Top 5 Natural Mood Boosters
March 6, 2010 by admin
Filed under Diet, Stress, Supplements, drugs, positive thinking
Here are the top mood-boosters in your foods and how they work:
1- Omega-3 Fats: These fatty acids are absolutely essential to your brain, yet up to 80% of us don’t get enough. Omega-3’s help build the neuronal connections in the brain as well as create the receptor sites for neurotransmitters. Also, the more omega-3s in your blood, the more serotonin you make and the more responsive you become to its effects. Serotonin influences a variety of psychological functions, and is vital for helping to relay messages from one part of the brain to another. Optimize your omega-3s by enjoying wild, sustainable seafood (like salmon and sardines) and by taking a high quality fish oil (like Carlson’s).
2- Vitamin D: The sunshine vitamin can help brighten your mood. But up to 90% of us are deficient, at least part of the year. As many as 50% are critically deficient. Optimize your vitamin D levels with 20-30 minutes of sunlight, 3-5 days a week or take 2,000-5,000 IUs of vitamin D daily.
3- B Vitamins: Vitamins B6, B12 and folate also help to produce serotonin – the “feel good neurotransmitter”. But that’s not all. They also lower homocysteine – an amino acid that increases the risk of cardiovascular disease… and depression too. In fact, a 2002 study found that women with high homocysteine levels had double the incidence of depression. Read more
What Are The Best Anti-Inflammatory Foods?
June 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Diet, Supplements, chiropractic, digestive health
In my Fredericksburg Wellness practice I often recommend that my patients include anti-inflammatory foods in their diet. Anti-inflammatory foods help reduce stress, pain and of course damaging inflammation in the body.
This post is from The World’s Healthiest Foods a great resource for information about healthy food choices.
Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids are considered anti-inflammatory. That is because this class of nutrients serves as precursors for compounds in the body (such as certain prostaglandins and leukotrienes) that have anti-inflammatory activity.
Extra virgin olive oil is another food that contains healthy fats (monounsaturated fats), and one that has been found to have anti-inflammatory benefits. Some of these benefits seem to come through its unique antioxidant phytonutrients, such as oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol. It’s important to note that these phytonutrients are more concentrated in extra virgin olive than other types of olive oil.
Flavonoid and carotenoid phytonutrients also have strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and therefore deep colored fruits and vegetables would be a great inclusion in an diet geared towards controlling inflammation.
Great choices here would be berries, cherries, beets, leafy greens and other richly colored foods. Pineapple also contains a proteolytic (protein-digesting) enzyme called bromelain that has anti-inflammatory activity. And no, processed pinapple in fruit cups does not have the enzyme.
