Happy foods: how your diet can shape your mood
A healthy diet can do more than just slim your waistline - eating the right foods can improve your mood and help fight depression, writes Kate Whitehead
It's no secret that eating certain foods will make you feel good, while others may leave you in a slump. So if being happy is on your agenda, think about what you put on your plate.
It helps to understand a little of the science behind food and mood. It is all to do with neurotransmitters, the chemicals that send and receive information around the brain and body. You have most probably heard of serotonin, dopamine and adrenaline.
All mood is actually created through these chemical effects
"Half the population is somewhat depressed and a lot of it is manifested not through emotional factors but the inability to have good neurotransmitter levels," says Chris Manton, a nutritional biochemist at Dr Lauren Bramley & Partners.
As with most things, there are shortcuts. For a quick feelgood buzz, chocolate will do the trick. Its effect is strong and almost immediate. Other foods have a more subtle and long-lasting impact.
But if you want to feel good most of the time - rather than in short bursts - then you need to build up your neurotransmitter levels in your brain. One of the best ways of doing this is to ensure that you have enough folate in your diet.
A diet with plenty of dark green leafy vegetables, Brussels sprouts, endives, spinach and silver beet provides plenty of folate. Folate is killed by heat, so it's important that the vegetables aren't cooked too much. Raw is best.