Good Mood Food (Delicious Recipe Included!)

Have you ever heard the sayings “good food, good mood” or “junk food, junk mood?” These are not just cute catch phrases; they are indeed true!

The food you eat literally makes up your cells, tissues and organs and if you are taking in nutrient dense, whole, healthy foods you are creating a foundation for the building blocks of healthy cells, tissues and organs. If you feel that you have not been nourishing your body like it might prefer to be nourished, no need to panic. Luckily, our bodies are amazing and usually respond super well to healing when given half a chance. So today, I’ll try to inspire you to eat well in order to feel well, in body and mind. Consider foods you can add that create these positive feelings, not what you have to restrict or take away.

There is a lot of disconnect in modern healthcare. One practitioner might say that food does not impact health or wellbeing mentally or physically, and yet there is a ton of research out there demonstrates that it does—in a seriously significant and tremendously impactful way.

The nutrients we take in through our food (and possibly supplements) are responsible for the development and flow of hormones, neurotransmitters, and our organs. Doesn’t that make it only logical that when we take in mostly whole, healthy foods that we will have a mostly whole, healthy body and mind?

Refined grains, sugars and artificial colors and flavors have been shown to have a negative impact on your blood sugar levels, health of your cells and tissues which can increase anxiety and cause a negative mood. When you eat, your body anticipates that its nourishment needs will be met through the foods you eat. When your body does not get the nutrients that it needs to create healthy cells, tissues and organs it may begin a cycle of cravings to attempt to get what it needs or to return to balance.

You have the power—on a daily basis—to choose your health over what’s convenient, what’s cheap and what may seem to have tasty “flavor.” When you cleanse your palate from the refined foods, artificial sugars and flavors, they no longer really taste quite so good! When you readjust your taste buds to natural sweeteners that live in fresh fruit and whole foods, those other sweets often taste way too sweet. One of my most favorite moments as a wholistic food therapist was when I had someone agree to stop diet soda for two weeks and switch to water for a variety of health reasons. When she tasted the diet drink after two weeks, she was revolted by how terrible it tasted to her after this simple shift!

Many of those I work with to create more balance in mind and body notice an improvement in their energy levels, mood and sleep—which are always welcomed improvement and shifts within their lives. They also notice that they get fewer colds and other illnesses throughout the year! They notice that they have more inner strength (because they are listening to their bodies and feel strong and empowered by their choices) and they even report improved skin and a shift into a more positive body image (and not just because of any weight loss, but because they are treating their body with more respect through their choices!) These all occur incidentally on the journey towards improved mental and physical welling. By making small changes over time (that do not have to be radical or restrictive) in what they choose to eat, they get a huge payoff in the long run.

One positive shift often encourages another. Most people find that when they are eating better, they feel better mentally and physically and their energy improves making it more desirable to move their bodies, to spend more time engaged socially and enjoying hobbies and things that bring fulfillment. Just by intending to improve mood through food has a positive domino effect into all other areas of wellbeing!

Below are some nutrients required for mental wellbeing with whole food sources you can eat to obtain these nutrients. When possible, choose local, organic and closest to the land sources you can find. Local farmer’s markets and health food stores are a great place to shop for staples that you love!

When I first work with people, I do not encourage any reduction or restriction in these changes. I always begin by focusing on what to add that supplies the body with nutrients and creates the positive desired changes over time. Once you continue to add in the good stuff, often there is not so much room for the not-so-good-for-you stuff. Once you feel better, you most likely will want to continue to make choices that help to maintain this because we all know, it feels good to feel good!

Choose one area to start, one food to add and once you find that you are enjoying it, in a week or so, add another. Let me know what foods you choose, I’d love to hear!

Nutrients + Food Sources to Improve Your Food + Mood 

Folic Acid: Found in leafy greens and cruciferous veggies (kale, broccoli, arugula, spinach, swiss chard…) asparagus, citrus fruits, beans, peas, lentils, okra, brussel sprouts, nuts and seed, beets, celery, carrots and squash, eggs, avocado

B-6: Whole grains, herbs, spices, pistachios, garlic, liver, tuna, salmon, cod, sunflower and sesame seeds

B-12: Grass-fed beef, liver and chicken, fish such as trout, salmon, tuna and clams, sardines, yogurt, cheese, eggs

Omega 3’s or Essential fatty acids: Fish such as Mackerel, Sardines, Anchovy, Salmon, Trout, Herring, Kippers, Tuna, Ground Flax seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Chia seeds, Hemp seeds, Walnuts (they even look like a brain!)

