Foods to Put a Smile on Your Face

By: Lara Endreszl

With most alternative medicine, the best remedy is the most natural one. Consumers often also like those remedies that are both efficient and easy on the bank account. Both of those qualities are usually hard to find in conventional medicine but because diet is now being shown to have a lot to do with helping to diagnose and regulate a variety of conditions, more merit is being given to diet-based solutions. Even though it is already February and Spring seems just around the corner, the groundhog just predicted six more weeks of winter and with many cases of seasonal affective disorder—also known as SAD—occurring in winter, here are some foods that are designed to lift your mood.

Popcorn—No wonder the smell of popcorn enahnces the enjoyment of sticky floors and large screen; experts say that air-popped popcorn is a type of whole grain that is good for boosting the mood. With the ban on carbohydrates in many diets in the past decade, there have been many grumpy meat-eaters walking the streets. Author of Why Women Need Chocolate: How to Get the Body You Want by Eating the Foods You Crave, nutritionist Debra Waterhouse says, “Carb-rich foods, like whole grains, stimulate the release of the brain chemical serotonin, which regulates appetite and improves mood, food cravings, and sleep.” Inventors of fad diets may not have been aware of the brain-stimulation carbs give off or else they might have included a little bit more in their breakthrough diet regimens.

Bananas—By eating them whole or adding them to your cereal, smoothie, or fruit salad, bananas should be a staple of a healthy diet. Bananas are chock full of B6, the vitamin that helps the brain make serotonin. Also full of potassium, vitamin C, and fiber, bananas are the most abundant and most popular tropical fruit consumed today.

Water—To some people this addition to the list may seem odd, to others it may seem obvious, but water is one of the most important nutrients your body needs. Doctors say drinking six to eight glasses of water a day should keep you healthy while other studies say you can get away with drinking less and still be able to keep your body running smoothly. Dehydration is a huge problem because even the smallest cases have been known to cause fatigue, short-term memory problems, Read more...