Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to lose weight or eat the foods that suit you, when you are happy? Along with maintaining your happiness through a positive mental attitude, you can actually stimulate it through the food you eat. Yes, that's right you can really eat to be happy!
It is all down to the foods you eat and their effect on the chemical reactions in your brain. Serotonin is a brain chemical, a type of messenger, that operates between nerve cells. It is aided in its use in the brain by vital fats from fish oils, cold-pressed flax and walnut oil. As a natural anti-depressant it can also reduces craving and comfort eating.
So where does this serotonin come from? Well, we make it in our body from an amino acid called tryptophan. Just think of the foods that give you a fast 'quick fix' high. The foods that offer this limited 'quick fix' serotonin effect include sweets, confectionary, crisps, white bread, white rice, alcohol and other processed foods.
These particular amino acid rich foods have a quick release but short-term effect on the body. All, however, perpetuate your cravings when the initial serotonin 'high' dissipates. That makes them foods that increase your cravings as the tryptophan levels suddenly decrease. This is one reason why, when your brain is lacking in serotonin, you reach out for these tryptophan 'quick fix' foods as a comforter. There is no doubt that they do give you the desired boost of serotonin but it is temporary and therefore you are more likely to eat inappropriately.
By eating foods that steadily release tryptophan, the ones that don't give you a quick serotonin fix, you can naturally boost your long-term levels of serotonin. This in turn reduces your food cravings and raises your happiness levels. How great is that!
Maintaining correct levels of tryptophan is critical in balancing your moods and behaviour. It heals the unhappiness or depression that leads you back into inappropriate eating habits. In addition these 'slow release' tryptophan foods give you a long-term sense of well being. If levels in your body are normal, you won't crave or feel the need to overeat sugary and refined carbohydrate foods. Steady, long-term releasing tryptophan is found mainly in...
Turkey;
Chicken;
Fish;
Pheasant;
Partridge;
Cottage cheese;
Bananas;
Eggs;
Nuts;
Wheat germ;
Avocados;
Milk;
Cheese;
Legumes (peas, beans, pulses, soya);
In smaller amounts in potatoes, wholegrain breads, cereals, and brown rice. Eating a balanced diet that includes some of these foods can help raise your happiness motivators. With other amino acids competing with tryptophan to be absorbed into the body, it is helpful to raise insulin levels moderately. This can be achieved by eating small amounts of starchy foods such as brown rice, wholemeal bread, porridge oats and jacket potatoes, alongside protein foods. Sunlight is also essential for the development of serotonin in our bodies.
As a messenger in the brain, serotonin also needs healthy receptors in order for messages to be transmitted effectively. These chemical receptors are built principally from vital fats found mainly in oily fish (such as mackerel, salmon, tuna, herrings and sardine), fish oil supplements, cold-pressed flax and walnut oil.
Depression and negative moods can be significantly improved by daily introductions of these fats, along with slow releasing tryptophan rich foods, over a three to four month period. How's that for a great solution to healing your cravings and overeating. Eat your way to happiness and the weight you were born to be!
© Chrissie Webber 2008
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Chrissie Webber is a published author, business coach and leadership trainer. As Managing Director of Life-Shapers Ltd she is developing her online weight-loss motivation company http://www.lifeshapers.co.uk into a franchise of Life Shapers Weight Management Coaches.
Her track record in the area of weight management is firstly a personal one. Following a lifetime of weight issues - at her heaviest, over 21 stone and a massive size 30 - she has personal experience of diets and their devastating effect on size and psyche.
With a background in nursing, psychology and business coaching, coupled with a lifetime of dieting, she developed and successfully used a series of models and tools that enhance weight loss motivation. Now over 5 dress sizes smaller and having sustained her weight loss for several years she has written a book about her motivational journey. Weight Loss, Life Gain - A Motivational Journey to Permanent Weight Loss was published in January 2008 by Accent Press.
Her Blog [http://www.chrissiewebber.co.uk] and free monthly eZine now offer support to others.
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