My friend Dhrumil posted a hilarious link the other day to a YouTube spiff about the FDA creating a drug for the “annoyingly happy”. What caught my attention was a small section which made the amusing remark that one didn’t need a pill to feel depressed. All you needed was to consume a diet of corn syrup and white bread for a period of time to achieve the wanted results of lethargic depressiveness.

Figure 1 White Bread -depressant?

It got me thinking again about how food affects our mood. With my kids, it’s fascinating to observe. It seems like after every meal they are super-charged no matter what they eat. This tells me that kids are more influenced by food and given their little bodies feel its effects, good and bad probably to a greater degree than we do.

Regarding me, certain things I consume have an obvious effect, like coffee. I know caffeine lifts me. I admit that I crave my coffee in the morning. It makes me happy and I like it, and I’m not yet entirely convinced it is bad for me in moderation. But it does change my mood. Should I be concerned about that?

Figure 2 mmmmm coffee

I’m trying to currently assess how eating more raw fruits and vegetables and less breads, refined sugar and processed food affects me personally. This is more difficult for me to asses, probably because I tend to eat mostly healthy and raw anyway so the occasional cranberry nut muffin from Deboer bakery doesn’t seem to greatly impact me negatively (maybe that’s because I also get a fully charged latte to go with it). What I have noticed is that when I start my morning out with a sliced mango, leftover hummus or Pure Bar, I am less hungry throughout the day.

If I start introducing processed or bread products, I get hungrier and hungrier. I’ve also noticed that as I eat more raw food and more whole foods my body becomes partial to them, wanting bad foods less and good foods more (thanks body!). It is less of a challenge now for me then it ever has to eat the way I should. I believe this is because I have gradually introduced more raw and whole organic foods into my diet.

But maybe its not so much about the immediate effects of food choices. Even though I am not a patient person, eating raw is probably more about the long term effects on inner health, mental health and even outer shine that should be motivating me to take the path of organic, raw and real most often. It certainly is what motivates me to instill those choices in the lives of my kids.

If you’re reading this let me know how food affects your mood. What have you noticed? What works for you, what doesn’t? I am interested in your individual experience because even though we operate differently, the old adage “You are what you eat” is true for all of