Food Cures (49 page)

W
hen Melissa came to see me with the goal of losing about 40 pounds, I quickly recognized how she got where she was, weight-wise. She had the kind of unfortunate habits I see in so many of my clients: Erratic eating schedule, sometimes skipping meals, sometimes bingeing, and settling for ready-to-eat, grab-and-go foods. Constantly busy and overextended, Melissa often found herself feeling angry and resentful because she felt that there was no time she could call her own. Everything took priority over her—the kids, the car pools, her husband, work, boss, friends…absolutely everything got a slice of Melissa’s time except Melissa.

One side effect of Melissa’s hectic lifestyle was a chronic bad mood. Her day was ruined by things most of us would shrug off, like if the morning newspaper didn’t arrive at the exact time she expected it…or if her kids were assigned an extra helping of homework…or if the grocery store was out of her favorite brand of anything. She complained about the amount of time her husband spent on the golf course, but she also complained about him hanging around the house and getting underfoot. She was irritated by coworkers and supervisors alike. She barked at the people she loved, sniped at the people she worked with, and hated herself for being so explosive. The other side of Melissa’s personality was weepy—during our first meeting, she cried twice. That was my first clue that Melissa needed help with her moods as much as she needed to lose weight…and she couldn’t agree with me more!

I did three things for Melissa: First, I put her on a schedule so she would eat meals more regularly—this would help regulate her blood sugars and her moods every waking moment. Second, I gave her a calorie-controlled program for weight loss, which would help raise her self-esteem. And third, I drew her a food “road map,” which showed her the direction she needed to take her diet in order to get the right combination of foods, vitamins, and minerals specifically shown to help improve mood.

After the first week on her new food program, Melissa lost 4 pounds, just the boost she needed. Over the next several weeks, her weight loss was steady, if a bit less dramatic. The next time I saw her, Melissa had lost 20 pounds and was halfway to her weight-loss goal. She looked fantastic, but that wasn’t the best part—Melissa felt better than she had in years. She was level-headed, not as quick to react. As time went on, I saw Melissa morph from an uncertain, overbooked, overwrought slave to her raw emotions into a calm, beautiful, competent woman. She was slimmer. She ate better. And best of all, she was happy! She still had moments when she snapped or cried, but emotions didn’t overwhelm her or rule her life. For the first time in a long time, Melissa didn’t feel out of control.

Weight loss also bolstered Melissa’s self-esteem and improved her moods. Mood-enhancing foods helped calm her inner turmoil. The covert part of this plan no doubt amplified it’s effectiveness: In order to diligently follow her weight-loss and mood program, Melissa needed to make time for herself, something she hadn’t done in years. Like so many of us, Melissa rushed through her life, doing everything for other people, but nothing for herself. If this sounds like you, hear this: It’s critical for your physical health, your emotional well-being, and your moods that you learn to focus on your needs at least for some small portion of every day. I’ve found that taking time to shop for and prepare nutritious (and delicious!) meals can be the start of a new habit of caring for the self. How much you pamper yourself after that is entirely up to you.

Over the years, I’ve worked with many clients who suffered with clinical depression and postpartum depression and, much more often, people like Melissa who struggled with chronic bad moods. As successful as I’ve been with this mood program, it is not a cure-all. Even if you follow the advice in this chapter to the letter, you won’t be happy every minute of every day, and you will still sometimes lose your cool. That’s life. But if you are feeling battered by your moods, this program should help you feel significantly better—perhaps even within the first week.

WHAT AFFECTS MOOD?

If moods were merely psychological, if they were truly “all in the head,” they wouldn’t make us so miserable. Very few people would choose to remain in a pit of depression or keep their flashpoint anger if they could simply change their state of mind. But we don’t always have control over how our feelings affect our lives because, for many of us, mood is as physical as a broken bone or acid reflux.

Scientists believe that mood is caused by changes in the production or availability of brain chemicals called
neurotransmitters
. The three main neurotransmitters—norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin—work together to balance mood. If there is a decrease in one or all of these chemicals, we will feel differently, even if we don’t know exactly why. For example, neurotransmitters are responsible for feelings of anger, anxiety, motivation, irritability, happiness, impulsiveness, and depression. They can even affect general energy levels.

The reason you feel a particular way on a particular day is usually a complex combination of genetic susceptibility, life events and circumstances, and your body’s general physical state. You may have noticed, for example, that your moods feel more intense at certain times of day…or if you are feeling tired…or during an illness…or in times of stress. Some women experience depression and irritability related to their monthly hormone fluctuations (see Premenstrual Syndrome, Chapter 15, for more on PMS). And quite a few people are pushed over the emotional cliff by food-related issues, including what they eat, when they eat, and why they eat.

