Cure Your Blues By Eating

August 24th, 2008 by MeganMooren | Filed under Healthy Living, Nutrition.

If you were to count every anti-depressant, anti-anxiety and sleep aid being sold in 2008, you’d fall over from exhaustion. The need to medicate and quickly cover-up problems instead of fixing them is sweeping the nation. However, the cure for your blues or anxiety may lie in something as simple as food. It has the ability to tell your brain that you’re full, that you enjoy the taste, or that it’s too sweet–maybe they have the ability to tell your brain to cheer up as well. Before you reach for your next mood-altering pill, open up your pantry and explore the natural cures lurking among you.

Protein– If you find yourself feeling sluggish and suffering from intense brain fog, add some heavy protein into your diet. Foods like eggs, fish, chicken, meat and cheese increase your brains production of certain neurotransmitters that increase alertness and energy.

Carbs– If you find yourself feeling stressed out or high strung, add some healthy carbs into your diet. Yes, healthy carbs like whole grains, wheat pasta, brown rice and fruit increase the levels of seratonin in your brain, causing relaxation (think tryptophan from turkey as well).

Caffeine and Folic Acid– If you find yourself feeling depressed, have two cups of coffee per day, pop a folic acid supplement, or eat a cup of spinach. All of these are also said to aid in the production of seratonin which your brain is lacking during a stint of depression.

These are definitely things to try in order to make yourself feel better, but you know your body more than anyone else. Go see a doctor if symptoms do not improve.