7 Mood Busting Foods

To go along with last week's blog about scents and tastes that relieve stress, this week let's talk about foods that help change your bad moods. And as it so happens, I recently read an article about just that!

According to a noted clinical dietitian, skipping meals and snacks can lead to mood slumps due to the brain's continuous need for fuel. We've all experienced that point where we're low on energy, grouchy, and our stomach is growling. If we don't get something to eat real soon we just know we're going to scream.

Satisfying our hunger can help level off that crankiness, but it doesn't mean just any snack will do. Recent research published in the American Journal of Psychiatry states that people who feast on junk food have a higher risk for low mood and depression than those with a healthier diet.

Certain foods help battle certain bad moods.

1) Hunger is one of the biggest of the bad mood culprits. If you're hungry and also angry about it, that makes you hangry. Carbohydrates can solve this problem. Go with whole grain or a complex carbohydrate like brown rice.

2) Down in the dumps? Depressed? The food you eat for dinner can make a difference, specifically foods containing an abundance of the B vitamin folate. Excellent sources of folate are leafy green vegetables, beans, citrus fruits, and fortified grain products.

3) Feeling anxious? Try a food that will calm you down and number one of that list is turkey which is high in tryptophan. Other good sources of tryptophan are chicken, eggs, cheese, nuts, and seeds.

4) Irritable? Try some Greek yogurt. Irritability and anxiety are usually a result of low blood sugar. Have that Greek yogurt with berries or a small handful of almonds and a piece of fruit.

5) Stress getting to you? Sip black tea, either hot or ice will do the trick. Black tea has also been shown to improve memory and help get rid of headaches.

6) PMS mood swings? Consider eating dark chocolate which can stimulate neutral activity in that part of the brain associated with pleasure and reward. But you need to make sure your dark chocolate is 75 percent cocoa.

7) Feeling foggy? Think about some fish. Or specifically, Omega-3 which makes cell membranes more fluid, improving communication between brain cells. It helps things run smoothly.

And there you have it, a list of foods that can help with bad moods making you a more pleasant person to be around and as a result making those who are around you happier, too.  :)