Nutrition-related mood problems can stem from long- and short-term roots. Poor eating habits can, over time, lead to deficiencies in some of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that contribute to good mood. For example, the neurotransmitters that regulate mood are built from amino acids, which are found in protein-rich foods. If you don’t get enough of a variety of different proteins in your diet, your brain chemistry will eventually suffer. Furthermore, the amino acid tryptophan can only be converted in the brain to serotonin—a mood calming neurotransmitter—when adequate carbohydrate is present. Eating patterns can even affect your moods from hour to hour—the proverbial “mid-morning slump” and many cases of flaring irritability can be caused by a dip in blood sugar from eating the wrong foods at the wrong time of day, or from not eating often enough.

For most people, a mood is a temporary state—we feel it, react to it, and after an hour or a day, we forget about it. But sometimes, a mood settles in and stays. Of all conditions seen in general medical practice, one of the most common is depression. Many people think of depression as extreme sadness, but that’s just a partial description. Symptoms of depression also include feelings of hopelessness or helplessness, irritability, sleeping more or less than usual, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, weight gain or weight loss, and loss of energy. Of course, depression is only one possible cause of these problems, but if you experience any or all of these symptoms for longer than two weeks, it is important to see a doctor. Moods that persist require medical attention—they can be signs of a serious medical problem, so you’ll want to make sure you get checked out. And if you do receive a diagnosis of depression, your doctor can prescribe medications to speed the time to feeling better.

HOW FOOD AFFECTS MOOD

No matter where your moods came from or how long they have lasted, eating the right foods can help you feel more energetic and less like you’re riding an emotional rollercoaster built for one. Here are some of the main guideposts on your mood-food road map:

HIGH-QUALITY CARBOHYDRATES AND PROTEIN

There are two general categories of carbohydrates: high-quality and low-quality. High-quality carbs are full of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and fiber. They are found primarily in plant foods, including whole grain products, oats, legumes, vegetables, fresh fruit, brown and wild rice, and potatoes. Low-quality carbs, on the other hand, have much less nutritional value. These less-than-stellar carbs (also called
simple sugars
) are foods that are made primarily of sugar, including sugar itself, as well as candy, soft drinks, syrup, jam and jelly, cakes, and most other foods we typically think of as sweets or desserts. Refined starches—the “white” carbs, such as white rice and white bread—are also low-quality carbohydrates because our digestive process quickly breaks them down. In other words, they act like simple sugars in the body.

Like all foods, carbohydrates affect body chemistry, and the type of carbohydrate you eat makes a big difference in determining metabolism, energy, and overall well-being. All carbohydrates provide energy to the body in the form of glucose—the
blood sugar
that feeds our cells. When blood sugar is up, we feel good; when blood sugar goes down, mood can plunge, too. So ideally, we want to eat the types of foods that give us a steady level of energy so that we can go through the day feeling great from start to finish. The goal, then, is to find the right combination of foods that allow blood sugar levels to rise gently, stay even over a long period of time, and then fall off slowly.

All carbohydrates cause a rise in blood sugar that typically lasts about two hours before returning to baseline. With high-quality carbohydrates, blood sugar levels rise slowly and don’t get very high. In addition, some of these high-quality carbs contain soluble fiber, a component of plant cell walls. Soluble fiber slows the absorption of glucose from food in the stomach, which also helps put a lid on blood sugar.

Low-quality carbs, on the other hand, cause an intense spike in blood sugar—it’s quick and dramatic. These carbs trigger the highest highs, the Mount Everests of glucose levels. It is a long way down from the dizzying peak of surging blood sugar to your normal baseline. The steeper the drop, the worse you’ll feel. That’s why low-quality carbohydrates can lead to feeling irritable, depressed, sluggish, and foggy-headed. If you eat low-quality carbs regularly, your blood sugar won’t have a chance to stabilize…and neither will your moods. That’s why I recommend making sugary and refined foods an occasional treat, not a regular part of your diet. Try to limit the amount of these inferior carbs to no more than about 10 percent of your total daily calories. (See Weight Loss, Chapter 3, for information on how to calculate and use calorie information.)

For an even keel all day, the majority of your daily diet should come from high-quality carbohydrates combined with protein. Protein is critical to moderating mood because it is the great stabilizer. It does not add to blood sugar. Instead, it helps slow the absorption of carbohydrates from the blood. That’s why when it comes to a better mood, I recommend incorporating at least some protein into your meals whenever possible—breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.