Carbohydrate rich foods could make you happy, while protein rich foods may help you do well on your test at school, according to research that suggests that what we eat changes how we think and feel.
“You can manipulate your mood and your mental acuity just by what you eat and when, and the effects can happen very quickly,” said Dr. Judith Wurtman, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
She and her husband, Dr. Richard Wurtman (also of MIT), have studied the food-mood connection for the past 30 years.
According to Wurtman, the news that carbohydrates can lift the spirits first emerged about a dozen years ago, in studies she conducted with women suffering from premenstrual syndrome.
“Eating carbohydrates had a profound and dramatic effect in improving mood,” Wurtman said. “I’m talking about anger, irritability, depression, difficulty concentrating, mental fuzziness. We found that you could reverse those mood changes with carbohydrate-rich foods, in about 30 minutes.”
Carbohydrates can do little to change serious clinical depression, but they do seem to help battle the everyday “blahs,” she said. The reason may be very simple, she noted: the body uses carbohydrates to manufacture serotonin — the key emotion regulator in the brain. “When you eat carbohydrates and make more serotonin, mood disturbances that you may have been suffering can go away, at least temporarily,” she said.
And what about protein? Wurtman said the science on that is a little sketchier.
“My husband discovered years ago, however, that one of the amino acids in protein, called tyrosine, does increase the synthesis of two key chemicals in the brain, norepinephrine and dopamine, which we call the ‘mental alertness’ chemicals,” she said. For this reason, Wurtman recommends protein-heavy diets for people facing extended periods of mental strain, such as preparing for an important exam. “It’ll help you replenish those chemicals in your brain,” she said.
– HealthDay News
Dr. Keith and Laurie Nemec’s comments on you are what you eat.
This very interesting research article shows us how our moods and emotions can be affected by what we eat. The basis, I should say the summation of what the research showed was, when a person eats a high carbohydrate meal it actually can cause them to go into an improved mood, it can cause them to go into more calm, calm down to some extent, anger, irritability, depression, difficulty concentrating, mental fuzziness. And this can be changed within 30 minutes with carbohydrate rich foods. What are the carbohydrate rich foods? These are the vegetables. Again, eating raw is the most important way to eat them. The vegetables, the root vegetables are wonderful, these are the yams:jewel and garnet, sweet potatoes, carrots, root vegetable called jicama, all these carbohydrate rich vegetables are very good for the system. Standard vegetables are the best, the green leafy vegetables and just the green vegetables. All vegetables should be eaten as much as possible in the raw and uncooked state to have the highest nutritional benefit and balance to the mind and emotions.
The other thing that this research showed was diets that were high in protein especially the amino acid called tyrosine increased the synthesis of norepinephrine and dopamine, which were the mental alertness chemicals. This is why a high protein diet or a diet with more protein is much better for people who are facing extended periods of mental strain. As I said, facing an important exam. So what we do want to get out of this study is how food can affect certain chemicals secreted in the brain and in the body that cannot affect moods. Carbohydrates are by far the most important part of our diet which is the vegetables, the sprouts, the sprouted material. The protein sources also can help with mental clarity and alertness. These are best found in the plant kingdom because they have the least amount of toxicity and should be eaten raw. This would be primarily the seeds and the nuts. So, to sum up, if we want to eat a diet that brings Total Health, we eat a living/raw plant based diet. The living/raw plant based diet is a balanced diet of vegetables, sprouts, sea vegetables, root vegetables, seeds, nuts, legumes, and avocados. When we combine this type of food we have the balance in body, mind and emotions. The balance of the emotions, the balance of the mind, the alertness of the mind. Additional note on this is, we have to be careful that we do not try to eat food in a specific way as they are saying to bring on a carbohydrate high which will drop us lower than we were when we eat the wrong forms of foods. For example, if we are eating breads, there are carbohydrates in breads but that will blow the blood sugar out of balance and give you a temporary good feeling but then when the blood sugar bottoms out, it will drop you lower than where you started. So that’s why it’s very important just to eat a well balanced living raw plant based diet of the seeds, nuts, avocados, vegetables, root vegetables, green vegetables, all vegetables along with sprouts, sprouted material, legumes, and sea vegetables, all these things. Avocados being a wonderful source of fat, and fat is a stored energy form.
So the other side note is we have to make sure besides not trying to eat from one food group but a balance living raw plant based diet which is non toxic and most health promoting to the body, is that we eat food that heals the body an as these articles show can help balance the mind and emotions. We eat it in a living/raw plant state which is the closest state that God created the food to be in. When we do this we do not feed the flesh filled old mind, we do not feed the emotions. So, as it was stated we can eat carbohydrates in a cooked processed form. You can have a cookie, it will temporarily affect your mood. You can have a piece of bread, and they are still carbohydrates that will give you a feel good with increase in serotonin level but then drops you worse than when you started. This is the sugar blues, where it goes up and down. That is not the purpose. And the purpose is never to eat a high protein diet especially from animal origin. We get plenty of protein from the seeds and the nuts. But seeds and nuts should be combined with the vegetables, the sprouts, the avocados in a balanced diet, so that we are not trying to eat excessively high protein. Protein is harder on the system to digest. It takes much more energy. So protein is good when it is in a living/raw plant form, but it doesn’t need to be eaten separately in high quantities to change mind or emotions. So the general message is follow your heart in this life, live a balanced life of what we call the Seven Basic Steps to Total Health™ So when you are eating a living/raw plant based diet, you are bringing balance to the mind, emotions and body also you are not feeding the flesh filled old mind. Also it is important to know that food is a powerful part of any alternative cancer treatment. Cancer grows in sugar so this must be avoided completely. Living and raw plant based foods are the best choices when one is facing a major health challenge.
