Good Mood Foods positivetranceformations.com.au

The first of the good foods for helping to alleviate the symptoms

of depression is oily fish.

These are high in omega-3 fatty acids, and these are beneficial for

your heart as well as for your soul.

Tuna, mackerel and salmon are the most common oily fish, which you can eat as part of your regular diet (e.g. tinned tuna sandwiches

for lunch, salmon as the main meal for dinner).

Alternatively, you can take fish oil supplements. This sounds like the sort of thing an old granny would do – taking cod liver oil – but like

many other traditional remedies, it does work.

Perhaps you can visualise a merry old crone or an ideal grandmother

who loves you and encourages you to take it.

The second helpful food is banana.

Bananas contain tryptophan, which the body converts to

serotonin.

Problems with serotonin lie behind many cases of depression, and many antidepressants aim to

maintain a good level of serotonin in the brain.

Eating bananas also helps with sleeping problems.

In Queensland, we’re a banana-growing centre, so there’s no

excuse for you not to eat them unless you’re allergic to them.

Have them as snacks, add them to wholegrain cereals for breakfast or dress them up to make a dessert.

Wholegrains are also recommended by dieticians

because they are a rich source of some of the B vitamin group,

especially Vitamin B1, Vitamin B3 and Folate.

The B vitamin group helps control and regulate moods, and can help combat some of the problems with

mood swings.

Last but certainly not least in the list of foods that can help moods

is dark chocolate, with an emphasis on the “dark”.

Dark chocolate with a high proportion of cocoa solids (70% or more) is extremely high in a large range of vitamins and minerals, including selenium, which is hard

to get from other sources.

Dark chocolate also contains a substance that stimulates the body to produce the substance

that biochemists refer to as PEA, another powerful feel-good

chemical that the body naturally produces in quantity during happy

experiences.

Now, what you believe is pretty powerful, but you’re not just

imagining things if you feel more cheerful after having a bit of

chocolate.

Here, two things have to be borne in mind before you give yourself

license to wolf down a huge family-sized block of dairy-milk

chocolate: Dark and Moderation.

The good thing about dark chocolate is that it naturally

makes you feel full and satisfied, so it’s hard to really pig out on it.

They say that about 50 g a day will give you the vitamin and

mineral boost you need.

Molasses and Brazil nuts are also mentioned as being beneficial

for helping to relieve the symptoms of depression.

So here goes a recipe combining as many of the beneficial foods as possible. Take two bananas and

slice them. Chop up a cup or so of Brazil nuts and sprinkle over the

chopped bananas.

Melt 50 g dark chocolate (70% or more cocoa solids) and pour this over the nuts and bananas. Add a tablespoon of molasses. Take the

bowl outside and eat it in the sunshine while reading a funny or

cheerful book.

More info at

positivetranceformations.com.au