I took time off to hit the streets of Tema to seek people’s
understanding of the statement: You are what you eat. Of the people I spoke
with, 70% shared the view that the statement described the social standing of
people. The stature and status of individuals reflects in the food a person
eats.
For most Africans, this is the exact definition given to the
statement: You are what you eat. Semantics will to some extent verifies the
meaning given to this statement by some people however, in this piece, I would
want to open eyes to the other side of this statement. Do you know food has a
very strong effect on our mood and brains?
It is well known widely that the mood a person finds himself
or herself can trigger cravings for certain foods, cause a person to over eat
or kill a person’s appetite for food entirely. However, there is little
knowledge that the food you eat and how you eat can as well affect mood you find
yourself.
According to a post titled “How Junk Food Makes a Bad Mood
Worse,” published on www.livescience.com
on March 18, 2013, it stated that “Researchers at Penn State University have
found that poor eating habits can actually worsen a person's mood, especially
among women who are concerned about how they eat.” In another paragraph under
the same post, it revealed that “a 2012 study in the journal Public Health
Nutrition revealed that people who ate junk food were 51% more likely to show
signs of depression — and the more junk food the study participants ate, the
more likely they were to be depressed.”
Whilst processed foods, sugar and gluten have been named
amongst the foods that alter human moods, high quality proteinous foods, dark
chocolate, bananas, coffee, animal-based omega-3 fats amongst others have been
identified as play a vital role in maintaining a good mood and healthy brain.
Beyond what we eat affecting human mood, eating habits
equally play a vital role in managing good mood condition. You may be eating
all the right things but may just be practicing a bad eating habit. It equally
affects your mood.
Now that we understand that food equally affects our mood,
let’s start adopting these habits to enjoy a better and productive mood
conditions
1.
Eat regularly.
2.
Do not neglect important food nutrients in your
meals.
3.
Reduce taking in a lot of fats
4.
Mind what you drink.
5.
Do not shy away from carbohydrates.
Do not let food be a catalyst for depression, inactivity,
decreased self-confidence, fatigue and a poor mood anymore. Become what you
eat.
Courtesy: Twitter: @hellofoodghana Facebook: Hellofood Gh
Instagram: @hellofood_gh
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