From Sluggish to Focused: The Top 5 Mood Boosting Foods

By Lindsey Smith

Let’s face it — we all know eating healthy and incorporating fruits and vegetables into our diet can make a huge difference in our overall health. From personal experience overcoming childhood anxiety, I have seen firsthand the impact of going from a processed-filled, sugary diet to a more whole foods diet. It can make a difference not only on one’s health, but mental state as well.

Mostly all fruits and vegetables have specific nutrient properties to help balance the body and give it the boost it needs. However, there are certain foods that have more mood boosting properties than others.

Here are the top 5 mood-boosting foods to enhance your mood and make you feel good:

1. Leafy Green Veggies (like Kale, Spinach, Collards): Greens are the number one missing food from the American diet. Adding greens can help boost your mood and lift depression.

2. Dark Chocolate: Aside from the taste and sexy feeling, dark chocolate also contains Phenylethylamine, which is a feel-good endorphin often released in the brain when people fall in love. You will not only feel more connected with yourself, but also more loving and affectionate towards others.

3. Walnuts: Walnuts along with most other nuts contain L-Arginine, an amino acid that improves blood circulation. This can help make the head feel clear and can enhance your confidence level.

4. Blueberries: This fruit not only helps your skin appear more youthful and radiant, but it also contains dopamine, which is a stimulatory neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers.

5. Pumpkin Seeds: These seeds contain tryptophan, which is an amino acid that helps your brain produce the stress reducing hormone serotonin. This will help make you feel more calm and relaxed.

Lindsey Smith, known as the “food mood girl” works with people who have a habit of looking to food for all the wrong nutrients: comfort, reward, fun and acceptance. Through speaking and coaching she motivates, equips and inspires people to sort out their relationships with food so they can live a healthy, balanced life. She is also the author of “Junk Foods & Junk Moods: Stop Craving and Start Living!” Connect with Smith via her Web site, www.FoodMoodGirl.com, on Facebook and Twitter @LindseySmithHHC.