Foods that can improve your mood!

For centuries people have been using food to influence what they feel physically. To feel desire, oysters, chocolate, honey, certain herbs like cinnamon, basil and even the odor of lavender are known to be aphrodisiacs. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter found in the enterochromaffin cells in the gut to regulate intestinal movements, and it also controls your mood and appetite. A high carb and low protein diet increase serotonin levels in the brain. However, foods with high protein like cheese, yogurt and eggs give us energy and rapid movement because it increases dopamine levels. Chocolate, the mood enhancer, contains phenethylamine, which releases endorphins. Although it's quickly metabolized, therefore only a limited amount reaches the brain.Caffeine is another mood stimulant that elevates dopamine levels by attaching to adenosine receptors that accelerate your cells and increases adrenaline. Although too much can have an adverse effect. Just the sight, odor and feel of certain foods like the before mentioned chocolate, can create a psychoactive substance in our system. Whether it be the food that goes in our bodies or just the idea of what it can do, seems to have an effect on some of us, so therefore food can stimulate our moods in a good or bad way.




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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is create!

Could you write an article on foods that create / sustain a healthy immune system?

This is a topic of personal concern, and I believe our society is struggling for survival, emotionally stressed and challenged to balance - this wears the immune system, daily.