your ador - features

Lift your mood with food

Feeling a little down in the dumps? Whether it’s down to the time of year or not, what you eat really can put a smile on your face

Apparently, this is the time of the year when we throw the towel in with our best laid New Year diet and fitness plans and feel worn out, run down and susceptible to the blues. Perhaps not surprisingly, if you are prone to suffering with seasonal affective disorder, triggered by the lack of sunlight running down stores of our brain’s ‘happy hormones’, this is the time when it is going to really bite.

With all that doom and gloom, you may be wondering if it is worth venturing out from under your duvet each morning. Of course, we are going to say it is – but not without giving you some good reasons why.

Ditch the junk
First and most importantly, because “things”, in the immortal words of the D:ream song, “can only get better”, and one way to help them on the way is to really get to grips with your food.

Start by ditching the junk. There is no room for free loaders and empty calories on the nutrient front when what you need is to pack in the mood lifting vitamins and minerals.

Begin by including foods that give you iron. Eggs or fortified cereals like Oatabix or Fruit and Fibre for breakfast, a bean-based soup or salad for lunch and something as simple as a spaghetti Bolognese using very lean mince for dinner. A lack of iron is absolutely sure to bring your energy levels down, while boosting intakes can put that spring back in your step.

Cut the cravings
Next, eat slow-release carbohydrates, which let their energy out gently, keeping you going for longer without hunger pangs and sugar cravings. Porridge, sugar-free muesli, pitta bread, tortilla wraps and pasta all do the trick.

We also need folic acid, a B vitamin found in green leafy vegetables, oranges and pulses to keep our moods buoyant. The omega 3 oils in fish like salmon, sardines, mackerel and anchovies are also thought to play a role staving off feeling low, so a serving a week is well worth having.

Finally, include plenty of bright-coloured fruits and vegetables in your diet; psychologists tell us that just looking at the vibrant colours to be found in a fruit bowl can put a smile on our faces. Eat them as well as looking at them and you will get that feelgood factor that comes from doing something you know is doing you good on the inside too.

Get out more
Beyond the food, when it comes to doing stuff that will make you feel better about yourself, then pick up those trainers you chucked in the corner and go for a walk, bike ride, or whatever gets you outside. You may have ditched the hardcore training plan at the gym, but anyone can get out and reap the mood enhancing benefits of moving your body and benefiting from a little endorphin boost.

If you think you are suffering with seasonal affective disorder, check out www.sada.org.uk for advice on how to cope and improve your situation.