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Foods and Moods

Submitted by Sharon Hopkins on July 6, 2007

Some people live to eat, some eat to live, whatever the case, each type of food you eat has a definite change on your moods. Food and mood both are inter-dependant on each other, sometimes, food can cause change in mood, other times mood can cause people to binge on food.

Generally, food cravings occur when there is stress, serotonin levels in brain. Rise in serotonin levels makes a person feel relaxed and comfortable; therefore, during stressful situations people might eat those foods which will make serotonin levels in brain rise temporarily.

Food and mood relationship affects women more than men; this is the reason why women have food cravings more often than men.

Women also have better relationships with food with fat since fat helps people come out of depression. Foods like chocolate and sweets will help raise serotonin levels in the brain but also will play havoc with the chemistry inside the brain.

The best way to ensure that your brain maintains proper levels of serotonin is to eat a proper diet which will keep on replenishing the levels of serotonin inside the brain. For this the most important components inside food are the vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Zinc, Vitamin C, etc. these foods help making of serotonin from other foods.

Including all those foods which include the Omega 3 fatty acids also work positively towards raising the levels of serotonin. Also rotating food consumption and not sticking to one type of food will help you provide good nutrition to the body. This means you are providing all nutrients to the body this will also help raise generally health along with it the feel good factor about yourself.

Foods like caffeine and alcohol can be avoided all together, being addicted to these foods might provide a person with temporary relief, and however, it will not raise the levels of serotonin in the brain. Therefore many a times people confuse caffeine addiction with serotonin production.

Fish, sprouts, folic acid rich foods, greens, etc should be eaten in correct quantities if serotonin has to be made and requires to reach the brain and bring the feel good feeling back. If there are cravings for carbohydrate rich foods, it is an indication that serotonin level inside the brain has gone down, and eating carbohydrates is misunderstood as fast way to replenish these levels.

Carbohydrates do help people feel good about themselves but this is a temporary factor.