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We know that Mondays are hard enough, but if it’s Blue Monday (the saddest day of the year), it’s even worse. That’s why it’s not enough just to have a good attitude to face that “sadness”. There are also other factors that have a great influence on your mood, such as food. It has been scientifically proven that many foods help to produce chemicals, such as serotonin, which can give us a natural sense of well-being.
Dr. Uma Naidoo, a Harvard nutritional psychiatrist and author of the book ‘This Is Your Brain on Food‘, states that “there is a connection between food and mood”. She also stresses that for there to be a noticeable change, this diet must last over time, including a series of foods to achieve it. So that you can start to put it into practice, here are 8 foods that will improve your mood and make you happier, while being healthy at the same time.
Salmon
This fish is one of those superfoods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids. And experts have linked a diet rich in omega-3s to a lower risk of depression. In addition, it is also high in vitamin B12, which is associated with a good mood. So salmon is a must in your diet if you want to increase your happiness.
Almonds
Almonds and nuts in general are another food that will bring you happiness. They are rich plant sources of tryptophan, an amino acid that helps your body make serotonin, the so-called happy hormone. That’s why including nuts in your diet will give you more energy, improve your sleep and improve your mood.
Cinnamon
Among the many benefits of cinnamon in our bodies is that it helps to improve mood. According to several scientific studies, cinnamon inhibits the inflammatory process in the brain, which increases serotonin levels. This will regulate mood, increase happiness and our sense of well-being.
Turmeric
It is another happiness-giving spice. As well as having anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, this superfood has curcumin, a substance that, according to science, improves our mood thanks to its anti-depressant effects.
Legumes
Foods such as chickpeas, lentils and beans are important sources of energy and boost our mood by producing large amounts of serotonin. So, if you want to improve your well-being and, therefore, your happiness, integrate pulses into your daily diet.
Yoghurt
According to Dr Naidoo, “probiotics can be very powerful when it comes to improving mood, even compared to antidepressants”. In that sense, yoghurt is a probiotic food with approximately 100 million bacteria, so it could reverse the symptoms of depression and therefore bring us happiness.
Green leafy vegetables
A diet rich in green leafy vegetables, as well as helping to improve our health, can also make us happier. Vegetables such as spinach or chard are rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre and provide a large amount of folic acid and vitamin E, which provides energy and helps to combat depression. They also contain high levels of magnesium, which is another nutrient that increases serotonin production.
Kombucha
Finally, another food that experts highlight for improving mood would be kombucha. According to Dr Drew Ramsey, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, “eating fermented foods provides a more diverse set of bacteria in the gut, [and] that tends to calm our overactive immune system. So fermented foods are one of the categories of foods that can have a big impact on our mental health,” he says. Other fermented foods, such as kefir, also produce large amounts of serotonin.
Here are some pother dishes that also put us in a good mood.latos que también nos ponen de buen humor.