Vitamin C: Berries, red peppers, black currants, hot chili peppers, guavas, fresh herbs, dark leafy greens, kiwis, papayas

Tryptophan: Chicken, turkey, cheese, tuna, tofu, eggs, nuts, seeds, bananas, egg yolks

Vitamin K: Leafy greens such as broccoli, spinach, kale, collards, chard, brussels sprouts

Protein: Meat, seafood, dairy, beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds

More Brain Foods: Blueberries, Tomatoes, Sage, Olive oil, Dark Chocolate (Yes!), Garlic, Fermented foods such as Kefir, yogurt, fermented vegetables, kombucha

Water: And lastly, stay hydrated! When we are dehydrated the brain tissue actually shrinks. Several studies have shown that dehydration can affect cognitive function. It can also impair short-term memory, focus and decision making. This will help you stay healthy mentally and emotionally!

Brain Power Smoothie Recipe:

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (you may want to add ice if using fresh)

1/2 banana

1 teaspoon powdered dark chocolate or raw cacao powder

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

1-2 cups loosely pack fresh leafy green such as spinach, chard and kale

1 cup plain unsweetened coconut milk (or kefir) 

Blend and enjoy!

Inner Strength Focus: Growing Hope to Heal Emotional Eating

Over the past several blogs I have been talking about building six specific inner strengths to help you create more contentment and happiness in your life—specifically related to your relationship with food. The final inner strength that I will cover here of the six inner strengths is hope. Hope is linked to faith and it’s an inner belief that all will be well without having to feel as though you need to control every aspect of your circumstances. This is an experience of surrender. Hope allows a surrendering to an inner belief and trust which is deeply personal and a spiritual endeavor.

If you attempt to control every aspect of your life, you will become exhausted. When you find the elements that are controllable and connect that to the hope and belief that all will be well, you can lean into the process of surrendering, the process of letting go. When you lean into surrendering and letting go, you create an experience of happiness, inner peace and contentment. Hope provides optimism and optimism ultimately keeps you moving forward with a positive and determined mindset.

When you apply the inner strength of hope to healing emotional eating, you are able to remain in a more positive mindset when it comes to challenges, emotions and trusting yourself—and trusting the process. Shifting from the dieting trap of restriction (and then the inevitable over eating) into a more mindful and intuitive eating space, you will need to access an inner hope and belief that you can truly free yourself from emotional eating and create a healthy and peaceful relationship with food.

Food is pleasurable and nourishing. The purpose of feeding ourselves is to remain healthy while also providing your life with pleasure that you derive from cooking, tasting, eating and even sharing a meal with others. When food becomes your primary (or only) source of pleasure—or your tool for managing stress—you may not have much hope that your life can be different. The cycle of emotional and stress eating is hard to disrupt. Change is difficult. Not changing is even harder because you remain stuck in that negative cycle. Building the inner strength of hope is a process of surrendering to the awareness that your relationship with food has derailed and needs support to get back on track. Hope keeps you connected to the possibility of change and creates effort.

To begin to build the inner strength of hope, it will be helpful to create a vision for what a peaceful relationship with food means to you. Understanding why you want this change to occur makes it even more powerful. When you have your vision established and connect with it regularly, you create an inner hope, a belief and faith in yourself that why you want what you want will allow you to put the effort into creating your vision as your reality. When you have faith in yourself you are more likely to be kind to yourself, to handle challenges and be more proactive.

To begin to connect with your vision in order to build hope as an inner strength, spend time journaling about the following questions:

·      What is your vision for your relationship with food?

·      Why do you want this vision?

·      What are the challenges you can foresee as you set forth to put your vision into action?

·      How can you stay connected to your vision?

·      What does hope mean to you?

·      What does having hope look like within your life, how might it change your current life?

·      What do you need to do to increase your faith in yourself?

Once you have your vision established, create 3-5 action steps that you can take daily or weekly to move you in the direction of living your vision. Find where you can access hope daily and build faith in yourself to take the action needed to create a peaceful relationship with food. Connect with your vision daily, fine tune your action steps regularly, bring on support like a friend, coach or therapist to help you stay the course.

When you connect with hope, you create more inner happiness, peace and contentment. Always remember that you deserve to live the life of your dreams.

