Monday, August 24, 2009

Food can impact your mood

The mood influencer we know and love the best - caffeine and its cousins (theophylline found in tea) and theobromine (found in chocolate). Eagerly taken to stimulate mental alertness, the amount of caffefine varies from the 10-50mg found in soft drinks to 100-175mg for a cup of drip-made coffee. Red Bull has 80 mg.

Want to feel calm? Feeling anxious? It's a good-enough excuse to indulge in dark chocolate, but beware the calming benefits are maxed out after only 1/4 an ounce. No need to eat the entire candy bar.

Chocolate also triggers the release of endorphins, natural opiates which make the body feel “balanced” and de-sensitized to pain. Chocolate has tryptophan, an essential amino acid that helps produce the mood-calming and anxiety-reducing neurotransmitter, serotonin.

Serotonin is also produce by eating complex carbohydrates. Although other factors are at play, consumption of complex carbohydrates may provide a means for controlling stress.

Also promoting a relaxed but alert mental state is theanine – an amino acid found in green and black teas. Theanine actually slows the frequency of brain waves, measurable on the surface of the head which improves learning performance, mental acuity, and concentration.

You can achieve the same effect by listening to classical music, hence the recommendation of playing classical musical to babies. This brain wave state facilitates learning of, e.g., foreign languages.


If you're tired and moody, you might think eating simple sugars and refined carbohydrates can help. It can creating a wide mood swing that often ends in exhaustion with hints of depression.

Unfortunately American consumes about 150 lbs of refined sugars and about 400 lbs of refined carbohydrates. This elevates blood sugar levels causing insulin to be released which may cause a precipitous drop in blood sugar. When that happens, some tend to express more primitive and aggressive behaviors.

Based on an article in Prepared Foods Exclusive: The Food – Mood Enigma by John J. Smith, Ph.D.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Healthy benefits - papaya, starfruit, Uniq Fruit and guava

Excerpts from an article called Unique Choices for Fruitful Diet on Natural Home Remedies.com.

Papaya – Regular
consumption of papaya endows with liberal discharge of papain enzyme in body. Papain enzymes are acknowledged as one of the most efficient enzymes that are capable to break proteins and natural source to enhance immune system which further helps in reduced chances of inflammatory diseases.

An increased intake of papaya assists in coping with deficiencies of potassium, folate and vitamin C. it is also a very popular food among diet conscious people owing to the petite quantity of calorie present i.e. half papaya comprises only fifty nine calories.

Star Fruit – Daily consumption of this Asian fruit helps in prevention from development of cardiac ailments. Since ages, star fruit had been used to reduce inflammations of cardiovascular system owing to ample quantities of polypheonols antioxidant obtained through consumption. A person experiencing
deficiency of vitamin A, dietary fiber or potassium should increasingly consume star fruit several times during a day. Like papaya, star fruit also contains petite quantity of calories.

Uniq Fruit – The usage of ugli fruit is very popular in Jamaican
home remedies for common cold and flu. Consuming this fruit at least three times a day helps to boost immune system and discharges liberal quantities of vitamin C and carotenoids in body. The calorie content of this fruit is only forty five. It is recommended for persons experiencing frequent attacks of cold or nasal congestion to eat ugli fruit regularly for at least one month for permanent relief.

Guava – Guava is a seasonal fruit. Inclusion of guava in an all-fruit diet extraordinarily
strengthens the immune system and fulfills almost seventy percent of body’s daily vitamin C and requirement. An increased intake of guava fruit also helps in confining the production of LDL cholesterol and free radicals in body. Individuals with impaired or blurred vision should also consume guava fruit to defuse free radicals present in retinal portion of eye

Something's wrong with how Americans eat

America land of opportunity? Or is it America land of early death? You have to ask the question, for sake of your own health.

A recent study led by Dr. Paulo Pinheiro, a public health researcher at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, showed that first-generation Hispanics in Florida are much more likely to develop cancer than people in their home countries which could result from unhealthy habits adopted in America such as overeating.