Location: Ireland - The green green grass and the grey grey skies
Posts: 374
Height: 5ft 11"
sad :(
for no reason... just on my own again.... bored and just feel down... no particular reason why... im gonna have a walk and see if cheer up. is there any food that betters one's mood?
There are lots of foods that better your mood. Ice cream, cake....
But they only better the mood until the sugar wears off and then the mood's worse cause now you're bummed that you binged as well as whatever was getting you down previously.
The walk is the best idea I can think of. Or even a run. Get your heart pumping. It works like the sugar, but doesn't leave you the additional depression over having done something you shouldn't have. It should in fact boost your mood more because you'll be left with the sense of satisfaction at having done something worthwhile to lift your spirits, of having accomplished something.
Eat a small piece of good dark chocolate-- maybe 1 oz? It has about 150 cals so it's a little bit of an indulgance. But studies have shown that eating chocolate releases dopamine (feel-good chemical, sometimes associated with a drug-induced "high") in the brain. So it's an instant mood refresher.
If you don't want to pay for expensive chocolate, just have 6 Hershey's kisses... also 150 cals... and they come in dark chocolate too, if that's your thing!
Sometimes it is OK just to be sad. Moods come and go. We don't need to worry about them or strive to change them. Just be with it, go for your walk, read a book if you like that, listen to music--but not because you want to "fix it." You'll see--your mood will change.
Trying to eat something or drink something to change a mood is not a good idea, in my book. It's just the wrong reason. One of the member here at 3FC has a saying in her signature: "If hunger is not the problem, food is not the answer." I completely agree with that!
I'm sorry JayEll, I just don't agree with you. Say you are very anxious and want to be able to relax, you can drink herbal tea (chamomile) to help relax you. If you can't sleep a small cup of warm milk has chemicals that make you sleepy. If you are bleary-eyed in the morning, you might drink a cup of coffee. If you are a runner about to have a big race, you might eat a bagel for a short-term energy boost. If a small piece of chocolate (and that's all 1 oz. is, a small piece) has chemicals in it that increase dopamine, why not try it? Yes, we eat food for fuel for our bodies... but we also eat for pleasure, as well as mood control. I don't think anyone can deny that. Something can be great fuel but taste like crap and no one will eat it. Food has a duel purpose in that sense. An interesting book on this subject is Energy Eating by Lucy Moll. In this book, Moll explains how to eat for energy, calm, and peace.
There is a difference between knowing what foods will make your body and brain react in a positive way... and emotional eating. Binging because of depression or boredom to me is a totally different thing. I have struggled with emotional eating for years. But I have learned to flow with the signals my body is sending me in the form of moods, energy level, and anxiety level.
Anyways, I don't mean to offend you, this is just my opinion and is based on my personal experience.
Last edited by misschris531; 09-29-2007 at 12:36 PM.
I tend to think that if you are sad, there has to be a reason. If you find that reason, then you can at least take steps to fix it!
When I am in a mood (sad, depressed, angry) and I can't readily figure out the cause, or if I do know the cause and just can't 'get over it', I go see my personal therapist. The chicky is on call 24/7 is totaly free and she makes house calls!
My therapist is in my head. I literally run through a meeting with her. I sit down we talk about the day, we comment on our clothes, general chit chat. Then we get down to the nitty gritty. SHe doesn't consider anything sacred and rips into my day until I can figure it all out.
Just last night I had a meeting with her, about my daraling husband and how miserable he is in basic training, and how that was effecting me. She and I talked for about an hour and I was able to get it all out and feel much better for it.
Take a walk through your head, open each little door and see what is behind it. Some wil be locked but that is for another day. Your therapist is just waiting for you behind one of those doors. Go find him/her and the more you talk to him/her the less you will need to go find happiness in a munchy.
Along the same lines as what chris says, I find that the act of taking time to prepare a really good meal...and usually that is a healthy meal, but maybe a more expensive cut, or fresh herbs, or just not throwing same ol same ol out there does make me feel better. The food, the activity, all of it.
Just wanted to add...Bananas! are meant to be high in something or other that promotes feel good hormones in the brain.
Emily
xxx
Beta-blockers that enhance the ability to calm yourself down and lowering the adrenaline and neurotransmitters in your system that may be making you anxious, nervous, or scared...
Last edited by veggielover; 09-29-2007 at 03:25 PM.
Reason: spelling
I really hate those days where you just feel "blah". Luckily, though, if it just comes out of nowhere, most times it only seems to last until I get out of the house. Something about going and DOING something usually breaks the spell of feeling bored and down.
sad :(
You are not on your own....we're here!! Go for a walk! 
