busy) or feeling stressed, I tend to go in search of food to fix it. My solution is to fill up on the good mood foods, so there is little room for the less than wholesome stuff. The trick I’ve found is to ensure I am eating plenty of the good mood foods earlier in the day.
2. Go with the snack attack, don’t fight it!
I love snacking, but my issue is what I reach for is often not what I actually want, so I end up eating more and more (beyond my initial hunger) trying to fulfill my desires. Obviously, if there are easy snacks on hand it makes sense that I’ll reach for them, but it’s sometimes more about listening to my body and what it’s asking for. How often do you really feel like something sweet but opt for some boring salty snack biscuit, only to seek out the last resort cooking chocolate to get your sweet fix? C’mon, don’t pretend you haven’t done this! If I had have selected something small and sweet in the first place I would have consumed half the crappy calories, been satisfied and felt less guilty. Plus, dark chocolate is a good mood food!
3. Drink it – the easiest way to down good mood foods
I’m a bit in love with the fruit smoothies my hubby has been making. I find they are refreshing, filling and like I’m doing something good for my body. The whole placebo effect of ‘I think it’s good for me, so it will be’ is a real thing for me. It seriously puts me in a better mood. As much as Science completely backs this one, mothers have been using placebo effect for years to great success – think – a mummy kiss and band-aid can fix the most hysterical toddlers hurt pride!
I am also a big fan of water (and if I’m honest here, wine is high up on the list too), but I often forget how much more water I should be having. My mum always told me that if you think you’re hungry, have a glass of water before eating, as sometimes you’re really just thirsty! Dehydration effects so many things, including your mood, circulation and brain function. Plus water can cure headaches and hangovers – win, win!
It seems so simple – eat when your hungry, fill up on wholefoods, avoid processed crap and you will be healthy! But life is never simple and there is so much more to our consumption of food than the idealistic process of nourishing our bodies.
Have your cake and eat it…if that’s what you really want!
In my view (up in that ivory tower), you can have your cake and eat it too. Especially if that’s what makes you happy. But there has to be a point where you question whether that cake is really making you happy. So far on my good mood foods experiment, I have found the days that I have high volumes of fruits and vegetables, I feel fantastic about physically eating these foods. I’m not so sure whether they have impacted my actual emotions though. One thing I have definitely noted by completing a daily questionnaire and collating the data (with all my statistical significance’s in a row, lol) is that the days that I eat ‘less than wholesome’ foods, ie. junk, I’m annoyed with myself almost immediately afterwards, but it’s the following day that I seem to see a dip in mood.
Anecdotally, it seems that crap foods have a hangover effect. Don’t worry, I will crunch all the numbers (if I can be a true standard deviant :P) and tell the whole story when I get through it…as I feel it takes a few months of consistency to see and, more importantly, ‘feel’ the results. There is the whole other monthly hormonal factor that I also have to contend with (or moreso, my poor family have to suffer through), so I’ve yet to see a dramatic effect on that roller coaster.
Some easy good mood foods to add to your day
Bananas – They are truly a self packaged dynamo! Apart from being packed with tryptophan (the amino acid required to make serotonin) plus a bunch of other fab nutrients, they are a quick sweet fix.
Eggs – I’m lucky to have an endless source of free range eggs from my parents farm, which means I also feel obligated to get through a reasonable amount of them! I love eggs cooked any old way (although I prefer rock hard yolks) but a supply of hard boiled eggs in the fridge is like a nagging little snack saying ‘eat me’ every time I open the fridge. I enjoy curried egg (with turmeric) mashed and packed into celery sticks, seasoned with some salt, pepper and chilli flakes! Or slices of egg on slices of cucumber with a cherry tomato on top – it is usually a one mouthful style snack for me!
Turmeric – How on earth is this easy to incorporate into your day regularly I hear you say? lol, there are loads of ways when you start to get a little creative. Ever tried golden milk? Well, it’s not a fave of mine but worth a try, plus, turmeric lattes are so chic! I generally use it in a lot of cooking, especially in curries but also in smoothies (think mango, turmeric, coconut and ginger – zesty, sweet goodness).
Walnuts – These cute brain shaped nuts are so versatile – I use them on my porridge, in smoothie bowls, in salads, in muffins and even crusting salmon! I love gluing them to a slice of banana with peanut butter – it’s like a super charged good mood food snack.
Blueberries – I love fresh blueberries, but I sometimes balk at the cost, especially given it ends up being a 2 minute snack for me. In fact, they do this weird disappearing act before I even make it back to the car?! So, the frozen berries are a staple for me, especially as part of smoothies and on top of muesli and with yoghurt and on pancakes and in muffins (ok, you get the idea).
I’m just at the start of this good mood food journey, but I’m determined to make it an excellent adventure. I promise the meal plan of good mood foods is on it’s way. If you want to be the first to receive it, subscribe to my mailing list.
Tell me what you think…
Would you be willing to experiment on yourself this way?
Do you think I’m a crazy food nutter? (That’s rhetorical, no answer required :P)
Does food fall on your plate too?
Does your mood feel better (or worse) with certain foods?
What about your kids, do they react certain ways with food?
Until next time…I hope this prompts your own everyday epiphany. Take care!
xk
