Feeling your best mentally, physically, and emotionally is a top priority in most of our lives. There are certain measures that are easily attainable that can enhance your well-being and boost your overall mood. It is so crucial that we understand these measures more in depth so that we can all go about living our every-day lives with a bit more ease.
To provide a brief introduction, your mental health and well-being will improve if you boost your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables, integrate physical activity into your everyday routine, and take measures to improve the quality of your sleep.
The aspect I plan on informing you all a bit more about is the concept of maintaining a well-balanced diet incorporating many foods that have a direct impact on brain activity in turn allows your overall self to feel superior. Eating a well-balanced, nutrient-dense diet will enhance your mood, contribute to having more energy, and improve your ability to think more clearly.
Who Said Carbs Were Bad?
Let’s first take a look at one of the major macronutrients I like to call, Carbohydrates. Brain concentration stems from blood glucose which come from various carbohydrates that we consume. Keeping blood glucose levels steady throughout the day will decrease feelings of irritability. I am here to help you all learn about what foods contain carbs so that you can establish ways to implement them into your diet set at appropriate amounts.
Carbs to consume include:
pasta, rice, legumes, fruits, whole grains, vegetables as well as lower fat dairy. As I mentioned before, keeping blood glucose steady goes hand in hand with rapid mood changes. Here are some foods that release energy slowly include oats, cereal, nuts, seeds, as well as eating smaller meal portions.
Bulking Up with Protein and Fats; The Right Way:
Proteins are important to integrate properly into everyone’s day to day consumption. If you are searching for exceptional choices of a protein source, well look no further because I am here to tell you all where to find good, quality protein.
The preferred sources of protein include:
Lean meat
Fish
Eggs
Nuts and seeds
Cheese
Soya products
Legumes
We may not believe so, but fats are useful throughout our everyday lives. Fatty acids such as omega-3 and omega-6 will aid in proper brain function. If you are involved in regular physical activity, your intramuscular fatty acids are critical during the activity portion of the exercise while circulating fatty acids are important during the recovery period.
Healthy fats include:
Nuts and seeds
Avocados
Oily fish
Poultry
Dairy products
Eggs
Let’s Not Forget About the Vitamins and Minerals.
Let’s move on from all the wonderful macronutrients and steer our focus toward the micronutrients which entail vitamins and minerals. We shall not neglect these crucial micronutrients because our physical and mental health could suffer if there is a lack regarding consumption of vitamins and minerals. In this portion, I am going to inform you about the pivotal side effects certain deficiencies of vitamins and minerals can affect your overall well-being.
Iron:
Iron is an essential mineral and an iron deficiency can often make you feel frail, drained, and sluggish. I don’t know about you all but I do not feel myself if I am slow-moving and un-energetic throughout my day. Some awesome sources containing iron include red meat, poultry, fish, beans and pulses, and reinforced cereals.
B Vitamins
Moving into the B vitamins, B1, B3, and B12 deficiency can make you feel depressed, sleepy, and cranky which can negatively take over your outlook on the various situations we face in our everyday lives. Here are some generic sources where B vitamins are abundant:
Meat
Fish
Eggs
Dairy
Fortified cereals
Folate
Folate is an example of a B vitamin and it can treat certain types of anemia. When you don’t get enough folate, you’re more likely to become depressed because it is a cofactor in producing serotonin and dopamine which are both vital in mood regulation. Folate can easily be consumed on a regular basis, here are a few foods containing the vitamin.
Green vegetables
Citrus
Liver
Beans
Food supplements like marmite
Selenium
The last effective deficiency I will discuss is selenium which plays an important role in immune system health. Selenium also helps lower oxidative stress which reduces inflammation and enhances immunity. A lack of selenium can increase the risk of depression and other negative mood states. If you are interested in ways to incorporate selenium in your diet, here is a brief list of sources:
Brazil nuts
Seeds
Whole wheat
Meat
Fish
In conclusion:
I encourage you all to start focusing more on food consumption throughout your day to day lives. The amounts of effects food can have on your overall lifestyle are all described above and are crucial facts to resonate on. Incorporating some of the suggestive foods and methods of consumption can jumpstart a pivotal change in your health.
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