Eat Your Way to Happiness

Happiness is contagious. In fact, for us, happiness is an emotion that can be triggered by many things, including a long hot bath after hours of work or laughter at a silly joke. But above all, happiness is in the mind and has everything to do with our psychological health.

In this sense, certain foods – good for our mind – can also bring happiness! Yes, you read that right.

What we eat is not only important to feed us and provide us with good nutrients, but eating can also have a positive impact on our mind. And, just as certain exercises or activities can make you happier, foods can boost your mood or help prevent mood swings or even depression. Interesting isn’t it? Below, we look at the types of foods that can help us to take care of our psychological health and eat our way to happiness.

Antioxidant-Rich Foods

To reduce stress and promote body health, we can turn to a variety of antioxidant-rich foods that will not only boost our mood in the moment but also protect our health in the future.

For example, we recommend that you choose a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, tea, dark chocolate, fish and whole grains that are all an excellent source of a variety of antioxidants.

Of course, the main thing is to consume them as part of a healthy diet, which does not stress the body, but on the contrary, benefits our physical and emotional health.

Foods containing probiotics

Probiotics are beneficial bacteria for the body that can help improve the health of the body, but also, recently, it has been proven that they can improve moods.

In fact, it is known that probiotics can reduce negative and aggressive thoughts and decrease the risk of depression. Their consumption can therefore be an additional factor to be happier through our diet.

We can find probiotics in fermented milks, yogurts, juices or other fermented foods like kimchi, Tempeh, kombucha, amongst others.

Foods High in Carbohydrates

Flour, cereals and their derivatives are a source of carbohydrates, as are foods containing sugar, but the latter offer calories that are easily absorbed and can be addictive. We will therefore choose the former group to obtain carbohydrates that produce a relaxation and a pleasant sensation in our body after their consumption.

Whole wheat bread, oatmeal, or bananas are good sources of carbohydrates that we can consume to calm anxiety in our body and improve our mood. Carbohydrates alone provide pleasure but also facilitate the production of serotonin, a substance that promotes happiness.

Foods with Tryptophan

As mentioned, serotonin is like the “happiness hormone” in our body, and it is produced from an amino acid called tryptophan that we can find in different foods.

Eggs and dairy products, being a source of protein, help to obtain tryptophan for the synthesis of serotonin, but we can also find this amino acid in nuts and chocolate. The latter can also have a minimum of sugars that also brings pleasure.

In addition to including all of the above mentioned foods in our diet to help us feel better in our mind through what we eat, it is essential to avoid things that can deteriorate our mood and even promote the development of depression.

For example: a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption or lack of sleep at night are factors that can negatively affect our mood and not allow us to feel the happiness we seek.

Do you know any other foods that are linked to happiness? Don’t forget to share them with us in the comment section below! Until then, happy eating!