Last week we talked about how eating regularly throughout the day can improve your mood by balancing your hormones and controlling your blood sugar. This week, we have three new tips for you.
Tip #1: eat a variety of whole, unprocessed, real foods
Getting a variety of different foods ensures that you will meet all of your vitamin, mineral and micro-nutrient needs. If you are deficient in certain vitamins or minerals, you can be more prone to mood disorders such as anxiety or depression. You should be eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables of different colors. Different colors of produce contain different nutrients. One great way to get variety into your menu plan is by building it into your grocery shopping by using a flexible shopping list. Instead of writing down apples and grapes on your grocery list, just write down that you need 2 fruits. That way when you get to the store, you can see what is on sale or what is new in season. This will bring greater variety into your meals and hopefully get you trying foods that you’ve never had before. You can do the same for leafy greens and other vegetables.
Tip #2: include healthy fats in all of your meals
You have to eat fat to lose fat, and you also have to eat fat to be a happy person. Hormone balance is dependent on fat intake. If you aren’t eating fat, it’s going to be hard for your body to make all of the hormones it needs. Many vitamins are also fat soluble, meaning you need to eat fat in order to absorb them into your body. You just want to make sure that you are eating healthy fats, no processed trans fats or hydrogenated oils. Healthy fats are things like organic butter, olive oil, grapeseed oil, avocado, nuts and olives just to name a few.
Tip #3: avoid processed foods
Processed foods contain all sorts of additives and preservatives that can have negative effects on your body. Many of products are formulated in such a way that they alter your brain chemistry and create an addiction for those foods. For more detailed information on how processed foods can alter your brain chemistry (and also the brain chemistry of your future offspring!) see this post: This is your Brain on Twinkies.
If you are having cravings that you just can’t beat, there could be an underlying problem. Uncontrollable cravings can often be a sign of neurotransmitter imbalance, gut dysbiosis or a food sensitivity. Emotional eating is often indicative of hormone imbalance. You have to correct the underlying problem before you can kick the cravings in these cases. If you’d like help, or to find out if you may have one of these underlying imbalances, please contact us!
This post comes to us from our friends at Optimal Body Balance.