Inner Strength Focus: Gratitude to Heal Emotional Eating

Gratitude is an inner strength that is often present in those who feel happy and content within their lives. While gratitude is a strength, it is also a practice, a way of being, and an attitude that can be cultivated over time. The act of being and feeling grateful is powerful. Right now, take a moment to think of one thing you are grateful for and notice how it makes you feel to bring this to your mind. Did you smile? Did you feel any warmth in your heart and body expand? Gratitude gets a lot of press these days and while taking a moment just to be grateful is wonderful, it is the practice and cultivation of it as a deeper strength and inner resource that allows it to enhance your life through your attitude and outlook every single day.

As you engage in the practice of being grateful daily, you begin to harness the power of gratitude as an inner strength. While that may sound like a nice skill, it is not necessarily easy. We are hardwired to remember danger, to notice possible problems and remember them for future security and survival. The problems and unpleasant experiences can conjure up discomfort and fear in a heartbeat but we tend to forget the positive experiences more easily. The part of the brain that is always on alert for danger does this on purpose as a survival mechanism. The part of the brain that stores the good stuff does not let it all sink in quite so easily which means that we have to work at it to make the good stuff stick!

Practicing is an act of creation. We get better at what we practice, so if you have been practicing fear and lacking thoughts, you might be really good at that. The good news is that if you begin practicing gratitude, you can get good at that too. Gratitude is one of the best anecdotes for anxiety. Anxiety is loaded with fear of the unknown and tends to create catastrophes based on all of the possible dangers that the brain has stored and this causes a lot of internal distress. One of the most commonly soothed emotions with food is anxiety. Food can be calming and grounding, and when you are feeling anxious it can do the trick. Sugary foods can trigger the pleasure center in the brain making you temporarily feel less anxious. However, this is not a very effective coping mechanism as the anxiety will not just go away, it is just temporarily numbed out by the food.

Gratitude can calm and release anxiety because it brings you back to being grateful for what is true right now, what you do have, and what is going well. This is mindfulness in action with a specific attitude. Anxiety lives in future catastrophe while gratitude lives in the present moment. When you bring the energy of gratitude to the present moment it can transform the moment and create an amazing shift in perception causing your inner experience to transform.

When you apply the inner strength of gratitude to the process of making peace with food it is incredibly powerful. When we are along any personal healing journey there will be trials, there will be ups and downs and of course there will always be the inevitable backsliding. When you apply gratitude to your journey it allows you to focus on what is going well, where you are being successful and an ability to tap into the inner knowing that all will be well.

When you focus on what has gone wrong or on where you weren’t perfect, you create a dampening of energy and may even think to yourself, “why do I even bother trying?” or you may think thoughts such as, “I always fail, I’m weak…” These are defeating, self-limiting beliefs that have absolutely no use or purpose along the path to healing and wellbeing. When you focus on what has gone well you reinforce the belief that what you want is indeed possible and on the way. Most importantly, when you reflect on what went well and what you are grateful for, you are able to build energy to keep going, to keep moving forward. You know that it feels good to feel good, it feels good to make progress, it feels good to heal and grow into the healthiest and most whole version of yourself over and over again.

Gratitude is a practice, you have to do it over and over again for it to be effective and to truly sink in as an inner strength. Gratitude is also an attitude. It is a mindset of looking for what is good, what you do have, what feels positive and to continue to search for it even when it may be difficult to find. When you engage in the practice of gratitude and work to intentionally create a mindset of recognizing what you are grateful for and shift away from longing and wanting you grow the inner strength of gratitude as an integrated part of who you are, a resource you can draw from over and over again.

This week, begin to integrate these practices in order to grow the inner strength of gratitude within you each day.

1.    Keep a gratitude journal. Focus at the end of the day on two things you did that moved you in the direction of your own personal healing and wellbeing journey and write it like this: Today I am grateful that I…__________________ (took a long walk, drank a ton of water, took a yoga class, ate a leafy green, meditated…) just be sure to focus on what you did do. Then write, I am grateful that I created the opportunity to feel __________________ by doing ______________ (strong, relaxed, empowered, healthy, vibrant…. By doing yoga, meditating, eating a leafy green….)

2.    Tell someone you care about something you appreciate about them every day.

3.    Be grateful for the food you eat, don’t judge it, just practice gratitude.

4. Begin each day by saying Thank You.

If you try these four action steps, let me know the impact they create in your life—especially in relation to your relationship with food.