Food that Makes Us Happy

Food that Makes Us Happy: “Happiness is a state of mind, and that state runs on the economy of food!” Disclaimer: The following content contains information that might tempt an individual to immediately indulge in a sinfully delicious culinary happiness. Fitness Freaks proceed with caution!

Food that Makes Us Happy

Alrighty then! Food is more than just a source of nutrition essential for survival. Had it been just that, God wouldn’t bestow upon us the privilege of taste buds and the capability of surrendering our soul upon the recognition of a scrumptious carnival that would explode in our mouth while we savor what otherwise is merely the source of nutrition. But, the fact that we have the sense of taste and there are so many flavors available in nature, is in itself a proof that food serves a much higher purpose than merely satiating the nutritional deficiency in our body.

Let’s quickly get to the science of it in layman’s term. How do you think your body perform the activity and/or undergo any feeling? Yup, brain! Now, the brain transmits signals to the dedicated receptors in our body for every and anything and the mode of transmissions for these signals are called neurotransmitters.

Now, there are neurotransmitters for our moods as well. Neurotransmitters that carry the signals for our mood are mainly Excitatory Neurotransmitters and Inhibitory Neurotransmitters. Some more digging into this topic will inform you that there has to be a balance between both these types of neurotransmitters, but I think this much science is enough for today.

Our body gets chemical used to form these neurotransmitters from, wait for it, yup FOOD! In a nutshell, Food = chemicals used for ‘Me-So-Happy’ neurotransmitters = brain doing its job = ‘Me-So-Happy’.

Here are some food items that do the science thingy mentioned above and might improve your mood. 

Bananas  

Apart from its abundant nutritional value and refreshing yellow color, bananas contain tryptophan, an amino acid that forms ‘serotonin’ (a type of Inhibitory Neurotransmitter). Bananas boost up our energy levels as well. 

Spinach

Spinach! I’d skip the mandatory “Popeye’ joke here and leave it to your imagination. Spinach contains vitamin B, Folate. Folate helps to generate Serotonin (a type of Inhibitory Neurotransmitter). Nevertheless, I haven’t seen any kid happy to eat Spinach, maybe the kid should have a couple of bananas first.

Dark Chocolate 

Chocolate had to be on this list. Studies have found that dark chocolate releases antioxidants that help relax the walls of our blood vessels. Dark chocolate also contains magnesium that helps to sooth PMP symptoms ( includes, stress, fatigue, depression)

Mushrooms

Ever basked under the morning sun? I bet you’d be happy that day. Well, one of the many reasons for that is Vitamin D we get from the sun. Vitamin D possesses anti-depressant qualities. Guess what else has it! Mushrooms. Now don’t be hesitant to order pizza with some extra mushrooms. On second thoughts, you won’t need mushrooms to be happy when there is Pizza!  

Berries 

Berries, again have the anti-oxidants through a polyphenol compound called resveratrol. Anti-oxidants, as mentioned has qualities to release stress and alleviate depression.