“Everyone is in such a good mood when they’ve eaten well.”
E. A. Bucchianeri
Hi beautiful people, hope you are in the best of health and the best of mood!
To begin with, doesn’t the above quote, perfectly illustrating the close relationship that exists between food and mood, by Bucchianeri, seem like something that y’all would want to say after you have a hearty meal with a bunch of people and they all look cheerful?
Well, rightly, according to National Council for Mental Wellbeing, “Beyond mood and general well-being, the role of diet and nutrition on mental health is very complex and is yet to be fully understood. However, research linking the two is growing at a rapid rate.” Reading this led the spirit of inquiry within me to take a fresh look at this relationship.
I believe that our emotional state and mood swings also affect what we eat. Don’t we all crave junk food and have late-night cravings when stressed to the bone? For a generation of night owls, I don’t think anyone would have the FOMO of not experiencing the joy of midnight Maggi with siblings. Guzzling up pastries and chips during an emotional breakdown has surely been a situation for most of us. So have sipping drinks while playing Never have I ever.
The youth, whose sleep cycles have gone for a toss, is also pretty much routinely prone to late-night work or studies, which are complemented by caffeine consumption. Not only this, but during periods that generally go on for five days, the hormonal imbalance within our bodies governs our meals, letting us abandon our diet plan for a while.
Pondering upon these instances, we might have recollected some events from our own life. However, they might not indicate a healthy lifestyle if they are recurring. The key to staying healthy is to reverse the machinery and thus not let our mood not only determine what we eat but also not how much we eat.
The way over-eating adds a black point to our lifestyle, skipping our meals does the same. According to mind.org.uk, it is recommended to intake smaller portions of meals within small intervals of time instead of consuming a lot once. Drinking a sufficient amount of water throughout the day helps stay hydrated as well as promotes good digestion. A balanced diet is what everyone has read about in primary school. It is quite understandable that it is human nature to prioritize our delicious food over healthy choices. However, maintaining body discipline is a challenge that we cannot ignore. The weapon to overcome this is by coming up with creative food combinations, which satiate both our taste buds and our hunger.
Honestly, I’m myself a person who prefers to satisfy my cravings rather than prioritize health. I’d say, when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, we all should take inspiration from our mothers, who always make sure we eat healthily.
There indeed seems to exist a two-directional relationship between food and mood. It all boils down to the direction in which we allow it to work.