Improve your Mood with Food: Part Three of 'Food for Thought'


Improve your mood with food? Is it that easy? It might work and sometimes it has for me but I must confess: I have a hard time controlling my moods and those moods dictate the food instead of the other way around. Little did I know when I first saw this 'Canada's Food Guide' chart in Grade 12 health class (1977), that someday I would battle a mental illness and be looking back at that food guide for help.

 We all know how to eat healthy, just like we all know how to budget, but we don't always do it, I know I don't. The discipline to do this goes out the door when depression comes in. But if I can eat well when I am feeling well, then some of that might spill over into the bad times too.

 "The 25 Key Reasons You Want to Dramatically Reduce or Avoid Sugar in Your Diet" at BodyEcololgy. This article describes why sugar is bad for you but also offers solutions for having less sugar in your diet. 

 The three most convincing reasons to avoid sugar to me:

 1. it is addictive
2. it can lead to more cravings
3. it robs you of energy

 We need all the help we can get in managing our moods.

Medication is not enough.

  A good diet could make a lot of difference or a little difference but wouldn't any difference be better than nothing?

  Instead of telling you what you are doing wrong with food, Pick the Brain will give you some ideas about doing it right, check it out.

 I know we think of our junk foods as a depression getaway, but why not think of eating well as an even better depression getaway? 

 Why not improve your mood with food?

 How badly do you want to feel better than you do?

 I try to eat well but succeed only about 50% of the time. For me there are a lot of benefits to eating well but the important one is this; when I feel lousy, at least I cannot blame it on the food. If I have been eating lousy and I feel lousy then I must admit that I am adding to the low mood and not helping it. 

 I am quite desperate to stay away from feeling rotten and so I try, really try to eat well. But I must confess, sometimes, when I feel really awful, I figure 'what's the point?' and I binge on something. My favourite binge is jujubes, what's yours?

 Trying to change the way you eat is hard. Anyone who has ever tried to diet knows that it is hard - but is it harder than depression?

 The chart at the top does not really entice anyone to improve their mood with food, but how about this photo? It looks pretty good right? And it is all healthy food.


Go ahead, feast yourself!

 WHAT ABOUT YOU? How are you feeling today? How has your diet been lately? Have you ever experimented with changing the way you eat to improve your mood?

 Don't give up! There is hope for depression.

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